Accidental development: Chloride, NM represents the heyday of mining in the state

Chloride, New Mexico got its start in the 1870s by accident when mule skinner Harry Pye spotted what he thought was silver ore in a creek bed while moving freight through the area for the U.S. Army.

The settlement, which is now a ghost town, was eventually established 40 miles northwest of Truth or Consequence and represents the heyday of mining in New Mexico.

Pye knew something about minerals and had what he found assayed. The sparkle he eyed turned out to be an ore called silver chloride but the Englishman didn’t share his findings right away.

He waited until his contract expired in 1879 and then he and his companions returned to the Black Range nearby Chloride Canyon, built a cabin and staked a claim. They started a camp and named it Chloride after the character of the ore he found.

Fear of the Apaches, specifically famed Chiricahua Apache chief Cochise, had kept prospectors away from the Black Range, according to Howard Bryan’s Jan. 16, 1958 “Off the Beaten Path’ column in the Albuquerque Tribune. Cochise led the Indian resistance to the white man’s incursions in the Southwest during the 1860s and was known to camp in the area. He died in 1874 but there was still a strong presence of Chiricahua Apache using the Black Range as their hunting grounds.

Bryan said the area remained a no-man’s land in the 1870s when it came to prospecting until Pye arrived, even though his adventure was cut short.

Pye and two of his companions were attacked by great Apache chief and warrior Victorio. Pye’s gun jammed and he was killed. According to Bryan, a skeleton believed to have been Pye’s was found a year later near the area where he discovered the silver chloride.

But Pye’s discovery opened the floodgates for would-be prospectors hoping to get rich. After his death, his partner Gus Holmes returned to the eastern foothills of the Black Range and staked nine locations. Others followed, working near the mouth of Chloride Gulch, but it would be John A. Miller of Lake Valley in the winter of 1880-81 who would take the first steps in establishing the town, according to Robert Julyan’s “The Place Names of New Mexico.”

Miller bought a tract of land, had it surveyed and then platted a townsite. He awarded the lots by lottery but offered one free to the first woman who agreed to settle in Chloride. When the mid 1880s rolled around, the town had 500 residents and most of the tents had been converted into structures.

It took on the name of Chloride City and at its peak had 3,000 residents. The town even had its own newspaper from 1882 to 1896 called “The Black Range.” The town actually predates Sierra County, which was created in 1884. Chloride was initially part of Socorro County.

In June of 1882, a correspondent from The Illinois State Journal visited New Mexico, including Chloride, for the first time in two years and it is obvious mining was the headline of the time.

“While there is no rush or excitement, and matters a little quiet, as they always are at this season of the year, still there is a steady increase of population and a sure development of the great mineral resources of the territory,” he said.

He visited Las Vegas, New Mexico, declaring it would become “the Denver of the great Southwest” and traveled further south to Socorro which had “improved greatly” with good hotel accommodations. He continued south and noted his visit near Chloride.

“The center of mineralization would seem to be in the vicinity of Hagan’s Peak, 6 miles from Chloride and half-way to the top of the range,” he wrote. “Here is situated the famous Pye lode, named for the discoverer Harry Pye, who was afterwards killed by Indians.”

He noted 13 claims nearby and said the principal towns, or camps, nearby on the eastern slope were Chloride, Grafton and Fairview.

“A generous rivalry exists between them, Chloride being a little the largest,” he said. “All will make good towns in time. At Chloride, considerable building is being done.”

But the booming times would not last and like many mining towns, Chloride slowly died.

The Panic of 1893, which created an economic depression across the United States and lasted for three years, according to Colorado Encyclopedia, contributed to its demise. Millions were out of work, banks and business failed. The most noticeable impact of the panic for places like New Mexico and Colorado was the collapse of the silver industry. Silver prices dropped and mines began to close. The business that provided supplies for the miners and the farmers who grew their food also suffered.

However several of the town’s historic buildings are still standing, including the Monte Cristo Saloon and Dance Hall, the Pioneer Store Museum and Harry Pye’s cabin. That’s mostly due to the efforts of Don Edmund and his daughter Linda Turner, who have spent decades preserving the town and collecting stories about its history.

As early as 1902, the town’s glory days were a distant memory if a May 14 article in the Albuquerque Journal is any indication. The article recalls the story of what it called the Black Range mining district.

“In the early eighties, the mining camps of Fairview, Chloride and Grafton, located in the Black Range were all prosperous mining camps with 500 or more population,” the story said. “Each, with banks, good hotels, business houses, carrying large stocks of goods, saloons, dance halls, theaters and connected with the outside world by three daily six-horse stage lines.”

By 1902, one hotel and two-mule single-seater buggies were enough to handle business for 100 surrounding miles, according to the article.