September 12, 2000
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Site Highlights:
Close to Magdalena
Open summers only
Modest entry fees
Preserved ruins
Self guided
Pick tailings
View of valley
Photo opportunities
| Go to first part of day trip - Very Large Array Go to third part of day trip - Fort Craig |
| The Rise and Demise of Kelly |
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J. S. Hutchason, known as "Old Hutch," is credited with being the father of the Magdalena mining district. His discoveries spawned the mining camp of Kelly. |
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Hutchason was poking around the Magdalena Mountains in the spring of 1866 when he found rich lead outcroppings. He staked the Juanita Mine and, three weeks later, the Graphic Mine. In those early days the ore was smelted locally in adobe furnaces called "vassos," and then an ox team to Kansas City hauled the metal.
In the late 1870's Hutchason sold his Graphic Mine for thirty thousand dollars. He also sold the Kelly Mine, which in turn was resold to Gustav Billing for forty-five thousand dollars. In 1881 Billing erected a smelting plant near Socorro at Park City which treated ore from the Kelly and other mines until 1893. In 1896, with the construction of the Graphic Smelter, Magdalena became the smelting town for Kelly. It treated the ore there until 1902.
About the turn of the century, as lead and silver were being wrenched from the earth, a discarded greenish rock was being tossed high on the waste dump piles. Cory T. Brown of Socorro shipped away some of the rock to have it tested. It turned out to be a valuable zinc carbonate called smithsonite. Brown, in partnership with J. B. Fitch, immediately leased the Graphic property and began stripping the dumps of the smithsonite. Kelly's
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With the advent of the 1880’s, the small camp of Kelly began to experience a promising growth and much activity. A branch line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe reached Magdalena, four miles from Kelly, in 1885. Daily stages ran to Magdalena, a school, two hotels, a resident doctor, and the usual assortment of stores and saloons served Kelly. The camp also boasted a fine water system with pipes conducting mountain spring water throughout the town. With the increasing influx of miners, sleeping accommodations were scarce. Supposedly, the two hotels rented beds in eight-hour shifts.
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In mid-2009 we were contacted by Ms. Jeanette Hopkins regarding the availability of any maps relating to the Kelly mine area. Maps of Kelly, of any kind, we did not possess. Our subsequent e-mail exchanges resulted in Ms. Hopkins, on her own, obtaining two significant maps of Kelly which she graciously forwarded to me as scanned images.
For those visitors to this web page that wish to obtain a true copy of the maps of the Kelly Townsite and Kelly Mining Claims, they may be purchased from the Socorro (NM) County Assessor. The particulars are:
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| Site Gallery - Kelly Mine |
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| For More Information |
| Magdalena, NM Home Page |
| Text source partially exrtracted from: Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of New Mexico, James E. Sherman, 1975 New Mexico's Best Ghost Towns, Philip Varney, 1999 |