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Southwest Mining — a history
Last updated on Thursday, July 17, 2003
Underground miners at Tyrone, New Mexico, ca. early 1900s Used by permission, Silver City Museum, courtesy John Harlan Collection 
Possibly the best known name in Southwest mining is Phelps-Dodge. You might well ask yourself, "Where did they find this corporate name?"
Well, Easterners Anson Greene Phelps and William E. Dodge started a trading company back in 1834. At the time neither of the partners knew squat about digging minerals from the earth, but they were astute businessmen.
By 1881 when the founders met William Church, fresh from Arizona Territory, they'd expanded their knowledge base. Without ever setting foot in the Southwest, the partners knew that mining your own copper and making it into telegraph wire was a lot cheaper than buying imported copper and making it into telegraph wire. They bought Church's mining claim. Cheap.
Today that claim is still producing for Phelps-Dodge. It's known as the Morenci Mine. You'll find it just a little northeast of Safford, Arizona. The Morenci is the largest open pit mine in the world. Phelps and Dodge got even richer.
But was the Phelps-Dodge success the norm? Did all those who mined in the Southwest become millionaires?
Starting in the mid nineteenth century, people flocked to the West from eastern states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia. Some came from places a bit closer called Ohio or Minnesota. They were hardy pioneers, those early eastern settlers. They followed a manifest destiny and claimed a unique new land for themselves. They carved a civilized society out of the desolate, deserted, desert countryside - if you believe the stories.
But were those newly arrived Easterners really pioneers? The people who were already longtime residents probably wouldn't agree. You'll have form your own opinion.
To help you with your opinion forming, consider the occupations of those Eastern immigrants. They weren't schoolmarms, farmers, barrel makers, or tailors. What the newcomers were, were "miners."
After the California Gold Rush many 49ers looked to new locations. Driven by the lure of gold and silver hidden just under patches of prickly pear, they descended on the Southwest like a herd of ravenous javelinas. Pioneers, generally speaking, usually don't descend javelina-like.
A second wave of newcomers followed the miners. The original residents didn't consider them pioneers either. They were saloon owners, gamblers, brothel madams, mining equipment salesmen, restaurant managers, and laundry proprietors. Their lure was a lion's share of the miner's gold and silver.
With few exceptions most of the miners and their followers were disappointed.
When a nearby mine played out, only a hardy few stayed behind. Most packed up and trekked to the next strike. Those staying behind turned, by necessity, to running mostly honest saloons, gambling halls, brothels, and laundries. They still weren't considered pioneers.
Nevertheless, Lady Luck bestowed her most brilliant grin on an occasional miner. Those chosen ones became fabulously wealthy. They founded towns and even endowed dance halls. Saloon keepers and madams remembered them with nostalgic awe - though not always.
Saloon keepers and madams should have remembered Edward Schieffelin, but they didn't. Hard working, straight laced gents who stay out of dens of iniquity were seldom recognized. Yet Ed was responsible for possibly the most famous town in Southwestern history.
Early in his career Ed constantly wandered about the desert in search of wealth. Sometimes he had to elude Apache arrows. Other times he dodged Apache bullets. A soldier took it upon himself to provide Ed with sound counsel: "The only thing you'll find in the desert, Edward," he said, " is your tombstone."
Heeding the counsel, Ed found Tombstone, Arizona (and the Lucky Cuss mine) shortly thereafter. Ed's action proved even soldiers are occasionally prophetic.
Today we seldom think of Edward Schieffelin or Tombstone's gigantic rose tree. No one has a clue to the soldier's identity. We remember Tombstone because of the brothers Earp and sidekick John Holiday, DDS. More to the point, what we really remember is what the Earp group did to the Clanton and McLaury group at a run-down coral called O.K.
Still, most of the old mining towns are fading into obscurity. White Oaks, New Mexico was a rip roaring mining town in the 1880's. Today it's nearly gone. Now when we think of White Oaks it's in connection with Pat Garrett.
White Oaks is the town where Garrett would have shot Billy the Kid, assuming he could have caught him there. Instead Pat had to travel to Fort Sumner and Pete Maxwell's bedroom to shoot poor Billy. Why was Billy in Fort Sumner? Billy obviously preferred rustling rancher's cattle and horses over rustling miners' mules and prospectors' donkeys.
Yet you can still get a feel of White Oaks' mining activity. One saloon remains open and you can buy a cold brew. But some customers should exercise caution. A sign at the saloon's entrance warns "No Scum Allowed."
Another faded New Mexico mining town is Shakespeare. Shakespeare was probably named for a nervous alto giving her first performance in Wagner's "Gotterdammerung," or maybe it was "Lohengrin."
Anyway, Shakespeare is now an interesting tourist attraction south of Lordsburg. If you can overcome the hypnotic effects of Interstate 10 you should turn south on highway 494. "Ride of the Valkyries" is appropriate car stereo music for your own ride to and from the ghost town.
Like the towns, even some of the most famous miners are drifting into obscurity. Yet some memories are still fresh. Possibly the best known miner of the Southwest is still with us today.
Not to be compared with other historical miners, this short tempered, short statured, red haired, six-gun slinging individual enjoys continuing popularity. Strangely, he's never acquired wealth. Is it due to the influence of his companions, a giant rabbit and a dark feathered duck? Unlike the others, this miner did not hail from the East, but from California. You know him as Yosemite Sam.
So here, in this brief space, is the history of Southwest mining. Probably Southwestern residents will take exception. That's okay. I'm not a pioneer either.