Bulletin 1—The Mineral Resources of New Mexico

by F. A. Jones, 1909, reprinted 1915, 77 pp., 1 sheet. Out of Print. Available as CD.

Mineral Resources Survey. The appearance of this bulletin is the first of its kind dealing with the mineral resources of NM, published under the direction and authority of the State School of Mines. It is the intention to issue a series of similar bulletins coming through the School of Mines and Mineral Resources Survey. The demand for such literature is very great and rapidly increasing from year to year. In course of time these bulletins will cover the field and laboratory investigations in every portion of the state. Probable artesian basins will also be examined and the feasibility of reclaiming the same by irrigation reported upon. NM affords an almost unlimited field for reconnaissance and research work along the lines indicated.

It is just beginning to dawn upon the people that the mineral wealth of NM is the state's greatest asset. The mineral production during the present year, 1915, will approximate $20,000,000. Mining is thus seen to be, by far, the largest single industry in the commonwealth. It rivals the combined industries of cattle, sheep, agriculture, and horticulture. The mines of NM employ more labor than that employed by any other single industry, excepting farming.

The present bulletin is virtually a reprint or rather a revised edition of a former publication made in 1908, by the writer, under the authority of the NM Bureau of Immigration. So great was the demand for the first booklet, the first 2,000 copies were exhausted in less than six weeks. A second 2,000 copies were ordered printed by the Bureau of Immigration before the type forms were thrown in, to meet the demand for literature about the mineral resources of the state.

In presenting this epitome of the Mineral Resources of NM, it is to be hoped that what is herein offered may be conducive to a more intelligent understanding and appreciation of the dormant mineralogical resources of a commonwealth of which, comparatively speaking, little is known.The value of the metallic output of the state in 1914, as estimated by the U. S. Geological Survey, was $12,070,000; an increase over that of 1913. The non-metallic products were valued at $7,000,000 during 1914. The entire mineral production for the year 1914 aggregated an excess of $19,000,000 making the mining industry supreme in the state. Historically, NM is the oldest and most widely known of any section in the US; commercially its importance is meagerly comprehended.

Although NM is the cradle of the mining industry in the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Slope regions, peculiar political conditions have retarded its development. The fact, however, should not be overlooked that the initial impulse received in the development of the Great West was due to the discovery of gold in Santa Fe County at the base of the Ortiz Mountains, in the year 1828. This discovery was made 20 years before the great gold excitement at Coloma in CA and 30 years before the find on Cherry Creek in CO. The discovery of placer gold in NM marks the beginning of modern American methods that have so effectually revolutionized every phase in the art of mining and in the science of metallurgy.