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.
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| I think this is a banded lizard? He is Cute! |
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| Chance City Headframe - Closed Up |
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| Nice Headframe off in the Distance |
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| Cleaned up Tailings Pile :-( |
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| Chance City Trash Heap |
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| Chance City Ruins |
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| More Chance City Ruins |
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| Another Chance City Headframe |
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| A Roadrunner Who Thinks He is Hidden |
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| 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...
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| 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.
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!
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