TURQUOISE

IN THE list of interesting occupations, Turquoise mining as practiced by Mr. T. E. Kelso, should rank high. Mr. Kelso's mine, the "Avalon," is situated well toward the top of Turquoise Ridge in the Courtland-Gleeson mining region of south-central Cochise County, at an elevation of more than five thousand feet. Here, too, Mr. Kelso and his wife have their living quarters. A cool, comfortably arranged cave in the mountainside just above the main shaft of the Avalon proves an ideal summer home. A snug cabin to the left of the cave, around which winter winds howl unheeded, serves as a cold-weather dwelling. Mr. Kelso is thus enabled to pass summer and winter in comfortable proximity to the scene of his occupation, the mining of turquoise. The word turquoise is of French derivation and means "Turkish stone."

It was probably so designated because of the fact that this hard, semi-precious gem was first introduced into Europe by way of Turkey.

Turquoise is formed of compounds of phosphorus, aluminum, copper, oxygen, and water, brought together under suit able conditions. It ranges in color from a sky blue to a greenish grey, and is of a waxy luster. The sky blue is the usual and much prized color, so unique that nothing in nature can quite compare with it, the blue of the heaven on certain days being its closest rival. Consequently the term, "turquoise blue," has become a standard of comparison in itself.

According to Mr. Kelso, some of the best turquoise is of a variety known as "spider-web." The spider-web consists of thin stringers of turquoise so blended and hardened into the rock in which it was formed as to be inseparable from it; the whole creating an effect of gems set in filagree. Most of the filagree is of a dark reddish color, but Mr. Kelso states that he has encountered in small quantities spider-web turquoise with a black matrix-presumably manganese. The best blue turquoise is slightly transparent. There is also a solid blue which is very good. The value of good turquoise ranges from fifty cents to one dollar per carat.Known turquoise deposits are confined to a few barren and arid regions of the earth. In the southwestern part of the United States are important sources of this gem, which is at present mined in New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona. Mr. Kelso believes Turquoise Ridge to be the only source of turquoise in Arizona.

Turquoise occurs in this region mainly as thin stringers up to a few inches wide, and small, nugget-like particles occupying joints and fractures in quartzite and granite. The best turquoise occurs in quartzite, that in the granite tending to be too soft and green, probably due to too high a copper content.

Little is known regarding the depth of the turquoise deposits in this district. Mining has been limited to short tunnels with branching shafts inclined with the granite-quartzite contacts. The workings are all comparatively shallow. As Mr. Kelso points out, the location of the Avalon shaft near the top of the ridge is such that its depth is in no way indicative of the depth at which turquoise may or may not be found. In the canyon five hundred feet below this gem has been found extensively a few feet below the surface.

Mr. Kelso personally conducts the mining on his claim, feeling his way carefully to avoid damage to the gem. He fires but one charge at a time, which he places with nice regard to its probable effect on the turquoise. He recovers an average of seventy-five pounds a month, of which, he states, probably one pound in ten is of high quality. The value of a pound of this turquoise ranges from fifty to one hundred dollars, in the rough.

Mr. Kelso's entire output of high grade turquoise is used in Petty's Indian Trading Post located at 14 South Stone Avenue, Tucson. There the turquoise is cut, polished and mounted by Indians in Mr. Petty's employ. Mr. Kelso states that Mr. Petty employs one Indian who does nothing but cut turquoise the year around.

It is remarkable that there is no occurrence of turquoise known at present where traces of prehistoric workings have been found. Certainly by far the oldest mineral production of the Courtland mining area was turquoise mined by Indians. Upon the advent of the white man, old turquoise workings were found scattered along much of the length of the west side of Turquoise Ridge. Due to the lack of effectual mining implements, the Indians were able to work only three or four feet deep; but they turned over whole hillsides in their search for the sky-blue gem. Some of these dig gings still remain as last worked by the red man, while others have been driven deeper into the ridge by more modern seekers after turquoise.

The sole mining implements of the Indians appear to have been heavy hammers, shaped by the savages from the hardest rock obtainable; and a lighter instrument, also of rock, but with a carefully sharpened, hatchet-like edge. Undoubtedly the heavy hammers were used for breaking the rock which surrounded the gem of their search, while the sharper tool might well have been employed in cutting the turquoise away from the surrounding rock. Some of these tools, many of which are still in evidence on the scene, are shaped from rock of volcanic origin, remarkably hard, and of glass-like sharpness. This material was evidently brought from some distance, since no rock of similar formation is found native to this region.

The Indians will, in the words of Mr. Kelso, "trade the old lady" for turquoise, which they hold in the highest esteem, and call the "medicine stone." They cannot be deceived as regards quality; hence an ordinary Indian may possess thousands of dollars worth of gems.

Turquoise has long played an important part in the mythology and folklore of the southwestern Indian. A typical folktale of the Zuni concerns a well loved young man of the tribe who was carried by an eagle into the sky world. The eagle alighted with the youth on the summit of a mountain of turquoise, which threw off such marvelous reflections as to be the source of the blue in the sky.

The turquoise is employed in the Snake Dance of the Hopis as well as in a number of other ceremonials of the red man, who believes that this gem assists its owner to conquer his enemies, guards him from injury, and assures his popularity among his associates.

The first white man to become interested in Turquoise Ridge was Henry Durant, who located these claims in 1890. Before he completed his discovery work, however, he sold his location to Raskum and Tannenbaum for one hundred dollars. These men knocked down Durant's location monuments and built others for themselves, thus avoiding the red tape necessary for relocating at that time.

These claims have been worked almost continuously since their discovery. The Raskum and Tannenbaum interests afterwards sold to G. S. Goode, who produced for several years. The Goodes cut their stones down until every flaw was gone before marketing, hence their output was confined exclusively to small stones.

Lynn Shattuck of Courtland purchased the turquoise claims from the Goodes and held them several years as copper claims. In 1920 the demand for turquoise became so insistent that Mr. Shattuck forsook his copper mining to devote his time exclusively to the recovery of this semi-precious gem. Since that time Mr. Shattuck has produced turquoise continuously. In 1926 his entire output of the year, around fifty pounds, was sold to a dealer of Gallup, New Mexico, who made his purchase on the ground. The most sensational "find" of Mr. Shattucks' experience occurred in a short period of time during which he had leased his workings. A particularly wide and rich stringer yielded almost eighty pounds of high quality turquoise in one day. The value of this turquoise was between eight and ten thousand dollars, according to Mr. Shattuck. There was one solid piece in the yield of perhaps three pounds in weight, of a marvelous shade of blue, for which a dealer offered three hundred dollars. Mr. Shattu wished to retain this particular piece, while the lessee desired to sell. Since it had been previously agreed that the recovered turquoise should be equally divided between the two, Mr. Shattuck paid the lessee one hundred and fifty dollars and retained the turquoise, which is still in his possession.

Several years ago Mr. Shattuck sold one claim, the Avalon, to Kelso and Petty of Tucson. Today Mr. Shattuck and Mr. Kelso are the only turquoise producers of the region. A number of colleges and schools of mines exhibit specimens of turquoise from these claims, as do also many dealers in this gem. Mr. Shattuck has given to tourists many of the small pieces of rock coated thinly with turquoise, which abound on his claims.

It has been Mr. Shattuck's experience that the market for turquoise remains steady. Buyers from Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Gallup, and elsewhere come to Courtland and purchase the gem on the ground.