page_title: Silver mining in Arizona
section_title: Start of American mining in Arizona
hierarchical_section_title: Silver mining in Arizona / Start of American mining in Arizona
caption_attribution_description: English: "Old South Shaft Ore Quarry, Face of Tough-nut Mine, part of Town of Tombstone, Arizona. Dragoon Mountains, with Cochise Stronghold in background," mammoth plate, by the American photographer Carleton E. Watkins. Courtesy of the Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript LIbrary, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
context_page_description: Silver mining in Arizona was a powerful stimulus for exploration and prospecting in early Arizona. Cumulative silver production through 1981 totaled 490 million troy ounces. However, only about 10% of Arizona's silver production came from silver mining. More than 80% of the state's silver was a byproduct of copper mining; other silver came as a byproduct of lead, zinc, and gold mining.
context_section_description: When southern Arizona became a United States possession by virtue of the Gadsden Purchase of 1853, American prospectors and investment started mining silver deposits previously known to the Spanish and Mexicans in present Santa Cruz and Pima counties.  The Santa Rita mine in the Santa Rita Mountains and the Heintzelman mine in the Cerro Colorado Mountains both started in 1856, the Mowry mine in the Patagonia Mountains started in 1857, and the Salero mine in 1858.
  American prospecting and silver mining in the Santa Rita Mountains on the east side of the Santa Cruz Valley led to conflicts with the Apaches, known as the Apache Wars.  One Apache raid killed all but one employee of the Santa Rita mine.
caption: Entrance to the Tough Nut Mine in Tombstone, Arizona Territory.
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