Cerrillos Turquoise: Field Guide to Mount Chalchihuitl and Turquoise Hill
Part of the Turquoise Mines of the Southwest field guides and The Southwest Jewelry Guide.
Los Cerrillos, in the Cerrillos Hills of New Mexico, is the district Pogue ranked first among United States turquoise deposits for its history and past production. This page is built from the most detailed early study of the district, Joseph E. Pogue’s The Turquois, published by the National Academy of Sciences in 1915. Every statement below is quoted from it, with page numbers, so you can check each one. Anything Pogue describes as current describes 1915, not today.
More Cerrillos turquoise examples
Real Cerrillos turquoise from the T.Skies archive, photographed by us. Tap this stone to see it up close.
Why Cerrillos comes first
Writing in 1915, Pogue ranked the district first:
“The most important deposits of turquois in the United States, from the point of view of their history and past production, are within the Cerrillos mining district, Santa Fe County, in the north-central portion of New Mexico.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 52 [1]
Of Mount Chalchihuitl, Pogue wrote in 1915 that it
“is the site of the most extensive prehistoric mining operations known on the American continent.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 52 [1]
Pogue argued in 1915 that Cerrillos fed a continent:
“Indeed, this deposit must have supplied much of the turquois which was so widely used in pre-Spanish times, not only in the Southwest but in Mexico as well, for no other sources are now known at all adequate to account for the quantities employed.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 52 [1]
Mount Chalchihuitl: the ancient workings
Pogue (1915) cited Sterrett's 1911 survey:
“the main pit is about 130 feet deep and 200 feet across”
— Pogue (1915), p. 52 [1]
Pogue (1915) quoted the geologist Silliman's reaction to the site:
“The observer is deeply impressed with the enormous amount of labor which in ancient times has been expended here.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 52 [1]
Pogue (1915) on the tools left behind:
“Many stone hammers (see Fig. 2, Pl. 3) and other primitive implements have been found in the debris of the ancient workings.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 52 [1]
Turquoise Hill and the Tiffany mine
Pogue (1915) described the two main centres; the first
“is situated on Turquois Hill, 6 miles east of north of Cerrillos, and includes the Tiffany and Castilian mines owned by the American Turquois Co. of New York.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 52 [1]
On the Spanish period, Pogue (1915) noted that Jones
“found in the archives at Santa Fe the record of a chalchihuitl (turquois) grant bearing the date 1763. Evidently, then, at that time the excavation was again worked,”
— Pogue (1915), p. 53 [1]
Pogue (1915) on the modern claims:
“In 1889 the Muniz claim, one of the most important in the district, was located by F. Muniz, a Mexican. Other claims were located in 1891. The following year the combined holdings were purchased by the American Turquois Co., which proved very successful in their operation.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 53 [1]
Of the best-known claim, Pogue wrote in 1915 that the
““Tiffany mine” is reputed to have produced a higher proportion of high-grade gem material than any other deposit in the United States;”
— Pogue (1915), p. 55 [1]
As of 1915, Pogue reported:
“The total yield from the holdings of the American Turquois Co., coming chiefly from the “Tiffany mine,” is said to exceed $2,000,000 in value.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 55 [1]
The stone
Pogue's 1915 description of the stone:
“Its color varies from green through greenish-blue to fine sky-blue.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 54 [1]
How Cerrillos turquoise formed: the 1881–1915 debate
Pogue gathered every published explanation of the Cerrillos deposits up to 1915. They did not all agree:
According to Pogue (1915, p. 61), Silliman in 1881 was the first to offer an explanation for Cerrillos turquoise, tying it to hydrothermal (hot-water) alteration of the surrounding rock. [1]
Pogue (1915) reported that Clarke and Diller, studying the stone in 1886,
“found the turquois under the microscope to be composed of fibers, which in one specimen were arranged at right angles to the vein walls”
— Pogue (1915), p. 62 [1]
According to Pogue (1915, p. 62), Herrick's 1900 idea that molten syenite had acted on copper-bearing Jurassic sandstone was untenable, because no copper-bearing Jurassic sediments were known near Cerrillos. [1]
Writing in 1915, Pogue summarized Johnson's detailed 1903 study of the Cerrillos deposits:
“The turquois originated during the alteration of the country rock; its alumina and phosphoric acid were derived from the feldspar and apatite of the original rock, while its copper was supplied by copper-bearing solutions, which also produced the copper-bearing ores of the region”
— Pogue (1915), p. 62 [1]
Pogue (1915) gave Lindgren's later view: once the altered rock was exposed by erosion,
“when the altered rock was brought by erosion within reach of surface waters kaolin was developed by the action on the sericite of sulphuric acid from the pyrite, and the turquois found congenial conditions to form.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 62 [1]
Pogue (1915) also flagged a mineral found near both Cerrillos and the Burro Mountains:
“The presence of fluorite near the deposits of the Burro Mountains and the Cerrillos Hills is suggestive, inasmuch as the components necessary for its formation are left if phosphoric acid be subtracted from apatite.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 64 [1]
From the Library: Branson, Turquoise: The Gem of the Centuries (1975)
1975 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1975, not today.
According to Branson (1975, p. 43), Indigenous miners worked very extensive workings here some 300 years before the first Spaniards settled at nearby Santa Fe. His account is an outside observer's record, and the Pueblos are the authority on their own history. [3]
According to Branson (1975, p. 43), the old workings yielded large quantities of medium-quality soft blue turquoise, used mainly for beads, with some larger pieces made into jewelry. [3]
According to Branson (1975, p. 43), that quality of Cerrillos turquoise turns green over time, sometimes to very pleasing shades, when exposed to skin oils. [3]
As of 1975, Branson (1975, p. 43) reported that no active mining had been carried out for many years. [3]
From the Library: Chambless & Ryan, Turquoise in America, Part One (2021)
2021 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2021, not today.
The name is not an ownership record. Chambless & Ryan (2021) write that
“neither Charles Lewis Tiffany nor the company he founded ever owned a turquoise mine, though he probably had a small equity holding in and some debt from one company, the American Turquoise Company (ATC).”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 20 [2]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) caution against giving Cerrillos all the credit:
“Although the source of Chaco turquoise has often been assigned to the mines in the Cerrillos Mining District near Santa Fe, New Mexico, many other areas were explored by Native American people.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 28 [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 29), an isotope study of 29 turquoise artifacts from Pueblo Bonito linked 13 of them to deposits at Cerrillos, the Jarilla Mountains of New Mexico and Villa Grove, Colorado. [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 28), William P. Blake explored Mount Chalchihuitl at Cerrillos in 1857, and many more sites of American Indian turquoise mining were found after that, often by prospectors looking for other minerals. [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 26), turquoise from the Cerrillos area traveled in early times through trading exchanges between the Hohokam, Mogollon and Sonoran peoples. [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 32), the geologist William Phipps Blake learned of the stone in August 1857, when Navajos on the Santa Fe Plaza told him of a highly valued green gemstone they called "Chalchihuit" and wore as personal adornment; he set out to find its source. [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 34), Blake found in 1857 an immense pit about 200 feet deep and more than 300 feet wide, dug with Stone Age tools and fire, with hundred-year-old pine trees and lichen-covered rocks on its dumps as evidence of its age. The only activity he saw was local Native people working the ancient dumps in small groups, breaking gem material from rock extracted centuries before. [2]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) give D.B. Sterrett's June 1911 USGS measurements of the main ancient working:
“The pit is 105 feet deep on the upper side, 35 feet deep on the lower side; nearly 100 feet across in the bottom and over 200 feet across the rim.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 36 [2]
On the popular legend that a mine collapse at Mount Chalchihuitl set off the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, Chambless & Ryan (2021) conclude:
“A mine collapse and forced slavery at Mount Chalchihuitl was not likely the prime provocation.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 37 [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 39), Major D.C. Hyde and New York investors acquired claims covering the ancient Chalchihuitl pits in late 1879 and began work on January 1, 1880, as the Grand Reserve Consolidated Gold and Silver Mining Company. As the name suggests, they were looking for gold and silver, although Blake had reported in 1858 that turquoise was the only mineral the ancient miners had sought there. [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 40), very little turquoise was mined during Hyde's 1880-1882 operation; false precious-metal assays were used to sell stock, and the turquoise he shipped to New York was marginal in quality. [2]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) quote George Kunz's 1882 USGS report on how American turquoise was then sold:
“All the American turquoise is sold to either tourists or collectors or to the jewelry trade only as oddities.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 41 [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 41), in the 1880s turquoise found in the Cerrillos District was ignored because its price was too low to bring it to market. USGS estimates of U.S. production then jumped from $28,675 in 1890 to $150,000 in 1891, an increase of almost 500 percent; they caution that the figures were understated because mines were taxed on production. [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 43), the Santa Fe Daily New Mexican of July 31, 1890 reported that Kunz, Tiffany and Co.'s gemologist, was in Santa Fe with Adolph F. Bandelier to visit the turquoise mines. [2]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) date the start of the boom to that visit:
“This was an important visit and may be regarded as perhaps the beginning of The Great American Turquoise Rush.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 43 [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 46), Hugh Marshall and James Franklin Callender located the Old Castilian on Turquoise Hill on December 5, 1879, as part of a group of claims on what became known as the Marshall Hill. [2]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) add of the Old Castilian:
“This was perhaps the first staked turquoise mining claim in the United States”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 46 [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 48), Chauncey G. Story deeded five claims to the American Turquoise Company (ATC) in March 1892: the Old Castilian, the Muñiz, the Morningstar, the Sky Blue and the Gem. Only the Castilian and the Muñiz were mined for turquoise, and the Muñiz became known as the Tiffany; the others served as a buffer. [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 48), the Muñiz ground had been worked on and off during the 1880s and was then abandoned until January 31, 1890, when the Muñiz brothers, Faustin and Pedro, worked the mine; they sold the part holding the shaft to the Storys in 1891 and the rest afterwards. [2]
As of 2021, Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 48) report that the Muñiz (Tiffany) claim, patented by the ATC in 1915, was owned by Douglas Magnus, a Santa Fe artist and jewelry designer. [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 50), the ATC hired James Patrick McNulty as mine superintendent in 1892. The company was financed with $250,000 in bonds through Farmers' Loan and Trust Company of New York, and the bondholders included the sons of Allan Pinkerton, the banker James Stillman, and Charles Lewis Tiffany himself. [2]
On the "Tiffany" name, Chambless & Ryan (2021) are direct:
“Tiffany and Co. bought a lot of turquoise during The Great American Turquoise Rush, but neither he nor his company ever owned a claim or operated a mine.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 45 [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 52), a 1962 letter from a Tiffany and Co. spokesperson said the firm had never owned or operated a turquoise mine, and that it had once taken a few shares of American Turquoise Company stock in partial payment of a debt. [2]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) conclude:
“It is clear that the ongoing use of the Tiffany name throughout the Southwest had no connection to either the individual or the company.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 52 [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 52), the bond trustee foreclosed on the ATC early in 1897 for $85,481.52, after the company had already paid the original $250,000 debt down by $164,518.48. They estimate the Tiffany mine generated at least $250,000 to $300,000 in cash over those five years. [2]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) on the color the company was chasing:
“Obtaining the desired robin-egg blue turquoise with no matrix was difficult for the ATC and contributed to their financial problems.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 55 [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 57), Mariano F. Sena sued in 1899 to confirm the Spanish-era José de Leyba land grant, which he claimed covered the Turquoise Hill claims. The courts, up to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1911, ruled against him, after 16 years of trials. [2]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) on what the lawsuit cost the company:
“In spite of the favorable verdict, the company never recovered financially and never resumed full-scale mining operations.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 59 [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 59), Rio Grande pueblos including Santo Domingo (now Kewa), Cochiti and San Felipe did not share the Euro-American idea of private ownership of the turquoise mines, and kept exercising what they felt was their ancestral right to gather turquoise there. Their account draws on the court and newspaper records of the time; the Pueblos are the authority on their own history. [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 60), McNulty sometimes allowed Pueblo miners to work the Castilian, though the Tiffany was always off-limits, and trespass cases went to court more than once. On the night of December 16, 1910, four men from Cochiti Pueblo were arrested entering the Castilian; they pleaded guilty, served part of a six-to-nine-month sentence from March 1911, and were paroled on August 8, 1911. [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 62), Michael O'Neil and Ed E. Bennett staked the Persian Lode claim on April 11, 1892, next to the Old Castilian. It became the property of the New Mexico Turquoise Company, organized in April 1893 with territorial governor L. Bradford Prince as secretary and treasurer, which produced little and ceased business in 1907. [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 66), the Blue Bell claim was located on January 15, 1892, by Michael O'Neil and Adam Herlich on original American Indian workings in the Cerrillos Hills, near the old diggings on Mount Chalchihuitl. [2]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) warn buyers and researchers about the name:
“It is confusing because there are Blue Bell claims in the Cerrillos Hills and Turquoise Hill.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 66 [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 68), former territorial governor L. Bradford Prince paid $25,000 for a one-fourth interest in the Cerrillos Hills Blue Bell in 1897, acquired the rest in 1902, and had it patented in his name in 1906, the only turquoise claim patented in the Cerrillos Hills. O'Neil later reacquired it; when USGS geologist D.B. Sterrett visited in 1911 it was known simply as the Mike O'Neil turquoise mine, and after O'Neil's death in 1930 it passed to his grandson Vern Byrne. [2]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) reprint Tiffany and Co.'s notice in The Jewelers' Circular, denying any role in the North American Turquoise Syndicate of 1899:
“Tiffany and Co has denounced unauthorized and absolutely untrue reports in newspapers associating their name with the management of the North American Turquoise Syndicate.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 70 [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 68), investor James Hess wrote in 1899 that McNulty claimed the Old Castilian had paid Tiffany $2 million since 1892; they suggest Hess either misunderstood a figure for the ATC's total production, almost all from the Tiffany mine, or was misled. [2]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) add a caution about the era's figures:
“Reported production numbers were often suspect.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 71 [2]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) on what happened when the boom ended:
“New Mexico was the epicenter of production during The Great American Turquoise Rush, but when the boom ended, production in the state soon came to an almost complete halt.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 183 [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 183), the ATC produced little after 1907 and production had halted by 1930, though Vern Byrne took several hundred dollars' worth from the Blue Bell in the 1930s, as did Herculano Montayo from the Tiffany. [2]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 183), the ATC patent claims for the Tiffany and the Castilian were sold in the 1930s to the Gerard family, who never developed them; around 1980 the land and a half-interest in the mineral rights went to Frank Rapstine and D.E. "Skip" Stahl of Amarillo, who sold in the late 1980s to Douglas Magnus, the owner as of 2021. [2]
As of 2021, Chambless & Ryan reported:
“Some small-scale miners maintain claims in the area and continue to produce turquoise.”
— Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 183 [2]
From the Library: Lowry, Turquoise: The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone (2010)
2010 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2010, not today.
According to Lowry (2010, p. 81), the ancient Cerrillos dig sites numbered around thirty, and most were small pits a few feet wide or outcrops that had yielded a few pounds. [4]
As of 2010, Lowry wrote:
“The best evidence of ancient mining in the Cerrillos area that remains today are the workings at the Mount Chalchihuitl, Turquoise Hill, and Castillian mines.”
— Lowry (2010), p. 81 [4]
According to Lowry (2010, p. 81), Doug Magnus was then part owner of the Turquoise Hill and Castillian areas and had worked to preserve these historic sites. [4]
According to Lowry (2010, p. 78), the name "Turquoise Trail" came from a 1956 Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce contest won by Ruth Armstrong of Corrales; in 1975 the name was applied to the highway from Interstate 40 at Tijeras north to Santa Fe. [4]
According to Lowry (2010, p. 139), the Turquoise Hill site in the Cerrillos Hills has one of the most picturesque tunnel entrances in the world, but the entrance was not much to look at until a movie crew prettied it up for moviegoers. [4]
According to Lowry (2010, p. 141), the written history of the Cerrillos Hills overstates the wealth turquoise brought; as of 2010 he found the town of Cerrillos a collection of old buildings like other old prospecting towns. [4]
According to Lowry (2010, p. 220), the Cerrillos area's best-known deposits were marketed as Turquoise Hill, Castillian and Mount Chalchihuitl, among other names, and many aficionados collect its stone for a connection to famous and often exaggerated tales written about the area. [4]
Lowry (2010) on Turquoise Hill:
“The Turquoise Hill property is one of the most preserved and interesting turquoise mining sites in the world, with its prehistoric dig site above and its numerous extended tunnels below.”
— Lowry (2010), p. 221 [4]
According to Lowry (2010, p. 223), although Native Americans mined turquoise from many Southwest sources, the most prolific historical writing kept returning to Cerrillos, which is why the area became synonymous with the history and tourism of the Southwest. [4]
From the Library: Kunz, Gems and Precious Stones of North America (1890)
1890 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1890, not today.
According to Kunz (1890, p. 54), the Los Cerrillos locality was one of a group of conical mountains about twenty-two miles southeast of Santa Fe, north of the Placer (Gold) Mountains and separated from them by the valley of the Galisteo River. [5]
Kunz (1890) repeated, as settled fact, the old story of a mine collapse in 1680:
“It is well known that in 1680 a large section of the mountains suddenly fell in from the undermining of the mass by the Indian miners, killing a number of them, and that this accident was the immediate cause of the uprising of the Pueblos”
— Kunz (1890), p. 56 [5]
According to Kunz (1890, p. 56), work by the 1880 mining company under 'J. B. Hyde' uncovered, by accident, caves running off the level of the long-abandoned mine; the most curious, which he called the Wonder Caves, lay about 75 feet northwest of Shaft No. 1 on the east side of the mountain, appeared to have been sealed by the ancient miners when they left, and had turquoise veins up to 2 inches thick in their walls. Kunz reported that the company hoped to work the mine for gold and turquoise, but the effort proved unsuccessful after thousands of dollars were spent. [5]
As of 1890, according to Kunz (1890, p. 57), the only work at the Los Cerrillos mines was occasional, done by building fires against the rock and throwing water on it so that large pieces cracked off, a method that ruined much of the turquoise; the stone was then picked from the exposed seams with pointed iron such as old harrow-teeth, and blasting was only occasional. [5]
As of 1890, according to Kunz (1890, p. 57), Indians of San Domingo (Santo Domingo, now Kewa) Pueblo sold the turquoise in Santa Fe and along the railroad near the mines, ground into round or heart-shaped ornaments and pierced with a bow-drill they called malakates, tipped with quartz or agate; a string of many hundreds of stones was valued at the price of a pony. His account is an outside observer's record; the Pueblos are the authority on their own history. [5]
According to Kunz (1890, p. 57), the chemist Frank W. Clarke held that the very small size of the veins showed the turquoise was of local origin, formed by the alteration of another mineral, probably apatite, with its alumina probably derived from decomposing feldspar. [5]
Of the suite of Cerrillos specimens John W. Powell collected in 1885 for the U.S. Geological Survey, Kunz (1890) wrote:
“This mineral varies in color from a fine sky-blue through many shades of bluish-green and apple-green to dark-green, showing no blue whatever.”
— Kunz (1890), p. 58 [5]
Kunz (1890) added that pyrite, the brassy mineral, was
“occasionally found, bright and unaltered, enclosed completely in masses of clear blue turquoise.”
— Kunz (1890), p. 58 [5]
These are outside observers' records from over a century ago; the nations themselves are the authority on their own beliefs.
According to Kunz (1890, p. 61), while Major Hyde was exploring at Cerrillos in 1880, several Pueblo men from San Domingo told him the turquoise he was taking from the old mine was sacred and should not leave their hands, and offered to buy all that might come from the mine in future. His account is an outside observer's record; the Pueblos are the authority on their own history. [5]
From the Library: Schiffer, Turquoise Jewelry (2008)
2008 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2008, not today.
Writing in 2008, Schiffer described the stone:
“Cerillos turquoise is usually soft blue or greenish, often with a brown matrix.”
— Schiffer (2008), p. 6 [6]
According to Schiffer (2008, p. 6), the American Turquoise Company took over mining at Turquoise Hill in 1892, and commercial mining there continued until 1925, when the turquoise supply was exhausted. [6]
Schiffer (2008, p. 31) illustrated an old silver bracelet combining stones from three mines (Morenci, Cerrillos and Blue Gem); its Cerrillos stone had previously been drilled as an ear bob. [6]
From the Library: Bedinger, Indian Silver (1973)
1973 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1973, not today.
According to Bedinger (1973, p. 140), following Adair, around 1890 the Zuni smith Keneshde went to Santo Domingo to trade and asked where its people got their turquoise, which was then rare and not stocked by trading posts or stores. The Zunis were sent to the governor in Santa Fe for permission to take stone from the Los Cerrillos mine, and then to the mine's owner, who let them visit for a fee of five dollars. [7]
Bedinger (1973) recorded how Keneshde got his stone:
“His companions were afraid to go down into the working, so Keneshde went alone, taking a chisel with which he knocked off a large piece.”
— Bedinger (1973), p. 140 [7]
According to Bedinger (1973, p. 141; see also p. 140), Keneshde polished four pieces of that Cerrillos stone, soldered a rim around each, and set them in a bracelet that he sold for ten dollars to a Navajo near Lupton. He told Adair he had never seen turquoise set on silver before. [7]
Writing in 1973, Bedinger noted of Santo Domingo (Kewa) Pueblo:
“The mines of Los Cerrillos are not far away, and the Santo Domingos have used them for many years, indeed claiming them as their property.”
— Bedinger (1973), p. 171 [7]
From the Library: Turnbaugh, Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest (2007)
2007 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2007, not today.
As of the late 1980s, according to Turnbaugh (2007, p. 12, caption), the settlement at Chaco Canyon probably served as a turquoise processing center between about 900 and 1200 A.D., on a trade route running from the Santa Fe area to Mesoamerica by way of Casas Grandes; they identified the Cerrillos mines south of Santa Fe as the source of most of that turquoise, traded south to Toltec and Aztec peoples for salt, macaw feathers, unusual shells and other goods. [8]
According to Turnbaugh (2007, p. 14), an 11th-century route ran north from southern Mexico through Casas Grandes in Chihuahua to Chaco Canyon, and turquoise, finished jewelry and textiles travelled south along such routes into Mexico. [8]
William and Sarah Turnbaugh (Turnbaugh 2007) also credited the first Zuni setting to Cerrillos stone:
“A smith named Keneshde is credited with being the first Zuni to set turquoise from the Cerrillos mines near Santa Fe in silver, and it is said that he taught himself to do so without ever having seen any jewelry set with stones.”
— Turnbaugh (2007), p. 53 [8]
According to Turnbaugh (2007, p. 53), Zuni smiths began adding turquoise to their silver around 1890, as their Navajo neighbors were doing. [8]
Writing in the late 1980s about Santo Domingo (Kewa) beadwork, Turnbaugh (2007) reported that most of its turquoise had traditionally
“come from the Cerrillos mines which are located near the Pueblo and are claimed as Santo Domingo property.”
— Turnbaugh (2007), p. 68 [8]
As of the late 1980s, Turnbaugh (2007, p. 68) reported that many different turquoises, even reconstituted turquoise, were also being used in Santo Domingo (Kewa) beadwork. [8]
Turnbaugh (2007, p. 79, caption) illustrates a Navajo-style necklace of handmade beads with four butterflies and a handcast naja, ca. 1935, set with turquoise from the Cerrillos mines south of Santa Fe, mines the caption notes had been worked since prehistoric times. [8]
From the Library: Bassman, The Beauty of Navajo Jewelry (1997)
1997 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1997, not today.
Bassman (1997, p. 10) pictured two bracelets she dated to the 1920s, artists unknown, set with Cerrillos turquoise: a cluster bracelet with forty-five stones and a bracelet with seven. [9]
From the Library: Ryan & Chambless, Turquoise in America Part Two: 1910–1990 (2020)
2020 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2020, not today.
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 44), drawing on the anthropologist John Adair, the first turquoise set in jewelry, in the early 1890s, came from Santo Domingo (Kewa) Pueblo, whose people had access to the turquoise of the Cerrillos mines. [10]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 102), after the American Turquoise Company failed its assets went to a trustee, Robert Parker, and James Patrick McNulty, the ATC's first and only superintendent at the Muñiz and Castilian (Tiffany) claims, personally paid the property tax for several years when the trustee did not, which kept Santa Fe County from foreclosing. [10]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 102), in March 1925 W. C. Porterfield of Silver City found a buyer, Col. Chester H. Smith of Boston, who paid $18,000 in monthly installments of $2,000, with half going to McNulty for his long service; Smith organized the Chesterfield Turquoise Deposit and Mfg. Company, and the sale closed on May 7, 1925. [10]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 102), the Santa Fe New Mexican reported in May 1927 that Smith had shipped a ton and a half of the finest turquoise worth several hundred thousand dollars; the authors estimate rough then sold for perhaps $15 a pound, which would put the value nearer $45,000, and read the claim as promotion. [10]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 102), Smith died in December 1927 after leaving the Los Cerrillos Turquoise Company and organizing the Old Castilian Turquoise and Manufacturing Company on the Castilian and Viola Blue claims. The ATC's five claims had been the Castilian, Muñiz (Tiffany), Morningstar, Sky Blue and Gem, and the authors suggest the Viola Blue may be the Sky Blue. [10]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 103), Smith's widow Viola, a former actress, inherited the claims and was promoted at the 1928 Woman's World's Fair in Chicago as the world's only woman miner, working the mine with a foreman and Mrs. Cora A. Kallam, but the venture soon faded. [10]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 103), the Albuquerque Journal reported on January 4, 1938 that Brice Sewell, head of the state vocational training department, was operating the old Tiffany diggings near Cerrillos with a few men; the authors speculate that Herculano Montoya, then working the Muñiz claim, may have worked for him. [10]
Ryan & Chambless (2020) on New Mexico between 1940 and 1970:
“Little to no turquoise mining was done in New Mexico during this period, although small-scale miners continued to work some claims sporadically in the Cerrillos area.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 160 [10]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 160), in the 1950s the area around Cerrillos was mined for other minerals, including zinc and lead. [10]
On New Mexico in the 1970s and 1980s, Ryan & Chambless (2020) wrote:
“Little to no commercial mining of turquoise was done save for the small-scale hand mining at Cerrillos.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 219 [10]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 226), Verne Byrne, who had mined lead in the Cerrillos area in the 1950s and 1960s, told of following a vein of very high-grade turquoise with his brother in 1948 in the Blue Gem trench west of the Castilian, then filling the trench with six to eight feet of rock because they could not sell the stone. [10]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 226), Byrne's story is typical of many from that period: miners were certainly digging for turquoise, but little to no commercial production was taking place. [10]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 226), Mike O'Neil located the Cerrillos Hills Blue Bell claim in 1892 and later sold part of it to former New Mexico governor Bradford Prince, who patented it; O'Neil bought the claim back before 1911, and when he died in 1930 it passed to his grandson Verne Byrne. [10]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 226), in 1971 a worker on the I-25 improvements near Santa Fe drove to Turquoise Hill after work, noticed turquoise in the wall of the pit of the old Castilian claim, and mined a few pieces with hand tools; a few years later the custodian of the claims shot at him. [10]
Doug Magnus recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 227), that in 1979 Amarillo oil and gas operators Skip Stahl and Frank Rapstein bought the Turquoise Hill property from the heirs of the Gerard estate, taking the real estate and fifty percent of the mineral rights. [10]
Magnus also recalled, in the same interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020):
“Then along comes the highway department and takes all the rock from the dumps to use on road construction in the area.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 227 [10]
Doug Magnus recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 227), that the owners gave him a prospector's agreement to work the Castilian, and that the first good summer, around 1986, came from dumps near the surface that had never been systematically worked. [10]
Magnus described the purchase that followed, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020):
“We've got the surface and fifty percent of the mineral rights and the Girard family still has the other fifty percent. We bought the Castilian for cash and paid off the rest over ten years.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 228 [10]
The mine glossary in Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 344) lists the Council Mahoney claim at Cerrillos, near the Castilian on Turquoise Hill. [10]
From the Library: Khazeni, Sky Blue Stone (2014)
2014 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2014, not today.
Khazeni (2014) repeated the 1680 collapse story as history:
“In 1680, a large section of a mine there suddenly collapsed, burying the miners alive and stirring an uprising that culminated in a Pueblo Indian rebellion.”
— Khazeni (2014), p. 130 [11]
According to Khazeni (2014, p. 131), W.P. Blake visited Cerrillos in 1858 and concluded that the chalchihuitl of New Mexico was true turquoise, after measuring a specimen's hardness and specific gravity and comparing its reactions under a blowpipe with those of turquoise. [11]
Khazeni (2014) quotes Blake's report on how rarely the stones reached outsiders:
“But he reported that “few or none of these stones are obtained by strangers, for they are never disposed to give for them what the Indians require.””
— Khazeni (2014), p. 131 [11]
From the Library: Lowry, Turquoise Unearthed: An Illustrated Guide (2002)
2002 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2002, not today.
Lowry (2002) on Mount Chalchihuitl:
“It was worked by the people of San Marcos Pueblo, whose descendants now occupy Santo Domingo, from approximately A.D. 1300 until the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s.”
— Lowry (2002), p. 16 [12]
Lowry (2002) on how it was dug:
“Unlike most Southwestern mines of the period, this was an underground mine with tunnels connecting shafts as deep as two hundred feet.”
— Lowry (2002), p. 16 [12]
According to Lowry (2002, p. 16), notched ladder logs were found at the site, along with stone mauls and broken pottery. [12]
Lowry (2002) repeated the older account of the Spanish period:
“History suggests that this practice, coupled with tragic cave-ins, helped fuel the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, during which the Spanish missionaries and colonists were forced to flee south to what is now El Paso, Texas.”
— Lowry (2002), p. 16 [12]
From the Library: Stacey, Turquoise Blue Book and Indian Jewelry Digest (1975)
1975 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1975, not today.
Nancy Hammack, writing in Stacey (1975, pp. 4, 6), named Cerrillos, southeast of Santa Fe, as a principal prehistoric mine and wrote that its turquoise, noted for its color, had been found at sites in Mexico and was probably traded south through Zuni Pueblo. [13]
From the Library: Schiffer, Indian Jewelry on the Market (1996)
1996 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1996, not today.
Schiffer (1996, p. 82) pictured a silver third-phase concha belt whose concha centers were set with pieces of Cerrillos turquoise (he spells it "Cerillos"). [14]
From the Library: Adair, The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths (1944)
1944 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1944, not today.
Writing in 1944, Adair (1944) traced the early Navajo turquoise to this district:
“Many of the stones were obtained at the mine known as Los Cerrillos, located a few miles south of Santa Fé. The Pueblo Indians of Santo Domingo obtained stones from this mine and other sources, and traded them to the Navajo for weaving, silver jewelry, and livestock.”
— Adair (1944), p. 15 [15]
As of 1944, Adair (1944) reported that the trade was still running:
“This barter continues today; the Santo Domingans polish turquoise and work it into beads which they trade to the Navajo.”
— Adair (1944), p. 15 [15]
On timing, Adair (1944) wrote:
“While turquoise was first set in silver by the Navajo about 1880, it was not until after 1890 that the stones were used in the jewelry in considerable quantities.”
— Adair (1944), p. 14 [15]
Keneshde told Adair (1944) about the trip he made around 1890:
“I was the first Zuñi to get turquoise out of that mine.”
— Adair (1944), p. 129 [15]
According to Adair (1944, p. 129), the mine Keneshde described was the Cerrillos mine, fifteen miles east of Santo Domingo, and the owner Keneshde called Mankey was possibly Benjamin F. Pankey of Santa Fe. [15]
From the Library: Woodward, A Brief History of Navajo Silversmithing (1946)
1946 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1946, not today.
Sam Yost, editor of the Santa Fe Weekly Gazette, described the old workings in a letter from Fort Defiance dated September 29, 1858, which Woodward (1946) printed:
“There is also an immense excavation twenty miles from Santa Fe, 200 feet wide and 300 feet deep, which it is supposed at one time was made to produce this precious stone.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 44 [16]
Woodward (1946) identified the place:
“The quarry which he described was the well known turquoise workings near Santa Fe, known as Los Cerrillos.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 45 [16]
Field Notes by Mateo James
Pogue wrote that the Cerrillos deposits were worked 'under Spanish rule also,' and even his own footnote gives Bandelier's view that the Spaniards did no mining there before 1725. Chambless & Ryan think 'it is doubtful they worked the area for turquoise.' When the books disagree, I tend to side with Chambless & Ryan.
See also the other New Mexico districts: Hachita and Jarilla, and our overview of New Mexico turquoise, and how Cerrillos turquoise may have reached ancient Mexico.
Pogue dates the Muñiz claim to 1889 and credits a single F. Muniz; Chambless & Ryan have the ground abandoned until January 31, 1890, when the Muñiz brothers worked it. The books also differ on the main pit: Pogue gives about 130 feet deep, while the 1911 Sterrett figures Chambless & Ryan print give 105 feet on the upper side. When the books disagree, I tend to side with Chambless & Ryan.
Kunz (1890) called it 'well known' that a 1680 collapse at the mountain was the immediate cause of the Pueblo uprising; Chambless & Ryan conclude a mine collapse was 'not likely the prime provocation.' Kunz also names the 1880 operator J. B. Hyde, where Chambless & Ryan give Major D.C. Hyde. When the books disagree, I tend to side with Chambless & Ryan.
I notice the books close Turquoise Hill at different times. Schiffer (2008) has commercial mining ending in 1925 with the supply exhausted, while Chambless & Ryan (2021) say production had halted by 1930 and still record small takes from the Blue Bell and the Tiffany in the 1930s. When the books disagree, I tend to side with Chambless & Ryan.
Field Notes by Mateo James: The Turnbaughs, writing in the late 1980s, name Cerrillos as the source of most Chaco turquoise, which is the attribution Chambless and Ryan caution against. The isotope study the page already cites came later, so I show the older view as the one they are answering.
Schiffer has commercial mining at Turquoise Hill ending in 1925 with the supply exhausted. Ryan & Chambless (2020) make 1925 the year the old ATC claims were sold to Col. Chester H. Smith, and they follow the claims through his company, his widow Viola's promotions, and Brice Sewell working the Tiffany diggings in 1938. I tend to side with Ryan & Chambless, and I have left Schiffer's date on the page.
Khazeni (2014) tells the 1680 story as history: a mine on Mount Chalchihuitl collapsed, buried the miners and stirred the Pueblo rebellion. Chambless & Ryan (2021) conclude that a collapse and forced slavery there was 'not likely the prime provocation.' The two books also date William P. Blake's visit differently: Khazeni says 1858, Chambless & Ryan say 1857. When the books disagree, I tend to side with Chambless & Ryan.
Lowry (2002, p. 16) writes that the Spanish forced the people of San Marcos Pueblo to work the Cerrillos mines and that this, "coupled with tragic cave-ins, helped fuel the Pueblo Revolt of 1680." Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 37) doubt the Spanish worked the area for turquoise and conclude that a mine collapse and forced labor were "not likely the prime provocation." When the books disagree, I tend to side with Chambless & Ryan.
Ryan and Chambless, drawing on Adair, place the first turquoise set in jewelry in the early 1890s. Adair's own page puts the first Navajo setting at about 1880 and says the stones came into wide use only after 1890, with many early stones from Los Cerrillos by way of Santo Domingo. The early 1890s may describe when setting became common rather than the first ring. I show both.
How this page is sourced. We strive for accuracy: every factual statement above is quoted from the printed works 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.
Sources
- Pogue, Joseph E. The Turquois: A Study of Its History, Mineralogy, Geology, Ethnology, Archaeology, Mythology, Folklore, and Technology. Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. XII, Part II, Third Memoir. Washington, 1915. Public domain. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions in 1915.
- Chambless, Philip, and Mike Ryan II. Turquoise in America, Part One: The Great American Turquoise Rush, 1890–1910. Revised first edition. Callais Press, 2021. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2021.
- Branson, Oscar T. Turquoise: The Gem of the Centuries. Santa Fe: Treasure Chest Publications, 1975. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1975.
- 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.
- Kunz, George F. Gems and Precious Stones of North America. New York: The Scientific Publishing Company, 1890. Public domain. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1890.
- Schiffer, Nancy N. Turquoise Jewelry. Revised 4th ed. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2008. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2008.
- Bedinger, Margery. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1973.
- Turnbaugh, William A., and Sarah Peabody Turnbaugh. Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest. Foreword by Barry M. Goldwater. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2007 (copyright 1996 and 2007; first published 1988). ISBN 0-7643-2577-9. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2007.
- Bassman, Theda. The Beauty of Navajo Jewelry. Photography by Gene Balzer. Walnut, California: Kiva Publishing, 1997. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1997.
- 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.
- Khazeni, Arash. Sky Blue Stone: The Turquoise Trade in World History. The California World History Library 20. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2014.
- Lowry, Joe Dan, and Joe P. Lowry. Turquoise Unearthed: An Illustrated Guide. Photography by Mark Nohl. Tucson, AZ: Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2002. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2002.
- Stacey, Joseph, ed. Turquoise Blue Book and Indian Jewelry Digest. Arizona Highways Collectors Series. Phoenix: Arizona Highways (Arizona Department of Transportation), 1975. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1975.
- Schiffer, Peter N. Indian Jewelry on the Market. Text and photography by Peter N. Schiffer. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 1996. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1996.
- Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. The Civilization of the American Indian Series. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1944. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1944.
- Woodward, Arthur. A Brief History of Navajo Silversmithing. With field notes by Richard Van Valkenburgh. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 14, 2d ed. Flagstaff: Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, December 1946 (first edition 1938). Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1946.