The Spanish and Mexican Eras
Silver ore was first discovered in west-central Arizona in 1583 by Spanish explorer Antonio de Espejo, but no mining resulted. Again in 1598, Juan de Oñate led another expedition searching for Espejo’s silver; many claims were staked, but the expeditioners returned to Santa Fe without mining any silver, and the deposits remained unexploited. Espejo’s silver discovery is thought to be at the site of present-day Jerome, which later became a major copper-mining district.
Father Eusebio Kino, in charge of the Spanish missions in southern Arizona from 1687 to 1711, noted a number of “minas” in the mountains bordering the Santa Cruz valley (present Santa Cruz County, Arizona), but the Spanish word “mina” can mean either a mine or an unexploited mineral deposit. A noted silver discovery in 1736 at Planchas de Plata, Sonora, just south of the present Arizona/Sonora border drew attention to the silver potential of the area. Later Spanish documents record mining in the 1770s in Quijotoa, Aribac, and Arivaca, in southernmost Arizona. Mining was held back because Arizona was the northern fringe of the Spanish frontier, and plagued by guerilla war with the Apaches.
Read more about this topic: Silver Mining In Arizona
Famous quotes containing the words spanish, mexican and/or eras:
“Wheeler: Aren’t you the fellow the Mexicans used to call “Brachine”?
Dude: That’s nearly right. Only it’s “Borracho.”
Wheeler: I don’t think I ever seen you like this before.
Dude: You mean sober. You’re probably right. You know what “Borracho” means?
Wheeler: My Spanish ain’t too good.
Dude: It means drunk. No, if the name bothers ya’ they used to call me Dude.”
—Jules Furthman (1888–1960)
“The germ of violence is laid bare in the child abuser by the sheer accident of his individual experience ... in a word, to a greater degree than we like to admit, we are all potential child abusers.”
—F. Gonzalez-Crussi, Mexican professor of pathology, author. “Reflections on Child Abuse,” Notes of an Anatomist (1985)
“Some eras worship infancy; some, the aged. None as yet has adored middle age.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)