The Carlisle Mine in Grant County, New Mexico, lies 16 miles north of Duncan, Arizona. The mines in this area were mainly producers of $3,000,000 of gold and silver in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This view of the mine looks up the canyon through the main mine site. The old Carlisle mine was patented in 1882 and after some idle time and many changes in ownership, the mine is still in operation on a smaller scale today.
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The Steeple Rock Mining District contained the Carlisle Mine in Grant County, New Mexico. The nearest town to the mine was Duncan, Arizona. The Carlisle Gold Mining Company was formed in 1882 and gold and silver ore were mined until 1890.
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Starting in 1893, the gold, silver and copper being pulled from the Carlisle mine attracted thousands of workers, many of them from the Duncan area, and put in place all the businesses needed to sustain a lively mining town. In 1898, a young Herbert Hoover, just out of Stanford, arrived at Carlisle as assistant superintendent of the Steeple Rock District Mines. He was put up in the home of Superintendent P.H. McDermott, who was also the hard-drinking little settlement's deputy sheriff. Local legend has it that Hoover himself spent a night in that cave jail for drunken and disorderly conduct.
At the time Hoover arrived, the mine was already in decline and a few years later it shut down until 1932, when new mining and milling techniques allowed for another 15 years of productivity.
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The Carlisle Mine produced gold and silver. By 1897 its production was estimated to be $3 million dollars.
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Some of the many switchbacks along Rt. 78. The highway in Arizona was designated as SR 78 in 1959, but the road had existed prior to it being designated.The road was shown on maps as far back as 1927. Its counterpart in New Mexico was already marked as New Mexico State Road 78 by this time.By 1938, it was still just a gravel road as were many roads in the area including US 666 (now Route 191). It would remain a gravel road in 1961, even after becoming a state highway. The other state highways in the area were paved by this time including the majority of its counterpart in New Mexico.By 1971, nearly the entire highway had been paved with the exception of a portion near the New Mexico border.
The road once contained “Needle’s Eye.” It was a large hole blasted in the mountainside through which the road once ran.The Mule Creek road was once a major commerce route between the mining towns of Clifton-Morenci and Silver City, N.M. “Needle’s Eye” was eliminated decades ago to accommodate larger vehicles when the road was paved. Only an outcropping of rock remains.
Photo contributed by Don Lunt
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Clifton gym. left 1917--Clifton grade school right 1908
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Upper Eagle Creek School, date unknown
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North Clifton Grade School
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Clifton grade school 1908
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The Blue River One Room School house was located at the mouth of Johnson Canyon. It burnt down on February 14, 1987.
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Morenci High School 1919-1949
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Chase Creek grade school 1912
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Franklin Elementary School
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Duncan Elementary School
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Duncan Gymnasium
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Shannon Hill Grade School, 1912
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Metcalf High School 1918-1921
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Day School and teacher's house, built 1911
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Duncan Elementary School
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Fairplay School left and the Longfellow High School right located in Morenci, AZ
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Metcalf Grade School 1913.
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Clifton High School; Built in 1912
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Morenci High School 1950-1982
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One room school house was located in Sheldon
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