Mineral Resources of the San Carlos Indian Reservation Arizona
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Mineral Resources of the San Carlos Indian Reservation Arizona By CALVIN S. BROMFIELD and ANDREW F. SHRIDE A CONTRIBUTION TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY GEOLOGICAL .SURVEY BULLETIN 1027-N UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1956 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fred A. Seaton, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas B. Nolan, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. G. - Price $1.25 (paper cover) Page Abstract_______-_____-___--- _ _____--_----_----__--_._ 613 Introduction...._--_-----_------_---------- _.-__-__-_-__-_____ 613 Location and accessibility.____ _______.-_. _______________ 613 Topography and general setting._____ ________________ ____ 615 History of mining and production.____ ___________________ . 616 Mining regulations of the San Carlos Indian Reservation._____ _. 617 Present status of mining and prospecting-_______ _______________ 617 Purpose and scope of this report and methods of study________j___. 617 Acknowledgments. ________ ___________________ j_____. _______ 618 Previous work in the area-____--____----------_--_------__--___ 618 General geology--------------------------------------------------- 619 Sedimentary rocks_-__________----__-___-___-___-______________ 619 ., Pre-Cambrian rocks________________________--______--_ 619 Paleozoic rocks__________________________________________ 624 ,. Tertiary sedimentary rocks___-_-----___---__-___--_-_______ 625 ' Pleistocene (?) and Recent alluvium_______________________ 626 Igneous rocks--_-___---_-_-_-_-_-__--___ _ _____ _______ 626 Structure___.. _- _ 628 .Mineral deposits.. ____________________ __ ___________ _._ 630 Metallic deposits.-. ._. _ __ -___ ___ 630 Copper___.____-.__________-____ _____ 630 , ,, Copper King or Wylomene claims.____________________ 631 Peacock claims__-______.--____--____-_.___--___-____ 633 ,, Bitter Spring prospect_______________________________ 634 Geronimo prospect______________________________ 635 Tribal claims__________________________ 636 ... Copper prospect (name unknown)_______________________ 636 Prospect near Bucket Mountain (name unknown)_________ 637 Iron___ _ 637 Iron claims-__-_-----__-___----_-_____-_____-____.__ 638 Seneca iron prospect.__________________________________ 639 Uranium.________________________________________________ 640 Nonmetallic deposits_________________________________________ 641 Asbestos__-____-_---_-_---_----_----_-_-____--_--______ 641 Sawmill Canyon subarea_______________________________ 650 I. S. Hole Canyon subarea____________________________ 652 Salt River-Cienega Canyon subarea.____________________ 653 Bear Creek subarea__________________________________ 664 Cassadore Spring-Oak Creek area.______________________ 670 Apache ridge area____________________________________. ' 672 Hayes Mountains area___-___-_-_-_____--.___________._ 676 "Tufa" stone, gypsum, and diatomaceous earth..__-.__.______ 679 "Tufa" stone...-.__..-______________________ 680 Gypsum __ 681 Diatomaceous earth__________________________________ 683 m IV CONTENTS Mineral deposits Continued Nonmetallic deposits Continued Page Peridot_______________________,____________ 686 Guano___________________________________ 687 Summary of resources_____________________________-_-.________.__>_ 687 References cited.. _.?_--_-_____.:____________________________________ 688 Index..________________________-_...-...-._-.._____ 691 ILLUSTRATIONS [Plates 52-54 in pocket] . PLATE 52. Geologic map and sections Of the San Carlos Indian Reser vation. 53. Index map of the San Carlos Indian Reservation showing mineral localities. 54. 'Geologic map and section of the Copper King-Wylomene copper area. Page FIGURE 76. Index map of Arizona showing location of the San Carlos Indian Reservation_______________________________ 614 77. Geologic column and associated mineral resources, San Carlos Indian Reservation___..____________________l__________ 620 78. Geologic sketch map of the Peacock copper workings.______ 634 79. Geologic map and section of the "Iron" claims workings..., 638 80.' Geologic map and section of the Silk-Wonder asbestos claims area ________________________________________________ 651 81. Geologic map and sections of the Emsco asbestos mine______ 655 82. Geologic map and section of the Great View asbestos mine area__________ ------ 659 83. Geologic map and sections of the Bear Canyon asbest,os,mine_ ... 666 84. Geologic map and section of the Black Mesa asbestos prospect. 671 85. Geologic map and sections of the gypsum area..---_--.---- . 682 A CONTRIBUTION TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE SAN CARLOS INDIAN RESERVATION, ARIZONA By CALVIN S BROMFIELD and ANDREW F. ABSTRACT ; * At the request of the Council of the San Carlos Apache Tribe the U. S. Geo logical Survey entered into a cooperative agreement calling for a brief recon naissance study to determine, as far as practical, the mineral potential of the San Carlos Indian Reservation. Five months of field work was done during the winter and spring of 1952-53. About 30 percent of the reservation is covered by alluvial deposits of late Tertiary, Pleistocene, and Recent age, and. another 60 percent is covered by volcanic, rocks of Tertiary and perhaps Pleistocene age. These rocks are younger than the major epochs of metallization in southeastern Arizona. The remainder of the area is underlain by pre-Cambrian and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, pre- Cambrian granite, and pre-Devonian diabase. , ! The reservation is located in two physiographic provinces: the northern part Is in the Colorado Plateaus province and the southern part is in the Basin and Range province. The boundary between the provinces generally follows the southern rim of the Natanes Plateau. The mountain ranges south of the Natanes Plateau are, in general, tilted fault-block mountains composed largely of south westward-dipping pre-Cambrian and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. The northern part of the reservation is dominated by the Natanes Plateau. West of Blue River, the plateau is composed of generally flat-lying pre-Cambrian and Paleozoic rocks overlain by Tertiary volcanic flows. East of Blue River, the older rocks disappear under the Tertiary volcanic rock and reappear at one place only between Arsenic Tubs and Park Creek. Asbestos is the most important mineral resource on the reservation and most of the prospecting has been for this mineral. Asbestos was the only material being mined in 1953 (five mines being active). Deposits of tufa stone, peridot, guano, copper, iron, gypsum, and diatomaceous earth also occur on the reserva tion; of these, only tufa stone, peridot, and guano have been mined com mercially. INTRODUCTION LOCATION AND ACCESSIBILITY The,San, Carlos Indian Keservation occupies 2,500 square miles in east-central Arizona (fig. 76). It extends from Mount Turnbull on 613 614 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 100. Miles FIGURE 76. Index map of Arizona showing location of the San Carlos Indian Reser vation. the SOUth, to the Salt and Black Rivers on the north maximum dis^ ,tance of 50 miles and from near Globe on the west to the vicinity of Eagle Creek on the east a distance of about 70 miles. It includes parts of Gila, Graham, and Final Counties. Most of the inhabitants of the San Carlos Indian Reservation live in the towns of San Carlos and Bylas, although a few people live at Peridot and Calva. These settlements are joined by a branch line of the Southern Pacific Kailroad, which has its terminus at Globe and connects with the main line at Bowie, Ari£. The only other perma- MINERAL RESOURCES, SAN CARLOS INDIAN RESERVATION 615 nent inhabitants are on a few ranches widely scattered over the reservation. As of 1953, there were two paved highways in the area. U. S. Highway 70, which passes through Bylas, traverses the southern area of the reservation, and part of its .route between Globe and Safford follows the Gila valley; and U. S. Highway 60 cuts across the extreme northwestern corner of the reservation. Two improved graded roads connect the Indian Agency headquarters at San Carlos with U. S. Highway 70 at two places. The remainder of the reservation is serv iced by dirt roads of varying degrees of improvement. Much of the area is accessible only by trail. Winter snows and summer rains make many of the dirt roads impassable for short periods. TOPOGBAPHY AND GENEBAL SETTING The San Carlos Indian Reservation lies on the boundary between the'Colorado Plateaus and the Basin and Range province. Within the reservation the precise boundary between these two physiographic provinces cannot always be determined, because lavas of a great vol canic field cover much of the reservation and, in place, obscure the division. Roughly, however, a northwest-trending line following the southward-facing escarpment of the Natanes Plateau would approxi mate the south boundary of the Colorado Plateaus province (fig. 76 and pi. 52). North of the south-facing escarpment of the Natanes Plateau, called the "Natanes Rim" in this report, is an area typical of the plateau province. The area is characterized by the general high level of its surface and by the approximate horizontal position of its rocks. The average altitude is about 6,000 feet; however, several prominent features, such as Hilltop and Chiricahua Butte, rise to over 7,000 feet. The drainage in this broad area is generally northward to the Salt and Black Rivers. These rivers, and their principal tributaries, have cut steep rugged canyons into the plateau surface. These canyons make parts