Page 43 - The Geology and Ore Deposits of Sierra County, New Mexico - Bulletin 10

42 GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF SIERRA CO., N. M.
and prospecting was probably done in the Southwest by the Indians under the direction of the Jesuit fathers, There is evi- dence of early attempts to work silver deposits, turquoise was mined, and a small amount of gold was obtained from placers. It is doubtful if much or any of this work was done in Sierra County, although it is possible that the Animas placers and per- haps some of the lead-silver outcrops of the Kingston and Her- mosa districts were known.
The Pueblo Indians revolted against the oppressive rule of the Jesuits in 1680, and the Spaniards, together with all friendly Indians, were obliged to abandon the country. On their return some 20 years later it was expressly stipulated by the Indians that the Spaniards would not again engage in mining, and the search for metals languished until the end of the eighteenth century, when the copper deposits at Santa Rita, Grant County, were discovered.
New Mexico was incorporated as a territory of the United States at the close of the Mexican War in 1846. The construc- tion of the Southern Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads through the Territory in 1879 to 1882 resulted in a large influx of prospectors and miners. This was a period of great excitement and activity, during which nearly all the mining districts of the region were discovered and developed. The early prospectors were particularly interested in silver and to a lesser extent in gold. The ores of the base metals, copper, lead and zinc, were not attractive on account of the high transportation cost and long haul through a hostile Indian country to the smelters. In 1877 placers and gold quartz veins were found near Hillsboro. Discoveries were made in the Hermosa 'and Apache (Chloride) districts in 1879, and in the Kingston and Cuchillo Negro districts in 1880, and during the next few years substantial amounts of silver ore were extracted. The silver deposits at Lake Valley, found in 1878, in a few years yielded a total of 5,000,000 ounces of silver. Many small mills and re- duction works were built. Some of them were located without proper regard for sources of supplies and were operated on ores unsuited for the process installed and without benefit of expert metallurgical knowledge. As a consequence, most of these plants were unprofitable and were operated for only brief periods. In addition, the rich silver ores of the outcrops were soon worked out, and this, together with the decline in the price of silver which began in 1885, placed the mining industry of Sierra County in a pronounced state of stagnation during the closing years of the nineteenth century.
About 1901 the El Paso smelter, owned by the Consolidated Kansas City Smelting & Refining Co., was acquired by the Amer- ican Smelting & Refining Co. and was enlarged to permit treat- ment of copper ores in addition to lead, silver and gold ores. A renewed interest was aroused in the base metals, especially