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| The Stevenson-Bennett Mine |
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In the Organ Mining District lies the Stevenson Bennett Mine. The Stevenson orebody at the Stevenson-Bennett mine was discovered in 1849, and the property was acquired by Hugh Stevenson. The property was worked for ten years by Stevenson, the production up to 1857 was approximately $90,000. The ore was smelted in an adobe furnace near Fort Fillmore, south of Las Cruces.
Mining in these early days was done with difficulties, hostile Indians were a constant source of danger and the mechanical appliances available were crude.
The Stevenson mine was purchased by officers at Fort Fillmore in 1858 for $12,500. A company was organized and a mining engineer was hired. In 1861, soon after the machinery arrived, Fort Fillmore fell to General Baylor, and the mine was confiscated by the Confederate Forces. After the war, some officers formed a syndicate to work the mine, but were stopped by an injunction. They resolved to sell the property to an English company, the figure named being $250,000, and an expert was sent out to examine it, only to discover that the claims had been jumped.
Litigation followed and an agreement was reached whereby the new locators were to secure patents on the claims, and give a half interest to the officers' syndicate. The surveys for the patents were made in 1871 and 1883.
The Bennett orebody at the Stevenson-Bennett mine was discovered in 1887 by Carrera and later staked out by William Skidmore. Carrera held a lease on the property and was mined by the Stevenson-Bennet Mining Company. A shaft revealed a large chamber filled with veins of calcite, calcite stalactites, and aragonite trees. The cave was sketched and photographed before demolition began to access the ore. The Bennett vein varied from twenty to thirty-five feet wide. Besides silver, miners unearthed world-class wulfenite and cerussite crystals. The greatest period of production of that mine followed, and it is said that $250,000 in lead and silver were taken out during his lease, which expired in 1888.
Known Minerals of the Stevenson-Bennet and Page orebodies included: Adamite, Anglesite, Aragonite, Calcite, Caledonite, Cerussite, Chrysocolla, Fluorite, Galena (Argentiferous Galena), Gold, Gypsum (Selenite), Hemimorphite, Linarite, Mimetite, Mottramite, Phosgenite, Pyrite, Pyromorphite, Quartz,Siderite, Smithsonite, Sphalerite and Wulfenite.
The Bureau of Land Management's Abandon Mines Program closed all access to the Stevenson-Bennet Mine due to the close proximity of a residential area. The images below show the Stevenson-Bennet as it sits today. We, at the Raging Main, have an open invitation to anyone with a copy of images or drawings from inside of the mine. The mine was closed around 1995.
References: K. C. Dunham, 1935, reprinted 1980, 87 pp., 11 figs., 5 plates, 1 index. Part III, The Mines and Mineral Resources of Doña Ana County and the minerals database at mindat.org. (Hits: 1597)
Found: 16 image(s) on 2 page(s). Displayed: image 1 to 15.
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