USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 53
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913
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY
sandstones, slates, shales, limestones and marks of the sedimentary series. For convenience of reference, this great series of sedimentary rocks, resting upon the crystalline rocks below, has been divided into what is known as systems, and the division of time in which each system of rocks was made known as an era. This classification of the rocks is shown in the accompanying table. It will be understood that whenever any system of rocks was being formed, that particular region must have been under the sea. It is true that some deposits are made on the land surface, in lakes and by rivers and even by the action of the wind in dust storms, but these are small compared to the great formations that are built under the ocean.
We may recognize, then, three large classes of the rocks which com- pose the surface of our territory, e. g., the crystalline rocks, including granites, syenites, porphyry and sometimes basalt, diorite and the so-called green-stones; the volcanic lavas, known as pumice obsidian and trachyte; and the sedimentary rocks, sandstones, limestones, shales, clays and gravels.
GENERAL TABLE OF THE GEOLOGIC TIME DIVISIONS.
Group and Era. Systems and Period.
Series and Epochs.
Quaternary.
§ Recent. Pleistocene.
Cenozoic.
Tertiary.
Pliocene. Miocene. Oligocene. Eocene.
Cretaceous.
1
Upper. Middle. ( Lower.
Mesozoic.
Jurassic. Triassic.
Carboniferous.
1
Permian. Carboniferous, or Pennsylvanian. Subcarboniferous, or Mississippian.
Paleozoic.
Devonian. Silurian. Ordovian. Cambrian.
Archaenzoic.
Granites and Shists.
A glance at the above table will show that our geological time is divided into the archaeozoic, paleozoic, mesozoic and cenozoic eras. In point of time the archaeozoic era was probably longer than all of the subsequent eras, the paleozoic many times longer than all the mesozoic and cenozoic, and the mesozoic, than the senenozoic. The paleozoic era is divided into the cam-
914
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
brian, silurian, devonian and carboniferous ages. The cambrian and silurian ages are known as the ages of invertebrates or mollusks, when only shell fishes lived in the oceans. The devonian is known as the age of fishes. The rocks of the devonian contain the first fish fossils of any in the sedi- mentary series and the fishes of the sea were larger than in any other time in geological history. The carboniferous is known as the great coal age or the age of amphibians. The mesozoic is known as the age of rep- tiles and the cenozoic as the age of mammals; the recent period, the period of man. Each of these ages is divided into certain periods of geological history and each period is divided into epochs. These epochs are again divided into certain groups of rocks, known as formations. All of the various rock series are not present in every particular area of the earth's surface, for in the building of the earth in the past ages as at the present time, while certain parts of the earth were land areas and subject to erosion, other parts of the earth were sea areas and fields of sedimentation.
Looking back as far as possible in geological times in the history of the Territory of New Mexico, it is found that the lowest rocks of the territory are represented by the archaeozoic. These rocks form the very foundations of the geology of our territory. They are present in the base of almost every mountain group. They are represented by a great system of granite formations, syenite and other crystalline rocks. Mingling with these crystalline rocks there are found in some localities great masses of metamorphic rocks, such as quartzite and shistose rock. This crystalline series of rock is often cut by other ancient lava intrusions in the form of dikes and flows. It is impossible even for the geologist to tell much of that remote time in geological history when these rocks were formed, but it is known that they were elevated above the sea level and subject to erosion for a long interval of time until the Ter- ritory of New Mexico was reduced to almost a level plain by this process of erosion. At the close of this great period of land area, this portion of the continent of North America began to sink below the level of the sea. The southwestern corner of the Territory went down faster than any other portion and the sea encroached upon the land from that direction. This period of subsidence, while very long in point of time, did not result in submerging but a very limited area of the Territory, along the southern and southwestern border, covering perhaps only parts of Otero, Dona Ana, Luna and Grant counties. This condition continued all through cambrian, silurian and devonian times, most of the Territory being great areas of crystalline rocks, not much elevated above the sea level, and con- tributing through their rivers their burden of sediments to the southern sea. During this long period of time, the elevation of the Territory was not constant. Sometimes these southern counties were below the sea, re- ceiving their burden of sediments, and again the land was slightly elevated and the shore line receded to the southward and these silurian and devonian sediments were subjected to erosion. Along the beginning of carboniferous time there was inaugurated a downward movement of the land and the sea began to encroach again from the south, until in about mid-carboniferous time, it had covered the lower portions of the land in most of the southern half of the Territory, so that this region has distributed over it certain areas among which the sub-carboniferous rocks were formed. Parts of southern Lincoln, northern Otero, northern Grant and western Socorro
915
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY
counties and perhaps some other extensive areas were, however, not as yet submerged beneath the encroaching ocean.
There followed then a long period of quiescence, in which there was almost no change of level of our Territory, or possibly a slight elevation. This period continued up through most of the so-called carboniferous, but toward the close of the carboniferous, there occurred a general subsidence of the Territory, which carried probably its entire surface below the level of the ocean and there it remained through the countless centuries of later carboniferous and permian times, until the sediments of sand- stones and limestones accumulated on that floor of the ocean to a depth of thousands of feet. These sediments, as stated, were laid down upon the old land surface of crystalline rocks and therefore everywhere between them and the crystalline rocks there is a great plain of uncon- formity. During this period, then. were formed most of the sandstones and limestoncs, which are found in the present mountain ranges of New Mexico, resting directly upon the crystalline rocks and forming the great core of the mountains. Near the close of the permian times the Territory was again elevated so that scattered here and there over various parts of the Territory, especially in San Juan, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Mckinley, the southern part of Santa Fe, eastern Bernalillo, parts of Socorro, Leonard Wood, San Miguel, Taos and Colfax counties, where are at present located some of the great coal fields of New Mexico, there were great areas brought up just a little above sea level and over these areas where ex- isted swamps, there under the moist tropical climate grew up a luxuriant vegetation, carpeting the earth with great forests where for cen- turies of time, the forest growth accumulated and formed the great coal beds of New Mexico. These are known to appear principally, in what are called cretaceous formations, but possibly some of them are triassic or jurassic. It is fairly certain that during the long period of the meso- zoic, the general figuration of New Mexico was a gentle, rolling plain, fluctuating between just below sea level and just above sea level. So with slight warpings of the surface, certain areas received the sediments of triassic, certain other areas of jurassic and certain other of cretaceous times.
While the great coal fields of eastern United States were of carbonif- erous age. most of the great coal fields of New Mexico were formed, but yesterday as it were, in cretaceous times. During the permian and jurassic were formed many of the so-called red-beds or red sandstones of New Mexico. In some of the shallow lagoons and tide-covered interior basins of these times were laid down the great gypsum beds with many salt de- posits which are found in so many parts of our Territory.
The close of the cretaceous period in New Nexico was marked by a very extensive elevation of the land above sea-level. At this time the great axis of the Rocky Mountains was formed, the southern end of which extends from Colorado southward nearly through New Mexico, and a long period of erosion was inaugurated. The deposits of the tertiary period which are found along the eastern side of New Mexico, east of the Rocky Mountain axis and in certain more or less separated basins west of that axis, indicate that they were derived largely from the materials eroded from the great mountain uplifts made at the close of the cretaceous times. It is with difficulty that the various members of the tertiary beds, which
916
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
are often easily distinguished in other parts, can be separated from each other in New Mexico, but it seems quite evident that most of the moun- tains of our Territory which now rise several thousand feet above the general level of the plateau had their origin along about the middle of the tertiary times, possibly at the close of the miocene period. At this time it seems that the whole plateau of New Mexico was per- haps several thousand feet higher than it is today and was a field of very extensive erosion. All the present inter-montane valleys of New Mexico were then eroded to much greater depths than they are at present. Wells which have been drilled in these valleys on the present val- ley floors pass through hundreds and even thousands of feet of clays, sands and gravel of river origin. The old inter-montane valley between the Sacramento and the Franklin Mountains has been penetrated to a depth of over two thousand feet in these river deposits, and a well in the val- ley of the Rio Grande at Albuquerque hias penetrated over eight hundred feet through these deposits. The physical geography of New Mexico at the close of this great period of erosion was characterized by extreme ruggedness. The mountain elevations were much higher and the valleys hundreds and thousands of feet deeper than at present. Following this period of erosion there occurred another change in the general level of the Territory but this time the movement was downward, and it was suf- ficient to materially reduce the gradients of all great rivers of the Ter- ritory so that they were not able to carry away the vast quantities of material waslied down from the sides of the valleys and the neighboring mountains. The result was that all of the large valleys of the Terri- tory began to be filled up with these materials and this process was con- tinned until the valleys were filled quite a little above that of many of the existing rivers of the present time. This falling from the valley sides and mountain slopes was so extensive over large areas of our Terri- tory that the streams which flowed through the valleys were wholly unable to keep their channels open and were entirely buried under this great valley filling. During this period was formed most of the great mesa areas of our Territory. At the close of this period of great valley fill- ing there was another considerable elevation of the Territory so that all of the streams that were able to maintain their course over the tops of the deposits which had filled their former valleys began again to carry their loads of sediments to the sea and to intrench into the old valley fillings, so that today most of the streams of New Mexico which cross the inter-montane valleys are found running in channel ways cut out of these deposits, but in those valleys where the streams were not able to main- tain a continuous flow over the surface of the deposits no such erosion has taken place, but almost everywhere over our Territory it has been clearly shown by well drillings, that these ancient rivers are still flow- ing in the bottom of their valleys through these ancient deposits, and whenever they are tapped by deep wells they always furnish an abundant supply of excellent water.
Throughout most of the tertiary times, New Mexico, in common with the rest of the great basin region, was visited by very extensive volcanic action and one of the expressions of this volcanic activity is shown in the great lava flows and great dikes of igneous rock which are found distributed over almost all parts of New Mexico.
917
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY
One of these periods of special . volcanic activity occurred at about the time when the filling of the sand and gravel which was put in the ancient valleys had reached its highest point so that some of the exten- sive lava flows of the Territory occur on the surface of the inter-montane valley floors, as, for example, the great lava flow in western Valencia county, in western Lincoln, western Socorro and northern Otero coun- ties, along the Rio Grande in Rio Arriba and Taos counties, eastern San- doval county, on the western side of the river in Bernalillo county, on the eastern side of the river in southern Soccoro county, on the west side of the river in Dona Ana county, and in various other smaller areas in other parts of the Territory.
During quaternary times in the latter part of the cenozoic, when much of the northern portion of North America was covered by a great polar ice cap which extended down into Mississippi valley between the Allegheny Mountains and the Rocky Mountains as far as the mouth of the Ohio River, and when the great mountain systems of western United States were covered by great mountain glaciers, New Mexico appears to have had about the same physical history which it has at present. There seems to be abundant evidence for believing that the conditions were much more humid and the annual rainfall much greater, so that the amount of erosion which took place over the mountain systems of our Territory was extensive. Sub-aerial plains deposits were laid down in the inter-mon- tane areas during this period.
While in central and eastern United States, geologists are endeavor- ing to determine as to whether man existed in North America during the glacial period, in New Mexico the problem seems to be as to whether man existed in New Mexico at the time of the great lava flows and when the climatic conditions were such that the annual precipitation was greater and all sorts of agriculture possible without irrigation.
This briefly is the physical history through which our Territory has passed. But even a brief summary of the geology would not be complete without mention being made of the life which has existed in New Mexico during geological times. In the seas which occupied the smaller portion of the southern part of the Territory during the early part of the paleozoic there lived many forms of marine life which are represented by fossils which occur in the rocks of these periods. Perhaps the most common of all forms are the brachiopods, the trilobites, crinoids. In many of the lime- stones there also occur different varieties of corals and many coral shells which are often classed as mollusks. All of these forms belong to the great group of invertebrate animals. The devonian is known as the age of fishes but the rocks of this system are but slightly represented even in the southern part of our Territory. A few evidences of fish remains have been found in some of the carboniferous and permian beds, but they are of rare occurrence. In some small areas of the Territory during the carboniferous times there existed some swamp and land areas where the plants of the carboniferous age consisted largely of great tree ferns and tree- like mosses. They produced considerable forest growth but, as previously in- dicated, these areas were not of sufficient extent or duration to produce any coal of any value and as yet very little evidence has been collected concerning amphibian life of the carboniferous, which was so characteristic of the great coal swamps of eastern United States.
918
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
In some of the beds of the mesozoic age have been discovered the re- mains of the great reptiles that lived during that time. Most of these reptiles were land forms and many of them of huge size, perhaps the largest animals that ever lived upon the earth. In the quaternary depos- its have also been found the remains of the mammoth and the elephant. The life history of New Mexico has been similar to that of the other portions of the United States during the corresponding geological period.
Only a very brief mention can be made of the economic geology of the Territory. Its mineral resources have been but very slightly developed. There are extensive coal beds, vast deposits of salt, vast quarries of building and ornamental stones with the lithographic stone, and abundant material for the development of the cement and coal industries that have scarcely been touched up to the present time. In most of the older and more eroded mountain systems there are undoubtedly extensive deposits of most of the metallic ores, and yet the mining industries of New Mexico are in their infancy.
While New Mexico is one of the oldest parts of the United States to be colonized by Europeans, the capital, Santa Fe, being the second oldest city in the Union, it has not developed with the same rapidity as the regions to the east and far west, and today it remains perhaps the least known of any part of the United States, as far as the carefully detailed geology of the region is concerned. Where other states have had their geological surveys for several years, New Mexico has yet to organize its first geolog- ical survey.
W. G. Tight, Ph. D., president of the University of New Mexico, was born in Granville, Ohio, in 1865. He was graduated from Denison Univer- sity at Granville with the B. S. degree in 1886, received from the same in- stitution the degree of M. S. in 1887, and was a member of the faculty of that school until 1901, occupying the chair of biology and geology. In the latter year he was graduated from the University of Chicago, which con- ferred upon him the degree of Ph. D., and was at once elected president of the University of New Mexico. During the years in which he was identified with Denison University he was permanent secretary of the Deni- son Scientific Association.
Professor Tight is best known in the scientific world as a geologist and biologist, and has devoted many years to research along these lines. Since coming to Albuquerque he has made numerous reports on the geology of this Territory, one of which, a report on the bolson plains of New Mexico, which was published in the American Geologist, being regarded as authori- tative on that interesting subject. His principal contribution to geological literature is special paper No. 13 of the professional papers published by the United States Geological Survey. He is a fellow of the Geological Society of America, and in the meeting of that body at Berkeley, California, in December, 1905, he served as chairman of the Cordilleran section. He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the National Geological Society, and a member of the New Mexico Board of Education.
Professor Tight is the author of the chapter on the geology of New Mexico, which forms a part of this work. This is the first article of this kind in popular phraseology to be published.
919
MINING
MINING IN NEW MEXICO.
Prior to the '6os the mining interests of New Mexico were virtually confined to the "lost mines" of the Territory, to a few claims of Mexicans in Santa Fé county, worked in a lax way by Pueblo Indians; the lead-silver mines of the Organ mountains, Doña Ana county ; and the bleaching bones of the little band who, in their search for gold, wandered into the rugged mountains of the continental divide, and in the vicinity of Pinos Altos (now Grant county ) were massacred by the fierce Apaches. These miners were from California, Texas and Missouri, with a sprinkling of Mexicans, but during the early '6os most of the Americans abandoned the camp. About this period there were also a few Mexicans prospecting among the Sierra Blanca mountains, in the region of Nogal Peak, in what is now the southwestern part of Lincoln county, and the mines of the Organ dis- trict were being worked in a small way by the army officers of Fort Fill- more, sixteen miles distant, on the Rio Grande. It was not until the late '6os when American enterprise and capital commenced to organize com- panies and develop the mining properties of both the Ortiz district, south- west of Santa Fé, and the abandoned Pinos Altos region; it was not until this influx of life that the mining interests of New Mexico were really established.
Judges of mining prospects who had faith in the future of the Terri- tory had taken note of the irregular production of gold in the widely sep- arated camps, so that estimates are available since 1860. From that year until 1900 it is estimated that New Mexico has produced $17,600,000 worth of the precious metal. From 1828 to 1860 the gold mining of New Mexico, for all practical purposes, was confined to the north slopes of the Ortiz mountains, Santa Fe county, that region being the oldest of the Territory in which the industry has been continuous.
As scattered indications of the state of mining and the prospects of the mineral wealth of New Mexico at various periods of the nineteenth century prior to 1860 may be adduced the following: In 1803 Governor Chacon said: "Copper is abundant and apparently rich, but no mines are worked." Although the Santa Rita copper mines had been discovered three years previous, their development did not commence until 1804. In speak- ing of what he had observed of mining during his expedition to the Terri- tory in 1807, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike says: "There are no mines known in the province, except one of copper, situated in a mountain on the west side of the Rio del Norte, in latitude 34°. It is worked and produces 20,- 000 mule loads of copper annually. It contains gold, but not quite suffi- cient to pay for its extraction." This undoubtedly refers to the Santa Rita property, although its latitude is only slightly north of 33°.
Brantz Mayer, in his brief history of New Mexico (1850), refers to the mining industries in the following words: "Several rich silver mines
920
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
were, in Spanish times, worked at Avo, at Cerillos and in the Nambre mountains, but none are in operation at present. Copper is found in abundance throughout the country, but principally at Tijeras, Jemas, Abi- quia and Gudalupita de Mora, but until a recent period only one copper mine was wrought south of the placeres. Iron, though also existing in very large quantities, has been entirely overlooked. * About one hundred miles south-southeast of Santa Fé, on the high tableland between the Rio Grande and Pecos, are some extensive salinas, or salt lakes, from which all the salt used in New Mexico is procured. Large caravans from Santa Fé visit this place every year during the dry season, and return heavily laden with the precious deposits. They either sell it for one and some times two dollars per busliel, or exchange a bushel of salt for a bushel of Indian corn."
Placer mining has been carried on in New Mexico by the Spaniards and Mexicans since the occupation of the country in the latter part of the sixteenth century, and although the amounts extracted by these old miners cannot be estimated, they were probably very large. From 1877 to 1900, inclusive, the Territory of New Mexico produced $12.300,000 gold ; from 1860, as stated, the amount was $17,600,000. In 1877 the value of the production was $300,000, which gradually increased to $1,000,000 in 1889. It gradually decreased to $400,000 in 1897, but again took an upward ten- dency, until the output in 1900 amounted to $800,000. In 1902 the total gold production of the Territory was $384.685, of which nearly a third was contributed by the placers of Colfax county. During the year named the value of the other mineral mined was as follows: Silver, $148,659; copper, $860.737; lead, $94.936; a total of $1,489,016. These figures do not include the production by individual placer miners or by prospectors not mining in a systematic manner. As to copper, the most valuable metal product of New Mexico, it should be added that Grant county produced the most of it, being credited with a valuation of $793,000 of the total, $860,000. In addition to these metals the Territorial mines put out a vast quantity of coal, iron, turquoise, gypsum and building material, of which the figures are only accessible as to the first-named mineral.
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