|
|
...continued
The back road from Albuquerque to
Santa Fe winds between the Sandia Mountain uplift and the rich ore fields of the
Ortiz and San Pedro Mountains. The area encompassing the Cerillos Mining
District was harvested for turquoise as early as 950 ad. Anasazi Indians used
basic hand tools to pull out more than 40,000 tons of ore from the quarries they
dug. During the 17th and 18th centuries, (with time out
for the Pueblo Revolt in 1680), Spanish settlers extracted some silver and lead
from underground lode mines. La Mina del Tiro, one of the earliest metal mines
in North America, shows evidence of shafts running 200 feet deep.
Fame came and fortunes were paid for the gold and silver struck in 1828. At the height of the frenzy, a British company, operating the Cash Entry mine, hauled concentrate by wagon to Las Vegas, New Mexico, and from there to Wales for smelting. By the turn of the century, coal had superseded turquoise and the sulfide minerals as the new venture capital investment. The fuel was scarce enough that the Southern Pacific Railroad ran a line from El Paso, Texas to reach the broad seam of anthracite and bituminous coal that underlies present day Madrid.
next page....Madrid 
 |