The rocky vistas shown here include volcanic andesite and sedimentary limestone, deposited over two and a half million years ago. But it wasn’t until after the 1850s, when American Indians in the region had been mostly conquered, that the isolated and rugged terrain became interesting to investors for mining purposes.
The image shown here includes the land around the Modoc mine which lay on the outskirts of Las Cruces, New Mexico. “Shear zones,” with specific mineral strains higher than the wall rocks, were discovered, and in 1898 investors spent a million dollars to develop facilities to drill for silver and lead. The mine was only in operation for a few decades, and is indicative of the way the New Mexican economy flourished in this era – in other mines of the region, copper and uranium were (and still are) also lucrative products.
