USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 57
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The group of mines which first attracted Mr. Bible's attention is situ- ated on the west side of Hanover Gulch, and consists of the Surprise, Cinco Senora, West-Humboldt, Missouri, Duplex and the Ivanhoe, and the San Jose mill site. The litigation over the last named property was a serious stumbling block in the way of the organization of the Hermosa Company. But the difficulty was finally settled in court, and Mr. Bible effected the organization of which he is still general superintendent. The holdings of the Hermosa Copper Company are now said to constitute the largest mining estate in the west, comprising 125 mining locations, which embrace 2,500 acres of land, highly mineralized with copper, zinc and iron.
The Humboldt mine is located near the northern limit of the estate, and since the transfer of this old property the Hermosa Company surface exploitation was dropped, a working shaft was driven to a depth of 1,000 feet, and the most modern machinery and appliances installed. Both the iron and copper deposits will thus be worked to the best advantage. The Copper Queen and Copper Kettle are southern extensions of the Humboldt contact, and are being actively developed. The mines known as "90" and Ivanhoe are situated in the lower basin, the Humboldt and other properties of the company occupying the upper basin of the mineral bearing zone of Hanover Gulch. The latter is the oldest and most ad- vanced in development.
The celebrated Ivanhoe mine was one of the earliest to produce in the district. It was profitably worked over thirty years ago for silver and lead. At the water level these ores gave way and were replaced by copper- bearing minerals. Besides this very important change, there was an in- crease in the width of vein material and ore values. The main shaft is now about 350 feet deep, and the drifts at the bottom expose large and valuable bodies of smelting ore, carrying a copper value of about seven per cent. The Copper Queen, a southern extension of the Humboldt; the Wild Cat group of eight mines, and the Treasure Vault, the latter properties ad- joining the Santa Rita estate, are all in active operation, with working shafts which have been sunk from 300 to 400 feet.
The San Jose mill, which is planned to concentrate and smelt 1,000 tons daily from these and other mines of the Hermosa Company, is situ- ated near the Santa Fé road, switches for the handling of ores and ma- chinery running to the plant. The present capacity of the mill, which has lately been overhauled and repaired, is some sixty tons daily capacity.
Other Properties in Hanover Gulch .- The Red Hills lie north and west of Hanover mountain, and form a crescent-shaped ridge. The basin between the ridge and Hanover mountain has long been a favorite hunting resort, and the belief generally obtained among prospectors that it was not especially adapted to mining. But in this locality are now four dis-
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tinct groups of claims-the Waverly, owned by the McGregor brothers, of Georgetown; the Williamsport, the property of Wes. Welty; the North Star, owned by R. Bennett, and the Rattler, the owner of which is George Kresge, of Hanover. The leading ores are carbonates of copper, and most of the claims have been superficially worked. The Rattler group is old Spanish property, abandoned because of the inflow of water, and reopened during the nineties, with a fair production of copper.
The Gladstone is within the ore zone of the Humboldt contact, and this group of five claims lying parallel with the Humboldt at a distance of 1,200 feet belongs to McCarty & Co. It has been developed to some ex- tent. East of it is Dewey No. 2, and south of it the Marblehead group. The Bryan and Mckinley claims are neighhors, and have been tunneled to a small depth. The Max group of five claims belongs to Max Gaudina, an experienced miner, and adjoins the Gladstone on the east. The chief development is a 125-foot tunnel, which has exposed considerable values in copper, lead and zinc. Near the southern end of the upper Hanover basin is the Philadelphia, consisting of four claims and representing one of the oldest copper producers in the district.
Zinc Mining .- About half a mile east of the postoffice of Hanover is a zinc belt which is becoming quite famous. The direct cause of its de- velopment was the discovery of the rich silver ore at Georgetown. In 1878 the McGregor brothers located the Lone Star mine, now the property of the Empire Zinc Company, of Mineral Point, Wisconsin. The mine was opened as a lead-silver proposition, but notwithstanding the ores yielded from 80 to 160 ounces per ton in silver, it was abandoned both as a silver and lead property on account of the refractory nature of the raw material. Following an unsuccessful experiment in silver mining, the owners shipped ten carloads of the ore to the Mineral Point smelters, with a handsome after-result in zinc. Ores of zinc carrying less than 40 per cent of that metal are not available for shipping purposes, the material of less than shipping value being now laid asidie.
The opening of the Lone Star mine was the nucleus of the zinc in- dustry of the Central district, which is assuming large proportions. The zinc-bearing zone is now described as stretching from the Anson S. mine westerly to a point nearly opposite Gold Gulch, or Central postoffice. Since the completion of the road to Hanover it has been conservatively estimated that 15,000 tons of ore have been shipped abroad for treatment, of which amount less than 500 tons have failed to reach the 40 per cent of metallic zinc.
Near the south end and on the west slope of the Mimbres range, twenty miles northwest of Lake Valley, in Sierra county, is an isolated mining district about which quite enthusiastic expectations are held as a zinc producer. It is known as the Carpenter district, and in area is about seven miles long by two miles wide. The deposits are immense quartites carrying sulphides and carbonates of zinc and lead, the contacts being be- tween limestone and porphyry, and the veins from three to twenty-five feet in thickness. Some copper is found in the south end of the district.
Iron Developments .- The abundant outcroppings of iron ore were early noted in the Hanover Gulch, but prior to the completion of the rail- road to Hanover the iron product of the region was only utilized as fluxes for the smelting of the other metals, quite large quantities for that purpose
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
being shipped to Arizona, Texas and Socorro, New Mexico. With the completion of the S. C. & N. Railroad in 1891, the Southwestern Coal & Iron Company began operations on an extensive scale, and the flourishing Fierro camp, two miles north of Hanover, is the result. This utilization of these immense deposits of iron heralded a new chapter in the history of mining in New Mexico. During the seven years preceding the transfer of their properties to the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, the Southwestern Coal & Iron Company shipped out 750,000 tons of iron ore, and since 1898, when the Colorado Company came into possession, some 650,000 tons have been sent to Pueblo for treatment. The Colorado Fuel & Iron Company owns about twenty-five claims at Union Hill, and has a monopoly of the output, its present monthly shipments amounting to about 10,000 tons.
It is interesting to note that the first mining of iron for shipping pur- poses was done in 1882, by Dr. J. W. Welch, a pioneer of Hanover Gulch. The conract price for mining was $2.50 per ton, and the cost of wagon transportation to Silver City was $7.50. The contract called for 1,000 tons, and the doctor took the ore from Iron Head. Upon the completion of this contract he filled several contracts for iron on the Jim Fair and '86 mines, and from that time to the present he has been closely indenti- fied with the growth and prosperity of the iron camp. As he recently dis- posed of the Bull Hill group of claims for $6,500, it is evident that he is commencing to get his share of the general prosperity.
Deserted Georgetown .- In the seventies the district north of Hanover Gulch and the scene of the present important developments in copper and iron properties witnessed a veritable boom in silver. The discovery dates back to 1866, and the storm center of the boom of the late seventies was Georgetown, then one of the greatest silver camps in the west. The Naiad Queen, the Quien Sabe, the Commercial and the Silver Bell, now idle, were prominent mines, or groups of mines, in those days.
A visitor thus describes the Georgetown of the present: "On entering Georgetown late in the afternoon of April 23, 1903, the writer and his companion were much depressed by the awful stillness that pervaded the premises. In fact, absolutely nothing was found doing. The streets were depopulated and grown up in weeds. Long rows of buildings casting their ghostly shadows by the lingering sun, impressed us with a feeling of in- describable awe and horror. The once bustling, moving throng of sturdy prospectors and miners who had 'struck it rich,' the incessant clattering of the stamps in the silver mills, and the sharp crack of the mule driver's whip-all have been forever silenced in the brief space of a decade by the magic touch of time. Oh, what utter desolation! The flitting picture before us is a realistic view through the kinematoscope of the past-it is the passing of a western mining camp. At the end of these series of de- pressing views we behold, towering ahove the wreckage and piles of waste, a beautiful monument of solid silver, glinting in the setting sun, representing a production of $3.500,000 to the credit of the camp."
The Pinos Altos Gold Fields .- It is claimed. from the evidence of Mexican state papers, that gold was discovered in the Pinos Altos mountains (northeastern part of the present Grant county) in the begin- ning of the nineteenth century. The reported discoverer was General Pedro Aimendares, one of the commandants of the Mexican outpost at Santa Rita. but, like the discovery of America by the Norsemen, "noth-
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ing came of it," and the honor must, therefore, be given to later pioneers, from whose labors came the actual development of the country as a gold mining center.
In May, 1860, Colonel Snively, with his companions, Birch and Hicks, all old '49ers of California, drifted into the region of the Pinos mount- ains. While taking a drink out of Bear gulch, just above its junction with Little Cherry, Birch detected evidences of gold, which led to some placers being located in the vicinity of what became known as Birchville. By June quite a number of prospectors had gathered, and by December fully 1,500 persons were at the diggings. This motley population of Birch- ville was drawn from Missouri, Texas, California and the northern prov- inces of Mexico, and for some time each man realized from $10 to $15 per day.
In December following the original discovery Thomas Mastin located the first quartz lode in the Pinos Altos district. His claim was on the Continental Divide, was bought by a brother (Virgil Mastin) in the fol- lowing spring, and afterward developed into the well-known Pacific mine. It is now owned by the Hearst estate, with other large holdings in the camp. Of the chief lodes located in 1861 was the vein now being worked by the Mountain Key mine, under the ownership of Weld C. Chandler. The ore is a sulphide, carrying gold, silver and copper, and running espe- cially high in the first-named metal. High-grade ore was first discovered in 1887 by Lunger & Company, and the property was shortly afterward purchased by General Boyle. The latter organized a company, erected a mill, and in a comparatively short time took out $500,000. After laying idle for about a decade, in April, 1903, operations were resumed by the present owner.
The troublous times from 1861 to 1866, from which year the con- tinuous development of the district dates, is thus described in "New Mexico Mines and Minerals" by Fayette A. Jones: "During the winter and spring of 1861 the Apache Indians constantly menaced the life and prop- erty of the miners. In the fall (September 27) a severe engagement took place between the miners and a band of 500 Indians under the famous Apache leaders, Mangas, Coloradas and Cochise. The miners were ulti- mately victorious, but Captain Thomas Mastin, who commanded a com- pany of volunteers, lost his life, and several others were killed during the bloody conflict. After this engagement most of the people, through fear, quit the country. Only a few of the most reckless remained, Virgil Mastin being one of the number who refused to leave in order to avenge the death of his brother, should an opportunity be presented. Several years later Virgil Mastin was ambushed and killed near the Silver Cell mine.
"But little work was done during 1861-64. as most of the Americans had abandoned the camp. (The governor in his report of 1861-62 alludes to the fact that thirty gold lodes at Pinos Altos were working, employing 300 men, and that the ore was worth from $40 to $250 per ton.) During this interval of abandonment the Mexicans changed the name from Birch- ville to Pinos Altos. Owing to the forest of 'tall pines' which existed there at that time the name was very suggestive and has clung to the place ever since.
"About the close of 1864 the camp was attaining its former prestige by an influx of American miners, and mining was again on the eve of
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. prosperity, when another raid was made hy the Apaches, who succeeded in terrifying all the inhabitants and driving off all their cattle and horses. Nothing further was attempted in mining until 1866, when the Pinos Altos Mining Company was organized and chartered under the laws of New Mexico. The members of the organization were Virgil Mastin, J. Edgar Griggs, S. J. Jones, Joseph Reynolds and J. Amberg.'
The formation of the Pinos Altos Mining Company was the com- mencement of systematic and practical activity in the district. In 1867 it completed a fifteen-stamp quartz mill, the second in the Territory, and only preceded, by a few months, by the mill at the Ortiz mine, in Santa Fé county. Other mills followed, and by the fall of 1869 more than 200 quartz mines had been located in the district, to say nothing of placer claims.
In 1883 Peter Wagner built a five-stamp mill, with concentrator at- tached, the first in the Territory. Through his pioneer concentrator he was the first miner in New Mexico who was able to successfully handle re- fractory ores, and thus has a double claim to a leading place in the history of southwestern mining.
The property covered by the noted Silver Cell group of mines lies two miles southeast of Pinos Altos, and the remarkable discovery of high- grade silver here, in the midst of a pronounced gold field, was made by the three Dimmick brothers in June, 1891. They were Pennsylvanians who had homesteaded a tract of land in this locality, and, in a modest way, were engaged in the dairy business. The story goes that while herding one of the brothers threw a stone at a cow, and after the rock had left his hand he became aware of the fact of its unusual weight. The search which followed resulted in his discovery that the supposed rock was a piece of solid silver. He at once exhibited the remarkable specimen to his two brothers, and the trio soon discovered the lode, abandoning their dairy business for that of mining. Systematic development was prosecuted, and during the following twelve years the output of native silver from their various lodes amounted to $100,000. Very little gold or copper was ever developed. Although thus productive, this veritable bonanza was never worked by the Dimmick brothers on a large scale. As necessity or desire prompted, they would take out a shipment, which never failed to net handsomely, some of the ores giving returns of 5,000 ounces to the ton.
In March, 1903, the Silver Cell mines passed from the Dimmicks into the hands of the Shamrock Gold and Silver Company, which is develop- ing the property on an extensive scale. Free silver ore is being mined at a depth of 400 feet, and a sixty-ton smelting plant not only treats the product from the Silver Cell, but from surrounding camps. The same company is also operating the Pacific mine, one of the old prop- erties already mentioned, which it leases from the Hearst estate.
Among the other important holdings of the Hearst estate in the Pinos Altos district are the former Bell & Stephens mines, which are being largely developed. Besides the mines mentioned and other smaller enterprises, impossible to enumerate, placer mining is carried on in the gulches of the Pinos Altos mountains, and the quantity of gold nuggets found every year is a considerable item. The fineness of the placer gold is 775. Most of this mining is now done by Mexicans, whose methods embrace dry wash-
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ing, panning and the use of the arrastra. Of the placer claims, the Log Cabin and Adobe are the most important.
It has been estimated that the production of the Pinos Altos dis- trict from the time of its discovery to the present time will approximate $4,800,000.
The Silver City District .- Although some of the precious white metal was mined west of the present site of Silver City in very early days- enough to fix that locality as the scene of the first modern silver mining- the discoveries in Silver, or Cloride Flat, about two miles from town, were so overwhelming in their magnitude as to constitute the commencement of the real mining history of the district. This prodigious find of silver was unearthed in 1871 by Jim and John Bullard, J. R. Swishelm, J. R. Johnson and several others, and within a few years about $3,000,000 worth was taken from this circumscribed area.
John Bullard, one of the principal discoverers, and a popular character of the region, from whom Bullard's Peak (west of Silver City ) is named, was shot through the heart by an Apache Indian in the winter following the exciting event. Immediately after killing Bullard the Indian, who had been wounded in the back, expired himself.
The first successful development work, on a commercial scale, done in the Silver City district was by M. W. Flemming in 1876. Besides Mr. Bremen, in the early active days such companies as the Wisconsin, the Tennessee Mining and Milling and the Cibola Milling were in operation, as well as the well-known Carrasco smelter. Compared to the 'zos the mines of Chloride Flat are now unproductive, and the old Fleming camp, about seven miles northwest of Silver City, is deserted.
On April 20, 1883, while prospecting in the locality just named, J. H. Penrose (who had a partner, Frank Baxter) made what was then the largest surface silver strike in the world, finding two four-foot veins of native, horn and malleable silver. John W. Fleming, of Silver City, had staked various prospectors, such as "Dutch Henry" and "French Pete," and about this time, or shortly before, they made similar strikes and laid the foundation of Camp Fleming, which in the '8os was a considerable silver producer.
J. H. Penrose, mentioned above as one of the old-timers of this region, was born in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1845. He spent several years in the em- ploy of the British government on geographical surveys and as a mining engineer in the East Indies. Afterward a pioneer miner in Australia and Africa, he reached the United States in February, 1881, and traveled through Colorado and New Mexico as a mining inspector prior to his rich find near Silver City.
In May, 1883, the Silver City, Deming & Pacific Railroad was com- pleted to the former place, which event marked the height of prosperity of the silver-producing district around it.
Alhambra ( formerly Blue Bell) is situated in the north end of the Burro mountains, southwest of Silver City, and is a silver camp with working mines. A depth of 400 feet has been obtained here, and the native silver ore frequently runs as high as 15,000 ounces to the ton. The Solid Silver Mining Company has a group of claims in this dis- trict, and has a record of $600,000 in production, with a development of 750 feet.
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
Since 1900 a region in the Burro mountains, about fifteen miles south- west of Silver City, has come into considerable notice as a good producer of copper. It covers an area of some two by three miles, and is also the site of one of the most productive turquoise mines in America. John E. Coleman, who made the first turquoise discoveries, and well known in the early days as "Turquoise John," is credited with being the pioneer of this copper country, as he made a number of locations of both the gems and metal as early as 1879. There was a spasmodic activity in copper during the early 'Sos, but neither mines nor smelting plants were profitable, and the real development has been reserved for the past few years. Sev- eral of the largest mines have smelters in operation at Silver City, while one (the St. Louis) has a one hundred ton concentrating plant on the ground.
As late as 1903 the Southwestern Copper Company, of Boston, the Comanche Mining and Smelting Company, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the Alessandro Copper Mining Company, a Connecticut concern, were among the heaviest holders and most extensive developers in the camp. Since then there has been considerable consolidation of the mining proper- ties, especially under the management of the Burro Mountain Copper Company. The most extensively developed mines were owned by the Southwestern Copper Company, the property consisting of twelve claims, the majority of which were patented. The deepest working in this group is the St. Louis mine, which has yielded several fortunes since its discovery ; still the working shaft is only about 500 feet in depth. As a rule the ore is a high-grade copper, but there are large quantities of low-grade concentrat- ing ore. Of the forty-eight claims held by the Comanche Company, the Klondike. the Comanche, Sulphide Boone, Oquiwka, Milton No. 2 and Canton are the best developed. It has a large smelter at Silver City, which not only handles the product of its own mines, but considerable custom ore. The Alessandro Copper Mining Company has a plant for the treatment of its ores by the leaching process, and the smelter of the St. Louis mine is, as stated, also on the site of the workings. The Sampson group, rep- resenting Canton and Pittsburg capital; the fifty claims controlled by C. Amory Stevens, and a large number of other private properties are features of this very busy and productive camp. It is said that the dis- trict embraces more individual holdings than any other in Grant county.
In the western portions of Grant county, both north and south of the Southern Pacific Railroad, with Lordsburg as their center, are a number of mineral districts which have seen better days than the present, but in which there are still some producing mines of gold, silver, copper and turquoise. The chief interest, perhaps, centers in the camp of Virginia, or Ralston, the almost deserted Shakespeare, just southwest of Lordsburg, being a pathetic memorial of high hopes laid low, and a mining boom, of international proportions, founded on fraud and ending in ruin and sui- cide. Ralston, the San Francisco banker, threatened with financial disaster at home, sent his prospectors and agents into the region to gather speci- mens, make maps and lay the foundation of the excitement which was to uphold his falling fortune. Bonds were readily sold in London, Paris and other European centers, as well as in the United States, and an imposing company organized; but with the coming of actual miners the glorious paper prospects did not materialize into actual nuggets and metallic ores ;
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some of those interested in the camp failed financially; Ralston himself committed suicide by drowning in San Francisco bay, and, to add to the bad name which the locality obtained in the early '7os, many investors were swindled by a purported discovery of diamonds. One valuable gem is yet said to remain in the sands near Lee's Peak, where it was buried and its location forgotten by the tricksters who perpetrated the fraud. The founding and disruption of Ralston camp is such a remarkable chapter in the early settlement of Grant county that the reader is referred to the sketch of that county for the details.
But before leaving the historical phase of the subject an illustration should be given of the methods by which the country was exploited by Ralston's agents-a leaf, or dodger. from the profuse literature which flooded the west depicting the glories of his camp of Shakespeare. The original print is upon a large sheet of blue paper, now in possession of Dr. M. M. Crocker, of Lordsburg, and is to this effect :
"HO FOR THE GOLD AND SILVER MINES OF NEW MEXICO.
"Fortune hunters, capitalists, poor man, sickly folks, all whose hearts are bowed down and would live long, be rich, healthy and happy, come to our sunny clime and see for yourselves !
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