Gold in the New Mexico Areas

The very interesting state of New Mexico was at once number seven of the largest gold producing areas of the west part of the states. This place has more than thirty placer gold districts as well as a lot of lode districts in it. The gold deposits that have been worked on in this area have been around since the early days of the Indians. As a matter a fact, the gold ornaments that the Indians wore and that were seen by an early explorer was what initiated the Spanish invasion of the region. There was a soldier that had fled and then went back to Mexico and who told stories of the gold and that they should get a large expedition together to find where the gold was coming from. He was never able to find the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola while he was on his expedition in 1540 however, it is known that the Spanish settlers mined the deposits until the ending of the 1600’s until a uprising of the Indians caused them to have to stop. In 1828 the more modern production of gold was discovered in the Ortiz Mountains. Later one more finds were still made even in 1908 when the finding of the placer deposits at Sylvanite caused a little gold rush to occur in the area. A good amount of gold is still out there to be found given the fact that the early miners did not have the right type of equipment and lacked water in most of the places they went to.

The Sylvanite district
The Sylvanite district is located in Hidalgo County in New Mexico and on the side of the southern part of the Little Hatchet Mountains. To get to this area, all you need to do is go south on state highway 146-81 from its junction with interstate 10 close to twenty miles from Hachita. The deposits can be found south of this area in the gravels in the gulches and washes. The best and most productive area here is Livermore Springs and Cottonwood. Production was first recorded here in 1880. The following biggest production activity occurred in 1908. This district however was never considered to be a very big production area nonetheless there have been some prospectors that have been able to find some good size nuggets in the area.