Nevada Blue Turquoise: Field Guide to the Austin-Area Mine Also Sold as Timberline
Part of the Turquoise Mines field guides and The Southwest Jewelry Guide.
Mike Ryan II and Philip Chambless’s 2020 history records Nevada Blue as the best known of the lesser turquoise mines around Austin, Nevada, largely through the memories of Poncho Williams and his nephew Bruce Woods, who later filed on the claim. Every statement below is quoted or paraphrased from their book, with page numbers, so you can check each one. Their book was published in 2020; anything described as current describes 2020. Where our other books disagree, the Field Notes say so.
Where it is
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 114), Nevada Blue was the best known of the lesser mines of the Austin area, where many claims lie above 8,000 feet and altitude limits access and the mining season. [1]
Poncho Williams recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 115), that the Nevada Blue and his family's Blue Elephant claim lie about ten miles apart in the same range, about halfway between Austin and Battle Mountain. [1]
Bruce Woods, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020), on getting to the mine:
“The only worse mine (to access) than Nevada Blue is what they call the Papoose, down the Reese River.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 193 [1]
Who worked it
Poncho Williams recalled, in the same interview (Ryan & Chambless 2020, p. 115), that the Watts family was mining turquoise there in 1935, that the mine may also have been called the Watts, and that Dean Kirk was working it in the early 1960s. [1]
Poncho Williams recalled, in the interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 116), that Kirk came up each summer with his wife and a small Navajo crew, and once drove into Austin with fifty or sixty sacks, one of them full of Nevada Blue nuggets. [1]
Bruce Woods recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 193), that his uncle Sugar (Richard) Williams talked Ron Hammon into buying the Nevada Blue, which was the old Watts Mine, and that Hammon bought the Blue Diamond right after, running two mines at once. [1]
Poncho Williams recalled, in the interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 115), that Ron Hammon later held the Nevada Blue; after Hammon died, his son failed to file the claim properly, and Williams and his nephew Bruce Woods filed on it. [1]
As of 2020, Bruce Woods recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 192), that his uncle Poncho then held the Nevada Blue, and had kept a small shop that has since closed. [1]
The Timberline name, and the stone
Poncho Williams told Ryan & Chambless (2020) how some Nevada Blue reached the market under another name:
“Ron eventually sold some to Les Hornback who marketed it as Timberline, a new find here in Nevada, but it was Nevada Blue.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 116 [1]
Bruce Woods recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 193), that Hornback, out of Arizona, bought much of Hammon's Nevada Blue and sold it as Timberline as if it were a new mine or his own. [1]
Bruce Woods recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 193), that Nevada Blue produced good-sized web chalk, some of which they sent to Hardy in Kingman for treatment. [1]
Field Notes by Mateo James
Branson (1975, p. 44) described Timberline as “a new small mine.” Lowry (2010, pp. 236–37) lists Timberline among the names Nevada Blue has been marketed under, and Poncho Williams and Bruce Woods, in Ryan & Chambless (2020, pp. 116, 193), both remember Nevada Blue being sold as Timberline as if it were a new mine. I tend to side with Ryan & Chambless, and I have left Branson’s description on the page.
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How this page is sourced. We strive for accuracy: every factual statement above is quoted from or credited to 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
- 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.
- 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.