El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-07-24
MINING NEWS
EAGLE MOUNTAIN IS / ST0REHOUSE
Of MINERAL WEALTH FOR WEST TEXAS

and Ford, and they were followed by
Murdoch Mckenzie Recently the field
has been occupied by Miles Williams,
Capt. Jett, whose headquarters are at
Eagle Springs, J. D. Hackett, at Hot
Wells. and NJ Caruthers, at Torbert.
In the valley between the Eagles are
the grazing grounds of county COM
missioner Tom Love and his brothers.
Mineral Deposits of Eagle Mountain.
The Eagle mountains contain a va
riety Of metallic and nonmetalic depos-
its of economic value, such as shales
and llmeStOneS for manufacturing port
land cement, marbles, sandstone, mica,
fireclays, and bituminOus coal, lead,
copper and zinc ores. and it is
claimed that gold and silver occur in
the eastern portion Of the range.
The main core of the Eagle noun
tainS IS reddish and black eolored
igneOus rocks, rhyOlitic and diaritic,
with white rhyOlite dykes, which have
shot up through the original sedimen-
tary limestones, sandstones and shales,
now uptilted and visible in the ridges
and foothills around the sides OF the
igneous intrusives. The main igneous
rocks seem barren of metalbearing
veins and deposits The surrounding
sedimentaries, however. contain ore
deposits and occasional beds Of coal.
The Eagle Springs.
Near the famous Eagle springs the
first discovery Of coal west of the
Pecos was made. 1t was found by the
United States soldiers in 1880 while en-
camped at the springs Eagle Springs
was for years one of the most exposed
places for indian raids and massacres
in the southwest.
Old Apache Days.
Here in subsequent years was the
main watering place and the stage
station on the old overland stage line
west OF TT Davis between San Antonio
and the old town Of Franklin, the pres
ent FL PasO. Thence the old road
passed down through the Quitman
canyon to old Ft. Quitman on the Rio
Grande, at the lower entrance of the
valley to the north. When the rail-
road was completed from San Antonio
to Sierra Blanca, the old stage line
was abandoned, but the road is plain
~ observable today. As the old
stages rode YEARLY at evening into
Eagle .Jpring with its dusty, tired
for them to hear the crack of the rifles
and the unearthly yells from the
Apaches concealed behind the nearby
cliffs. Many poor emigrant was mas
sacred here. It is said that a whole
troop of negro soldiers were slaugh-
tered here about % years ago by the
red devils. The mounds over their
graves can be seen just below Jett's
To this day the superstitious cowboys
say that in moonlight nights the ghosts
Of the dead victims, clad in white, can
be seen, and the superstitiouS COW
punchers never sleep out of doors, nor
without a burning lamp at Eagle
springs. The late John NJ Dean used
10 Qrlke stage through mere IN the Ola
days and recOunted many narrow es-
cape. Recently I met Mai. Caruthers,
of Alpine, Tex, an eXofficer of Texas
rangers, and he related an incident he
witnessed while Capt Carpenter was
camped with the United States negro
troops at the springs, whensa large war
party of Apaches under chief Victoria
rode UP from the plains and slowly
passed within a few hundred yards
shouting defiance and with most in
sulting gestures challenged Carpenter
and his troops to come out like men
and fight.
ITO the credit of the black soldiers"
said Carruthers. they begged Carpen-
ter to let them fight. but he forbade
indians. Then old Victoria shouted in
Spanish. You are nothing but squaws
and towards They then rode away and
down Quitman canyon and that same
night massacred half a dozen Mexican
families in the valley"
Eagle Mountain Coal Mines.
To return to the discovery of coal. In
of a mile southwest of the springs, 4
torrent from a clOudburst denuded the
bottom of the gulch and exposed the
OutcrOp Of a seam of coal over six feet
thick. Samples of the coal were scat
tered mile down the canyon into the
the rancher, and Mai. Woodward and
Capt Bulls, of the United States army
took possession of the land. In the alb
sence of mining law they held il in
the name of Mckenzie by sQuatter SOW
ereignty and did considerable work in
the vein, extracting several hundred
tons
Meanwhile the new mining law of
1883 was enacted and W. II. Kings