Page 138 - Early Naturalists of the Black Range

Between pages 258 and 259 of “Ore Deposits of New Mexico”
N. H. Darton
Darton was researching the geology of Luna County as early as 1910. In 1911, Darton and E. F. Burchard published “Fluorspar Near Deming, New Mexico” in Contributions to economic geology (short papers and preliminary reports) 1910 : Part I -- metals and nonmetals except fuels. They note (p. 533) that “in the summer of 1910 the general geology of the region was mapped by N. H. Darton in connection with the preparation of the Deming geologic folio and of a water-supply paper on the Mimbres Valley, and the fluorspar deposits were examined by E. F. Burchard.” This paper not only includes a detailed discussion of the geology of Fluorite Ridge, northeast of Deming, it includes a description of early mining activity in the area.
In 1914, Darton published Underground Water of Luna County New Mexico, USGS.
By the time Darton published A Comparison of Paleozoic Sections In Southern New Mexico in 1917, “. . . he had correlated these units widely across southern New Mexico, from the Silver City area to the Sacramento Mountains. This paper is an excellent overview of the geology of this area. These formational names, with some subsequent refinements (several Devonian formations are now recognized in addition to the Percha), have been used ever since (Fig. 7).” (Celebrating New Mexico’s Centennial - The Geology of New Mexico as Understood in 1912: An Essay for the Centennial of New Mexico Statehood, Part 2, Barry S. Kues, University of New Mexico, p. 31.)
Darton’s correlation of strata from various areas in southwestern New Mexico (from A Comparison..., link above) is shown on the following page, as is an informative map from “Fluorspar near Deming...” (link above).

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