Royal John Mine and Mill, Ore Chute, Royal John Mine Road, approximately 0.02 miles southwest of New Mill, San Lorenzo

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER NM-35-D. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Royal John Mine and Mill complex is on the west slope of the Black Range in the Gila National Forest. Off Highway 61, near Faywood, New Mexico, is Royal John Mine Road. The road is approximately 12 miles long, and the Mine and Mill are located at the end. It is within the boundaries of Township 17 South, Range 9 West, and includes parts of Sections 8, 9, 16, and 17. Date of Construction: A single claim was patented in with major development occuring in the area between and Designer: Unknown. Builder: Unknown.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER NM-35-D. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Erin Edwards Royal John Mine and Mill, Ore Chute HAER No. Page 2 LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY: The ore chute is located on the west side of Royal John Mine Road, at the terminus of the road in the mining area, approximately mile southwest of the New Mill. The road is unpaved, and has been damaged due to heavy rains and flooding. The general area is littered with various pieces of equipment, processing and hauling gear, assorted machine parts and pipes, and mostly modern-day litter. It is unclear which of the equipment and machinery are original to the site, or which equipment has been moved from the adjacent private land to the public land as the owner of the adjacent claim frequents flea markets and antique shows to collect mining ephemera.

The Ore Chute is located on a hillside in a clearing of pine and juniper trees. ORE CHUTES: Ore chutes are generally placed on the sides of hills, to move ore vertically utilizing gravity (Photograph 7). Ore carts carry the freshly mined ore downhill to an ore chute. Once it reaches the ore chute, miners place the ore in the top of an ore chute for storage, until the ore is ready to be sent to the mill. Once the ore is ready to be taken to the mill, the miner opens a hatch near the bottom, which releases the ore using gravity, and the ore falls into a cart or wagon to be transported to the mill for processing. Ore chutes are generally constructed of heavy timber, to support the weight of the ore, and have wood siding.

They are built in a rectangular plan, with a sloping bottom to fit the contour of the hill on which it resides. At the front of the chute, there is either a road or a rail line to transport the ore to the mill, and the ore exits the chute out of a gate at the front of the chute. The ore chute at Royal John Mine is severely deteriorated, having been damaged by flash floods in the area, and vegetation has taken root in the remains (Figure 2). It is constructed in a rectangular plan, with an angled bottom surface that runs parallel to the side of the hill on which that it rests. The chute is constructed with wood beams and logs, and was clad in wood siding, of which very little remains.

The area in which the front gate was located is still visible, but very little else of the chute is recognizable. Royal John Mine and Mill, Ore Chute HAER No. Page 3 BIBLIOGRAPHY: American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) ASARCO Company History. Electronic document. Chipman, Donald E. Handbook of Texas Online, "Cabeza De Vaca, Alvar Nunez," accessed January 05, Chipman, Donald E. Handbook of Texas Online, "Seven Cities of Cibola," accessed January 05, Donoghue, David Handbook of Texas Online, "Coronado Expedition," accessed January 05, Fell, James E. Ores to Metals: The Rocky Mountain Smelting Industry. University Press of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. ForestHistory.Org. National Forests of the U.S.; digital document Gulf South Research Corporation.

Cultural Resources Survey of the Royal John Mine and Mill in Grant County, New Mexico. USDA Forest Service, Gila National Forest, New Mexico. Hast, Adele. International Directory of Company Histories, Volume 4. St. James Press, Chicago, Illinois. Heyl, Allen V., Allen Agnew, Erwin J. Lyons, and Charles H. Behre, Jr. The Geology of the Upper Mississippi Valley Zinc-Lead District. Geological Survey Professional Paper United States Government Printing Office, Washington, Huggard, Christopher J., and Terrence M. Humble Santa Rita del Cobre, A Copper Mining Community in New Mexico. University Press of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. Kinney, Geology and Ore Deposits of the Royal John area, Swartz District, Grant County, New Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report.

Kohout, Martin Donell Handbook of Texas Online, "Asarco," accessed January 05, Royal John Mine and Mill, Ore Chute HAER No. Page 4 McDonald, Steven John Brief History of the Royal John Mine and Mill Site. Gila National Forest, Grant County, New Mexico. Simmons, Jerry. New Mexico Mining History. Albuquerque Gem and Mineral Club. Electronic document. Soule, Investigation of the Royal John Lead-Zinc Deposits, Grant County, New Mexico. U.S. Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations Sutton, Wendy. Email from Wendy Sutton, November 30, Sutton, Wendy. Email from Wendy Sutton, January 27, The American Presidency Project. 2016a Proclamation 432 Setting Apart as a Public Reservation Certain Public Lands in the Territory of New Mexico. Electronic document. The American Presidency Project.

Proclamation 582 - Enlargement of the Gila Forest Reserve, New Mexico. Electronic document. USDA Forest Service. Establishment and Modification of National Forest Boundaries and Natural Grasslands, A Chronological Record electronic document. %20to%202012.pdf USDA Forest Service. 2016a The Early Days: A Sourcebook of Southwestern Region History. Electronic document. USDA Forest Service. Gila National Forest. Electronic document. https://www.fs.usda.gov/gila. Visit Silver City. Gila National Forest. Digital document; Royal John Mine and Mill, Ore Chute HAER No. Page 5 Figure 1 - Ore Chute. Figure 2 - Ore Chute, Looking North.