New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

Spanish and American prospectors discovered gold, silver, and copper mines in southwestern New Mexico in the 1800s. This talk describes the further development of these mining operations into the early 1900s. During this time period improvements in technology made mining profitable and eastern corporations invested in New Mexico mines. This era saw the development of paternalistic company towns. Miners faced difficult and dangerous working conditions, but their lives improved compared to previous generations. This presentation tells the stories of the towns and the people in southwestern New Mexico that owed their livelihood, in whole or in part, to mining.

This talk will also discuss collecting mining postcards. Postcards with pictures came into existence in 1901 with a change in postal regulations. A mining camp of any size at all would have a post office, and people wrote each other more frequently than today. People wanted to show off signs of development and progress in their towns, such as tree-lined main streets and substantial buildings. They were also proud of industrial developments, such as the mining operations shown in this talk. Postcards showed the day-to-day operations, such as steam shovels, trains, freight teams, and concentration mills.

The focus of this talk is on mining between 1908 and the 1920s, because this was the "golden age" of postcards. The best postcards were printed in Germany. With the advent of World War I, Americans cut their ties with many German businesses, and that was the end of these beautiful postcards in the U.S. Local publishers printed many postcards as well. Real photo postcards were created by individuals with cameras. These one of a kind images are often quite valuable. The golden age of postcards coincides with the beginning of several large-scale industrial mining operations in New Mexico.

Warning: collecting postcards can be as habit-forming as collecting minerals!