As long as the gulches yielded a fair return in gold there was no
so-called hard rock mining. Prospectors wandered over the hills,
sampling the surface veins. The Atlantic and the Pacific, east and west
of town, were located in 1861, also the Langston, but no development
work was done. The next year the Locke lode, later called the Mountain
Key, was discovered and years later became one of the richest producers.
Surface ores were treated in 75 arrastras during the war years. Crude
furnaces were used for the smelting of silver. Pinos Altos gold contains
both silver and lead so has never received the highest price, being
regarded at 70 per cent fine.
In July of 1866 Virgil Marton brought the first stamp mill by oxen from
St. Louis, also a saw mill. Both were kept busy, one crushing the
surface ores and the other cutting mining timbers and lumber for
buildings from the heavy stand of pine and juniper adjacent to the camp.
After transportation and other costs were deducted, he and his
associates averaged $10.00 a day each from the investment and labor. Big
money in those days. The next mines of importance to be located were the
Aztec, Asiatic, Ohio, Mina Grande, Pacific No. 2, all west of town, and
the Golden Giant which was practically in town. During ’68 and ’69 the
Pacific alone furnished ores for 31 stamps and the product surpassed all
expectations. From a geological point of view most of the gold bearing
ores belong to the Cambrian period. A porphyritic dyke runs along the
Pacific slope and tends to change the direction of the veins of ore.
There is much malpais to the north and east but the old-timers believed
that gold bearing rock lay underneath. John and Jacob Long found that to
be true when they discovered rich veins that had been exposed by
erosion. They called their claims the Osceola Group. They opened a shaft
60 feet deep and drifted along the vein for 70 feet, realizing from
$50.00 to $400.00 a ton. The Atlantic and the Deep Down which adjoin the
Osceola proved that rich ores were underneath the malpais.
The mines were not deep nor were the mining methods legitimate. The lead
would be followed, hoping it would join another vein where the richest
ore would be found. It was “gophered” out. Under the surface the quartz
changed to base or sulphuric ores which could not be successfully
treated with stamps. Peter Wagner erected a five-stamp mill and a
concentrator, the first which could treat base ores.
Lunger and Company sank a shaft on the Mountain Key to a depth of 90
feet and found very rich ore. They sold the property to General Boyle
and a stock company was organized with John Boyle, Jr., as manager. The
shaft was deepened to 470 feet, exposing large ore bodies. In 1890 when
James Jackson, who later became a well-known figure in mining circles,
went to work at the Key, there were three shifts working with 200 men
employed on each. The company built its own mill down Bear Creek where
adequate water could be piped from Mill Creek. Two dams were built
across Mill Creek and besides utilizing the water for the mill, in the
winters ice was cut on the ponds and stored in an ice house for summer
use by the townspeople. Then, as now, the canyon was a favorite picnic
spot.
The Golden Giant, which was known locally as the “Gopher,” was a good
producer. It was called the “Old Family Lode” during the ’60’s and ’70’s
because it could be depended upon to furnish gold to the populace. Even
today, after the rains Chelela, Loretto and Epifanio Cuebas find gold in
the vicinity of the dump. Often when easy gold became scarce a claim was
abandoned and open to relocation. A seventeen year old boy who had run
away from his home in Texas wandered into town one day. He watched the
miners washing gold and followed them to the store where the gold was
weighed. The storekeeper became interested in the boy and let him have a
prospector’s pick and gold pan. Each day the boy brought in a few colors
and one day appeared with some fair sized nuggets. Upon investigation it
was found that the ground adjoining the Gopher was open to location. The
boy filed on the claim and went to work in earnest. One day a stranger
came by and after watching him clean up at the end of the day, offered
him $8,000.00 for his claim. The boy took it and went home with his
fortune.
Boys went to work when they were fourteen. A man with his boys would
work a property digging, timbering and hoisting the dirt from the shaft
with a windlass and bucket. The ore was carefully sorted and any rock
showing free gold was ground in a hand mortar. The results varied.
Sometimes they would make but $10.00 a day but at others the man would
carry $200.00 worth of gold home in his lunch pail. After a man had
taken nearly $300.00 from the surface of the Mountain View he decided
that was all and sold the claim for $10.00 to a Mr. Demorest. From his
assessment work he realized $390.00 and that justified development work.
In a short time he netted $20,000.00 and made more by selling while the
showing was good. That was the surest way of making money and many
operators followed that principle.
The three Dimmick brothers had homesteaded on Whiskey Creek in the late
’80’s. One day Clint was driving in the cows, he picked up a stone to
throw at a laggard. The weight surprised him so he took out his knife to
chip at it and found it to be native silver. It took many months to
locate its source. Then in 1892 work was begun on the mine which they
called the Silver Cell and a smelter was erected nearby. The native
silver occurred in “chimneys” and when one was struck it was a
bonanza—otherwise the mine yielded little, although it was worked for
years.
It was not until 1883 that outside capital was sought. Then began a
period of expansion with up-to-date equipment. Trolius Stephens and
Nathaniel Bell interested a group of Californians and with them formed
the Pinos Altos Mining Co., which was known locally as “Bell and
Stephens”. The company acquired many of the mines, did development work
and had them patented. The old Place and Johnson mill was repaired,
increased to 15 stamp capacity with a first class concentrator,
installed scales and built a tramway to the top of the mill where ore
was dumped into bins and fed to the stamps. The camp not only hummed
with activity but it pulsated with the steady pounding of the stamps.
Every independent operator and lesser companies went to work with fresh
enthusiasm from the 101 mill at the foot of the Big Hill to the
Atlantic, from the Mountain Key to the Mammoth, from the Gopher to the
old Skillicorn mill. If a necessary shutdown occurred at night the
silence awakened all sleepers in the neighborhood.
Mr. George Hearst, who had cattle interests in the Southwest, heard of
the mines and sent a young mining engineer, Benjamin B. Thayer, to
investigate. He made a thorough examination and survey of all property
and recommended the purchase as a good investment. Mr. Hearst died about
this time and it was feared a sale would not be made. It was in May,
1896, that Mr. Bell took the result of one run of the mill into Silver
City and displayed eight gold bricks in a pyramid a foot high, weighing
109½ pounds troy weight, and valued at $20,367.00. It was good
advertising. Bell and Stephens wanted to sell and the Hearst heirs were
interested. On August 10, 1897, the papers were signed transferring most
of the Pinos Altos mining district and property within the town to Mrs.
Phoebe Hearst, who signed for the Hearst interests.
The new company concentrated on the Pacific Group, but other mines were
worked also—the Ohio, Mogul, Mina Grande. A smelter was built below
Silver City to treat the ores, hauled there in mule drawn wagons.
Articles of incorporation for a narrow gauge railroad, linking Silver
City, Pinos Altos and Mogollon had been filed as early as 1889 and some
preliminary surveys and grading done, then the venture was dropped. The
Hearst Interests realized the advantage of such a road and began
preparations to build a road connecting smelter and mines. A boarding
and rooming house managed by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fox, was built on the
flat below the mines to accommodate the workers on the railroad as well
as many miners who daily walked or rode over the mountain to their work.
Many cabins were built around the boarding house and it became quite a
settlement. To get a supply of water the company bought a ranch at the
cienega above Fort Bayard and piped the water from there to a reservoir
at the foot of Rocky Point, then it was pumped to another in the gap
between Baldback (where the police radio station is now), and the Pinos
Altos Mountains. From there the water flowed by gravity to the mines and
to the camp just below. When the government enlarged the Fort Bayard
Reservation all the watershed was included and ranchers had to
relinquish their water rights and sell.
The Hearst Company sold to the Comanche Mining and Smelting Co. in
February, 1906. The Comanche continued work at the mines and built the
long-talked-of narrow gauge. The smelter was the Silver City terminal
and from there the road wound for 23 miles around hills, across bridges
and up steep grades, rising about 3,000 feet to the crest. Machinery and
supplies were hauled to the mines and ore taken to the smelter. James
Roberts was the engineer. As an attraction at a Fourth of July
celebration in Silver City an excursion over the road was featured. The
ore cars were filled with merry makers who were truly thrilled by the
ride. A short time later a party of inspectors visited the mines, coming
up on the train. Going back to Silver City the brakes failed on a steep
grade. The loaded train hurtled down the mountain, failed to make a
bridge on a curve, and piled up in a gulch. One man was killed and Mr.
Roberts was seriously injured. Thereafter only the crew was allowed to
ride. The road was extended from the mines into town. The Keptwoman was
to be the station. All work was completed but the bridge across Bear
Creek. The panic of 1907 caused a slump and the Comanche became
bankrupt. The locomotives and the ore cars were salvaged and the rest of
the narrow gauge was sold as junk.
The Mammoth property was leased in the early 1900’s to a Connecticut
concern. A great deal of money was spent for which there was little
return. However, the Waterburys did enliven the town. Besides repairing
and enlarging the mill, digging wells along Bear Creek and installing
pumps, and constructing a large reservoir, the old adobe house was
enlarged, a screen porch added and used as a living room, and water
piped into the house for Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Waterbury, their
associates and guests. Mrs. Waterbury and her sister, Miss Hall, were
close relatives of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, but Pinos Altos was unaware
of Mrs. Roosevelt in those days. Lawrence Waterbury was in charge of the
property and tried to get as much satisfaction and pleasure out of his
duties as he did from his polo playing back home. He brought the first
automobile into Grant County and whenever he chugged into a town a crowd
surrounded him and the car. In those days men wore long linen dusters
and goggles when motoring and the women covered their large hats with
fluttering chiffon veils. Mrs. Waterbury and Miss Hall did not hide
their beautiful clothes under unbecoming dusters, for which the women of
the town were grateful. Even little girls copied the dresses for their
dolls. Although the activity at the Mammoth was of short duration the
Waterburys left a strong imprint on the people of the town. They began
to screen the porches and to figure out means of piping water into the
homes. The women were more fashion conscious and the men began to save
for an automobile.
The Comanche was succeeded by the Savannah Copper Company and there was
another spurt of activity. Many of the mines were leased to individuals
and the company worked only the Pacific and Hearst groups. Corrigan,
McKinney Company of Cleveland with mining interests in Mexico wanted
sulphides as a flux for the ores there. They leased the Hearst and
employed many men. Jimmy Corrigan was technically in charge but he was
too much of a playboy to take his work seriously. He delighted the boys
by buying baseball equipment and playing ball with them, often in the
street, and if a ball went through a window Jimmy would send a boy with
a five or ten dollar bill to pay for the damage. Mothers with
marriageable daughters tried to attract his interest for it wasn’t
everyday that a personable young man with $40,000,000.00 was a member of
the community. Jimmy gave big parties with guests from the surrounding
area as well as the town. He was having fun while keeping one eye on the
mining game. That was going in a satisfactory manner until the
revolution in Mexico resulted in the Terrazas property being confiscated
and a fire in the mine here caused the company to cease operations.
The greatest mining excitement of the past fifty years occurred in
1911-1914 when Ira Wright and James Bell leased the Pacific Mines and
struck high grade. For 1800 pounds of the ore they received $43,000.00.
This was said to be the richest shipment per pound received at the mint
in San Francisco up to that time. The values, gold, silver and copper,
in the ore extracted and shipped to the smelter more than paid expenses.
There is irony in the story of the rich strike. The miners were aware of
it first and quietly and expertly did some high grading. No work was
done on Sundays but everything was locked up. However, as William
Swiekert said, “A lock keeps honest people out.” Mr. Wright was told
that gold was getting away from him. One Sunday afternoon, he, Jim Bell
and a party slipped up to the mine. They found that some miners had
apparently worked all night and perhaps up to the time when a look-out
had warned them of the party leaving town. More ore had been shot down
than could be carried away. Some large pieces were left outside the
shaft. For years, at night one could sometimes hear the grinding of hand
mortars. Presumably some Bell-Wright ore had been brought out of hiding
when money was needed. It was estimated that the miners got as much gold
as the operators. Mr. Wright wanted to build an electro-static mill, and
as Jim Bell was not interested in that venture, he withdrew and I. J.
Stauber took his place. No more large pockets were found and the lease
was not renewed.
Other men, believing that rich ores were still in the mines, worked them
for a short time, in a small way with varying degrees of success. J. T.
Janes believed that the Hardscrabble could be a big producer and over a
period of years convinced others to the extent that they would put money
into the property. Mr. Janes’ stories were far richer and more colorful
than anything that came out of the mine. Perhaps the rich ore is there,
as it is said to be in the Gopher, the Hearst and the Mountain Key. Mr.
W. C. Porterfield had a gigantic scheme for locating ore bodies. Through
his efforts money was raised to finance a company to tunnel Pinos Altos
Mountain as an exploratory measure, cutting across the many veins which
would reveal the most advantageous places to sink a shaft. Work was
started but World War I interfered with that project. The Calumet Co.
built a mill south of town but never ran more than 700 tons of ore
through it. The Hazard and the Keptwoman attracted operators; the first
proved that it was well named and the second showed that its name was a
misnomer. During the depression men flocked to Bear Creek until the
scene must have resembled early days. There were seventy or more crude
rockers being used by men trying to eke out an existence by placering.
Tom Crowe used more modern and efficient methods on his claims at the
mouth of Little Cherry and on Cottonwood Flat. Douglas White also
operated a dredge and sluices down the creek.
The largest nugget ever found, so far as is known, was picked up by
Fernando Cuebas in Santo Domingo. It was as large as a hen’s egg and
contained very little quartz. It was sold to Mr. J. L. Rollins, then of
St. Louis, as a specimen for the sum of $200.00.
The Cleveland Group was owned and operated by George H. Utter for a
number of years. Although they are in the Pinos Altos district they were
not regarded as “belonging” since most of the laborers and supplies came
from Silver City and the ore was taken there over a mule-powered
railroad. Many families lived at the Cleveland and at one time the camp
had its own school. Of late years the scarcity of water has led to the
use of dry washers which supply a topic of conversation, if little more.
Water and gold may give out but hope never does. Men and women still
prospect. Mr. Richard Allen, who wrote a history of Pinos Altos,
published by The Silver City Enterprise in 1889, estimated that
$3,000,000.00 in gold had been produced, and he predicted that that much
a year beginning with 1890 would come from the mines. The Bureau of
Mines’ Bulletin No. 5, states that: “Over $8,000,000.00 worth of gold,
silver, zinc, lead and copper has been produced in the Pinos Altos
mining district.” Much of the gold produced probably never reached the
government’s great safe-deposit box at Fort Knox, Ky., but what did is
but an infinitesimal fraction of the $19,000,000,000 worth, about
one-half the world’s gold, hoarded there. If there is gold permeating
the rocky Pinos Altos hills, and, of course, there is, it is as safely
buried as that at Fort Knox.
During the years 1947-1949 the U.S.S.R. Co. conducted an explorative
project, the object of which was to investigate the possibility of lead
and zinc ores at a greater depth than earlier work had revealed. At that
time the company drilled 28 diamond drill holes in the Pinos Altos
district aggregating 21,000 feet. The holes range in depth from less
than 100 feet to nearly 2,000 feet. Since 1949 the company has done a
limited amount of work, mostly as assessment work to hold the claims on
the eastern edge near the Atlantic and on another group in the vicinity
of Pinos Altos Mountain. Many of these claims have since been patented.
The exploratory work revealed ore at the depth of 500 feet which can be
mined when the need arises. This may mean that Pinos Altos will again be
an active mining community, producing lead and zinc, with gold and
silver recovered as a bonus.