Tyrone Turquoise

The Tyrone turquoise mining district is made up of a small cluster of mines in the Burro Mountains near Silver City, New Mexico. This group of mines is associated with the Tyrone Copper mine owned by Phelps-Dodge. Many turquoise historians believe that more high-grade, natural turquoise was produced in this area than any single American turquoise deposit on record. Turquoise mining in the Burro Mountains has been traced back to prehistoric times. Spanish colonists mined the workings in their own time. Mining artifacts such as stone and metal tools along with fragments of turquoise mined in this fashion were common at the sites.

An early mining engineer, named Zalenski, who visiting the mines in 1907, witnessed traces the "fire-fracture" process of extracting turquoise from the host rock. Zalenski also documented one forty-foot shaft though most of the workings. The main mining process was by way of following a vein through open trenching. Early miners and archivists mention ancient and historical Indian burial grounds in the area. The graves, most often, contained offerings of turquoise. These early excavations helped to determine the locations of some of the more modern claims. According to Pogue, John Coleman aka; "Turquois John" is credited with discovering the first modern mine in the area. While on a hunting trip in 1875, John, along with W.J. Foley and Nicholas Ransome of Silver City, are credited with discovering old excavations. The men were following up on a tip from local Indian traders. Turquoise was presumed present near the town and ancient workings were known to exist in the mountains. Their search of the Burro Mountains and surrounding area proved the rumors to be true.

The largest and most recognized mine of the Tyrone workings was the Azure. The Azure mine was initiated in 1891 and was located 10 miles southwest of Silver City. Pogue states in his 1915 classic; Turquoise, Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, wrote; "It has been operated in modern times more extensively than any other turquois mine in this country, and its stones are the equal of the Persian gems.” In 1893 the “Elizabeth Pocket” was discovered, which produced more high-grade turquoise than any single deposit on record. The Elizabeth Pocket was 100 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 40 to 50 feet deep. At the time it was believed to be the riches vein of turquoise ever discovered. Cabochons produced from this mine were marketed throughout the country with ads appearing in Harper and McClure’s magazines. Each gem was engraved with a circle on the back with the ad stating, "None genuine without the ring O on the reverse side.” Because of its extremely hard and durable nature Azure turquoise was guaranteed not to change color. Tyrone turquoise available on today's market is mostly from older collections. In its high-grade form Tyrone turquoise is a hard, translucent, brilliant or deep blue and is highly valued by collectors for it beauty and rarity.

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Precious Stones
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