Turquoise at the Painted Pony Resort

While working over at the Rustic Cabin at the Painted Pony Resort, insulating pipes running from the well to the pressure tank in preparation for winter, some color on the ground caught my eye.  Small flecks of green and blue rock which were scattered about on the river bed bench top where the cabin sits attracted my attention.  Finishing the pipe insulation job, I began to look around for more and hunting for the source.  Walking in widening circles around the pump area I found more and more small fragments (1-2 mm) of turquoise.  Eventually coming upon an abandoned animal burrow I noticed lying in the dirt spoils created by the animal during digging, a larger (several inch) piece of rust colored matrix with veins of turquoise running through it.  Found it I thought, it was apparent this bright blue turquoise was not native to an alluvial bench along San Simon River bed but more likely imported by a former inhabitant.  The presence of fragments from a dozen different metates found around the cabin suggest this bench top was inhabited in the past and the presence of turquoise was just one more indicator of a habitation site.  Two locations within several days walk have a history of turquoise production, the Johnny Bull mine the mines around old Hachita which are respectively 17 and 33 miles distant are possible sources, but this does not exclude the possibility of closer unknown sources. 

Bright blue turquoise in matrix.

Turquoise from the San Simon Valley

One of the pieces of rough turquoise found several weeks ago was cut, resulting in 3 smaller pieces.  After partial polishing this one measures 3/4" x 1/2" x 3/8" and should make a nice pendent.  Potentially a nice Christmas present for someone.  As opposed to the other piece found, this one was soft and cut fairly easily and has nice blues and greens.

Cut Turquoise found in New Mexico

Yet Another Piece of Rough Turquoise

If there is one there are possibly more.  So after taking a break from work the other afternoon I went looking for more turquoise on the property.  The previous piece of turquoise found was a broken nugget so a search for the other fragments seemed potentially fruitful.  After wandering around the area in the late afternoon (with good light) the piece of turquoise shown below turned up.  In its unpolished condition it was a fairly ordinary looking green rock, but with a little grinding and polishing it became apparent that another piece of turquoise was found.  The Paint Pony Resort sits on the west bank of the San Simon River bed (in a valley of alluvial fill), I am unaware of any reported turquoise deposits in the Chiricahua Mountains* (up dip) but there is turquoise reported from the Johhny Bull mine in the Peloncillo Mountains about 18 miles north (downstream),  and the turquoise is similar in appearance to that found around Hachita.  These 3 observations combine to reinforce the idea that there was a habitation site on the property at some time in the distant past.  Of course all the pottery and stone tools also suggest a habitation site(s).

*Both pieces of turquoise show evidence of wear, they both have rounded edges and appear water worn.  Either the material was originally discovered in that condition and brought here or were deposited as part of the alluvial fill from the Chiricahua and Peloncillo Mountians.  Plotting the locations of turquoise on an aerial map should help differentiate between these 2 alternatives.  If naturally occurring, the distribution should be randomly distributed around the area, but if the distribution is localized around a point source (habitation site) it would suggest the material was collected elsewhere and brought in.  Testing this will require some more walking and flagging sites where material is found to examine the distribution pattern.

Unpolished turquoise

Turquoise with some grinding and polishing

More Turquoise at the Painted Pony Resort

Another piece of turquoise turned up this morning.  While walking back to the garages on the north end of the property the rock shown below grabbed my eye.  Initially it appeared to be another piece of low grade copper ore but upon closer examination with a lens followed by some grinding and polishing it it became apparent that this piece was not low grade copper ore but rather another piece of turquoise.  The color is characteristic of material from Hachita New Mexico about 35 miles east of the Painted Pony Resort and a nice find for the owner of the property. 

Turquoise from the Painted Pony Resort (click to enlarge)

Rough Turquoise

The basin and range province of Southern New Mexico and Arizona has a long history of mining.  The north/south mountain ranges which rise in sharp relief to the broad flat valleys between them have been sources of minerals for thousands of years and copper deposits with associated turquoise mines are found in both Arizona and New Mexico. While out walking a friends property this caught my eye (see image below), it is a  piece of rough turquoise.  There is a matrix of dark stone (limestone?) and a white crystalline material associated with the turquoise.  Turquoise is known from around Bisbee and the Dragoon Mountains northeast of Tombstone in the Sulphur Springs valley in Arizona to the west and also from Hachita to the east.  References to turquoise in the San Simon Valley are 2 sites.  One is up by Safford in a pipe-shaped porphyry copper deposit in a completely volcanic environment.  While the other is the Johnny Bull Mine in the Peloncillo Mountains, north of Granite Gap.  The presence of limestone and the green color would suggest this piece is from either east or west of the San Simon Valley.  There is a variety of deep greens and some blue which would suggest Bisbee as the original source location for this piece of turquoise, in addition much of the turquoise from Hachita is a paler green color, but early material was reportedly blue.  Whatever the source it is a nice find and since fragmentary turquoise jewelery has been found in the vicinity, this specimen may have been transported here in pre-colonial times and was lost at some point only to be found by a careful eye hundreds of years later. 

One inch nugget of rough turquoise from the San Simon Valley