Pilot Mountain Turquoise: Field Guide to Nevada's Active Collector Mine
Pilot Mountain Turquoise — A Stone Study
← Part of the T.Skies Turquoise Stone Study
Real Pilot Mountain turquoise from a private collection, photographed in the T.Skies studio. This active Nevada mine runs from bright clear blue to green — and is loved for its distinctive spotted and spiderweb stones, turquoise pooling over a golden-brown matrix. Tap any stone to see it up close.
Bright blue-green with golden matrix
Green with brown and orange matrix
Clear bright blue, minimal matrix
Green and tan with rusty-brown matrix
Blue spots on a golden-brown ground
Blue-green with brown spiderweb matrix
Turquoise-blue spiderweb on brown matrix
Documented stone examples from a private collection, photographed in the T.Skies studio. Not for sale individually — shown for reference. © Turquoise Skies Inc.
Pilot Mountain turquoise comes from deposits along the southern end of the Pilot Mountain Range, approximately thirty miles east of Mina in Mineral County, Nevada. The deposit was first mentioned in the late nineteenth century and has operated under several claim designations, including the Moqui-Aztec and S. Simmons claims. Documentation in primary sources is limited, and this page reflects that honestly.
More Pilot Mountain turquoise examples
Real Pilot Mountain turquoise from the T.Skies archive, photographed by us. Tap this stone to see it up close.
From the Library: Pogue on the Moqui-Aztec (S. Simmons) mine (1915)
1915 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1915, not today.
Pogue (1915) placed the Moqui-Aztec workings:
“This mine, also known as the S. Simmons mine, lies about a mile southwest of the Montezuma mine on the south side of a ridge at an elevation of about 6,250 feet.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 50
Writing in 1915, Pogue gave its recent history:
“It was worked by a series of tunnels, open cuts, and pits; but operations were suspended in 1908. In 1910 work was resumed and a small production was reported for that year.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 50
Pogue's 1915 description of the stone:
“The turquois occurs as veinlets and nodules in a fine-grained, kaolinized quartz porphyry and in quartz masses included in the porphyry. The best grade is associated with limonite stains. Turquois of dark color is scarce, but considerable pale-blue material has been produced.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 50
From the Library: Branson, Turquoise: The Gem of the Centuries (1975)
1975 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1975, not today.
Branson (1975) pictured a Pilot Mountain specimen that looks like a turquoise crystal but is not:
“This is called a pseudomorph, or false form, and is from the Pilot Mountain Mine in Nevada.”
— Branson (1975), p. 5
According to Branson (1975, p. 5), the Pilot Mountain 'crystal' was a cast of another crystal, possibly apatite, that had dissolved away and been replaced by turquoise.
Branson (1975) also recorded fern-like dendrites in Pilot Mountain stone, which he called very rare:
“The black fern-like figures in this stone from the Pilot Mountain Mine in Nevada are manganese oxide crystals formed at the time the turquoise was being formed.”
— Branson (1975), p. 5
According to Branson (1975, p. 6), Pilot Mountain was one of eight mines whose spider web stones he pictured side by side, along with Carico Lake, Red Mountain, No. 8, Timberline, Lone Mountain, Godber and Kingman.
According to Branson (1975, p. 36), Pilot Mountain was then producing quantities of high-grade hard turquoise, with varied matrix patterns of red, brown to black, and a variety of spider web.
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. 135), Ted Johnson, a Nevada miner of the first half of the twentieth century who kept a small motel outside Fernley and cut a little turquoise, owned and worked many turquoise mines, including Pilot Mountain and Number Eight. [3]
According to Lowry (2010, pp. 238-239), the district was first mentioned in the late 1800s, lies along the southern end of the Pilot Mountain Range east of Mina, and its best-known areas were originally called Moqui-Aztec and S. Simmons; as of 2010 the claims were active and held by multiple owners. [3]
According to Lowry (2010, p. 236), several deposits near the Montezuma mine, at the southern end of the Pilot Mountains, are sold under the general name Pilot Mountain. [3]
From the Library: Turnbaugh, Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest (2007)
2007 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 2007, not today.
Turnbaugh (2007, p. 73, caption) records Pilot Mountain turquoise in a contemporary Navajo cuff of the 1980s:
“The Navajo silversmith Sam Yellowhorse set a cabochon of Pilot Mountain, Nevada, turquoise into this hand wrought silver cuff bracelet.”
— Turnbaugh (2007), p. 73 [4]
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.
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 65), the Moqui-Aztec Mine, a mile southwest of the Montezuma, was located in 1905 by Sam Simmons. [5]
Ryan & Chambless (2020) reproduce a May 13, 1908 Jewelers' Circular note on S. Simmons setting out for the Moqui-Aztec:
“He took a force of men with him to begin active operations at the mine. He reports a large demand for the stones.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 65 [5]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 65), the optimism did not last: by 1909 Sterrett reported that the Moqui-Aztec Mine had been taken up by Jack Lippman of Los Angeles. [5]
A 1937 list of Nevada turquoise properties reproduced by Ryan & Chambless (2020) recorded:
“Copper King Mine in Pilot Mountains owned by Lee F. Hand of Tonopah and located thirty miles south of east of Mina.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 88 [5]
The mine glossary in Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 343) lists the Brannon Blue Mine in the Pilot Mountain area of Mineral County, Nevada, located by Doyle Brannon, and on p. 342 a Blue Eagle mine two miles west of the Pilot Mountain group. [5]
Field Notes by Mateo James
Lowry's account provides the key historical framing: "These deposits were first mentioned in the late 1800s and are located about thirty miles east of Mina along the southern end of the Pilot Mountain Range.. The most well known areas were originally referred to as Moqui-Aztec and S. Simmons. These claims are currently active and are owned by multiple people."
That "multiple people" note is worth sitting with. Multiple-owner deposits with rotating claim holders tend to produce stone that enters the market under the mine's general name without consistent documentation of which specific claim produced which stone. For collectors, that's a caution flag on provenance precision — not on the stone itself.
The Moqui-Aztec name is evocative but should not be read as documentation of prehistoric or ancestral Puebloan mining specifically at this site. Lowry does not make that claim; the name appears to be a period marketing designation.
Collector's Handbook
What to look for: Primary sources do not provide a detailed color or matrix characterization for Pilot Mountain stone. Claims marketed specifically under this name should be assessed on the stone's visual merits and the vendor's documented source chain.
Recognition tells: Thin documentation in the primary literature means that confident authentication to this specific mine is difficult. The deposit is confirmed active (Lowry 2010) under multiple owners.
Honest mine-status hedge: Documented as active as of Lowry's 2010 account. The multi-owner structure and limited historical record make specific provenance claims harder to verify than for mines with single documented operators.
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.
Branson, writing in 1975, calls Pilot Mountain one of the newer mines. Our page follows Lowry, who has it first mentioned in the late 1800s, and Pogue was already describing the Moqui-Aztec workings at Pilot Mountain in 1915. Both readings are shown here.
We strive for accuracy. This field guide entry is compiled from the published references cited below and is continuously updated with new information from the artists, their families, and the community. See something inaccurate, or hold documentation on this mine? Get in touch — corrections are welcomed and credited.
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References
- Lowry, Joe Dan. Turquoise: The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone (2010).
- 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.
- 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. Public domain. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1915.
- 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.
- Turnbaugh, William A., and Sarah Peabody Turnbaugh. Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest. Foreword by Barry M. Goldwater. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2007 (copyright 1996 and 2007; first published 1988). ISBN 0-7643-2577-9. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2007.
- 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.
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