Calchihuite (Turquois) is an immense mine, entirely caved in. It was formerly worked by the Pueblo Indians for turquoises. Small seams of this mineral are still visible, but it seems to be of an inferior kind. Two large gems from this place are said to have been presented by the Indians to Charles V.

Many other mines and silver lodes were visited, but the former were too much caved in, the latter too little opened to admit of anything like a reliable description. It may be mentioned, however, in this connection, that an assay of a specimen of very coarse galena from one of the last-mentioned veins gave a result of 76 per cent. of lead, and $42 75 silver per ton.

The Sandia Mountains are very little prospected. They are situate between Albuquerque and the New Placer, and contain many regular and well-defined lodes of argentiferous galena in a gangue of calcareous spar. A sample assayed from one of these yielded $33 75 silver per ton of 2,000 pounds.

The Madalena Mountains are situate about thirty miles west of Scorro, a town on the Rio Grande del Norte, and one hundred and forty-three south of Santa Fé. Three years ago a California miner found a very rich piece of silver ore in these mountains, and subsequent prospecting expeditions resulted in the discovery of many lodes, most of them small, but rich in copper and silver. A specimen yielded, by assay, $109 06 silver per ton; others are reported to have assayed as high as $500.

The Santa Juliana lode is said to be a very large galena lode, which carries $9 per ton in silver. Most of the veins have been but very imperfectly opened, as will be seen from the following description of the region:

The Madalena Mountain range rises abruptly from the plains to a height of over 2,000 feet. It extends about forty miles in a north and south direction, and is on an average three or four miles wide. The principal rocks constituting it are limestones and metamorphosed sandstones. The mineral-bearing veins are found on the summit and along the western slope of the range, the greatest number being located on its northern end. Some of the cañons along the sides of the mountain contain placer gold, but the quantity is insufficient for profitable working. The Washington lode is located at the summit of the range near its northern end, and forms the crest for a considerable distance. It strikes northwest and southeast, and dips about 350 to the southwest. It is large and well defined and carries copper, lead, silver and gold ores. The first named are predominant. The openings, so far, are inconsiderable, the deepest shaft being less than 30 feet.

The Chavez, south of the Washington, on the summit of the range, has nearly the same strike and dip, and appears to be its extension. It is a contact vein between the limestone and sandstone, and carries the same ores as the Washington; the lead ores, however, predominate. The Santa Juliana, at the base of the western slope of the mountain, has the same strike and dip as the Chavez. It is a very large vein, from 10 to 20 feet wide, and has been traced on the surface for a long distance. It contains, principally, carbonates of lead; besides this, copper, silver, and gold. The gangue is impregnated throughout with mineral, and the vein is undoubtedly capable of producing extraordinarily large amounts of ore when properly opened. Good pine timber and plenty of water are close at hand on every side, and the adjacent plains are covered with a luxuriant growth of gramma grass.

The Hubbell is located in a small range of low, grassy hills, about seven miles northwest of the Santa Juliana. It strikes northwest

and southeast, and stands nearly vertical. The vein is small, but its very straight course can be traced on the surface for a long distance. The ores seem to be formed by the decomposition of fahlerz, and consist of carbonates of copper, chloride of silver, &c. They are very rich and can be reduced by amalgamation.

The Corona de Pueblo has the same strike and dip and carries the same ores as the Hubbell. A number of similar veins are in the same vicinity, all of which are only slightly opened. They are situated in the pass about twenty miles east from the Rio Grande. The Corona de Pueblo is ten or twelve feet thick, dips at a slight angle, and carries carbonates and copper glance. It has been very imperfectly opened; the shaft, 20 feet deep, has not yet passed through the vein. The ore contains a small amount of gold and silver.

About a year ago adobe furnaces were erected at some of the Madalena mines and considerable amounts of ore were smelted. The enter prise was, however, unsuccessful.

Whenever railroads shall traverse this country, its mines will be of great value, as they will possess then every facility for successful working. For present working the ores are too poor in the precious metals to stand the large cost of transportation for supplies and the metal.

The principal copper mines of the "Territory have already been described. Besides those already mentioned, the mountains between Taos and Moreno, at Abiquiu, Tijeras, and Manzano, may be enumerated as localities rich in copper ores. The mines of Nacimiento and Jemez, where small seams of native copper occur between layers of sandstone, have been abandoned, as have also those of Tijeras. Most of these mines are not likely to be successful until railroad communication with the civilized world is established.

Some of the gold lodes near Real del Tuerto, however, might be worked to a profit even at the present time by extracting both gold and copper by means of the proper dressing and smelting works. There is so much gold ore carrying a large percentage of copper found at these mines, that a very successful business could be done on that basis, especially as the anthracite coal of the vicinity furnishes a very cheap and convenient fuel.

CHAPTER LIX.

COAL AND IRON ORES.

The occurrence of anthracite coal in workable beds in the western Territories near the gold and silver districts is of such great importance, that I cannot conclude this report on New Mexico without giving a detailed description of the anthracite mines at the Old Placer Mountains. They are situated near the northwestern foot-hills of that range, about twenty-three miles southwest of Santa Fé, and, respectively, four and one-half and six miles from the mining town of Real de Dolores.

It is well known that anthracite beds occur in almost all formations, though they are mostly found in the older rocks of the palaeozoic era, and always in localities where these rocks have either been considerably disturbed by eruptions and upheavals subsequent to the deposition of those strata, or where hot, molten masses, though they have not disturbed the original stratification of the neighboring rocks to any considerable extent, have, at a former period, exerted

metamorphosing influences on them. Thus the fact has been satisfactorily established in many coal beds of great extent, that they may in one locality consist of a true anthracite, while in another locality, remote from the causes of metamorphism, the same beds, determined as such by the inclosing strata and the fossils found in them, may contain bituminous coal, or even lignite.

An entirely analogous case is presented by the anthracite beds of the Placer Mountains.

True anthracite has a specific gravity of 1.4 to 1.7, its hardness is 2-2.5, and it contains 85 to 93 per cent. of fixed carbon. Volatile matter after drying, 3 to 6 per cent. It is amorphous, of conchoidal fracture, brittle, has a sub-metallic luster, iron-black to grayish and brownish-black color, and when pulverized forms a black powder. It ignites with difficulty and at a high temperature, but when ignited produces an intense heat. The coal from the coal mines to be described in the following, presents all these qualities, and there is, consequently, no doubt that it is really anthracite.

At present, two mines, one and one-half miles distant from each other, are opened by the New Mexico Mining Company.

A wagon road leads from Real de Dolores in a northwestern direction around the foot-hills of the Old Placer Mountains to the new anthracite mine. Before reaching the mine, the road leads through a ravine parallel to those where the coal bed is exposed and about 250 yards distant from them. Here the outcropping rocks consist of nearly horizontal layers of massive sandstone, which is covered with an overflow of porphyry. A dike of the same rock is found on the lower side of the croppings of the Cunningham gold mine, from where it has been traced with slight interruptions over six miles to the old anthracite mine, forming a cap on the massive sandstones of the coal-bearing formation. The new mines are situated at the junction of two small ravines, forming a larger one, which descends gradually, first in a northeastern, then in a northern direction toward Galisteo Creek, two and one-half miles distant from the mines. The lower wall of the coal bed is nearly level with the bottom of the arroyo, and as the dip is about 15° southeast, toward the ravine, the position of the bed is certainly an exceedingly favorable one for opening and working. It has been opened in two different localities, on the eastern side of the south branch of the ravine at the junction of the two smaller ones, and on the western side of the same branch about 50 feet south of the first opening. The first one follows the dip of the bed for a distance of about 35 feet; the whole incline, 5 feet high by 5 feet wide, is excavated in solid anthracite, and shows the bed to be of great regularity. The following strata accompanying this coal-bed are exposed to view in this locality from the bottom of the ravine to the top of the hill:

In the second locality the coal is opened by three tunnels, two 25 feet long and one 40 feet long, showing the same strike and dip of the bed as the incline. The anthracite, however, is only 4 feet thick, while the thickness of the shale varies from 3 to 4 feet.

About 280 tons of coal have been taken from this mine. It shows all the qualities of a true anthracite, contains 87.5 per cent. of fixed car

bon, and when burning, shows only the short, blue flame of carbonic oxide. The steam-boiler of the engine propelling the New Mexico Mining Company's stamp mill has been successfully heated by it. A hundred pounds brought to Santa Fé were used by Mr. Bruckner in his assaying furnace, in order to test the heating power practically. He found that a white heat was reached in a very short time, and that this heat lasted about three times as long as that produced by an equal weight of charcoal. As the material does not coke in the least, it is evident from this test that it is perfectly adapted to use in blast fur naces, though it will require a higher pressure of blast on account of its density, than charcoal or coke. As far as its application for all practi cal purposes is concerned, it is undoubtedly fully equal to Pennsylvania anthracite and really the best fuel discovered so far in the West.

The second coal mine is situated about one and one-half mile southwest of the one just described. Between the two mines exists a bed of excellent fire-clay, some of which was tested by Mr. Bruckner, in Santa Fé. He made a scorifier out of it and smelted lead and borax in it in the hottest anthracite fire. It neither cracked, nor was it attacked in the least by the flux, so that this test speaks well for its use as fireproof material in furnaces.

Between the fire-clay and the following sandstone stratum a bed of iron ore is found. Both carbonate of iron and hematite are present. Ores of this kind as well as boulders of magnetic iron ore and large deposits of the same abound in the mountains of the Old and New Placer. Thousands of tons of large boulders of great purity can be collected, for instance, near the old anthracite mine, away from the different extensive deposits of magnetic iron ore, which occur in the same locality. The second anthracite mine, spoken of above, is opened by a tunnel 90 feet in length driven into the coal bed near the entrance of a steep ravine, the sides of which are nearly perpendicular. It is started near the bottom and on the west side of this ravine, rising with the dip of the strata, which, as in the locality spoken of first, is 15° to the east. The following succession of strata, commencing at the bottom of the ravine, is visible:

Anthracite 2 feet; slate 10 inches, diminishing toward the breast of the tunnel; anthracite 1 foot 6 inches; alternating layers of shale, iron ore and sandstone varying from 5 to 9 inches in thickness; laminated argillaceous sandstone, containing fossils; and 12 feet of massive sandstone, overflowed by felspathic porphyry. The latter rock forms the east bank of the ravine from top to bottom. About 100 tons of anthracite of an excellent quality have been taken out and are lying on the dump. Long exposure to the atmosphere through summer and winter have not altered its compactness in the least. It is of jet black color and contains 88 per cent. of fixed carbon and 5 per cent. of ashes of a brick-red color.

Although roving bands of hostile Navajoes visit this locality sometimes, and even have their usual camping place at the coal mine, the splendid opportunity offered here for procuring a cheap and superior fuel for the surrounding mining districts will undoubtedly be more extensively made use of very soon. For those who intend the erection of metallurgical and especially smelting works for the beneficiation of the more rebellious gold and silver ores, and also for copper and iron smelting establishments, the occurrence of these anthracite beds is of the utmost importance, and will no doubt be duly appreciated.

At the south side of the Old Placer Mountains, at a distance of ten miles from the above described coal beds, an anthracite vein has been

opened in the second arroyo east of the rancho near the spring on the road from Tuerto to Dolores. There are two pits of a depth of about 6 feet. The first one shows the following section: Shale 2 feet, anthracite 10 inches, shale 8 inches, anthracite 2 feet. The strata course north 37° east and dip 75° northwest. The second pit is located within 100 feet from the first, and contains only a six-inch seam of coal, which contains a great deal of sulphur.

Another coal bed is exposed near Galisteo Creek, but as the locality could neither be visited nor a specimen procured from it, its nature and the quality of the coal could not be determined. Indications of coal oil are said to exist here, as well as two miles north of Santa Fé, where a layer of coal mixed with iron pyrites occurs.

Of the many different localities where coal veins crop out in the Ter ritory, I will only mention the following: On the reservation of the Pueblo Indians near Taos, at the foot of the Pueblo Mountains; in the Raton Mountains, on the Vermejo River near Maxwell's, where the beds are 6 feet thick; on the Purgatoire River, near Las Vegas, at the Rio Puerco, in the San Mateo Mountains, and in numerous places west of Fort Wingate; a large bed exists near Fort Craig, (San Pedro.) Most of these beds have been ably described by Dr. John L. Leconte in his notes on the geology of the survey for the extension of the Union Pacific railroad, eastern division, from the Smoky Hill River to the Rio Grande, Philadelphia, 1868.

Coal has been used to a very limited extent so far. The Vermejo and San Pedro coal are used for blacksmithing; the latter also for domestic purposes at Fort Craig. The anthracite from the Old Placer, it has already been stated, is used for the heating of a steam boiler. None of the new Mexico coal has so far been used for metallurgical purposes, although some of it is very well adapted to such use. No attempt has ever been made to smelt iron, although ores exist in great abundance and of great purity in the immediate vicinity of anthracite coal and contiguous to fire-clays and limestone.

Iron ores occur in beds, and as float boulders in the form of carbonate and hematite in the coal measures; as magnetic iron ores they accompany the gold-bearing formation. Every gulch and river in this formation contains magnetic iron sands, the "marmaje" of the Mexicans; and pebbles and boulders of great purity, the "tepurtite," or "la guia del oro," of the native miner. Large lodes of it, with huge croppings, are found together with gold veins at the Moreno Mines, (Nacita Gulch;) at the south side of the Old Placer Mountains the Mammoth lode contains such ore; in the New Placer Mountains east of Tuerto are very extensive croppings of pure magnetite; and immense quantities of it exist at the Hanover copper mines near Pinos Altos, while a large lode of specular iron ore has been found of late near Embudo (between Taos and Santa Fé.)

The following resumé of the ores and minerals found in the Territory of New Mexico up to the present time speaks well for its resources : I. Gold.-1. Placer gold, accompanied by magnetic iron sands, occurring in all streams and gulches near quartz lodes. 2. Gold in quartz lodes, in white and blue quartz with magnetic iron ore, oxide of iron, iron pyrites, manganese, malachite, azurite, copper pyrites, galena, and zincblende.

II. Silver.-In argentiferous galena, zinc-blende, iron and copper pyrites, malachite, and azurite, in fahlerz and grey copper ore. III. Lead ores.-Carbonate, sulphuret of lead, &c.

H. Ex. Doc. 207-27