Badger Turquoise: Field Guide to a Lander County Mine
Part of the Turquoise Mines field guides and The Southwest Jewelry Guide.
Joe Dan and Joe P. Lowry’s 2010 book places the Badger mine on a ridge north of Indian Creek, about three miles northwest of Tenabo, Nevada. Every statement below is quoted or paraphrased from that book, with page numbers, so you can check each one. The book was published in 2010; anything described as current describes 2010.
What Lowry recorded
Lowry (2010) on the name:
“This mine was discovered by Jim Johnson and William Van Alder in 1938 and was named Badger because the turquoise was initially found in a badger's den.”
— Lowry (2010), p. 233 [1]
According to Lowry (2010, p. 233), the land was railroad property and the discoverers chose not to stake a claim; the Edgar family claimed it in 1941, and it was worked by hand-dug short tunnels of about thirty feet. [1]
According to Lowry (2010, p. 233), the mine lies along a ridge north of Indian Creek, about three miles northwest of Tenabo, and as of 2010 was still occasionally mined. [1]
See all the turquoise mines we profile, across the Southwest.
How this page is sourced. We strive for accuracy: every factual statement above is quoted from or credited to the printed work listed below, with page numbers, and this page is continuously updated with new information as we read more of our library. See something we should correct? Contact us.
From the Library: Ryan & Chambless, Turquoise in America, Part Two (2020)
2020 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2020, not today.
Ryan & Chambless (2020) reprint Frank Morrissey's 1953 account of how the Tenabo finds began:
“Then in 1937 an Indian brought a piece of float to Earl Buffington at the Bauman Ranch near Cortez and gave a vague description of where he found it.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 122 [2]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 122), Morrissey wrote that Buffington passed the word to Harold Johnson and William Van Alder, whose first discovery, about twenty miles south and east of Battle Mountain, they named the Badger; after taking out a good quantity of turquoise they learned the Southern Pacific railway owned the land, refused to file, and abandoned it. [2]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 123), Morrissey reported that another group bought the land from the railway and located the Badger, and that as of 1953 it had produced about $100,000 worth of high-grade turquoise and was still in production. [2]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 123), Morrissey got most of his history from interviews with Lee Hand and Ted Johnson, reputable sources whose anecdotal accounts are nonetheless hard to corroborate, and most later histories of Nevada turquoise repeat his figures. [2]
Ernie Montoya told Ryan & Chambless (2020):
“I also bought another area, about three hundred and twenty acres or so, where I have the old Badger Mine.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 275 [2]
Ernie Montoya told Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 276) that he does not stabilize Badger turquoise, that he had not had time to mine it, and that a large, somewhat dangerous overhang had kept them back. [2]
From the Library: Morrissey, Turquoise Deposits of Nevada (1968)
1968 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1968, not today.
Morrissey's 1968 report for the Nevada Bureau of Mines explained why the Bullion district was found so late:
“The existence of turquoise in the vicinity had long been known to the Indians, and by an odd quirk only to them, since they had gathered practically all the float on the surface, thus leaving no signs to guide prospectors.”
— Morrissey (1968), p. 15 [3]
According to Morrissey (1968, p. 17), the Badger was not worked until several years after its 1938 discovery, when Lee Hand and several of the Edgar brothers bought the land outright from the Southern Pacific; in 1949 Hand sold his interest to the Edgars, who pressed its development. [3]
Morrissey (1968) on what the bulldozer uncovered:
“Using a bulldozer to clean off the overburden they uncovered several seams and found very good, blue turquoise, some in slabs but mostly in nodules, evenly matched in color, which found ready market with the Zuni silversmiths.”
— Morrissey (1968), p. 17 [3]
According to Morrissey (1968, p. 17), the turquoise-bearing shale was overlain by quartzite, and the two most productive deposits lay about 500 feet apart, one on the north side and the other on the south side of a small hill. [3]
Field Notes by Mateo James
I notice the Badger's discoverers differ between books. Lowry (2010) names Jim Johnson and William Van Alder in 1938, while Frank Morrissey's 1953 account, as reprinted by Ryan & Chambless (2020), names Harold Johnson and starts the story with float brought in during 1937. Jim and Harold were brothers who prospected together, and Ryan & Chambless themselves warn that Morrissey's history is hard to corroborate, so I have left both versions on the page.
Sources
- Lowry, Joe Dan, and Joe P. Lowry. Turquoise: The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2010. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2010.
- Ryan, Mike, II, and Philip Chambless. Turquoise in America, Part Two: 1910–1990. Callais Press, 2020. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2020.
- Morrissey, Frank R. Turquoise Deposits of Nevada. Nevada Bureau of Mines Report 17. Reno: Mackay School of Mines, University of Nevada, 1968. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1968.