Crescent Peak Turquoise: Field Guide to Nevada's Sky-Blue Mountain Mine
Crescent Peak Turquoise: Field Guide to Nevada's Sky-Blue Mountain Mine
Crescent Peak turquoise comes from a site approximately forty miles east of Halloran Springs, Nevada, with related operations at the Stone Hammer area in San Bernardino County, California. The Toltec Gem Mining Company worked both locations in the early twentieth century, marketing non-matrix sky-blue stones through fine trade catalogs — and the operation's lead shareholder met a violent end at a California rail depot in 1903.
Field Notes by Mateo James
The Toltec Gem Mining Company's 1905 catalog described their stones as "perfectly matched flawless, pale blue turquoise beads" — a promotional description that Chambless preserves as evidence of the period's marketing vocabulary. Non-matrix sky blue was the commercial ideal of the Turquoise Rush era, and Crescent Peak output fit that profile.
George Simmons was the principal shareholder. William Petry served as lapidary, working with the Denver Kley family. The production numbers from 1900 were estimated at $20,000 to $28,000 — substantial for the period.
What distinguishes this mine's history is the Barnwell incident. Chambless (~lines 9533–9594) documents that on October 15, 1903, George Simmons was murdered at Barnwell, California — the railhead serving the mining operations — by a former foreman named William L. Miller. Miller was subsequently found not guilty by reason of insanity. The violence cut off the principal management of the Crescent Peak-Halloran Springs operation at the peak of the turquoise rush.
Collector's Handbook
What to look for: Non-matrix, sky-blue stone is the characteristic output documented in primary sources. The Toltec catalog's emphasis on matched, pale blue beads suggests the deposit favored clean, consistent material.
Recognition tells: Crescent Peak and Halloran Springs stones appeared in early-twentieth-century catalogs under the Toltec brand. Period pieces from pre-1905 are historically plausible.
Honest mine-status hedge: Post-1903 operational status — after Simmons's death — is not well documented in available primary sources. This appears to have been primarily a Rush-era operation.
Related mine guides: Pages for Bisbee, Sleeping Beauty, Number Eight, Cerrillos, Royston, Kingman, Lander Blue, and Morenci mines are coming soon to this field guide.
References
- Chambless, Philip. The History of the American Turquoise Industry, Ch. 7 (~lines 9533–9594, 9813). [Primary source — most detailed entry; includes Barnwell murder and Toltec catalog citation.]