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by Blodwyn Smythe, Hole In Ground Reporter

SEDONA: There's a new gold rush in Sedona. The kind dreams are made of and lives are destroyed for. Mining companies are scouring Arizona, looking for new deposits and working to reopen venerable mines, some with histories dating to territorial days.
Geologists have long talked about the historic iron deposits in the rocks surrounding Sedona that give them their distinct, tourist attracting, picture framed, crimson hue and mystical properties. But now, recollections of the Lost Dutchman Mine are being bantered about in Ravenheart Coffee over double mocha café lattes and Troia's in between pizza and pasta bites. Gold fever, once confined to more remote areas is now spreading throughout Sedona with the voracity of a vortex dust devil gobbling tumbling tumbleweeds.
Salome, AZ is now known for its high school fighting frogs. Oatman is home to ravenous wild burros. Pearce has had a post office since 1896 and Ruby has an historic building on a dirt road open Thursday through Sunday. Many fear a similar fate awaits Sedona if the miners strike it rich at first and then, some fifty years down the road, the mines no longer pan out and the new 49ers look elsewhere for their fortune, leaving Sedona to face the fate of other Arizona mining ghost towns.
While Jerome has made the transition from a booming copper town to a ghost town to a tourist town, it was by no means a smooth progression. Aided by the popular Jerome Grand Hotel and The Asylum restaurant, the city has morphed into a laid-back artist colony with chic retail shops.
While the gold rush is just beginning in Sedona, the Forest Service has approved a permit allowing a British mining company to explore for uranium just outside Grand Canyon National Park, not three miles from a southern rim lookout. After learning of the British uranium exploration near the Grand Canyon without even requiring an environmental assessment, Sir William Randolph, World Famous Publisher of the Sedona Excentric, called for a press conference in the lot between Los Abrigados Resort and Spa and El Portal Sedona to announce his plans to acquire as much land as possible in and around Sedona to explore for gold. "I called this press conference in the lot between Los Abrigados Resort and Spa and El Portal Sedona to announce my plans to acquire as much land as possible in and around Sedona to explore for gold," Sir William shouted excitedly. "What you may not know is that just because you own land doesn't mean you own what's beneath the soil. You people need to know the U.S. General Mining and Mineral Leasing laws. Without Sedona's National Scenic Designation, a petition can be made to the BLM or the Forest Service and the mining companies can wheel and deal with legislators for the mineral rights."
"Is there that much gold in Sedona," asked a reporter from Sedona's small, other paper.
"Gold, silver, copper, turquoise, platinum, titanium, heck, I don't care if it's vortex energy, someone's going to find something more valuable than the land. And the best guess is that it is under the land," harumphed Sir William. "Once we start extracting precious minerals we're going to buy back the Sedona Cultural Park, convince Viacom to promote live concerts via MTV and VH1 and give the money to charities. The college, a recording studio, a multipurpose center and service housing will encompass the remainder of the vacant land.
"According to some federal legislators familiar with uranium mining in nearby New Mexico, there are horrors of shifting mountains of uranium tailings, open mines that leach contaminated rain into drinking water tables bringing government officials to make promises they can't keep and EPA representatives to lie through their glowing teeth. But don't confuse uranium with minerals or gems," Sir William warned. "Sure, we may end up hollowing out Coffeepot Rock or blowing the stack off Sugarloaf, but think of the positive publicity we will garner. Sedona will be known as a place where you can get something besides a conscience."
"But polls show most Sedonans don't want mining," said some guy.
Sir William replied, "So? Like Dick Cheney says, polls don't matter. This is progress."
With that, Sir William gestured to the crowd, headingr to Natural Elements to chat with Kyle and Justen about a custom stone bookcase for his Excentric World Headquarters.

Above is an old map of former gold, silver and copper mines throughout Arizona. Most are closed. Few were rich in ore.