Mining New Mexico: A Turquoise Trilogy in Old Cerrillos Part 3, Casa Grande Trading Post!

So, after having read my harrowing tale of a backcountry turquoise trek through the hardscrabble hills of Cerrillos, you've opted instead to undertake a relatively safe day-hike through the handsome and nicely maintained Cerrillos Hills State Park. Completing your ramble, you find that your legs ache pleasantly from the exertion and, listening intently, you can almost hear the sound of a phantom pickaxe ringing against stone, a distant echo from the days when the hills were bustling with hardworking miners, each one eager to find his fortune. Your heart pounded as you peered down into those seemingly endless vertical mineshafts from the safety of the sturdy observation deck but you realize, while making your way back to the car, that your medicine bag is still lacking a little piece of turquoise to remind you of your time in the Land of Enchantment; that your pocket isn't yet heavy with the blue-green stones you thought you might pick up along the trail. Your turquoise fever is still burning and it seems likely that a prompt ice-bath may be the only cure!!! The very cure, in truth, is well-marked on your drive out of the park; simply follow the prominent signs indicating the way towards the Casa Grande Trading Post!




The appearance of heavy antique mining equipment and majestic view of the Devil's Throne Cliff indicate your arrival at Todd and Patricia Brown's crown jewel of my Turquoise Trilogy, and the bona-fide treatment center for every known symptom of the turquoise fever!

photo courtesy Casa Grande Trading Post

Originally from Long Island, NY, Todd Brown has been rambling the hills of Cerrillos for decades now, inspired by the beauty and history of the area. In the early days I think a touch of turquoise fever must have kept him on the lookout for any hint of color among the long-abandoned mine sites, and as he describes it, one day he found what he was looking for:

Thirty-five years ago, I was walking in a New Mexico snowstorm and was taking the long way home around Grand Central Mountain in the Cerrillos Mining District. I came across a vein of brilliant green stone and decided to stop and work off some of the vein. I worked for 15 minutes and got about 2 lbs of rough turquoise, then covered it up and headed for home. 35 years later still dreaming of the green turquoise I had found that day, I decided to file for a mining claim with the Bureau of Land Management on that same spot.

Today, his mine, officially registered as the "Little Chalchihuitl", is perhaps the most actively worked mine in the area. With the help of family and friends, Todd continues to coax brilliant chunks of genuine Cerrillos turquoise, prized for its unique greenish hue (imparted by the iron content of the surrounding soil), from the rock walls of his claim.

Todd and Patricia at the "Little Chalchihuitl" photo courtesy Casa Grande Trading Post

Back at the Trading Post, Todd and Patricia choose the finest pieces to cut, polish and set in sterling silver; a wide range of their handiwork is available, from earrings and pendants to money clips and keychains, all set with that coveted natural Cerrillos turquoise!


photo courtesy Casa Grande Trading Post


If an uncut, unpolished pocket piece is more your style, you can dig for your treasure in one of several small boxes brimming with rough turquoise direct from the Little Chalchihuitl; prices are reasonable, ranging from six dollars for quarter-sized chunks, on up. I picked up two nice six dollar pieces, and a fine silver-dollar sized specimen from the eight dollar box, all richly colored and guaranteed to be completely natural: unstabilized with no color enhancements, just the way nature made it!

My purchases and signed certificate of authenticity.

Just as you finish picking out your turquoise pieces, either rough or set into finely-crafted jewelry, you take in a wider view of the shop and realize that your shopping adventure is far from over!



All around you are artifacts from the days of old, skulls and antlers, colorful mineral specimens (not just turquoise!) and all manner of handmade creations; of the latter category I noted lovely walking sticks crafted from lengths of Cholla cactus skeleton, decoratively painted hubcaps, locally produced pueblo pottery, plaques mounted with samples of old barbed wire, little pouches sewn from swatches of old pendleton blankets, turquoise-covered skulls, and so much more.



If artifacts are your thing, perhaps you'll be interested in Civil War-era bullets, antique bottles, old ceramic crucibles left over from ore-refining and smelting operations in the area, railroad tie date nails (to indicate when the track was laid) or actual old documents and checks pertaining to the daily transactions common to turn-of-the-century New Mexico businesses. Oh, and I know you'll love (carefully!) picking through the labeled boxes containing segments of authentic antique barbed-wire!





In addition to the Cerrillos turquoise, Todd has rounded out his offerings with abundant samples of turquoise from other mines as well, including the well-known clear blue turquoise from the Sleeping Beauty mine in Arizona:


(I want to go back for a bag of that turquoise powder!)

Sleeping Beauty is a large-scale commercial mine that does things a little differently from Todd. Where Todd may spend days or weeks carefully teasing a precious vein of color by hand out from the drab matrix stone around it, the folks at Sleeping Beauty literally blast away huge portions of mountainside and later sift through the rubble for pieces of turquoise. The following video is pretty interesting; a good example of turquoise mining on a large scale where the mineral is relatively abundant in the surrounding rock.




An abundance of other mineral specimens are offered in the Trading Post as well. Perhaps your collection is lacking a fine, colorful specimen of Peacock Chalcopyrite, New Mexico Garnet, or a jumbo, clear sheet of Mica? Can't make it down south to White Sands on this trip to New Mexico? Don't worry, Todd's got you covered!






I'm quite certain at this point you will have settled into the cheerful and charming atmosphere of Casa Grande sufficiently that you'll begin to think "Wow! I could just live in this place!" In fact, Todd and his wife do; they built the 28 room adobe casa by hand and raised their six kids there as well, one of whom very kindly tolerated my awe-struck bumbling around the shop photographing everything in sight on the afternoon of my visit! Once you've taken in all there is to see (is that even possible?) in the shop portion of the Casa Grande, be sure to request admission to the mining museum; at two dollars a person, you are virtually guaranteed at least another hour or two of visual and educational delights!

Your host, Todd Brown, welcomes you! photo courtesy Casa Grande Trading Post.

Step through the gate and walk back in time!

photo courtesy Casa Grande Trading Post


See photos of a younger, bearded, ponytailed Todd scouring the hills for what would eventually be known as Little Chalchihuitl! Pore over maps indicating the locations of mine sites and peruse articles on the history of the area! See a real vein of Cerrillos turquoise just as it is found in the rock!



A long glass display case houses collections of pottery and artifacts dating from the time when indigenous people worked Mt Chalchihuitl for the precious blue stone:





Another case is full of colorful mineral specimens and samples of turquoise from many different mines:



Cross the room and learn about the connection between Tiffany's department store and a Cerrillos turquoise mine!

This display features a cloth bag and tins of genuine old nuggets from the American Turquoise Company mine, which sold almost all of its robins egg blue stones to the world-famous Tiffany department store in NY after their chief gemologist, George F. Kunz, declared certain shades of turquoise (not coincidentally, the specific and well-known shade of blue unique to Tiffany gift boxes, aka "Tiffany Blue") to be gem-quality stones worthy of inclusion in the finest jewelry.

The Mine's chief operator, James P. McNulty, who mined much of the turquoise himself, shipped cigar boxes packed with the precious stones back east where they were worked into chic pieces of Tiffany jewelry.

Afternoon sunlight streams through the colorful glass insulators that line the windows, administering a healthy dose of light and color therapy quite certain to boost your spirits even further in this bright, happy place!





Old artifacts from mining operations around Cerrillos abound:



Many pieces of equipment are labeled and explained, though Todd welcomes further inquiries if you'd like to know more. He has crafted some wonderful displays depicting the earliest Native miners in the hills:


Note the notched logs that were dropped into the shafts and used as stairways between the levels.

This old timer seems to have had his fill of turquoise and is trying his luck with gold!



An old ore cart piled high with antlers shed in the hills by the resident mule deer population:



Don't forget to look up! An old, exquisitely beaded glove is among the many treasures hanging from the rafters!



I was delighted to see this old shelf mushroom with images of Mount Rainier painted on it (not exactly local, but thats ok!). I should probably post this picture on my Mushroom Shelf Tutorial page!



Now, lest you fear I've herein revealed all of the most remarkable points of interest throughout the trading post and museum, fear not! The wonders that await you at Todd and Patricia Brown's Casa Grande Trading Post and Mining Museum are sufficient to fill volumes; my photographs and brief descriptions barely scratch the surface of what you will find there in old Cerrillos! Oh, and did I mention that the Browns also run a petting zoo?



When you bring your treasures up to the cash register, be sure to ask for a two dollar bag of food for the petting zoo... your Casa Grande adventure continues just outside the shop, where goats, a llama, turkey, fancy chickens, and pigeons come right up at the sight of the feed bag!

A day in the Cerrillos Hills State Park is certainly a worthwhile adventure, but get an early start and make sure to plan on spending a few hours at the Casa Grande Trading Post; I sure did, and I probably could have spent a few hours more! In editing the photos for this post, I kept noticing things I hadn't noticed in person; thats the beauty of of the Casa Grande, and indeed of the Cerrillos hills as well: there is so much to see that you'll surely need a second visit to take it all in! Thanks so much for joining me on this Turquoise Trilogy! Before long, I will be embarking on a mining adventure of a different sort, and will introduce you to another local FinderMaker... I'll see you then!

Mining New Mexico: A Turquoise Trilogy in Old Cerrillos, Part Two!

When last we met, I had just returned from a vigorous ramble through the Cerrillos Hills State Park where my turquoise fever, instead of subsiding, became rather more advanced, and I determined that I might like to reconnoiter a portion of the public land that lies just north of the park boundaries to see what I might see.

A mysterious, anonymous reader left me a comment shortly after I published Part 1 of this trilogy, warning that "individual mining claims have been legally registered across the landscape and are worked and fiercely protected on that land." Alas, the warning was delivered well after the completion of my backcountry adventure, though I was aware ahead of time that there might be active mining claims in the area and, accordingly, packed in only a camera, a honeycrisp apple, and plenty of water in place of the pickaxe, black powder, and shovel that I might otherwise have preferred to convey into the "forbidden zone."

Seriously, though, it is my understanding that BLM land may generally be used responsibly by the public for purposes of hiking and similar low-impact leisure activities; tracts may be registered for purposes of mineral exploration, however, and anyone that goes into the area seemingly intent on working a miner's legal claim might well face the wrath of said miner. While I might have held out hope that a little chunk of color might reveal itself from the drab tailings of some old, disused shaft, I certainly would not have endeavored to poke around any area appearing to be actively worked, and neither should you; it's wrong, and it simply isn't worth the risk.



My trusty, dusty old Palladium boots served me well through the journey, protecting my ankles from the numerous low-growing cacti that guard the hills. I will confess, however, that those boots are on the heavy side, and the long trudge through deep, sandy gravel up the creekbed (we call them arroyos around here) into the BLM land that was my destination left me rather in need of an extended period of rest, during which time I found that previously mentioned honeycrisp apple to be a welcome, if rather insubstantial, refreshment. Reasonably revived, I commenced to work my way east towards the front (south) side of Grand Central Mountain, encountering along the way a great number of lovely cholla cactus skeletons, one of which I might like to have collected had I not been required to haul it back out via that long, burdensome arroyo:



I was not long in happening upon some old mine sites. A few had been capped and marked by the New Mexico Abandoned Mine Land Bureau:







And not too far from those, this:



A very uncapped, unmarked vertical mine shaft. I suppose this is what I hoped I might see out here, and yet, faced suddenly with that gaping, black, seemingly endless pit, I began to question the wisdom of my bounding alone out into this remote and slightly scary tract of land. That shaft was no joke; if I had attempted to peer in and lost my footing in that loose dirt I would certainly have gone down far, fast and hard, irreversibly concluding, I do believe, my time on this earth. Notably rattled, I paused long enough to snap a few photographs and then continued on my way.

Continuing along the sunny south-facing side of Grand Central Mountain, a bright-white object concealed in the dry grass caught my eye:



Do you see it there? My mood, rather darkened by my encounter with the gloomy pit, brightened considerably as I approached the white object, which revealed itself to be a lovely shed mule deer antler!



I have never before found a shed antler, and determined that this one was well worth hauling along with me for the duration of my ramble! My prize safely crammed into my backpack, I rounded the eastern slope of the mountain, and beheld in the distance a landmark I dearly hoped I might catch a glimpse of: the famed Mount Chalchihuitl.



The NM Office of the State Historian describes mount Chalchihuitl thusly:

...the largest known prehistoric turquoise mine in North America, with turquoise artifacts found from the site dating from around 1000 AD. Native miners excavated thousands of tons of waste rock at Mt. Chalchihuitl before Spanish invasion in the 16th century. Archeologists have recovered cultural materials at the site that confirm that this prehistoric mining occurred, including grooved stone axes, mauls, picks, hand-held hammers, anvils, and lapidary stones, mostly made of igneous rock. Pieces of pottery found at the side indicate that the greatest periods of activity at the mine were 1000-1150 and 1300-1600 AD. The name “Chalchihuitl” is a Nahua word derived from the word “xui,” meaning blue. Nahuatl is a group of related languages that was spoken by the Aztecs, and has been spoken in central Mexico since the 7th century AD. The word “chalchihuitl” is used to refer to other green stones such as emeralds and jade, and has a connotation of preciousness. Southwestern peoples have valued opaque, blue-green turquoise stones for trade, ornamentation, and ceremonial use for thousands of years. These stones appear in Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi creation myths.

This short video provides a little more information about the history of the mine at Mount Chalchihuitl:



Mount Chalchihuitl itself and much of the land surrounding it is currently privately owned. I didn't dare go near it; I was perfectly content to have such a nice vantage point from my perch on the side of old Grand Central! Barely a stone's throw from that vantage point, I stumbled upon a disturbed area of the mountainside that, upon closer inspection, revealed a tunnel leading directly into the mountain.



I remembered reading about a tunnel that had been dug deep into Grand Central Mountain in the late 1880's, and wondered if this could be it.



There was a gate preventing entry, and for good reason; check out that warning sign:



That's serious stuff, and not to be ignored! The view from between the bars:



Now the fact is I had gotten a rather late start on my day, and I had stopped to investigate enough little things here and there that by the time I rounded the north side of the mountain, it was already getting a tad late for my taste, especially considering we had just turned back our clocks an hour for the winter making the afternoon that much shorter. Its too bad, because old maps I had been studying had revealed a few disturbed areas of land on the far side of the mountain that had been minor sites of turquoise exploration before the turn of the century that I was hoping to get a look at. It didn't take long to find them; the land is easily traversed, and landmarks I had read about or seen on maps were easy to spot in person. Scrambling up from a gully I looked out towards where those sites should be and caught my first glimpse of actual...



TURQUOISE!!!!!! Not quite the turquoise the area is known for, but a fun and very unexpected find nevertheless! There were a few old mine sites in that vicinity, different from the previous ones I had seen in that these were sort of wide pits that had become overgrown with vegetation:



Closer inspection revealed that within the pit, some lucky miner must have followed a vein rather deeply into the rock:



Rather deeply indeed!



Climbing back out... could it be???



TURQUOISE???? The color sure was pretty, but it appeared to just be a hair-thin crust of color on the very surface of the rock; if it was turquoise it surely wasn't worth chipping off of the rock, and I didn't have any tools, anyhow. Good thing I was able to collect that nicely colored specimen on my camera!



Evidence of a 1960's "pit party" reminded me that I was awfully thirsty, and my water supply was getting low; it was time to leave the backcountry.



I had seen more interesting things than I had expected to see, found an antler, didn't get bit by a rattlesnake, fall down a mineshaft, or get chased off at gunpoint by a fiercely protective miner, so I considered my Cerrillos Hills backcountry ramble a real success. I can't say I plan on returning; I feel pretty fortunate to have emerged from that little adventure with my life, so I'm glad to have captured some of it on film, and I'm pleased as punch to be here to share it with you! Thanks for joining me, and don't forget... this is a trilogy! In Part 3, I'll introduce you to someone who has been finding stuff in these hills for years, and makes some truly extraordinary creations... a real FinderMaker!