Mining Activity Prior to 1897
The Searchlight and El Dorado mining districts are related geographically and geologically, but a time span of more than 50 years separates their discovery by Europeans. If mining was conducted during the period of Spanish or Mexican sovereignty, this hiatus should be extended to include a minimum of 'one century and possibly two.If Spanish mining did occur, the only site which would fit the scant historiographic evidence is the region surrounding El Dorado Canyon. However, earlier mining by the aboriginal inhabitants of the study area is well authenticated. Obvious quarries have been found with associated deposits of lithic and organic remains attributable to aboriginal cultures as far back as Basketmaker I time (1000 B.C.-A.D. 0).1
Paiute Indians
The aboriginal inhabitants of the American Southwest engaged in mining activity primarily to produce decorative materials. These workings were established to produce two items: colored pigments for cosmetic and ceramic purposes, and turquoise gemstone to be incorp'orated into jewelry and images. Both open pit and underground methods were employed to work deposits of turquoise and vari-colored ores. 2
The earliest Europeans into the Southwest noted in their records the large amounts of metallic ores stored in the Indian settlements. 3 These ores had been finely crushed to facilitate use. Both silver-lead and copper ores were valued by the Indian populace. They used them to c'olor the various earthen utensils made for domestic purposes. The variations in color between blues and greens were suited to decoration of pottery as well as cosmetic-religious painting of the body. At several places in the Southwest, sizeable shaft and stope networks had been excavated in the deposits worked by the Indians. 4 Unique examples of Indian mining development are not evident in the study area. However, the earlier newspapers carry accounts of shallow trenches with debris containing stone picks and hammers."
To obtain stone cores for lithic implements, many quarries were
'Edna Mae Bennett, Turquoise and the Indian (Denver: Sage Books, 1966), p. 40, citing F. H. H. Roberts, Jr., Shabik' Eschee Village, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 92, (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1929), p. 129.
2Katherine Bartlett, "Prehistoric Mining in the Southwest," Museum Notes (Museum of Northern Arizona), VII (April 1935), 42. This article succinctly outlines the extent and procedures employed in aboriginal mining.
"Herbert Eugene Bolton (ed.), Spanish Exploration in the Southwest, 1542- 1706, One of the Original Narratives of Early American History, gen'l ed. J. Franklin Jameson (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1908), pp. 180.
'Letter from Melquiades Antonio Ortega, Santa Fe, New Mexico, January 31, 1831, to the Editors, Registro Oficial, Mexico City, found in New Mexico Historical Review, XXIV (October 1949), 331-339.
"The Searchlight (Nevada) BlIlIetin, October 22, 1909, p. 1. 8 El Dorado Canyon and Searchlight Mining Districts located within the study area." Usually, they are in close association with the deposit of material (usually a deposit of rhyolite or obsidian).
Turquoise is obtained near the north and south limits of the El DoradoSearchlight area. Near Crescent, Nevada, just south of the study area, a sizeable deposit of turqu'oise was discovered by an Indian prospector in 1894. At the time of the discovery, it was noted that a sizeable quarry had been developed by the Indians, and many tools littered the floor of the working. 7 Between Boulder City and the dam, there is another turquoise deposit. Not as large as the excavation near Crescent, it consisted mainly of open pits along the outcrop of the gemstone. Again, many articles used by the Indians in their work were left behind.
Both from value of product and in the time and energy expended, turquoise represented the prime yield of aboriginal mining. The mining technology employed was simple. A surface exposure would be broken into pieces with stone hammers and the particles of gem removed by hand. The waste would then be carried to the dumps in wicker baskets or blankets. Another method was to utilize the shattering effect of an instantaneous drop in temperature to loosen rock in place by building a fire over or beside the exposure, then douse the heated area with water. S
Distribution of turquoise from Southern Nevada to the outlying communities of the Southwest and thence to Mexico was accomplished by an involved system of barter. Turquoise was highly valued by all the residents 'of the Southwest and Mexico, both Pueblo and Athapascan. Considerable commerce was carried on despite intermittent warfare." Bennett (1966) describes the traffic in turquoise from the Crescent area to California and claims that individuals or parties traveling to obtain the stone were given peaceful access to the deposit. It has been seriously proposed by more than one student 'of the prehistoric use of turquoise that the vast amounts of the gem used by the Aztec Culture came principally from the American Southwest through trade circulation. 1 " The arguments,
"Harold O. Weight, "Crystal Roses of Eldorado," Desert Magazine, XVII (August 1954), 13. The following quote is included to show the type of material found in a typical lithic industry.
"The many caves made us wonder if Indians had occupied this country in the old days. The mesquites, indicating water and guaranteeing food, made it almost certain this had been one of their gathering places.
"Ahead, on a little rise in the wash, towered a picturesque teepee-like mass of rock whose large caves showed even from a distance. There, we agreed, would have been our residential district had be been cave dwelling in that canyon. We stopped opposite the great rock and, sure enough, there were smoked roofs, ash, pottery fragments, and arrow chippings. And the chipping showed, as always, the primitives had favored the most colorful stone the country offered."
'Francis Church Lincoln, Milling Districts and Mineral Resollrces of Nevada (Reno: Nevada Newsletter Publishing Company, 1923), p. 19.
"Bartlett, Muselllll Notes, VII, No.2, 42.
"Jack D. Forbes, Apache, Navaho, and Spaniard (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960), p. 24. 1°Benjamin Silliman, "Turquoise of New Mexico," American JOIIl'1lal of Science, XXII (1881), 70.
both pro and con, on this question would appear to strongly support the positive contention.
As a trade article, 'or even as a medium of exchange, turquoise is well adapted for the primitive transportation systems of prehistory. Light and compact, the stones were worth many times their own weight and size in manufactured goods or natural products such as furs, meats, and hides. This feature would tend to encourage the development of trade in turquoise between the Southwest and the interior 'of Mexico
