USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 61
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The first mine to be developed and become a valuable producer was the Silver Monument, near Victoria's Outlook. Up to 1893 it produced $100,000. then was idle for a decade, and has been somewhat active since. The Colossal, a few miles southwest of Chloride, has shipped out $60,000 in silver, and at Grafton a camp, two miles northwest, is the once famous Ivanhoe mine. Its stock was floated by Col. Robert G. Ingersoll and his associates, in the early eighties, and produced considerable ore for several years.
Copper and Turquoise Mines of the Jarilla Mountains (Otero County),
boro, and represented the Eleventh district in the Thirty-sixth legislative assembly.
Colonel A. W. Harris is one of the citizens of Kingston who is en- thusiastic in his belief concerning the future of New Mexico. This is not the view of an optimist, but is the opinion of a man of practical ideas and broad experience, who recognizes opportunities and through a study of trade interests and possibilities bases his prediction not upon chance, but upon fact. A native son of New England, he was born and reared in Rhode Island. When twenty-one years of age he became a resident of California, and while there residing rendered service in various official positions to which he was called by the votes of his fellow townsmen, who recognized his worth and capability. He served for several terms as justice of the peace, was associate judge of Alameda county, California, and in 1874 was elected a member of the Massachusetts legislature. In 1882, for the benefit of his health, he made his way to Lake Valley, in New Mex- ico, and being pleased with 'the climate and the prospects of the country decided to remain. In a few months he invested in mining property in the Kingston district, and has since been actively associated with the develop- ment of its rich mineral resources. He developed the Illinois mine, which has produced over four hundred thousand dollars. He was part owner and manager of the mine from the earliest period of its development, and also became a fourth owner and manager of the Monaska group and owner of a large part of the Virginia mine, on the North Perche creek. His broad experience in connection with prospecting, the operations of the mine and the processes of working the ore have given him unbounded faith in the camp, for he recognizes that there are immense bodies of ore that can be treated profitably with a concentrating plant. His investments have resulted profitably and he is zealous in his advocacy of the country and its prospects. Mr. Harris is a demitted member of Eden Lodge. A. F. & A. M., of California. In politics he has always been a stalwart Repub- lican and gold standard advocate, but since coming to New Mexico has declined political honors.
Vol. II. 29
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
-In the region of the Jarilla mountains, a little range in the southwestern part of Otero county covering an area of about nine by five miles, is a copper-bearing district which has already produced considerable and is quite rich in prospects. For ages the district was also celebrated for its turquoise deposits, which were mined by Aztecs, Mexicans and Americans. The DeMueles mines, which had a monopoly of the turquoise production in this district for a long time, have been idle since their proprietor was killed by a Mexican in 1898. Since then, however, they have been worked for their copper ores. Although prospecting was conducted in the Jarilla mountains by S. M. Perkins in 1879, the district did not come into prom- inence until nearly twenty years later, and then, not from any locations of copper properties, but because of the exploitations of the turquoise made by Amos J. De Mueles.
Among the best developed properties are the mines of the Three Bears Mining Company, the Nannie Baird and the Lucky. The contact and blanket veins of the two lodes last named show immense outcroppings of iron, under which are the large copper deposits carrying a liberal quan- tity of the precious metals. In the Lucky the vein matter attains a thick- ness of over thirty feet, and in the Nannie Baird the vein is more than nine feet wide. In several parts of the district several deposits of iron, commercially valuable, have been encountered, and some shipments have been made, as from the Iron Queen lode. Placer mining has been carried on with some success by the Electric Mining and Milling Company, the chief drawback here to the industry having been the scarcity of water.
Mines of Sandoval and Rio Arriba .- The chief productive district of Sandoval county has centered in Bland, which lies in its northern por- tion, midway between the Rio Grande and Jemez rivers. Prospecting was done in this region as early as 1880, but it did not become really prosper- ous until 1883, and then largely depended upon the product of the Albe- marle group, which was first located by Chester Greenwood, Norman Blotcher and Henry Woods. The mines, which consisted of the Albemarle, Ontario, Pamlico and Huron, were afterward purchased by the Cochiti Gold Min- ing Company, of Boston. Under this ownership the property was opened to a depth of 800 feet. A reducing plant of 300 tons capacity was com- pleted in 1890, the electrical power coming from a generator at the Madrid coal mines, thirty-five miles distant. The ore was reduced by dry crush- ing, and extracted by the cyaniding process. During the two and a half years of their operation the Albemarle mines produced $667,000 in gold and silver. in the respective ratio of about two to one. The plant closed down in the spring of 1902-the ores gradually decreasing in value with depth-and the property went into the hands of a receiver. In the Jemez mountains, west of the river by that name, are valuable copper deposits, the principal claims being owned by the Jura-Trias Copper Company, which has extensively developed its property of 1,000 acres.
In the eastern part of Rio Arriba county, west and south of Tres Pie- Aras, there have been several prominent developments of silver and gold mines within the past twenty years. The Bromide, the first lode discov- ered, from which the district west of Tres Piedras takes its name, was located by D. M. Field and J. M. Bonnett in 1881. Some ore, which is pure silver, has been taken from the mine, but the property has been little developed. The Colonial Mining and Leasing Company has made most
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of the shipments within late years, but work has been greatly retarded on account of the heavy flow of water.
Professor Fayette A. Jones was born on August 1, 1859, on a farm twenty miles southeast of Kansas City, Missouri. His father, a school teacher and civil engineer, came from Puritan stock, and his mother was a Virginian, closely related to the Lee family of Revolutionary and Civil war fame. Professor Jones received his early schooling at a common country school, where he developed an aptitude for mathematics and en- gineering. He remained on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age, after which he secured employment in a flouring mill at Blue Springs, Missouri, working alternately as engineer, bookkeeper and miller. From 1880 to 1882 he attended the Missouri State University, during his spare time being employed on the college farm, receiving ten cents an hour, thus being enabled to remain at school after his father had become finian- cially embarrassed.
In 1882, he married Miss Agnes A. Cairns. The year following his marriage Professor Jones taught a country school and engaged in survey- ing. From 1884 until 1889 he was city engineer of Independence, Mis- souri, and was also deputy surveyor of Jackson county from 1884 to 1888. From 1889 to 1892 he was a student at the Missouri State School of Mines, a portion of that time being also assistant professor of engineering and mathematics, graduating at the head of his class, taking degrees both in civil and in mining engineering. From 1892 to 1893 he was engaged in mining engineering and metallurgical work in Arizona, having a nar- row escape from death at the hands of the Apache chief known as "The Kid." During the fall of 1893. Professor Jones made a preliminary rail- road survey from Maxwell City, Colfax county, New Mexico, through the Taos Pass to the Rio Grande. In 1894 and 1895 he was engineer in charge of an expedition across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and from 1896 to 1898 was the government assayer in charge of foreign ores at the port of Kansas City, Missouri. During this time he acted in addition as chemist of the State Geological Survey of Missouri. It was from 1898 to 1902 that Professor Jones was president of the New Mexico School of Mines at Socorro, during the last named year being appointed field assist- ant of the United States Geological Survey, and at present has charge of the mineral resources of New Mexico as a member of the Survey, making his headquarters at Albuquerque. As a member of the New Mexico board of managers for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, he gathered the mineral exhibit and compiled a volume entitled, "New Mexico Mines and Minerals," covering the mining history and resources of the Territory.
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
COAL FIELDS OF NEW MEXICO.
According to the latest estimates, the coal fields of New Mexico em- brace an area of 1,493,480 acres, or over 2,330 square miles; combined, therefore, they would overlap the state of Delaware by more than 280 square miles. As the thickness of the seams has been approximately de- termined, the available tonnage, or "coal in sight," has been placed at 8,809,000,000. The Cerrillos mines of Santa Fé county are the only ones which have ever produced anthracite coal, and the latest reports were that, as they had encountered such a poor grade, they had been forced to suspend operations. As a stoking coal, the product of some of the New Mexico mines is the equal of any in the world.
By counties the available coal-producing territory and tonnage of the same is as follows :
Field.
Area.
Thick- ness of coal seam.
Tonnage available.
McKinley and San Juan counties.
800,000
60
4,800,000,000
Colfax County
345.600
72
2,488,320,000
Santa Fé County
26,880
40
107,520,000
Lincoln County
1,000,000
Rio Arriba County
192,000
40
768,000,000
Socorro County
65,000
50
325,000,000
Valencia County
64,000
50
320,000,000
Total
1,493,480
8,809,840,000
Acres
Inches
General Progress of Coal Mining .- Coal was known to exist in New Mexico as early as the beginning of the nineteenth century, but the first vein was not opened and utilized until 1863, when General Montoya mined some coal on land which he claimed as a part of his private grant, but which was afterward declared as a portion of the public domain, and is now included in the Carthage field of eastern Socorro county. This pio- neer Mexican operator hauled his product to Fort Craig to supply the needs of the troops during the Civil war, who are also said to have worked the mines themselves to some extent. From these facts it became known as the Government mine. Technically, this historic property is located in the S. W. 14 of the N. W. 14, and the N. W. 14 of the S. W. 1/4, Section 15, Township 5 South, Range 2 East, New Mexico principal base and meridian. The thickness of the seam at this point is six feet and the depth of slope 800 feet. Of late years the mine has not been operated regularly.
The next opening of the New Mexico coal fields was in the Cerrillos anthracite district, in 1869-70. Work was done in two localities by the New Mexico Mining Company, and personally by R. W. Raymond, the
975
MINING
site of the operations being near what is now called by operators Cerrillos Anthracite "A" 28 mine, situated at the town of Madrid, Santa Fé county. From the first of the workings 250 tons were taken out and used by the company at their steam stamp mill, working at the Old Placers in that vicinity. Another 100 tons was mined from an excavation a short dis- tance to the southwest of the first openings, and piled on the dumps ready for use. At that time samples of the coal were tested by Mr. Brucker at his assaying furnace in Santa Fé. He states, according to Prof. F. A. Jones, that lie was able to obtain a white heat in a very short time, and that its lasting qualities were about three times as long as that produced by an equal weight of charcoal. The same authority adds that coal was known to exist in 1870 at the following places in New Mexico: About ten miles south of the anthracite deposits at Madrid; near Galisteo creek; on the pueblo Indian reservation, in the vicinity of Taos, at the foot of the Pueblo mountains; on the Vermejo, Raton mountains, near Maxwell's- vein six feet thick; on the Purgatoire river, Las Vegas; at the Rio Puerco; in the San Mateo mountains, and at several places west of Fort Wingate. Approximately, 400 tons of coal were produced in New Mexico in 1870.
For a number of years past the production of the Territory has been beyond the 1,000,000-ton mark, the greatest increase being in the fields of Colfax county. Until 1903 Mckinley was in the lead, but during that year Colfax county, on account of the superior coking qualities of its coal, increased its output by 294,000 tons and is still first. It is this marked superiority which has attracted the attention of Eastern capitalists, manu- facturers and railroad men to Colfax county, and resulted in the wonder- ful development of her coal mining. In 1905 one of the greatest land deals known to the world was perfected in the Raton district. It is thus authoritatively described by the "Mining and Engineering Journal," in August of that year :
"Having acquired the property of the Raton Coal and Coke Company, in northern New Mexico, the St. Louis, Rocky Mountain and Pacific Com- pany, which was incorporated in New Mexico a month ago, has matured plans for a noteworthy increase in the output of steam and domestic bitu- minous coal and of coke. The company has in operation two new and well-equipped coal mining plants: one, with a single drift opening at Blossburg, four or five miles west of Raton, New Mexico; another with three drift openings at Van Houten, about ten miles southwest of Raton. The Van Houten plant dates from 1902, and the Blossburg plant from 1903. The former has electric haulage, the latter the tailrope system; in both operations the maximum possible use is made of gravity.
"These mines, now served by a branch of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railway, will have similar connections with a new railroad, 120 miles in length. to be constructed by the St. Louis, Rocky Mountain & Pacific Company. The railroad is to extend from Des Moines, New Mex- ico, on the Colorado & Southern Railway, 80 miles south of Trinidad, Colorado, to the Elizabethtown gold mining district in the eastern foot- hills of the Rocky mountains, about 70 miles west of Raton.
"The company's mineral property consists of 184,170 acres of coal land in fee simple, and coal rights and surface necessary for mining in 314,300 acres. The area controlled, about 800 square miles, is one-half as large again as all the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania and five
976
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
times as large as the entire Connellsville basin. This property is the largest body of coal land under one ownership in the United States. The coal lies in horizontal seams, mostly from 5 to 13 feet thick, and is mined by adits and entries along the seams into the mesas or foothills. The mines are dry and non-gaseous.
"Examinations of the coal field have been made in behalf of Fisk & Robinson, of New York, by three well known geologists and engineers, viz .: Professor Orestes St. John, E. V. d'Invilliers, of Philadelphia, and William Griffith, of Scranton, Pennsylvania. With regard to the charac- ter and extent of the coal all these engineers say :
" 'The property is not only extensive, but is well located and combines many of the principal factors which vouchsafe the integrity of a coal and coke proposition, and insure its commercial success.
" 'The geology, structure and topography of the Raton coal tract are all favorable to the regular occurrence of coal and for its economical min- ing. There are certainly three commercial coal seams, all outcropping above water level along the eastern escarpment of the mountain plateau, and therefore subject to drift mining.
" 'These three seams occur within an interval vertically of 800 feet. All yield good mining sections from 4 to 8 feet in thickness, the lowest, or Raton, seam being the only one now commercially developed, and, within the scope of existing mines, yielding 6 to 8 feet.
"'The coal lies at very gentle angles of dip, often quite flat and rarely exceeding an inclination of more than 11-5 degrees. Some slight faults and dikes have been encountered and some intrusion of basaltic material causing the coal seam on either side, above or below, to be converted into a natural coke; but the region, as a whole, is singularly free from such effects, and such small dikes as have been met with have, in no case, caused any change in mining plans.
"'Because of the thickness of the seams, the roof and floor ordinarily are not disturbed, either in driving entries or in working coal in the rooms. The floor is usually a hard slate, supported by massive Trinidad white sandstone below, and the roof is largely a tough slate in the Bloss- burg district, changing to sandstone in the Willow or Van Houten can- yon.
"'At Blossburg the coal seam nominally ranges from 5 to 7 feet, but the roof is comparatively poor and the timbering required is much greater than elsewhere in the field. The present limited average output is 500 tons per day. Such an enlargement of plant is justified as to secure an output of 1,000 to 1,500 tons a day. At the Van Houten mines an out- put of 200 tons per day can readily he secured from three mine openings, delivering to one tipple. The thickness of seam, absence of water, an excellent roof (requiring a limited amount of prop timber), large devel- opment, and a thoroughly well equipped and efficient mining plant, all combine to render the mining of coal here rapid and economical.
"'The areas which these coal seams occupy are very great; how great it is not possible to assert now, in view of the fact that no occasion has arisen to do more than establish the integrity of the principal seam throughout its outcrop of 48 miles back from the eastern edge of the coal field.
"'As thus defined this limited area of 42,700 acres of this one coal
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bed ought to yield about 300,000,000 tons of coal, with an assurance of 50,000,000 tons more in the higher seams on this property within only one- tenth of their known area of occurrence.
"'Aside, therefore, from the enormous reserve tonnage in the re- mainder of the tract-160,000 acres-the available coal tonnage of the eastern escarpment of the field, open to drill mining, is 350,000,000 gross tons.' "
It will be seen that the great increase in the output of the Colfax county dates from the commencement of operations by the Raton Coal & Coke Company and the St. Louis, Rocky Mountain & Pacific Company.
According to the report of Jo E. Sheridan, United States Mine In- spector, for the year ending June 30, 1905, the net product of the coal mines of New Mexico, after deducting 62,196 tons used in their opera- tion, was as follows:
County
Colfax
Net Product 880,087 43,140 430,888
Value $1,101,101.75
Lincoln
107,326.10 610,244.20
McKinley
41,523
59,836.80
Santa Fé
62,033
190,000.00
Sandoval
1,400
1,750,00
San Juan
4,550
2,937.50
Socorro
8,481
12,646.50
Total for Territory
1,472,102
2,086,042.85
The total number of employees was as follows:
County.
Men.
Boys.
Colfax
1,077
30
Lincoln
85
4
McKinley
609
36
Rio Arriba
61
3
Santa Fé
132
16
Sandoval
16
..
San Juan
27
. .
Socorro
56
. .
Total for Territory.
. 2,043
89
During the fiscal years 1903 and 1904 there was an approximate in- crease in the output of twenty per cent, while 1905 showed a decrease of 122,482 tons. Fully twenty per cent of the production of the last named year is believed to have been held back by lack of transportation facilities caused by the widespread washing out of railroad beds by freshets in the fall of 1904. It unfortunately happened that this serious interference with freight traffic occurred during the season when winter stocks of coal are. generally stored by the coal dealers and when the railroads replenish their reserves for winter service.
The more permanent features of the coal industry in New Mexico, as well as the extent of the competition in cheap fuel oil, are thus set forth in the report of the Mine Inspector :
"Coal mining is destined to become one of the chief industries of New Mexico, and it is safe to say that within the next five years it will.
Rio Arriba
978
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
have made a strong race for first place as to value of production. At the present time fuel oil from the oil wells of California and Texas is re- placing coal upon the railroads of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico to the almost complete exclusion of coal upon the railroads and to a great extent for domestic and manufacturing purposes. The de- mand for New Mexico coal has thus been lessened to the extent of 1,000,000 tons per annum, approximately. On the other hand, the mines have not been fully equipped and developed, nor have the transportation facilities been adequate to supply the demand during the fall and winter months. Coke from Eastern states and from England has been used at the smelters of Arizona and Mexico, because of the lack of facilities for production of coke at the mines of New Mexico. All these obstacles and hindrances now seem certain of being remedied within a few years upon the completion of new railroad connections and the construction of the many new coke ovens now under way. The manufacture of coke will largely increase the output from the coal mines and give employment to many more people.
"In Mckinley county the producing capacity of the mines is far in excess of the demand. It is in this county that the competition of fuel oil is most felt. The cheap fuel oil of California has been substituted for coal upon the Santa Fé Pacific Railroad from San Francisco, California, to Seligman, Arizona, a length of 770 miles of road, and also upon the branch from Los Angeles to Barstow, California, 141 miles, and upon other coast lines where New Mexico coal was used, and oil is also used in many industries and for domestic purposes in many localities of Cali- fornia where coal was formerly used. And yet with this formidable com- petitor in the field of consumers the production of coal from Mckinley county shows a very slight decrease, and had transportation facilities been available during the winter months to supply the California markets the production of Mckinley county would have shown a gain for the past fiscal year. This indicates that the settlement of the territories of Arizona and New Mexico and development of their resources has created a demand which at present compensates for the lost markets to the railroads in California, and which will in the near future furnish a home market for a large proportion of New Mexico's coal production. The development of the vast mining resources of Arizona and old Mexico are largely depend- ent upon the cheap coal of New Mexico.
"Fuel oil has been substituted for coal in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, territory tributary to the El Paso, Texas, coal market, curtailing the demand by fully 30,000 tons per month, which means an equal diminu- tion of production from the Colfax county coal mines. Thus the demand for New Mexico coal has been lessened to the amount of 1,000,000 tons per annum. Continued development of the resources of California and the Pacific Coast states, as well as New Mexico, Arizona, and old Mexico, will insure an increased demand and permanent market for New Mexico coal on a scale of greater magnitude than most people foresee. Nor can the influence of the Panama Canal, when completed, be overlooked. Through the harbors of California vast tonnage will be transported via the canal, and the New Mexico fields will furnish the nearest available coal supply for the vessels engaged in this traffic.
"During the past two years many shipments of coal were made from the Colfax county, New Mexico, mines to various points in Oklahoma
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and Kansas, the New Mexico coal being preferred to the product of mines closer to these markets, and New Mexico coal commanded a sufficiently higher price to compensate for the difference in cost of transportation on the longer haul from New Mexico mines. This will indicate a good future market in that direction for the coal from this Territory. Favored by loca- tion, near the markets of old Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and California, as well as the local demand, in all of which markets New Mexico coal is pro- tected from competitors by reason of distance of other mines from these markets, New Mexico is thus assured of a good market for its great coal resources.
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