New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

The Socorro Peak mining district is quiet today, but 120 yrs ago it was a different story. The town of Socorro, also known then as the "Gem City" was alive with mining and smelting activity, and there was great hope for a bright future (Silver City Southwest Sentinel, 1889). During the early 1880s as many as 150 oxen and mule teams were busy hauling lead and silver ores from the Magdalena district (Kelly, Graphic, and other mines west of Socorro; Eveleth, 1983). They pushed through Blue Canyon on the south side of Socorro Peak ("M" Mountain) to the busy smelters of Gustav Billing in Park City, 2 mi west of Socorro. The ores from the Socorro Peak district also added to the activity. The Socorro Chieftain (1892) cites that "768,410 oz of silver came from Socorro Mountain mines: one half from Torrance and the rest from Merritt, Silver Bar, and New Find." Enthusiasm was riding high during this time. The Socorro Tunnel Mining Company of New Mexico prospectus (Robinson, 1881) uses the word "immense" on many occasions to describe the orebody and cites the "extensive deposits of auriferous rock that occurs." With regard to the mines on Socorro Peak, the Socorro Chieftain also writes: "It is a well known fact that these claims are permeated with an inexhaustible supply of silver in a chloride form." This is not exactly true because in 1904, Fayette Jones reported: "This once prominent smelting plant is now practically dismantled and with the dying fires of its stacks, the life of the Socorro district passed out."

Today we can still see the dumps of the mine shafts and the tunnels that fired the dreams of the early prospectors, miners, and residents of Socorro. On the east face of Socorro Peak they remain a silent testimony to the activity that once dominated the area. Much of the production history of these mines has been lost, and little of the mineralogy has been documented. In Rocks and Minerals magazine geologist and mineral collector Will Moats offers the most comprehensive information on the minerals of Socorro Peak (Moats, 1991).

These days the mines of Socorro Peak beckon to the mineral collector, but access to the mines is only possible through the written approval of the Energetic Materials Research Test Center (EMRTC), an affiliate of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. With the approval of EMRTC, I was able to visit the following Socorro Peak mines in preparation for this presentation: May Flower, Socorro (Woods) Tunnel, Silver Bar, Dewey Load, Merritt, Torrance, and the Maine Tunnel. In most cases, hazardous underground conditions, vertical shafts, and collapsed drifts prevent underground inspection and collecting, but the mine dumps can produce most, if not all, of the minerals of interest to collectors (primarily microminerals). Minerals collected during this investigation include: mottramite, mimetite, vanadinite, wulfenite, willemite, hemimorphite, bromargyrite/chlorargyrite, barite, malachite, cerussite, chrysocolla, calcite, quartz, and gypsum. Caledonite, descloizite, and linarite (Moats, 1991) and argentite/acanthite and fluorite (Lasky, 1932) have been reported but were not observed.

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank EMRTC director, Dr. John Meason, and associate director of administration and support, Mr. Rudy Correa, for granting permission to visit and collect at the Socorro Peak mines. I would also like to thank EMRTC engineer and raconteur, Mr. Alan Perryman, for his helpful assistance and for his company while visiting the mines.

References:

1. Chieftain, Newspaper, February 12, 1892. Socorro, New Mexico.
2. Eveleth, R. W., 1983, Gustav Billing, The Kelly mine and the Great Smelter at Park City, Socorro County, New Mexico; in Chapin C. E., and Callender, J. F. (eds.) Socorro region II: New Mexico Geological Society, Guidebook 34, pp. 89-95.
3. Jones, F. A., 1904, New Mexico mines and minerals; World's Fair edition: Santa Fe, New Mexico Printing Company, 349 pp. plus biographical supplement.
4. Lasky, S. G., 1932, reprinted 1983, The ore deposits of Socorro County, New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Bulletin 8, 139 pp.
5. Moats, W., 1991, Minerals of the Socorro Peak district, Socorro County, New Mexico: Rocks and Minerals magazine, v. 66, no. 1, p. 56.
6. Robinson, M. E., 1881, Prospectus, The Socorro Tunnel Mining Company of New Mexico, Socorro Mountain, includes sketch of Socorro Peak.
7. Silver City Southwest Sentinel, Newspaper, November 12, 1889. Silver City, New Mexico.