494 MINERAL RESOURCES.
along
the valley of the Rio Grande has made the Cerillos mountain which the
gem occurs, much more accessible than it was, and the ancient mine has
been reopened and worked to some extent by Eastern capita ists, as
made; known by Professor Sillimau. The stone is in consequences more
abundant than before, and at Wallace Station on the railway very good
specimens can frequently be obtained of the Pueblo Indians " I have
recently visited another locality where chalchuite occurs and was mined
by the ancients. This is in Cochise county, Arizona, about 20. miles
from Tombstone, in an outlying ridge or spur of the Dragoon' mountains,
and not far from the stronghold of the Apache chief Cochise, so long
the terror of that region. This elevation is now known as the 'Turquois
mountain,' and as there are several deposits of argentiferous ores near
it, a mining district has been formed called the 'Turquois dis-
"At
the turquois locality there are two or more ancient excavations upon
the south face of the mountain, and large piles of waste or debris thrown
out are overgrown with century plants, yuccas and cactaceae It has not
been worked for a long time, and probably never by the Apaches. The
excavations are not as extensive as at Los Cerillos, and it is more
difficult to find specimens of the mineral. It is evidently much less
abundant than at the New Mexican locality. Enough of the gem was
obtained, however, by searching in the waste heaps, to show that it is
identical in its appearance with the New Mexican chalchuite. The rock
is also similar, and the chalchuite occurs in seams and veinlets rarely
more than an eighth or a quarter of an inch in thickness.
"The
color is light apple-green and pea-green, precisely that of the New
Mexican stone, as generally seen. There'is in some fragments a faint
shade of blue as at Los Cerillos, but the true normal color appears to
be green rather than blue.
"
The specific gravity I find to be, of two different fragments, 2.710
and 2.828. The first was slightly porous and earthy, and the second
dense, hard, and homogeneous. These results are higher than I obtained
with the specimens from the surface at the New Mexican locality, viz.,
2.426 to 2.651. Two determinations recently made gave 2.500 as the
specific gravity of two partly-cut stones from the old Cerillos
locality."
Mr. F. F. Chisolm furnishes the following additional particulars con-cerning the New Mexican turquois:
"
Turquois is found in the Rocky Mountain division only on Mount
Chalchihuitl, in Santa Fe" county, between the Santa Fe and Galisteo
rivers, about 20 miles southeast of Santa Fe. The mountain is co-posed
of eruptive rocks, probably of Tertiary age, and is distinguished from
the other peaks of the Cerillos range by its white color. The origin of
the Los Cerillos turquois, in view of late observations, is not
doubtful. Chemically, it is a hydrous aluminum phosphate containing
3.81 per cent, copper. Neglecting this constituent, the formula for
turquois requires, phosphoric acid, 32.G; alumina, 4G.9; water, 20.5.
