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.

Chalcedony Rose

A Wonderful Geode

A Neat Crystal

A few of the Better Ones

Great links to info on Kelly and the Kelly Mine:

http://www.rozylowicz.com/pdf-files/kelly-update-12-2010.pdf

http://www.rozylowicz.com/retirement/kelly/kelly.html#up

http://books.google.com/books?id=6KLmAAAAMAAJ&dq=kelly%20mine%20nm&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=kelly%20mine%20nm&f=false

Salmon Creek Agates and Carnelian

Because my beloved Greenwater is under snow at this time of year, I have been looking for alternate places to hunt for good rocks.

I have been reading quite a bit about agates, petrified wood, jasper and carnelian being found in the Salmon Creek area, so when we finally had a decent day and time off, we headed down there.

Needless to say, we got our usual late start. Then we discovered that we couldn't find our makeshift probe (a fireplace poker), so we had to make do with a flimsy probe I made for locating old outhouse holes (yeah I know, weird huh?).

We headed out towards Salmon Creek around 12:00pm with about 75 miles to travel. Since it was I-5 most of the way, we made good time and arrived around 1:30pm.

With about 2 1/2 hours to look (we had to be in Tacoma by 6:00pm for a family dinner),  we packed up and headed out from the end of Salmon Creek Rd. near Toledo according to an older map I had. With the deep ruts placed across the road to block four wheelers, we decided to leave our trusty wagon behind. I figured the area would be fairly well picked over, but we decided to check out every stream we passed on our trek through the woods.

http://www.gametrails.com/Maps/salmon%20creek.pdf

At the very first stream we came to, near an old dilapidated bridge, (Cougar Creek) we headed down to the gravel bars and immediately began to find agates. I was shocked! The water was fairly low and we could see the rocks really well. Of course the sun coming out and highlighting the clear stones certainly helped.

Cougar Creek Bridge

While I hunted near the bridge, Michael went upstream a ways. He seems to be particularly drawn to black rocks for some reason. He kept finding what he thought looked like obsidian. Maybe black agate?

Michael Looking

Every few steps I took, I'd find something else worth keeping. There were lots of small chips of carnelian, which I left behind. With the water being so clear, it was easy pickings.

Nice Gravel Bars

We saw quite a bit of red jasper, which we also left behind. I've got lots of that from Greenwater.

It looks like I missed some.

After we had halfway filled our handy Home Depot aprons, we decided to head further down the trail. Somewhere along the way we zigged instead of zagged and ended up at the top of a fairly large waterfall and a dead end. I tried to get a picture from standing above the falls but with really muddy banks to the sides, I decided not to risk falling. 

Looking around the area, we noticed quite a few chips of carnelian laying around, but we didn't really feel like digging, so we turned around and headed back to Cougar Creek and looked below the bridge for a while. We found a few more keepers and decided to head back to the car. I did find one really interesting piece of petrified wood that has red and black coloring with crystals along the sides.

All in all it was a great day. We will definitely be back to this area in the near future. With my Alaska sister coming to visit next month, we now have a place to take her that isn't under snow. I have also found further information on better (and less well known) spots along Salmon Creek to check out.

A Few of Our Great Finds

For further trip reports on this area, view the links below.

http://www.brianpen.com/Journal/Journal_2009February.asp
http://home.comcast.net/~wams1939/trips/Salmon_Creek.htm
http://mcrocks.com/ftr06/RichardPrice-February06.html
http://www.gametrails.com/wordpress/?p=270

Greenwater Agates

OK, so I know I have been rather remiss in my postings. I have been out rockhunting, but just haven't had the time to post anything lately.

Back in July of 2012, my family all gathered here in Washington for a family reunion. What is a good reunion without a rockhunting trip. Since Greenwater is close by we took a couple trips up there to try our luck.

We headed up FS Rd 70 and decided to try a well known site with about a 1/2 mile walk to a BIG landslide. Most everyone advises to only go here after a good rain or early in the season, but we have always found lots of pretty stuff here and it didn't fail us this time.

The trip in was beautiful. It was a great day for getting out and enjoying the woods. My Dad had a great time, but boy did we wear him out.

Dad On The Trail

When we got to the rockslide, there was plenty to find and everyone found something. The landslide is full of agates, jasper and even wanna-be petrified wood, which Michael proudly brought home as his prize. It's partially rock, partially wood. Kind of neat.

Almost Petrified Wood

There is a giant agate there, waiting for someone with a miracle to take home.

Big Agate

Everyone was looking all over the area and finding lots of different stuff. Did anyone see this one?

Another Big Agate

Even the kids were looking and finding.

Lots of good rocks

We found lots of agate and jasper. Even some pretty green colored jasper.

Green Jasper

All in all, it was a great trip and as usual, we came home with more than we left with.

Our Agates and Jasper Finds

For other blog posts about this area, check out these links: 

http://www.gametrails.com/wordpress/?p=354
http://www.gametrails.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Greenwater.pdf

Check out our rare purple/green Greenwater agate slab for sale at out Etsy Shop.

Rare Blue/Green/Purple Greenwater Jasper

Golden Tunnel Mine Update

View of Golden Tunnel Mine From Below - Photo Courtesy Aaron G.

10/10/2012 Update - Many thanks to Aaron G. who sent me the photos of the Golden Tunnel Mine from his recent visit.

Golden Tunnel Mine Location from Overlook - Photo Courtesy Aaron G.

"There weren't too many more artifacts laying around, just a flattened ore bucket outside the mine (cave) entrance. I've had location information for approximately 2 years, and tried 2 unsuccessful attempts last year, and made it on my 2nd attempt this year (4th total). The 1st attempt this year was foiled by thick fog that ended with us spending the night on a cliff a few thousand feet below the mine. The site is very interesting, and we were very excited to finally make it, but the "hike" (or more appropriately climb/scramble) is a bear. We ended up completing the trip in 10 3/4 hours (8 hours of hiking)." Aaron G.

Closer View of Golden Tunnel Mine - Photo Courtesy Aaron G.

View From Mouth of Tunnel - Photo Courtesy Aaron G.

Old Stove - Photo Courtesy Aaron G.

Tram Wheel - Photo Courtesy Aaron G.

The Golden Tunnel Mine Controversy

This post isn't about rockhounding, but I really wanted to put this info out there for others in the state to enjoy, if you can get to it...

Cadastral Survey Page Showing Aerial Tramway and Township and Range of Mining District

Recently I read a book called Discovering Washington Mines written by Northwest Underground Explorations (NWUE) and became intrigued by a mine named the Golden Tunnel located in the Index Mining District in Washington State. They described the mine as, "a natural cavern, perched 4,200 feet above sea level... It was reported to be 15 feet high, 20 feet wide, and 65 feet long with streaks of high grade copper pyrites in large crystals carrying gold and silver." It sounded interesting, but they described it's location as being inaccessible. This was strange I thought, because they had a photo of them visiting the tunnel and obviously they had been there. 

I decided to do a Google search for the mine and ran across this hostile exchange on NWHikers.net regarding the location of this mine. Click here to read the thread.

As I read the discussion, I could almost smell the testosterone in the air. Apparently a select group of self-elected "keepers of the Golden Tunnel mine" (in this case NWUE),  and a curious hiker who had somehow acquired a map to the mine were arguing about disclosing the location of this very special mine on the internet. The privileged "mine guards" (NWUE) were worried that someone would haul away a 500 pound tram wheel with a helicopter or some such nonsense. Apparently they, (NWUE) are the only ones allowed to tour the secret site and bring in news crews and helicopters (in this case Channel 7 News out of Seattle sometime in the 1980's). Why they feel that they and their friends and families are the only ones who should be allowed access to the site is beyond me. It's just mining artifacts that will rot away to nothing, when they could at least be viewed in photos or sit in a museum. I could almost feel an Indiana Jones movie sequel in the making. This piqued my curiosity and I decided to try to locate this illusive mine.

Because I didn't want to make a trip to Olympia to locate the info, I decided to use the internet. After reading the entire discussion on NWHikers.net, I felt I had a fairly good idea of it's location and decided to start my search on the BLM Cadastral Survey website. I started by viewing the Washington Master Title Plat Map Grid.

I knew the basic area to search which was south of Highway 2, near the town of Baring, so I clicked on a few off the townships there and checked out the Cadastral Survey Links until I found a good detailed map of each area. I usually start by choosing the largest file size surveys, since they typically have the most information. I hit the jackpot on my second try.

I looked closely at the survey map, which was made in 1921 and recalled a few facts. Because some older mines may not be on the map, I looked at the artifacts. One thing I knew for certain was that the Golden Tunnel had an aerial tramway from the pictures and description in the NWUE book. Low and behold I noticed an aerial tramway on the map in sections 20 and 21. No mine was marked, but the hikers' veiled descriptions from NWHikers.net had basically described the route to the mine area, and sure enough, this notation on the map, matched that description.

Golden Tunnel Mine - Cadastral Survey

I noticed that this tramway was located slightly northwest of Crater Lake on the northeast side of Red Mountain above Salmon Creek. There also appeared to be a large valley below where the mill site could have been. I also noticed a notation on the survey map of "Tunnel" north of the tramway. I'm not sure what this is either. Maybe someone could fill me in. I next looked at the topographical map (Mt. Si) of the area on the USGS website. I noticed that no mines were marked on this map either. The only way to be sure the mine is there is to visit the site. According to NWUE it is at 4,200ft. elevation (they could be misleading us though). It looks like a long way in and a long way out of this area. Not a good trip for me, being up in years and having a bad knee. Maybe someone will take pity on me and send me some photos of the site and area. I sure hope so. I want to see these wonderful "historic artifacts" that are rotting away up there for the Eagles to enjoy.

USGS Topographic Map of Golden Tunnel Mine (approx. locations)

I next checked out the Satellite images of the area on Google Earth and Bing.com maps. It definitely looks like where the Golden Tunnel should be. The mill site should be on the west bank of Salmon Creek. Possibly under the trees.

Golden Tunnel Mine Location - Google Earth Image

Here's to the adventurous few who want to track down this elusive AND exclusive piece of Washington State history. Please let me know if you find it.

Saddle Mountain Washington

 After returning home from New Mexico, I figured I'd just take it easy for a while and recharge my batteries. But as luck would have it, I somehow ended up with a four day weekend off and nothing to do. My husband, a diehard camper had missed out on a planned trip earlier because of my unexpected trip down to New Mexico, so we planned a spur of the moment trip to Central Washington to search out nice rockhounding spots.

We decided to head to the Yakima River area because it was pretty cool in the Rosalyn area and Yakima sounded warmer. Unfortunately I didn't do my homework on the rockhounding areas and we almost ended up with nothing but a nice camping trip along the river (not so bad). 


We ended up setting up camp at the Bighorn Campground late Friday night. All the river spots were taken by all the rafters and fishermen, but we had a really nice spot anyway. I highly recommend this campground over the many other BLM sites we passed, because it had a lot more shade than the others further South.

Nice Shady Camping Spot at Bighorn Campground

The next morning, rather than tubing down the river (which did look like a lot of fun), we decided to go rock hunting. I had an old book which told about petrified wood along Umtanum Creek. It had little other information. It just said search the canyons and river beds to the south of Umtanum Creek Trail. So we headed down the river to the Umtanum bridge.

Yakima River Rafters - Looks Like Fun!

Umtanum Bridge

It was easy to find the suspension bridge. It's the only one across the river. As soon as we got to the other side, we ran into two out-of-breath hikers who told us to beware of the rattlesnake up the trail. Well, that did it for us. Even though we were both raised in New Mexico and never gave a thought to rattlesnakes, we suddenly became super aware of the possibility and did not have the courage to leave the stupid trail to look for petrified wood. We just couldn't do it! Meanwhile, Bandito decided that the upper 80's was too much for him and settled into the creek at the first spot we came to.

Bandito Laying in the Creek

We found a few chips of petrified wood laying under the railroad bridge at the beginning of the trail and near a washout area up the trail, but we were just too conscious of the snake danger to get off into the brush and look, so we just found a shady spot near the river and rested awhile and headed back.

View of the Yakima River Valley from the Umtanum Creek Trail

I have since done my homework and now know where to look, but that trip will have to wait for cooler weather when the snakes aren't around.

The next day, Sunday, we had two choices of places to hunt. I had read a bloggers report about petrified wood up the Old Durr Toll Road, and Saddle Mountain, which was about an hour away on the other side of the Columbia River. I did have specific directions to Saddle Mountain, but the Old Durr Road was closer, so we headed that direction first. Here is an interesting description of this historic road: BackroadsofNorthAmerica.com.


It was a cool day as we started our  drive down the road. There was a great view of rolling hills and farms along the way.

Farm House on Durr Road

Several miles down the road we were greeted with a huge sign with the notice that a Discover Pass was required. This notice should have been posted at the beginning of the road. We decided to just continue on.

Now You Tell Us a Discover Pass is Required?

The road was VERY rough and had spots where melon-sized rocks had been put down for traction. There were some spots with steep drop-offs and we had to cross Umtanum Creek without the benefit of a bridge. All in all, it was not too bad, and I wouldn't classify it as a 4-wheel drive only road. You do need a high clearance vehicle with really good tires though. After inching along for several miles, we finally came to a 3-way intersection and decided to stop. There was an old ranch gateway just sitting out in the middle of nowhere.

Gateway to Where?

After searching around the area, we only found a few small pieces of petrified wood. Later I would discover we were searching the wrong side of the hill. Just our luck! We decided to head back and get over to Saddle Mountain where I had good directions. It took us quite a while to get back down Durr Road and over the Columbia River, but we made it in a couple of hours.

Saddle Mountain is a well-known rock hounding area on BLM land outside of Mattawa. The petrified wood found in this area is what is known as "bog" wood. The theory is that there were piles of downed trees in a swampy area and a lava flow came along and buried it. Then over time, the minerals turned the trees into stone and then the lava started to erode and expose the wood. Whatever the theory, there is sure a lot of wood out there!

As soon as we reached the first area we found pieces of wood laying around everywhere. We immediately started following the pieces to some good sized dig holes. Michael, a firm believer in digging, started going at it. Me, I reconnoitered the area looking for the best spots to dig. I found so much without digging that I just kept collecting.

Can You See The Petrified Wood?

When we left, we felt bad about picking up the small pieces we first found because the wood was everywhere! at the second spot, we found a huge hole with trees visible embedded in the rock. I know Michael was thinking he was glad he hadn't had to dig that hole!

I Have to Dig That Deep?

The agatized wood inside the hole was beautiful. We chipped at it a while, but decided it was just damaging the whole log and there was plenty of large pieces laying around for our needs.

Agatized Logs at the Bottom of the Hole

All in all, our trip to Saddle Mountain made the day a huge success and we were really glad we headed out there. We'll definitely have to make another trip in the fall. I know that for sure after reading this trip report from the Kitsap Gem & Mineral Club. Meanwhile, we were completely happy with our finds for the day.

The Pile of Our Finds

Close-up View

A Southwest Rock Hunt Near Cuba New Mexico

OK, I know that New Mexico is not in the Northwest, but due to a harrowing last 5 weeks down in Albuquerque getting my parents moved to assisted living, I managed to get out and go rock hunting only one time. But boy, did we find an excellent spot! 


Seeing as how it was near 100º every day, we watched the weather reports for a predicted day of overcast and planned to head to a higher elevation. After perusing the information I had found on a previous trip, I decided that the Cuba area copper mines would be a good place to go. At 8000+ feet of elevation, I figured it was bound to be cooler. So on Sunday, July 24th, My extended Albuquerque family, my Alaska sister and my hubby headed out to see what we could find.

Terrain in the Cuba Area

We headed out of Albuquerque under bright sun but quickly ended up in overcast skies and rainy weather up in Cuba. It was wonderful. Temps were in the 70's. I felt like I was back in the Northwest. As we attempted to get to the rockhound spot I had decided on, we discovered that the road was closed due to extreme fire danger and the fires further on in the Los Alamos area. So, we turned around and I decided that we would head up every open dirt road heading North as we headed back toward Cuba. I knew there were lots of old mines in those hills and we had to get lucky sometime.

Looking For A Passable Road

We headed up several roads that seemed to dead end in people's yards, including  a road that was named Copper City Road, with collapsed buildings everywhere, but we finally  ended up at a makeshift log barricade pretty far up one dirt road. We could see what looked like mine tailings in the hillsides. We parked and decided to check things out. 

Checking out the Road

Right away my lucky sister found a large piece of agatized petrified wood in the road. So we decided to stay a while. Pretty soon a large white truck appeared and stopped to see what we were doing. It turned out they were the owners of the land and told us that they owned everything around and up the road, right to the entrance to the Nacimiento mine and that we were welcome to search to our heart's content. An old gentleman with the group proudly told us that the hills surrounding us were mined by the Conquistadores in the early 1600's (or rather mined by the Indians they enslaved). He also told us that the Smithsonian had on display a petrified log infused with copper that had come from this same land. Boy were we excited.

Hills Behind the Horse Are Old Diggings From the 1600's

We scoured the area and found azurite, malachite, pieces of copperized petrified wood, agatized petrified wood, thundereggs, rose quartz, citrine quartz and lots of very old glass. The area was amazing! All in all it turned out to be a wonderful day for everyone. And we all ended up with beautiful specimens to add to our collections.

A Few of My Finds

Suggested Reading:

The Ore Deposits of New Mexico (1910)
New Mexico mines and minerals: World's fair ed., 1904
New Mexico Mines and Minerals ...: Being an Epitome of the Early Mining History 
and Resources of New Mexican Mines, in the Various Districts, Down 
to the Present Time ...