Papoose Turquoise: A Nevada Mine Worked Only in Summer

Our books agree on the general country and disagree on the landmark. Branson put it “north of Austin, Nevada.” ^[1] Tony Manzini, who mined it, put it “south of Big Creek, at eighty-six hundred feet.” ^[2] Bruce Woods, whose mines had included the Blue Diamond and the Nevada Blue, remembered the climb:

“The only worse mine (to access) than Nevada Blue is what they call the Papoose, down the Reese River. That mine was unbelievable trying to get up there.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 193 ^[2]

Schiffer lists it among the mines around Austin, near the center of the state. ^[3] None of our books names a county or a mining district for it.

The web record leans south. A Nevada dealer’s mine list puts the Papoose and its neighbor the Zuni “about 12 miles south of Austin, Nevada in the Toiyabe Range.” ^[4] Another dealer’s page says the Papoose “is located in the western part of Nevada,” which fits neither Austin nor the Toiyabe. ^[5] The U.S. Geological Survey’s mineral database lists a “Papoose Claim” in the Big Creek District of Lander County, recorded in 1995 as a surface pit on national forest land. ^[6] Its listed commodity is silver, not turquoise. A “Zuni Claim,” also known as the Zuni Mine and listed for turquoise, sits in the same district. ^[7] The federal record never says its Papoose Claim is the turquoise mine. We think it probably is, but that is our inference. So, north of Austin or south of it: our sources don’t settle it, and we don’t either.

At that height, winter shut it. As of 1975, Branson counted it among the Northern Nevada mines “not workable in the winter months due to the deep snow,” so its production was limited. ^[1] Schiffer gave the same picture in 2008: like the Blue Diamond, it sat so high it could be worked “only in the summer months.” ^[3]

Manzini told Ryan and Chambless how it began. He and his partner, Robert Burton, started on the Papoose about 1972, going in on horseback and mining by hand with explosives and a gas hammer. Later his father-in-law joined in. They bought Burton out, brought in machinery, and worked it for a couple of years. ^[2]

“In a three-day period we got ninety pounds, which was decent. It was good grade and we were getting two hundred dollars a pound.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 194 ^[2]

Then, as Manzini put it, “the market kind of dropped.” He went back to full-time work: “We didn’t lose a bunch but we didn’t make anything either.” ^[2] That fits Branson, who wrote in 1975 that the mine “has only been in operation a short time.” ^[1]

The dealer who places it south of Austin dates it a little earlier: both the Papoose and the Zuni “were worked chiefly in the late 1960s and 1970s.” ^[4] Nevada’s 1968 state turquoise survey doesn’t mention the Papoose at all. ^[8] That silence doesn’t prove the mine was found after 1968, but it sits easier with Manzini’s start about 1972.

Branson described “very distinctive deep blue gems,” the dark brown to black matrix set against deep blue and greenish-blue. ^[1]

He was also plain about its flaw:

“Some of the turquoise is slightly honeycombed, leaving holes and pits in the stones, which necessitates the use of a plastic filler.”
— Branson (1975), p. 50 ^[1]

Schiffer’s 2008 description says the same things: deep blue, dark brown matrix, surface pits. ^[3] So when you look at a Papoose stone, ask whether its pits were filled, and with what. For what our labels mean, see What Do These Confusing Turquoise Terms Mean?

Our books say nothing about the Papoose after the 1970s. The web disagrees with itself. One dealer counts the “Blue Diamond/Papoose areas” among those near Austin “still producing some material”; ^[9] a gallery calls it “a small legacy Nevada mine (no longer producing).” ^[10] Neither page is dated. No source we’ve read names who holds the Papoose claim now.