Page 45 - The Geology and Ore Deposits of Sierra County, New Mexico - Bulletin 10

44 GEOLOGY AND ORE DEPOSITS OF SIERRA CO., N. M.
increased. Since 1893 the annual production of the county has been nominal, with the exception of the years 1898 and 1899, when it rose considerably due to an increase in the quantity of gold recovered.
Prior to 1884 and for the period 1886-1888, inclusive, official records are not available for the production of Sierra County. Estimates of the production from the time of the first mining until 1904 place the figure at about $19,800,000. From 1904 until 1931, production is officially valued at $1,212,040, making the total value of production to 1931 about. $21,000,000.
In the table in pocket, the recorded production totals
$9,594,503, and the estimate for the periods 1877-1883 and for 1886-1888, which is not included, is therefore about $11,400,000, in order to arrive at the grand total of $21,000,000 as shown above. Local differences of opinion exist as to the total produc- tion from the various districts within the county, and some of these opinions carry considerable weight. The writer has taken these differences into consideration in the sections covering the individual districts but feels that it is less confusing to rely on the long-accepted estimates rather than to make changes in the total amount that would not exceed $500,000 at the most.
The tables included in this section have been compiled from data given in reports of the Director of the Mint, from annual volumes of "Mineral Resources of the United States," and from a table in Professional Paper 68 of the United States Geological Survey.
Most of the gold mined in Sierra County has come from the placers and gold-quartz veins found near Hillsboro. Large quan- tities of silver ores were shipped in a few years following 1877 from deposits in the Hermosa, Kingston, Apache and Cuchillo Negro districts, and from the phenomenally rich silver deposits in Lake Valley. The most important period of the gold-silver production in Sierra County was from 1884 to 1900.
As a result of improvements in transportation facilities, such as the introduction of the auto truck, the building of good roads in many parts of the county, railroad connections at two points in the region, and efficient smelting plants at El Paso. Tex., and Douglas, Ariz., a market was provided for base metal ores, and there was a more or less steady increase in the produc- tion of copper, lead and zinc ores from 1901 to 1931. During this period the production of gold in the county fell off very markedly, while the production of silver was maintained at a moderate level throughout. The table on page 45 shows the aver- age prices that prevailed for silver, copper, lead and zinc from 1884 to 1931, and upon which the values of Sierra County pro- duction have been calculated, as shown in the table of produc-
tion.From 1911 to 1931 inclusive, Sierra County shipped 76,013 tons of ore, which may be divided among the several districts in