Cerrillos

Before the arrival of the Spanish, the mineral-laden area surrounding Cerrillos produced large quantities of Turquoise. Native Americans mined the Cerrillos Hills centuries before the Europeans. Cerrillos Turquoise Mine is the oldest mine of any kind in North America and was the site of the largest prehistoric mining activity on the continent because the huge turquoise deposit was partially exposed at the surface. Using basic tools such as stone axes, mauls, antler picks, and chisels, the Pueblo miners removed about 100,000 tons of solid rock from the mine.

For centuries, the Europeans valued turquoise as next to worthless. In the late 1880s gemologist George Kunz and jeweler Charles Lewis Tiffany changed all this. The ancient turquoise mines of Persia ran out of ore and the price was climbing. Tiffany, together with investors and his agents formed The American Turquoise Company in 1881. By 1895 turquoise was worth more than gold in the cities of the east.

By about 1885s Cerrillos was full of energetic miners working the area mines for gold, silver, zinc, lead, coal and of course turquoise. The town grew to support 21 saloons and 4 hotels and was seriously considered for the capitol of New Mexico. Today Cerrilllos is a picturesque reminder of the Old West. The town has been the setting for several motion pictures, for example Young Guns.