CIRCULAR 84 County, Township, and Range Locations of New Mexico's Mining Districts Including Subdistricts, Camps, Synonyms, and Selected Prospect Regions by LUCIEN FILE AND STUART A. NORTHROP 1966 New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources A DIVISION OF NEW MEXICO INSTITUTE OF MINING & TECHNOLOGY Circular 84 New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources A DIVISION OF NEW MEXICO INSTITUTE OF MINING & TECHNOLOGY County, Township, and Range Locations of New Mexico's Mining Districts Including Subdistricts, Camps, Synonyms, and Selected Prospect Regions by Lucien File and Stuart A. Northrop SOCORRO 1966 Published by Authority of State of New Mexico, NMSA 1953 Sec. 63-1-4 Printed by University of New Mexico Printing Plant, May, 1980 Available from New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources, Socorro, NM 87801 Price $4.00 Contents iv Introduction Since the first mining claim was filed in New Mexico, But, for other resources, he used "area" or "locality", on March 26, 1685, by Pedro de Abalos for his mine— not "district". Copper localities were cited as: Nuestra Senora del Pilar de Zaragoza, in the Fra Cristobal Mountains—tens of thousands of names have Andreas mountains been applied to claims, thousands of names to Hanover prospects and mines, and hundreds of names to camps, Lake Valley subdistricts, and districts. San Pedro Many districts have never been formally organized Santa Rita with specific boundaries. District names have often Shakespeare been applied quite loosely, and a single district was Tulerosa (Tularosa) in White mountains. often subdivided into two or more subdistricts or camps. As Jones (1904, p. 21) remarked, "most mining Williams' (1883, p. 756-758) report included a districts in New Mexico are very indefinite in regard "Summary of useful minerals . at present mined," to their extent or area; generally embracing a whole which was prepared by Whitman Cross. In this, a cluster or range of mountains or continuous mineral- number of districts are cited, together with a larger ized belts, regardless of size or shape." Prospects have number of areas or localities not designated districts: been referred generally to a prospecting district or region. Highlights in the development of New Mexico mineral Cited as Districts Cited as Localities resources are given in the Appendix. Bullard's peak Black Range mountains In his report of 1867, James W. Taylor, special Carlisle Burro mountains commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department for Chloride camp Cerillos the collection of statistics upon gold and silver mining Galisteo coal Lake Valley east of the Rocky Mountains (in Browne and Taylor, field Georgetown Magdalena mountains Hillsborough Los Mogollon mountains 1867, p. 324-326) , noted at least 13 areas of mining in Cerillos Pinos Nogal mountains Old New Mexico. The following year he (Taylor, 1868, p. Altos Turkey Baldy mountains 4-6) noted mines at: Creek White Oscura mountains Abiquin (Abiquiu) Moreno Oaks Placer mountains Pueblo springs Arroyo Honda (Hondo) Naciemento Raton hills Avo (Abo) (Nacimiento) Santa Fe mountains Cerillos (Cerrillos) Nambe mountains Santa Rita mines Guadelupita Ocate Silver City Taos county placers (Guadalupita) de Mora Organ mountains Hanover Pinos Altos Jemas (Jemez) Placer mountain Cross also listed known occurrences, not then (1882) Los Tijeras (also as Raton mountains mined: Tijera) Santa Rita Cited as District Cited as Localities In addition to various misspellings, some areas were Abiquiu Cimarron, Cito creek mislocated. Taylor reported that the Moreno mines Galisteo region were "30 miles north of Taos, Moro (Mora) county." Los Cimarron mountains, 22 The term "district" was not yet being applied. miles south of Santa Fe (?) The construction of railroads in the Territory be- Zuni mountains tween 1878 and 1882 brought a great wave of prospec- tors. In his Mineral Resources of the United States, 1882, Albert Williams, Jr. (1883) began using the term In the period 1883-1903, the term "district" was "district" in reporting tonnages of coal produced in used increasingly by various writers. In his New Mexico New Mexico in 1882. For example the following coal mines and minerals, Fayette A. Jones (1904) reviewed the districts were named: early history of New Mexico mining, district by district. Altogether he recognized about 117 districts; Amargo (also given as Monero) numerous subdistricts and camps were described. Of Gallup his 117 districts, 48 are known by the same name Los Cerillos (Cerrillos) today. About 12 more have slightly modified names, Raton readily recognizable. Unfortunately, a map was not San Antonio included in Jones' book. 1 Naming of Districts Lindgren, Graton, and Gordon (1910, p. 46) observe ing of district: lode and placer names, survey names, that "deposits of metallic ores rarely occur in single post office names, agency names, and names from occurrences. They cluster characteristically in certain other sources. These are in themselves complicating localities and these are designated as 'districts'. Each factors, and become more so when local custom district is delimited simply by customs or regulations imposes a local name for a place officially named of miners within its confines, and may contain several something else on the map or in the records. subdistricts or camps. Several districts constitute a mining region." Custom and regulation then are the criteria for de- MAPS OF MINING DISTRICTS fining and naming a district. Regulation as a factor in Starting in 1910, a number of maps of the Territory naming of districts has not been apparent in litera- or State (New Mexico became the 47th State in 1912) ture, and therefore has no validity at this time. were published that show the location of mining dis- The mining laws of 1872 are virtually cancelled out tricts and the chief metals and nonmetals produced. by the fact that the public land survey can be extended These are summarized below. to any part of the mineral domain, and most of the filing for claims is now done under the public land Year No. of Districts Category survey. 1910 81 Metals Custom, however, is established by continual reference 1911 141 Metals in literature to a name. 1912 85 Metals It is interesting to note that some of the first dis- 1933 119 Metals tricts in the United States were named in terms of 175 Occurrences of nonmetals agricultural procedure. This was particularly true in 1937 the midwest where the farmer was a part-time miner 1942 156 Metals and nonmetals and operating under the assumption that the minerals 1955 140 Metals of the manor belonged to the lord of the manor, ex- 1959 177 Metals and nonmetals ploited the minerals as he found them. For example, lead ore might be turned up by the farmer's plow and 1910.—Lindgren, Graton, and Gordon's The ore de- his children picked up the ore behind the plow; and posits of New Mexico included a map showing 81 this at times was an important part of the production metals districts. of lead, especially in the State of Illinois. Most descriptions of metalliferous occurrences in 1911.—The Clason Map Company published a Mining the State are general and require knowledge of the map of New Mexico showing 141 districts, chiefly specific district, and this fact tends to keep mineral metals. See under Jones (1915) . nomenclature from being used to any great extent. When the first primitive surveys were made, it was 1912.—In The mining districts of the western United States, the privilege of the surveyor to name the area as his Hill's New Mexico map shows only 85 districts. This fancy might dictate, and this original name was easily map differs slightly from Lindgren, Graton, and changed later by purchasers, lessees, or mine claimants Gordon's map of 1910. About 18 subdistricts, camps, as well as by local custom. or synonyms were added. The various land survey agencies had jurisdiction over mining lands until this function was taken over 1915.—In 1908 Jones had prepared a booklet of 47 by the Bureau of the Census, which relied on the pages entitled Epitome of the economic geology of New local postmaster to name the district. Thus many of Mexico, published by the Territorial Bureau of the original districts were named purely on a census Immigration. This did not include a map, but listed basis, and names of districts often reflect a fight over about 100 mining districts, chiefly for metals. In 1915 a local postmastership, or post office franchises, with essentially the same report with but a few changes was several changes. Some of the agencies, before the issued as Bulletin 1 of the Mineral Resources Survey Census Bureau took over, put their own district of New Mexico, New Mexico School of Mines. It was names on the mining district, and these were often entitled The mineral resources of New Mexico and included changed subsequently. the Clason map of 1911. An intriguing aspect of this Another complication in naming of districts is the bulletin is that the text recognizes only 100 districts fact that some districts were named on a placer mining whereas the map shows 141 districts. basis, without reference to any lode mining which developed later, or without reference to lodes in the 1930.—New Mexico mineral deposits except fuels, by R. neighborhood. W. Ellis, did not include a map but described about Thus we find five factors which enter into the nam 75 mining districts. 2 1933.—Lasky and Wootton's The metal resources of New PROBLEMS ARISING FROM Mexico and their economic features includes two maps. COUNTY CHANGES The map for major metals shows 103 districts and the map for minor metals shows 43. Eliminating some In examining old records and reports, one often duplicates, the total number of different districts is encounters the problem of a given district being as- 119.