Due to the fairly slow
arrival of spring here in Colorado, I decided to hit the road and visit some
New Mexico rock hounding locales with Austin. I checked the local weather
and then took a look at climatology for Socorro, NM and found 80F highs for Socorro.
The forecast for Colorado Springs was for more rain and snow. We decided
to visit 3 sites in New Mexico, the Blanchard Mine outside of Bingham, Kelly
Mine near Magdalena and Mule Creek near the AZ/NM border. During the trip we
determined that Mule Creek has many claims and is a fair distance away so we
dropped that idea and started with the Blanchard Mine. We got permission from
Ray D. to visit the Blanchard and do some surface digging so that’s where we
started.
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| Closed off portal at the Blanchard Mine |
Blanchard Mine is
fairly remote. The mine began operations during WW I and continued on for
a few decades. The mine has “World-Class Significance” https://www.mindat.org/loc-3993.html Predominant minerals mined were lead and
fluorospar though over 50 minerals are cited as coming from the Blanchard, Mineralization of the Hansonburg Mining
District, Bingham, New Mexico John Rakovan and Frederick Partey, 2009, pp.
387-398. There is a rock shop
near the entrance road to the mining area called the “Blanchard Rock Shop”
The shop owner is not connected with the Blanchard Mine, and the shop
might more aptly be called the Bingham Rock Shop. No notoriety there though. http://www.peaktopeak.com/blanchard/shop.htm. The owner of the rock shop has
ownership/access to a mine or two for a fee. The folks at the rock shop
were friendly enough but the lack in quality of their mineral specimens
surprised me. I had visited this area 10 years earlier and nothing has changed.
The shop still had as much trinitite from White Sands Missile Testing Range
(Trinity Site) as they did 10 years ago. Trinity Site was where the first
atomic weapons were tested. The glass (trinitite) was the result of heat
from the ordnance explosion melting the silica in the desert floor into glass.
I would have been interested in buying some atomic slag at $10 an ounce as a
curiosity piece, but not at their price of $30 a gram. Not sure how to
authenticate it either. Maybe with a Geiger counter?
The road
to the mine was in good shape though the last half mile was a bit rocky and
required some clearance and a 4-wheel vehicle. We arrived just before sundown so our priority was to put the tent
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| Looking south toward the Blanchard Mine |
up and get
dinner going. As night fell Austin got out his black light and explored
some of the nearby outcrops for fluorite, rattlesnakes and scorpions. The
ground, rocks and maybe even the brush seemed to light up. Everything glowed
from the fluorite chips and barite. No critters though. Night was soon upon us
as the sky literally glowed with stars. A few meteors zipped across the Milky
Way Galaxy as well as a number of man-made satellites. Austin was a little
spooked by the remoteness and quiet ambience of the desert. I loved hearing
nothing but the wind sing through the telephone pole guide wires. More on the
wind later.
Next
morning we spent some time scoping out the mine, but within about 20 minutes I
found an area where others had been digging that looked promising. I dug
in the rocky soil and about 2 feet down was soon finding specimens for my
collection. I called Austin over from his exploration and soon he too
found some fluorite specimens worth taking home. There is about 2 feet of
overburden above the rockier fluorite producing rock/limestone where we dug. Once the overburden is removed
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| Austin digging out some fluorite at the Blanchard Mine |
you can dig
into a limestone layer that hosts seams of fluorite and barite as well as some
galena clusters. All one has to do is follow the seams and carefully pry
out the clusters. A sturdy shovel and pick axe will get you down to the
fluorite bearing host rock and then careful probing with a long handled screw
driver or scraper was all that's needed to remove specimens. I understand
the purple/blue fluorite changes color under UV. We covered our specimens
with newspaper as we unearthed them and then carefully wrapped them to protect
and preserve them from the sun's rays. After about 4 hours of digging I
decided to go for a walk and take a few pictures.
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| Fresh out of the ground some uncleaned specimens |
Austin thought I was
digging out better specimens than he, and decided my hole was fair game when I
left for a walk. I guess the minerals are always better in someone else’s
dig. This was fine with me as I had already dug out about 25 Kgs of specimens
and wasn’t sure what I would do with more anyway. Austin did find a few
nice specimens I missed. When I came back from my walk I asked him to muck
out my hole and resumed digging myself.
We had
been warned about rattlesnakes and other poisonous creatures but we saw
none. I saw a few deer when we arrived but besides that all I saw was a
hawk and a few swallows. The mining area goes on for quite some distance.
During my afternoon walkabout I picked up a few specimens of Brochantite and
Linarite just lying along the road. I had seen a little of this where we were digging, and Austin reminded me it was somewhat desirable in combination with other minerals.
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| Brochantite scattered on ore |
I took a few pictures of the area and
returned to the campsite. The wind had battered our tent during the day and
it was way past lunchtime, so I found Austin and we put the campsite back in
order as the wind continued to blow. The temperature had climbed into the
low 80s and my body’s thermostat was trying to adjust from Colorado’s 50s.
We had brought extra water and were soon dipping into our gallon jugs.
Austin decided he had enough digging for the day so we had dinner and retired
for the night. Around midnight the winds became so strong that they
snapped some of the tent poles. I woke up thinking the tent was possessed
and trying to strangle me. Austin decided it was time to abandon
ship(tent). We spent the rest of the night in the truck. Between the
howling wind and cramped conditions neither of us got much sleep.
The next
day we picked up our campsite and drove to Socorro to visit the mining museum
at New Mexico Tech https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/museum/ The college had moved and expanded their
museum since I had last been there. The museum showed off a great concentration
of New Mexico minerals. We ogled the specimens for an hour or so. It was the last week of class prior to exams and the
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| NM Halite "Blue Ice" |
campus seemed very quiet. The museum person
in charge seemed knowledgeable about the collection but was continuously
distracted and writing warning tickets to students parking in visitors slots.
Austin was thinking of purchasing a couple of minerals from their store but
nobody was around to make the transaction. I would highly recommend a
stop there if you are in the area, the minerals are very fine. The plan
was to go to the Kelly Mine outside of Magdalena, NM after this, so we got back
on the road and headed about 30 miles west of Socorro.
All 3 rock
shops in Magdalena were closed and we were thinking of abandoning this part of
our trip. We stopped at an antiques shop and the shop-keeper there knew
Grace, the owner of the Nit Mine. Grace met us at her shop, gave us
permission to camp on the claim, and charged us only $5 per person to sift
through the Nit Mine tailings. We had wanted to go to the Kelly Mine
(famous for it's Smithsonite), but the Nit was next door to the Kelly and since
the antiques dealer talked up the Nit, we decided to give it a try. Grace
warned us to stay out of tunnels and be aware of cougars. She mentioned others
had been digging towards the top near large tailings piles and suggested we
might have some luck up there.
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| Headframe of the old Nit Mine |
We sifted through the tailings and every time
I got about a foot down, the layer above me filled in what I had just
dug. I wanted to get further into the tailings but the hill was too
unstable. I figured the top layer had been
sifted by several folks before me. If I would not be able to get down below the
top layer my chance of finding much would be slim. Austin was having
similar difficulties. Finally we went to the top of the pile and tried to
dig in. Theoretically this would have been a better approach except that
at the top of the tailings pile there were larger rocks much more difficult to
dig through and remove. It was windy again and just as I put a small
piece of Smithsonite into my box a gust of wind came up and flipped everything
I had collected over into the gravel. :-( We dug for a while but
became discouraged after a few hours and drove down to the Nit Mine
headframe. We met Grace the owner of the mine who
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| Seems miners were short in the 1920s |
gave us a brief history of
the mine and how she came to be the current owner/caretaker. The mine
area was littered with pyrite cubes though small. We tried to collect
some and someone had even left a screen to assist other collectors. After
an hour or so of that I gave up and started dinner. The pyrite cubes were
just too small to hold my interest. I did explore the mine area.
Much of the equipment brought to the area in the 1920s was still there.
Levers worked, fan belts were still attached. The wheels on an old
tractor, though deteriorated, were still in place. I was somewhat sorry to hear
that the owner of the Nit was selling off a few of the mechanical mining equipment to local antiques dealers.
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| Some old mining equipment soon to be sold off |
There was no graffiti
at this mine and it seemed fairly well preserved. The Nit mine was
protected by two locked access gates but ATVs were still getting in. We
spent another night sleeping in my truck at the mine. I’m almost getting
too old for this. I awoke during
the night with the northern skyline flashing with lightning. I decided it
was time for my middle of the night walkabout, but stayed close to the
truck. I felt uncomfortable with the howling wind and warnings of cougars
about. I guess it was my turn to be spooked. Morning came and we decided
to go into town and then visit Grace’s rock shop. I purchased one
Smithsonite mineral from Grace, and Austin bought a few items as well. Next, on
to Taos, NM.
We arrived
in Taos and found 4 different rock shops. Three of the rock shops
primarily catered to tourists but at least one was a “real” rock shop.
Taosrockers https://www.taosrockers.com/ The shop had 3 large rooms full of
minerals from primarily New Mexico but other places as well. Folks inside were
very friendly and knowledgeable. Austin told me all 4 rock shops in town were
owned by the same person. Though I didn’t buy anything I got a free cup of
coffee, a brochure on NM geology and a spot in the sun to sit while Austin did
his negotiating. I’m not sure how many treasures Austin walked away with,
but he seemed very happy with one calcite piece from a locale that he had been
looking for, for quite some time. I highly recommend a stop at this rock
shop. All that was left now was a long drive home. One place we
stopped that I would definitely not recommend was the KFC in Taos. They
charged Austin extra for everything including a plastic fork. If they had
done that to me I might have accidentally spilled my coleslaw on their counter
top and then accidentally spread it around. Management needs a change
there. After reviewing some Yelp comments of the place our experience
there was nothing new. Stay away. One forgettable experience doesn’t cancel out
the fun we had over several days. Though we planned to visit three
specific sites, we only hit one. I felt the Nit Mine was a compromise to
the Kelly Mine and there is probably some good stuff to find in the tailings
piles there. Digging through tailings is just not my cup of tea. Overall a very successful road trip for minerals made even better due to the fact it was snowing in Colorado on our
return! Haha!
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| A variety of partially cleaned green/blue/purple Fluorite with Barite. Galena and quartz are also present. |
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