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P��� 20 VOICES FROM THE PAST Excerpts from “In the Shadow of Saguaros” By Rosalee Oldham Wheeler Find In the Shadow of Saguaros at Readers Oasis Bookstore, Qtz. (Previous story was: “The Swansea - From Copper Giant to Ghost Town”) The Cinnabar Mine In Rosalee O. Wheeler’s honor, the publisher of Rosalee’s “In the Shadow of Saguaros” has agreed to continue submitting excerpts from Volumes I and II, with Volume III and selected “Memoirs of a Desert Rat” to follow. In the late 1600s, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, the Jesuit Padre on horseback, was shown where the Hia C-ed O’odham (Yuma) Indians got the vermilion pigment for their beau- tiful paints and dyes. For centuries, from deposits found in the La Cholla Mountain foothills west of the Tyson Wash about 12 miles south and west of Quartzsite, the Indians had ground de- posits of pure cinnabar into a powder that produced a beautiful crimson tone known as dragon’s blood in China. In the early 1880s deposits of cinna- bar became important for another rea- son. It was learned that the mineral mercury could be obtained from cin- nabar. The composition and mineral makeup of cinnabar was an important discovery since the ore is a compound of mercury and sulfur. Later it was learned that this heavy silvery liquid metal was very poisonous and within a few years was replaced where it had been used in medicine, dental work, storage batteries, thermometers, paints and vacuum tubes. 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Pyramid $139,000 2 bdrm., 1 bath, re-modeled 14x66 Schult, on 2+ acres in Brenda $139,000 Newer 2 bdrm., 2 bath, oversized garage, on .8 acre in Brenda $179,000 2 homes on 1 acre, 2 car garage, RV hook-ups, 4 sheds, on Kofa $200,000 2 acre commercial lot right behind Post Offi ce Wayne Trumann 573-590-0013 wayne@davidplunkettrealty.com Steve Schue 928-669-4121 steve@davidplunkettrealty.com www.ColoradoRealty.com www.DavidPlunkettRealty.com 928-927-5290 New 2 bdrm., 2 bath, den, energy effi cient Palm Harbor on Joshua ���.D�����M��������.��� The Colonial Mining Company and Cinnabar Development Com- pany have dated the discovery of the Cinnabar Mine in the Dome Rock Mountains of the La Cholla Mining District back to 1861. The vein de- posit was found to have a tabular ore body with spotty, disseminated cin- nabar with secondary minerals such as copper, gold, silver and some wulfenite along with quartz, gouge, calcite and siderite with iron oxide in a fault fi ssure overlain by Tertiary volcanic rocks. The original mine claim was fi led by a Colonel Judd who brought in a hoist, timbers, and equipment and then sank a vertical main shaft to a depth of 640 feet with seven levels. The workings included three lesser shafts of 178, 148 and 145-feet of drifts. The Cin- nabar Mine had a shaft house, a 30- ton Scott Tile Furnace with condens- ers made of brick. Near the mine were several sturdy rock houses. In 1908, C. H. Coleman had a brick retort was built to heat and condense the cinnabar ore. The retort was put to the test when a run of two thousand tons of cinnabar ore was made produc- ing 11 metallurgical volume fl asks of cinnabar. The test also showed that the ore contained four percent mercury, or quicksilver. At that time a #6½ fl ask of quicksilver was worth $40 and between 1904 and 1914 the Cinnabar Develop- ment Company was able to produce around 115 fl asks of mercury, though not enough to appease the backers and they pulled their fi nancial support. By 1979 there was still a productive mercury mine at the original site. The last miners to work there were Constan- cio and Alberto Martinez. Constancio said quicksilver stood in the drill holes and the vein was about two feet wide. M���� 2, 2011 Photo by Jerome W. Anderson 1979 CINNABAR MINE The ghost town of Cinnabar has been seriously vandalized with much of the metal from the mining equipment as well as a major portion of the bricks from the brick retort were hauled away although one of the sturdy rock hous- es still stands. As a caution to future vandals with ideas for a used-brick patio, the bricks inside the retort have absorbed a good deal of the mercury and are considered very poisonous. It should not be touched without prop- er protection. There are open shafts around the mine and care should be taken not to go near. There were only four major mines in the United States that commercially produced cinnabar for pigment and are no longer operational due to strict environmental laws. Today, cinnabar, the most valuable red pigment in the world, is mined primarily in China, In- dia and Spain. (The next story will be: “Guiding Light to Water”) Alternative Therapies Barbara Lancaster, R.N., C.H.T., R.M.T. ~ Reiki ~ Hypnosis ~ Ear Candling ~ Mary Kay Consultant ~ Nutritional Products Relaxation Therapy by Lois Hot Rock, Swedish & Deep Tissue Massage • 928-273-8348 255 N. CENTRAL BLVD. PALM PLAZA #8, QUARTZSITE 928-927-5858