Ithaca Peak Turquoise: Mineral Park, Kingman, Arizona
Ithaca Peak Turquoise — A Stone Study
← Part of the T.Skies Turquoise Stone Study: turquoise mines
Ithaca Peak turquoise, photographed in the T.Skies studio. Vivid blue cabochons with brassy metallic flecks and gray-white host-rock patches, alongside one set of much darker deep teal stones. Tap any stone to see it up close.
Five vivid blue Ithaca Peak cabochons with brassy metallic flecks and gray-white rock patches
Four bright blue Ithaca Peak cabochons with gray flecks, metallic veining and a dark rock edge
Five deep teal and blue-black Ithaca Peak freeform cabochons with gray-white mottling and metallic flecks
Ithaca Peak turquoise, photographed in the T.Skies studio. Shown for reference. © Turquoise Skies Inc.
Part of the Turquoise Mines field guides and The Southwest Jewelry Guide.
Ithaca Peak was a hill on the west side of Arizona's Cerbat Range, about a mile east of the old mining town of Mineral Park, near Kingman. Between about 1900 and 1910 several turquoise companies worked claims on its slopes. In the 1960s an open-pit copper mine took most of the peak down, and the turquoise that came out of it is the blue the market calls Kingman.[1][2][3][4]
Key points
- Ithaca Peak turquoise comes from the Mineral Park district near Kingman, Arizona. The peak stood about a mile east of Mineral Park, with Aztec (Turquoise) Mountain a mile to its south.[1]
- The Southwest Turquoise Company, the Arizona Turquoise Company, the Los Angeles Gem Company and the Aztec Turquoise Company all held ground on or around it.[2][3]
- Duval's open-pit copper mine took down most of the peak. Turquoise was picked off the crusher belts until the copper mine closed in 1973.[3]
- Stone from the district is sold as Kingman, Ithaca Peak or Turquoise Mountain. Ithaca Peak is the source of the classic "Kingman blue".[4][2]
At a glance
| Where | Mineral Park district, Cerbat Range, Mohave County, Arizona |
|---|---|
| Distance | About 15 mi NW of Kingman (one 1946 book says 20 mi north) |
| Early claims | Monte Cristo, Queen, the Ithaca claim, William Tell |
| First era | About 1900–1910, open cuts and tunnels |
| Second era | 1960s, as a by-product of Duval's open-pit copper mine; closed 1973 |
| Sold as | Kingman · Ithaca Peak |
| Related | Kingman · Turquoise Mountain |
A hill a mile east of Mineral Park
Pogue, writing in 1915, placed the most important turquoise in Arizona in the hills along the western side of the Cerbat range. First on his list: Ithaca Peak, one mile east of Mineral Park, with Aztec Mountain one mile south of it.[1] The stone formed seams and veins in altered porphyry, with streaks in quartz veinlets and nodules in the larger veins.[1]
Most of the early digging happened up high:
"The most extensive operations have been confined to the upper slopes of Ithaca Peak and the northern and southern sides of Aztec Mountain."
— Pogue (1915), p. 46 [1]
Mining meant open cuts and tunnels. The rock was blasted out, and the turquoise was taken from the blocks by careful breaking.[1] For the town of Mineral Park and the long argument over who found the turquoise first, see our Kingman page.
One hill, four companies
Chambless and Ryan map the peak claim by claim.
- Charles Sherman located claims all over Ithaca Peak.[2] Ryan and Chambless's second volume instead says James Haas located many of them.[3] Both men worked the district, and the two volumes credit different men with the peak.
- The Aztec Turquoise Company, quoting the USGS geologist Sterrett: its main work was on the Monte Cristo claim near the top of the peak's southeast end, and on the Queen claim on the south side of its west end.[2]
- The Southwest Turquoise Company, incorporated in 1903, produced mainly from the Ithaca claim.[2][3]
- The Los Angeles Gem Company grew from Sherman's last claim and a half on the east side, sold to Edward E. Peck and George Burkhardt of Los Angeles for $5,000.[2][3]
- The Arizona Turquoise Company, formed by George Bell and Frank McCracken and incorporated in 1908, had the William Tell as its main claim. Guy D. Atlee was the mine's superintendent.[2][3]
A Sterrett photograph reproduced by Chambless and Ryan looks northwest across the east side of the peak: the Arizona Turquoise Company mine on the left, the Los Angeles Gem Company mine on the right.[2]
The stone had a price on it early.
"Matrix from Ithaca Peak, Mineral Park, Ariz., was valued in 1908 at $1 to $5 per pound in the rough."
— Pogue (1915), p. 136 [1]
Then prices fell, and the work stopped. The Aztec company was dissolved in 1910.[2] Ryan and Chambless record little to no turquoise production at Mineral Park after that. Kingman turquoise didn't become a factor in the market again until the 1950s.[3]
The matrix they sold
Mineral Park's first problem was its matrix. Chambless and Ryan call it perhaps the hardest hurdle for the stone: it carried a lot of matrix at a time when buyers wanted clean blue.[2] The Ithaca Peak companies sold that matrix instead of grinding it away. The Southwest Turquoise Company's 1908 catalog praised its "cobweb turquoise", and Ryan and Chambless suggest this may be the first reference to what is now the most prized look, the dark web deep blue.[3] Their second volume also reproduces a Sterrett plate of cobweb matrix and nodular turquoise from the Southwest company's mine.[3]
How the peak came down
The second era began with a copper mine. By 1962, Chuck Colbaugh held the turquoise rights at Mineral Park. His grandson Marty told Ryan and Chambless that he got about two years of mining in before the Duval Corporation started its open pit and began taking down Ithaca Peak.[3] The ore was blasted, crushed and sent onto conveyor belts, and the turquoise was picked off by hand before the last crusher.[3] Output was heavy from 1964 to 1966 and wound down around 1970 to 1972.
"That's when all the production stopped. By that time most of Ithaca Peak was gone."
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 166 [3]
Our books disagree on when the open pit began. Chambless and Ryan date Duval's open-pit mining at Kingman to 1963–64.[2] The mine gazetteer in their second volume lists a "Duval Ithaca Peak Copper Mine after 1940".[3] Marty Colbaugh's account puts it about two years after 1962.[3] Who held the turquoise concession first, Colbaugh or L. W. Hardy, is disputed too. That story belongs to the Kingman page, which sets the versions out side by side.
What "Ithaca Peak" means on a stone
"Turquoise from this area has been marketed using the names Kingman, Ithaca Peak, and Turquoise Mountain."
— Lowry (2010), p. 227 [4]
Chambless and Ryan say the district's stone is commonly called Kingman today, though Ithaca Peak and Turquoise Mountain are sometimes named on their own.[2] Lowry draws the line between the two hills. Turquoise Mountain's stone has its own blue-green spiderweb look and is sold separately, apart from "the Kingman blue colors of turquoise mined at the nearby Ithaca Peak area".[4] For that stone, see Turquoise Mountain.
In 1915 Pogue described the district's best material:
"The best material obtained has a rich, deep-blue color and takes a good polish. The matrix stones afford pleasing contrasts of dark-blue turquois against the dark brown of limonite or the gray of quartz or porphyry."
— Pogue (1915), p. 45 [1]
He added that a great deal of soft, off-color material was thrown out.[1] Woodward, writing in 1946, called the Mineral Park output "a soft grade of greenish-hued turquoise".[5] So the two books disagree about the color: deep blue in Pogue, greenish in Woodward. Both may be true of different grades.
None of our books gives a test that tells Ithaca Peak stone from other Mineral Park stone by eye. Lowry also warns that some Chinese and Mexican turquoise can closely match Kingman blue.[4] On a stone, "Ithaca Peak" is a provenance claim. Ask the seller how they know it.
What the record doesn't hold
Our books don't record how much turquoise came off Ithaca Peak in the Duval years, or give a hardness figure for it. They also give no treatment rule specific to Ithaca Peak; what they say about stabilizing and dyed matrix is said of "Kingman". As of 2020–21, the Colbaugh family's Kingman Turquoise was still mining in the district.[2][3] The peak itself, by their account, was mostly gone by 1973.[3]
Field Notes by Mateo James
Most mine names point at a hole in the ground. This one points at a hill that isn't there anymore. Our books disagree on who staked it, when the pit opened, who held the concession and even what color the stone was. They agree on the shape of the story. A hill carried claims with names like the Queen and the William Tell. A company bet on its matrix while the market wanted clean blue. Then a copper mine took the hill down to the ground. A stone sold as "Ithaca Peak" is claiming that hill. "Kingman" claims the whole district.
From the Library
The place and the stone
- Pogue (1915), p. 45: "Ithaca Peak, 1 mile east of Mineral Park" and "Aztec Mountain, 1 mile south of Ithaca Peak". [1]
- Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 347 (gazetteer): Mineral Park Mines, about 15 mi NW of Kingman, on the SW side of the Cerbat Range, in the Wallapai Mining District, with turquoise on Aztec (Turquoise) Mountain and Ithaca Peak. [3]
- Woodward (1946), p. 45: the Mineral Park Mines are "twenty miles north from Kingman". [5]
Claims and companies
- Chambless & Ryan (2021), pp. 133–138: Sherman's claims; the Monte Cristo and Queen claims (Aztec Co.); the Ithaca claim (Southwest, 1903); the east-side claims (Los Angeles Gem); the William Tell (Arizona Turquoise, 1908). [2]
- Ryan & Chambless (2020), pp. 53, 160: Southwest's principal area of operation was on Ithaca Peak; the Arizona Turquoise Company worked the east side. [3]
The open pit
- Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 166: Marty Colbaugh on the 1962 contract, the crusher belts, peak output 1964–66, closure in 1973. [3]
- Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 186: Duval's open-pit mining at Kingman began in 1963–64. [2]
- Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 346 (gazetteer): Ithaca Peak, "site of many claims" in 1890–1910, later an open-pit copper mine under Duval, with a turquoise salvage lease. [3]
FAQ
Where is Ithaca Peak?
In the Mineral Park district on the west side of the Cerbat Range, near Kingman, Arizona. It stood about a mile east of Mineral Park, with Aztec (Turquoise) Mountain a mile to its south.
Is Ithaca Peak turquoise the same as Kingman turquoise?
It comes from the same district, and most of it is sold as Kingman. "Ithaca Peak" names the hill itself, and the classic Kingman blue came from there.
What's the difference between Ithaca Peak and Turquoise Mountain?
They're neighboring hills in the same district. Turquoise Mountain's stone has its own blue-green spiderweb look and is sold separately from the Kingman blue of Ithaca Peak.
Is Ithaca Peak still mined?
Most of the peak was gone by the time the copper mine closed in 1973. Turquoise is still mined in the Mineral Park district under the Kingman name.
Who worked Ithaca Peak?
From about 1900 to 1910, the Southwest Turquoise Company, the Arizona Turquoise Company, the Los Angeles Gem Company and the Aztec Turquoise Company worked claims on or near it. In the 1960s it was mined for copper by the Duval Corporation, with the turquoise recovered as a by-product.
Browse our turquoise jewelry →
How this page is sourced. Printed works are cited by page and describe conditions as of their dates. If you know better, 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, pp. 45–46, 136. Public domain. Statements describe conditions as of 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, pp. 130–131, 133–138, 142–143, 186–187. Statements describe conditions as of 2021.
- Ryan, Mike, II, and Philip Chambless. Turquoise in America, Part Two: 1910–1990. Callais Press, 2020, pp. 25, 27–28, 53, 105, 160, 166, 275, 346–347. Statements describe conditions as of 2020.
- Lowry, Joe Dan, and Joe P. Lowry. Turquoise: The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2010, pp. 140, 227, 230, 244. Statements describe conditions as of 2010.
- Woodward, Arthur. Navajo Silver: A Brief History of Navajo Silversmithing. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 14, 1938 (2nd ed., 1946), p. 45. Statements describe conditions as of 1946.