Finding Pecos Diamonds in New Mexico - Millions!

Another great trip to New Mexico was in order this month.  Gotta get our green chiles for the coming year!  Anyway,  we took a little trip into Texas to visit family and ended up stopping and looking for the famed Pecos Diamonds.  Boy did we find them!  We actually found so many, we quit picking up anything but the largest ones.  It was a great trip!

Anyway, I would tell you where we found these, but I would rather restrict this information, so I will sell the information to those determined enough to want to find them. :-)

Here are some photos of what we found. The first photo takes you to a listing which sells the directions to this site.

Pecos Diamonds Glittering in the Mesa - Where is This?

The Gypsum Where the Pecos Diamonds Come From

These are for Sale!  Check Out My Etsy Listing

A Few of the Better Finds

Millions of Pecos Diamonds!

We Brought Back Just a Few!

Check out some of my other great New Mexico Etsy Minerals!

Large New Mexico Fluorite Crystal

Large Druzy Quartz Crystalized Petrified Wood Mineral Specimen

If you want to purchase the directions to this Pecos Diamonds collecting site, check out my Pecos Diamonds Location Etsy listing.

Went River Rock Shopping Again Today

Well, it's been a while since we got out shopping and rock crafting, but we got out again today.  It was a bit chilly out but a nice day to enjoy the beautiful fall colors.

Fall in Western Washington

We had a nice little walk down our secret trail along the Carbon River.  We ran into our favorite older gentleman driving along the river surveying his useless flood zone rated property.  We stopped to talk a while.  He sure is a nice guy.

Then we headed over to the riverbed and discovered that someone else had been rock shopping too.

Pretty Rocks Stacked on a Driftwood Log

We were only supposed to be looking for small bug sized rocks, but of course we ended up with a bunch of heavier tea candle sized rocks bulging in our aprons.  You would think we would learn to always take the backpack, but we keep hoping to leave some behind.  :-)

Well, looking at the riverbed, you can see why we view it as a giant candy store.  Even on a cloudy day, the many rock colors are screaming our names.

Our Rock Candy Store

You might ask, why were you looking for bug sized rocks.  Well, a week ago, for fun I decided to try to make bugs out of rocks.  These are what I came up with...

My Rock Bug Parade - Check them out on Etsy!

I was kind of thinking they would make good Halloween decorations or Rock Garden decorations.  Maybe even in a fairy garden.  The possibilities are endless. :-)

One of My Favorites - A River Rock Beetle!

They were actually fairly easy to make, once I got the hang of it.  Koala also re-discovered her artistic  abilities in spades by making a Rock owl wall hanging.  Gorgeous!

Painted Owl Rock Wall Hanging - Also on Etsy!

Now we have to get busy working on more tea lights.  They seem to be getting more and more in demand.  Hope we can keep up!

Petrified Wood Tea Light Candle Holder

Happy Fall!

Another Golden Tunnel Mine Update

I have a visitor who sent me a comment earlier this month about the Golden Tunnel Mine,  here is the cleaned up version.

9/21/15
“Just went up there this weekend and camped out with a couple of buddies of mine. If you’re saying there’s nothing to see there, you’re just the result of being lied to by somebody who knows how to get there and wants people to stay out.  I’ve pulled crystals out of that place that would make you sh** your pants.  Literally.  We got caught in a rain storm on the way in and the way out, and had to hike through that intensely thick fog that always lingers around the area. If you don’t know somebody that has that hike completely wired that will take you there, you will never find that mind (mine).  Let me repeat that, you will NEVER find it. There are such unique crystals there, you just have to know how to go about finding them.  Like I said, if I posted pics of the sh** me and my friends have dug out of there since we found it last summer, you’d be in shock and awe. Trying to sleep in there sucks though, the entire thing is on a huge slope."


Just for fun,  I am posting a couple of documents which were sent to me a long while back and have been available on my GhosttownsandMines.com website.

Golden Chimney Group Area Mine Map

Golden Tunnel Mine (Golden Chimney) Ore Veins Map

I am 60+ years old, and as I said previously, I would never make it to that mine, I can only rely on what I am told, and am passing on that information.  Whether this visitor is telling the truth, or just sh**ting (;-) me is up to you to decide.  The fun is in the looking and finding! 

Chance City Ghost Town New Mexico

This post is a bit late, but it chronicles part of our trip in June to Southern New Mexico.  We took a side trip out into the middle of nowhere, got attacked by gazillions of cockroaches in Deming and found a few good rocks along the way.

I had seen pictures of a ghost town called Chance City south of Deming NM that looked like it had some nice structures still standing, so off we went, into the 100º heat, braving rattlesnakes and roadrunners.

The area we visited is in the Victorio Mining District in Luna County New Mexico.  For more information on this read the report, Museum of New Mexico Report from the Office of Archaeological Studies (1993).  It is really interesting!  Particularly the story of "King Solomon's Mine" at Gage, New Mexico on page 90.

In this area lead-silver-gold ore was mined beginning in the 1880's when the railroad arrived in the area.  Chance City was born with the development of the Chance and Jessie mines by Randolph Hearst.  The area continued to produce lead ore off and on until 1947 when the last shipment was made.

This area is really a neat place to visit.  The remaining structures make for good photo opportunities and are neat to poke around.  We didn't get very close to the mine tailings, due to the hiking required and extreme temps, but it was well worth the visit.

I think this is a banded lizard?  He is Cute!

Chance City Headframe - Closed Up

Nice Headframe off in the Distance

Cleaned up Tailings Pile :-(

Chance City Trash Heap

Chance City Ruins

More Chance City Ruins

Another Chance City Headframe

A Roadrunner Who Thinks He is Hidden

Beautiful Blooming Yuccas

Needless to say, we didn't find much here.  The heat and NM Mining Department cleanup pretty much covered up anything neat.  I did pick up one HEAVY rock which I think could be lead ore...

Chance City Lead Ore?

On another side note, please check out our lovely mineral specimens for sale in our Etsy shop, SouthPrairieHandmade.  We just listed a gorgeous Fluorite specimen that was collected in New Mexico a while ago.

New Mexico Large Fluorite Specimen

While you are there, also check out our latest edition of Petroglyph photo and business card holders, stands!  They are pretty cool!  They would make great gifts!

Kokopelli Photo, Business Card Holder - Home Decor

Looking for the Lennox Mine

We needed some time away and out in the wilds.  Of course we picked an extremely smoky day to do our exploring, but we couldn't have found a prettier place to go.

We ended up near the end of the road along the North fork of the Snoqualmie River.  It was beautiful up there.  I have been trying to get to the mine on the south side of Lennox Creek for a few years now, but Lennox Creek, unlike it's name is a roaring river most of the time, and I needed to be on the other side of it.

Lennox Creek 2013

Looking Across Lennox Creek 2013

With this year being the driest in recorded history here, I figured I might just be able to get there this time.  I was right!  The Creek was WAY DOWN!  We could even see evidence of the mine laying in the creek bed.  These cables were completely invisible due to the higher water levels in the past.

Cables Laying Across Boulders

If you were wondering how big the water difference is,  here are a couple photos of the same pool and rock at two different times.  Note the same rock circled in red on both photos.

Lennox Creek 2013

Lennox Creek 2015

Well, anyway, we made it across the creek after taking our life in our hands and jumping across giant boulders.

These are BIG Rocks!

We searched a bit for the mine entrance, but once again, we were taking our life in our hands searching.  The mine is situated on sheer, wet cliff sides.

Cliff Face

Looking Up - Neat Photo Effect Applied

After enjoying the beautiful sounds of water and the fairly clear air (probably from the water washing the smoke out of the air), we gave up and headed out.  Not without some success in finding evidence of the mine.

Gorgeous View From Water Level

If you look closely, you can barely see the cables on the boulder in the center top of this photo.

Rock with Quartz and Pyrite Running Through it

And, in case you were wondering why we were looking for this mine, it is reported that it still has a good bit of gold in the tailings by a recent geology report. :-)
On another note, please check out our newest Etsy Shop creations.  Hope you like them.

Mountain Lion Petroglyph Card/Memo/Photo Holder

Kokopelli/Shaman Petroglyph Car/dMemo/Photo Holder

This one is my favorite, I'm sure you can see why!

Cool Home Decor Idea

Saw this today and just had to share!  I think I will consider making these. They would be great in all rock yards!

Painted Rock with Fish

Went River Rock Shopping Today

We were really in need of a long overdue walk, so we decided to take a walk at our favorite spot along the Carbon River.  We hadn't planned to pick up any rocks, but of course that lasted about .25 miles until we reached the side of the river.  Oh well, we still managed to have a nice walk, get some exercise, work on our bone density carrying rocks, and pick up some great river rocks!

Our Shopping Mall

Lots of Items to Choose From!

We liked the Colors!

Our Favorite Rock Texture - Golden Sandstone

We promptly went to work creating lovely River Rock Tea Light Candles.  Check them out!

Golden Sandstone River Rock Tea Light

Rose Quartz Tea Light Candle Holder

Droned in Orogrande NM - Lots of Nice Minerals!

As I said in an earlier post, we were in New Mexico for a family reunion and couldn't pass up the chance to check out some old mining areas.  one of my favorite stops was Orogrande near Alamogordo NM and also near White Sands Missle Range.

Unfortunately the timing of our visit coincided with the hottest time of the year in NM - June.  We tried to reach the area early enough in the day, but it just didn't happen.  Oh well, it was still a wonderful stop anyway.  The desert is truly beautiful anytime and very nice seen from an air conditioned car!

In searching out this area, we made a wrong turn and ended up on a very nice road that took us right to some giant satellite arrays, just like in the alien contact movies.  We decided we were getting too close to White Sands, so we turned around and tried a different approach.  Our second road was much more on target, but not quite as nice.

When we drove into the area, we stopped at a major washout near the road and checked things out.  Everyone knows metals settle in the lowest spots.  We were rewarded with piles of pyrite, copper and galena filled rocks.  We also picked up a few nice samples of wanna-be turquoise.  Orogrande is the site of one of the more famous New Mexico mines, the De Meules Turquoise mine.

This Photo Does Not Do the Colored Rocks Justice - They Were Very Colorful

The road we drove in on, was a recently graded road that is being highly contested by the BLM with a local mining company trying to rework some tailings from one of the Iron mines in the area.  After we turned off of this road, we began following an old railroad grade that was extremely rough.  We came into the mining area from North of Orogrande and unfortunately the road became so bad and washed out we only got close to the Garnet mine.  The railroad grade from the South may be the best bet for getting closer to the main mining area.

Narrow Canyon on the Orogrande Railroad Grade - Looks Like We Got Droned!

Bad Road suitable Only For High Clearance 4 Wheel Drive

We were driving a rental, so we opted not to try navigating any further, and got out and walked.  All around the area there are marked active mining claims.  We avoided these.  We noticed that "Eddie the Hitman DeLuca" has been extremely busy claiming lots of spots! :-)

We did manage to walk fairly close to the Garnet Mine.  There were lots of beautiful specimens laying on and near the road everywhere!

Garnet Mine and Tailings from Destroyed Road

Gorgeous Colors! The One on the Right is Chalcopyrite - Not sure What the Green one is yet

We picked up some nice specimens until the heat overcame us.  This is definitely a place where you could spend days exploring and not see everything.  There are mines everywhere!  From the South, you pass through the old townsite of Brice where there are supposed to be a couple of buildings still standing.  From the North we passed through the townsite of Ohaysi, but didn't see anything.
This really is an amazing area.  We need to put it on our to do list for our next NM visit on our fall chile collecting run.  There are hundreds of tailings to check out!

One good thing, we didn't see a single snake!  We did see some gorgeous landscape though!

A Lone Yucca Graces the Orogrande Desert

Here is a picture of some of our New Mexico Finds

Some of our New Mexico Finds

For further reading about the Orogrande Mining district, check out the links below:

Otero County at odds with BLM over ownership of road in Orogrande

Santa Fe man hopes to transform garnet market

GhosttownsandMines.com Orogrande Mining District Otero County NM