Royal John Mine and Mill, Mill Adit, Royal John Mine Road, approximately 0.03 miles northwest of New Mill, San Lorenzo

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

Erin Edwards Royal John Mine and Mill, Mill Adit HAER No. NM-35-E Page 2 LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY: The Mill Adit is located on the hillside behind the Old Mill, level with the collapsed wood ore chute that is on top of the Old Mill. It is on the east side of Royal John Mine Road, beyond the terminus of the road in the mining area, approximately .03 mile northwest of the New Mill. The road is unpaved, has been damaged due to heavy rains and flooding, and is overgrown with vegetation. ADITS AND CUTS AT ROYAL JOHN: An adit is a horizontal opening into a hillside or mountain for ventilation and for mining of a mineral deposit (Figure 1). Adits usually only have one entrance.

Generally, adits cost less to build than a vertical shaft, and the horizontality of the adit makes the removal of ore easier. Little is known about the earliest mining at Royal John, but it is believed that the earliest mine was in the Discovery workings, which includes the Mill Adit. As this adit is directly behind the Old Mill, this was most likely the earliest place from which ore was mined (Kinney The Royal John Mine and Mill complex is above Paleozoic limestone, shale, and quartzitic sandstone, with layers of volcanic rock. The sedimentary rocks include El Paso limestone, Montoya limestone, Percha shale, Lake Valley limestone, and Magdalena limestone (Kinney The volcanic rocks found in the area include rhyolite, quartz latite, and andesite.

There are several faults in the area including the Mimbres fault, Owen fault, Discovery workings fault, Sunshine fault, and various smaller unnamed faults. In addition, Kinney seemed to believe that there were further faults that had not been mapped as of Ore minerals at Royal John include sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, silver, copper, lead, zinc, and pyrite (Kinney There are numerous cuts and adits at the Royal John Mine complex including the North Cut, the New Cut, the West Cut, the Discovery Cut, the Sunshine Cut, the Wilson Cut, and the Mill Adit (Soule See Figure 2. All development at Royal John has been done though adits and surface cuts; however, there is a winze in the Sunshine Cut and some work has been done in the Discovery Cut that extends downword.

Of all of the cuts and adits at Royal John, the West Cut is the largest, measuring approximately 250 feet by 50 feet (Soule Royal John Mine and Mill, Mill Adit HAER No. NM-35-E 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, Mill Adit HAER No. NM-35-E 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, Mill Adit HAER No. NM-35-E Page 5 Figure 1 - Mill Adit. Figure 2 - The Discovery Cut.