Tiffany Blue
 
 
THE QUEST FOR PERFECT BLUE I would like to take you to the year 1900 when a party of 8 came to the Turquoise Hill outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico. They were attracted by the tales of wealth involved with a new gemstone— Turquoise. The story below describes what the people saw as they traveled from Santa Fe to the Turquoise Hill outside of Cerrillos. A FINE SIGHT Curiosity led tourists to the area, and an article appeared in the Indianapolis News, dateline April 22, 1900. F.M. Sloan wrote the story about his visit to the mines, and it was stories like these that kept many across the nation focused on turquoise and the Southwest. A party of eight, we left Santa Fe early on the morning of March 20, in a large picnic wagon for a trip to the famous ‘Tiffany turquoise mine,’ which is located south of Santa Fe eighteen miles. We drove at a brisk pace over a fine road surrounded by beautiful scenery. Mountains in front of us; mountains to right of us; mountains to the left of us; all around us, in fact, rising range above range or standing grand and solemn in solitary peaks. Some with their snow-capped summits, others far away, enveloped in that purple haze peculiar to a mountainous country. Over all, there was a blue sky flecked here and there with ragged, fleecy clouds that drifted lazily. We rode for many miles without seeing a house, but finally passed two small American settlements in a little green valley. Near by was a clump of cottonwood trees, the only trees on the road, if we may except the stunted cedars and pines, which are plentiful. Grazing in this valley, we saw a flock of several thousand sheep, guarded by herders and dogs — a fine sight. After several more mines were passed, we came to a small stream of water where we found a town consisting of a very few houses, which boasts the name ‘Bonanza.’ It sprung up during a mining excitement, like a mushroom — got its growth, you may say, in a night. The hillsides around are covered with ‘prospect holes,’ where, alas, many well laid plans and hopes are buried. A little way beyond is the Mexican settlement, with the queer little adobe church. Two miles farther on we reach ‘Turquesa’, where the turquoise mine is situated, as bleak, barren a spot as can be imagined. The nearest water is the little stream I have just mentioned two long miles away; the nearest people too, are there. Here in a small adobe hut, for it can scarcely be dignified by the name of house, lives the superintendent of the mine, with his wife, a sweet-faced woman, and their baby of four months old. She gave our party a hearty welcome. It is so seldom she has visitors that she was very glad to see us. We went into the house, where she made us a cup of tea, and we ate our lunch, which we brought with us. Then, regretting the absence of her husband, who had gone to Cerrillos ten miles away, she said she would show us the mine. Visitors are not very welcome, and are not allowed to go to the mine alone. The superintendent, or his wife, in his absence, must go with them. We climbed up the mountain path and came to the mine, a great, well-like shaft, 200 feet deep, with rough boards covering all except the mouth, down which there is a perpendicular ladder, over it a pulley with a strong wire rope and two huge iron buckets. This is worked by one horse. The rock is blasted and brought to the top in these buckets. It is then assorted, all that contains turquoise is saved, and the refuse is taken to the dump in a small tram-car. A rude blacksmith shop for sharpening and repairing the tools, four Mexicans, the superintendent and his son — this is all there is to this great mine. The turquoise is picked out of the rock by the superintendent himself with a small hammer. It must be of a certain color, or it is rejected. A peculiar shade of blue is what gives value to the stone. It is shipped from the town of Cerrillos in cigar boxes, a box being worth, as we were told, as much as $10,000. We were of told a pair of turquoise cuff buttons that were recently sold for $800. I think they must have been set around with diamonds. All around are beautiful specimens which you are told are worthless, because they are ‘off color,’ but you are not allowed to pick up the smallest piece. Every one is closely watched, and it is almost impossible, even if one were tempted, to secure the smallest specimen. And it would almost certainly cost the superintendent his position, which is a responsible one, were it known that he allowed any one to carry away any of the precious stuff. Even the workmen are searched before leaving the place. The mine was first discovered and worked in a rude way by the Indians, long centuries ago. They went down thirty or forty feet. A pole or trunk of a tree was their means of going down or coming up. They used the beautiful blue stones for ornaments, making necklaces, bracelets, armlets, eyes for their fetishes or gods, and other things of it. They did not cut and polish it as we do now, but made holes in the pieces and string them on the dried sinews of deer. Afterward the mine was worked by the Mexicans [Spanish] in a small way. It is the finest turquoise mine in the world. Five miles from this is another mine, but not valuable, as the stone is not as good a color, being slightly tinged with green. It is being worked, however, with profit. These mountains are rich in undeveloped treasures, and the great industry of New Mexico must be mining. Rich deposits of gold, silver, iron, copper, coal, sulphur and many kinds of precious stones have been found. — F.M. Sloan, April 22, 1900. And that is the way it was April 22, 1900. So the question is, how did we arrive here... Actually the story really begins in 1889, when Charles Lewis Tiffany won an award at the Paris Exhibition—he was the first American to win a gem award in Europe. Included in that wining collection was a piece of Turquoise from the Turquoise Hill outside of Cerrillos. Then, George F. Kunz, gemologist for Tiffany, pronounced that turquoise was a gem stone, and the price of turquoise rose. And so did interest in mining turquoise. Tiffany and his friends, including a banker, set up the American Turquoise Company, and they proceeded to control the turquoise market. In 1892, McNulty arrived on the scene to begin supervising mining on the Turquoise Hill. And what a great supervisor he was. He kept every scrap of paper, every note, every item that he could, and those notes and items were passed on down through our famly. The letters remained in steamer trunks until 2006 when I turned them over to the NM state archives. They formed the basis for the McNulty Story. He kept receipts, he kept record books, he keep grocery lists, and he kept news articles. And Tiffany Blue, the book, is his story as well as a walk through the artifacts he kept.
The headquarters for the American Turquoise Company— the chief supplier of Tiffany Blue Turquoise  to Charles Lewis Tiffany  in New York, was a little bit run down.  Note the prop against the wall to hold it up.
June 2007 (or Spring of 1900)
Conditions were harsh in the 1900s