HISTORY OF THE GALENA KING MINE

A.G. Bateman 1905 Butte, Montana

1 May 1908 The Albuquerque Citizen

Octoroon Mine Stock from Bateman Family

22 December 1909

29 January 1909

Bateman Brothers at the Galena King Mine Camp, October 1910

27 October 1909 Bateman Postcard from Guaymas, Mexico

October 2017 Max Evans Meets Bill Bateman

11 October 1910 Elbert Bateman (Bill's Father)

Artifacts Found Near the Old Cabin

1909 UNM Senior Thesis by Edmund Ross

22 January 1910, Fayette Jones Survey of the Mine

Fayette Jones, Prominent New Mexico Geologist and the Third Director of the New Mexico School of Mines

21 May 1923 Fayette Jones Survey of the Galena King Mine Showing the 1913 Adit

2 August 1919 Albuquerque Evening Herald

Edmund Ross, UNM Class of 1909 & His 1920 Survey of the Mine

31 October 1918 Albuquerque Evening Herald

1927 Department of Commerce Report on Fluorspar in the U.S.

“This mine has been developed entirely by hand methods, as there was no machinery on the property. Ore was trammed to the portal in 1-ton cars and had sorted”. (Ladoo, Raymond B. Department of Commerce report, 1927)

1927 Department of Commerce Report on Fluorspar in the U.S.

1928 NM School of Mines Bulletin Forest Service Map

11 February 1940 Albuquerque Journal

1943-1953 the New Mexico Proving Ground Tests Proximity Fuzes Near the Mine

1943-1953 the New Mexico Proving Ground Gun Line

Despite Numerous Clean Ups Across the Ridge, Unexploded Ordnance (UXO's) Can Still Be Found

1960 Publicity Still of Max Evans - Max Bought the Mine Just for the Beauty of it, Never Intending to Mine There

Max Evans Owned the Frazer Mine Near Taos - His Foreman is by the Truck, his Mining Partner and Good Friend Woody Crumbo is up by the Ore Chute

31 May 1950 Cowboy, Miner, Artist & Author Max Evans Writing in Taos

~1968 or 1969 Max Evans Replaces No Trespassing Signs at the Galena King Mine, Photo by Pat Evans

2004 Climbing Out of the Upper Adit

With the owner’s permission in 2004, we visited the mine and found the overgrown and partially filled in entrance to the upper adit.

2004 In the Lower Adit Attic With Trespasser Tools

In 2004 we saw evidence of deliberate, illegal collecting. A shove and trash were found in the attic area of the lower adit. This area climbs up into the ore vein. Notice our early caving days, shorts and no helmets, not the best for exploring underground.

2013 - Visiting the Lower Adit for Max to Plan for New Gates

2013 Visiting the Mine & Looking at the Amazing Mineral Formations (Note the Lack of Helmets....)

2014 Trespasser Caught on Trail Camera

14 July 2014, a trail camera picks up a trespasser trying to sneak up to the mine. He was caught halfway up the hillside by an Army class that was on the first school field trip yo the mine and stopped from taking specimens he had stashed from a previous illegal rock collecting trip. He was caught several more times over the following years and these photos along with his Jeep license plate were given to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.

2015 Exploring the Mine and Taking Photos - Looking at Miner Platforms from the Attic

2015 Another Visit to the Mine Looking at Part of the Ore Seam

2015 Mine Trip Encountered One of the Local Bats

2017 The Second Formal Meeting of the Incorporated Friends of Galena King

20 May 2017 The Friends of Galena King Helped Bring the Evans Family Out to the Galena King

20 May 2017 Pat, Max and Sheryl Evans at the Galena King