Easter Blue Turquoise: Field Guide to the Tonopah Mine Also Sold as 'Blue Gem'
Part of the Turquoise Mines field guides and The Southwest Jewelry Guide.
Oscar Branson’s 1975 book placed the Easter Blue mine northwest of Tonopah, Nevada. Every statement below is quoted or paraphrased from that book, with page numbers, so you can check each one. Branson wrote in 1975; anything he describes as current describes 1975, not today.
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Real Easter Blue turquoise from the T.Skies archive, photographed by us. Tap this stone to see it up close.
What Branson recorded
According to Branson (1975, p. 38), the Easter Blue Mine northwest of Tonopah, Nevada was discovered in 1907. It was never a large producer and changed hands many times. [1]
Branson (1975) explained the name:
“The first turquoise found here was an easter blue color; therefore, the name.”
— Branson (1975), p. 38 [1]
On the stone, Branson (1975) wrote:
“Some stones show a very attractive large mottled spider web with light blue centers in the webbing.”
— Branson (1975), p. 38 [1]
According to Branson (1975, p. 38), it was also known as the Blue Mountain Mine and Blue Gem Mine, not the Blue Gem near Battle Mountain. [1]
See all the turquoise mines we profile, including the other Nevada mines.
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: 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. 235), Easter Blue lies in Nye County northwest of Tonopah, a little way from the Royston area, and was discovered by Lew Cirac in 1907. [2]
Lowry (2010) gives a different origin for the name:
“It is said that Lew had been kicked out of a bar and was drunk on Easter morning when he found these deposits; therefore, the claims are known as Easter Blue.”
— Lowry (2010), p. 235 [2]
On its ownership, Lowry (2010) wrote:
“This mine is a great example of turquoise claims being sold or leased numerous times.”
— Lowry (2010), p. 235 [2]
According to Lowry (2010, p. 235), its prospectors, miners and owners included Lee Hand in 1915, W. R. Gilbert, A. L. Stephenson, Paul Kley, Ted Johnson, Doc Wilson and Peter King, and it has also been called Blue Mountain and Blue Gem. [2]
According to Lowry (2010, p. 235), Easter Blue never gained prominence compared with other Nevada mines but always produced a consistent blue seam rock formation. [2]
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.
Ryan & Chambless (2020) identify the mine:
“Another important early mine was the Blue Gem, better known today as the Easter Blue, located eight miles northwest of Royston.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 65 [3]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 65), the early location of the claim is disputed: Morrissey asserted that Lew Cirac located it in 1907 and sold it to Lee Hand in 1915, who leased it to W. R. Gilbert during World War I. [3]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 65), a replacement notice filed because the original records were lost (dated June 15, 1918, posted December 18, 1927, witnessed by Doc Wilson and A. L. Stephenson) shows Blue Gem 1 and Blue Gem 2 located on May 1, 1918 by L. V. Cirac in the Orizaba mining district, about seven miles south of Cloverdale. [3]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 65), that record agrees with Ted Johnson's account that the Cirac family found the Cloverdale Mine around 1918; with no market for the stone, they buried a stockpile and then forgot where. [3]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 65), Lee Hand, who kept a grocery store at Millers, a former stage and rail stop, either bought or leased the claim from the Ciracs and became more involved later. [3]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 73), the mine was known as the Blue Gem, the Cloverdale Mine, Blue Mountain and the Easter Blue, and its story shows miners alternating between cooperation, competition and sometimes confrontation. [3]
Ryan & Chambless (2020) correct the mine's usual start date:
“Morrissey incorrectly provided the date of first location by the Ciracs as 1907, although records indicate the most probable date as May 1, 1918, attested in the amended location filing of December 18, 1927 by Lee Hand and A. L. Stephenson.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 73 [3]
Lee Hand, in a 1953 Desert Magazine interview quoted by Ryan & Chambless (2020), said a grubstake loan to a friend pulled him in:
“When 1916 rolled around I found myself in the turquoise business.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 71 [3]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 71), the property Hand came into this way was the Cloverdale Mine, or Blue Gem, later known as the Easter Blue. [3]
Ted Johnson recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 73), that Lee Hand either bought or leased the Cloverdale Mine from the Ciracs and later sold it to Paul Kley, a freelance lapidary of the Denver Kley family. [3]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 73), in July 1927 newspapers reported a fight over the mine, fourteen miles west of Tonopah, in which workers used guns, rocks, sticks and shovels to try to oust each other; Paul Kley and Doc Wilson, for the American Gem Company, accused two workers of moving markers to jump the claim. [3]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 74), the reports said the mine had produced $10,000 of high-quality gems the year before; by June 1928 the dispute was settled and the mine reopened under William Van Alder, reportedly shipping $15,000 worth of turquoise in its first two months. [3]
Ryan & Chambless (2020) quote the June 1, 1928 Reno Gazette-Journal on where the former owner went next:
“Paul Kley, the former owner, is in charge of the lapidary shop in Los Angeles, a job for which he is said to be eminently qualified.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 74 [3]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 74), the American Gem Company appears to have let the claim lapse, and on April 6, 1931 Lee Hand and Charles Ferretti located the Blue Mountain claim next to the old Blue Gem claims; Hand leased it to Ted Johnson, who worked it for a year after moving a house to the site. [3]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 74), on April 6, 1931 Hand also began relocating the old claims, and by 1945 he had relocated all the old Blue Gem claims as Blue Mountain, Easter Blue and Easter Blue One through Four. [3]
A 1937 list of Nevada turquoise properties reproduced by Ryan & Chambless (2020) recorded:
“Blue Gem Mine in Cloverdale district, Nye County (Esmeralda). Owned by Doc Wilson and Lee F. Hand.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 88 [3]
Interview recollections below are the speaker's memory, published by Ryan & Chambless (2020); they describe the 1940s-1970s.
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 136), on January 21, 1946, Lee Hand and W. L. Edgar and his wife deeded to W. P. (Pete) King the Number 1 Blue Mountain and the Easter Blue claims, the old Blue Gem claims north of Tonopah relocated under the Easter Blue name, whose cabin had burned in 1945. [3]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 139), Pete King bought the Easter Blue claims in 1946 after returning from wartime service to find little turquoise coming from his family's King's Manassa claims in Colorado, where the Great Room had been found in 1940, and moved his mining to Tonopah. [3]
Ted Johnson, in a 1976 Turquoise Annual interview reprinted by Ryan & Chambless (2020), recalled the stone he was cutting in the early 1940s:
“It looked like the Blue Gem (soon to be Easter Blue) from Nevada Mountain and I was cutting a lot of that then.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 117 [3]
Bill King recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 146), that his father, Pete King, bought the Easter Blue Mine at Tonopah, then broke his leg racing a horse in the late 1940s, was laid up two years, and never really mined after that. [3]
Danny Otteson recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 151), that his father, Lynn Otteson, came out in the late 1940s and mined the Easter Blue all winter by himself for Pete King, having chosen it over a mine at Manhattan. [3]
Danny Otteson recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 149), that some old-timers called the old Easter Blue the old Blue Gem, which is easily confused with the Battle Mountain Blue Gem, and that it has been called Easter Blue since the 1970s; his brother Tom knew the claims as Blue Mountain and Easter Blue. [3]
Tom Otteson recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 151), that Ricky Gibson eventually ended up with Pete King's Easter Blue claims. [3]
In a gallery caption, Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 321) note that the Thunder Mountain mine, first located in the 1980s by Lynn and Danny Otteson and owned as of 2020 by Shreve Saville, lies near the old Blue Gem/Easter Blue. [3]
From the Library: Morrissey, Turquoise Deposits of Nevada (1968)
1968 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1968, not today.
According to Morrissey (1968, p. 24), Paul Kley of Denver developed the mine and produced at the rate of 300 pounds of turquoise a month for nearly four years, and it was worked steadily until 1930, when the deposit showed signs of dwindling. [4]
According to Morrissey (1968, p. 24), the turquoise occurred as thin veinlets along altered shear zones in a fine-grained, white quartzite. [4]
Field Notes by Mateo James
I notice two explanations for the name. Branson (1975) says it came from the easter-blue colour of the first stone found; Lowry (2010, p. 235) passes on a story that the discoverer found the deposit on Easter morning, and frames it as 'it is said.' Chambless & Ryan's Part One (2021) does not cover Easter Blue; their Part Two (2020) does (see the Library section), and both accounts stay on the page.
Earlier I wrote that Chambless & Ryan do not cover Easter Blue; their second volume, Ryan & Chambless (2020), does. I notice it disagrees with Branson and Lowry on the date: both give 1907, while Ryan & Chambless call 1907 an error and put the most probable first location at May 1, 1918, from a 1927 amended filing. I tend to side with Ryan & Chambless, since they cite the filing, but both dates stay on the page with their sources.
Ryan & Chambless (2020) call Morrissey's 1907 date an error, and this is the sentence they mean, from his 1968 report for the Nevada Bureau of Mines. It gives 1907 for Lew Cirac's discovery and 1915 for the sale to Lee Hand, while the amended filing Ryan & Chambless cite points to May 1, 1918. I have put Morrissey's own words beside their correction so both can be read.
Sources
- Branson, Oscar T. Turquoise: The Gem of the Centuries. Santa Fe: Treasure Chest Publications, 1975. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions in 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.
- 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.