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!

Quick Eastern Washington Trip

Before leaving for New Mexico we got in a quick rockhounding trip to eastern Washington.  Despite the horrible heat wave here right now we still managed to find some great rocks.  

We drove State Route 410 over Chinook Pass and made a quick stop at what I think is called the Blue Bird Mine near Bear Gap.  I have been here many times, but for my compadre it was a new experience.  She is just not used to driving to the opening of a mine. 

Mouth of Blue Bird (maybe Belle) Mine

Nice Ore Specimen

Large Tailing Pile

We hung around the tailing pile and found a few nice ore specimens before we decided to move on to the Little Naches River.

When we got to the Little Naches River, the temps were getting pretty warm, so we pulled off and took a little hike back into the woods to view Horsetail Falls.  Boy was the water low!  It was pretty cool back near the falls though.

Horsetail Falls

We drove a little ways down along the Little Naches River and finally found a shady spot to search the river for agates and thunder eggs.  Someone else was there ahead of us adding rocks to their buckets.  We were worried they got all the good rocks, but I soon realized that they were picking up too many to have gotten any real good ones.  There just aren't that many there to be found and they probably didn't know what they were looking for.  

Nice and Shady Little Naches River

A Pleasant Surprise - Serpentinite or Jadeite! 

After scouring the river for good rocks, and having found only a few possibles, we decided to head back to the cooler side of the Cascades.  One of my best finds was a nice large serpentinite or jadeite! I keep finding these in just about every WA river.  Go figure.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out our beautiful mineral specimens on our Etsy shop!

Gold Sheen Mahogany Obsidian Slab

Agatized Petrified Wood Rough