Northwest and Southwest Rockhounding: Kelly Mine New Mexico

I am blessed in that I have two states I can go rockhounding in. Living in Washington gives me access to hundreds of good sites and visiting New Mexico several times a year gives me the freedom to hunt there also.

Back in October 2012, my sister and I paid a visit to our aging parents and decided they needed to get out rockhounding. We decided to visit the ghost town of Kelly, New Mexico where for a fee you can visit the mines and collect rocks.

Kelly is best known for its specimens of Smithsonite and according to the brochure, up to 80 different minerals. It has been greatly picked over, but a lucky hunter can still find some. We got lucky and found little Smithsonite (Zinc carbonate), lots of pyrite and some azurite copper ore. But what made us really lucky was that Bennie Zamora, the owner of Tony's Rock Shop in Magdalena decided she was going to clean out her stock on the day we visited. She literally gave us many great specimens for free!

We first stopped at Tony's in Magdalena to purchase passes to the mine area. It was a wonderful day, not too hot and not too cold. The rock shop has thousands of various rocks just laying everywhere.

Tony's Rock Shop, Magdalena, NM

After our brief stop, we headed on up the road to the ghost town of Kelly and the Kelly mine. The last few hundred feet of the road were horrible. Good thing we had a high clearance vehicle.

Great Sign

After Arriving at the parking area, we all piled out and started searching the parking area. I found a small tarantula crawling through the weeds.

Small Tarantula in Center of Photo

We could see the old headframe up the hill from the parking area.

Headframe in Far Background

We got out our map and headed up the road.

Map of Kelly Mine and Townsite

Once we reached the top of the hill, we started looking for rocks.

Refractory, Boiler and Assay

The headframe is in remarkable condition, considering it's over 100 years old.

Kelly Mine Headframe

Here is the sign telling about the mine and townsite.

History of Kelly

The sign says, "The town of Kelly New Mexico, which thrived here, was more than a mining boomtown.... it was home to it's thousands of citizens. The mining operations sent huge shipments of lead, zinc, and silver ores to smelters, which helped build America during the industrial westward expansion. These great shipments made Kelly the foremost mine in New Mexico's 19th century past. John S. Hutchason arrived here in 1866 after serving in the Civil War to prospect this area at the invitation of his partner Pete Kinisinger. The early town on this site as called "Middle Camp:, and formed a hub for the Graphic, Waldo, Juanita, and Kelly Mines.

The name Kelly came from Patrick H. Kelley who held a few of the claims. By 1884, Kelly Township was established with banks, churches, saloons, a clinic, and several mercantile stores, while Magdalena was established 3 miles north as the AT & SF Railway terminus to haul away the preciousores from these mines. The last residents of Kelly departed in 1947, and most of their homes were painstakingly hauled down to Magdalena.

The Kelly Mine headframe still proudly stands today as the sentinel of New Mexico's famous mining heritage. This headframe was erected in 1906 by Gustav Billing owner, being purchased from the Traylor Engineering Company of New York, which acquired this headframe in kit form from the Carnegie Steel Works of Passaic New Jersey after it was designed by Alexander G. Eiffel to be the state-of-the-art technology of that era. It stands today as a lasting monument to the men who toiled and sacrificed their brave lives for the prosperity of an emerging nation, towering 121 feet over the Tri-Bullion Shaft which drops nearly 1,000 feet down into a maze of over 30 miles of tunnels, all now closed, silent as the grave."

We had a wonderful afternoon searching the area. We could have spent days there, but had to get home. You must stop at the rock shop on the way out, so they can weigh your rocks and make sure you didn't fall down a shaft. This was when Bennie gave us many of her great rocks. She is a wonderful person. I know I want to visit again in the near future.

Below are some of the great rocks we found and were given by Bennie. All in all it was a great trip. Well worth the time and money.