Marfa Flights: Aerial Views of Big Bend Country

VII. In Search of Ghost Towns: Flying Inland to the Lone Star and Mariposa Quicksilver Mines

IN SEARCH OF GHOST TOWNS Flying Inland to the Lone Star and Mariposa Quicksilver Mines VII. 112 : IN SEARCH OF GHOST TOWNS 82. Lone Star Mine Road Northeast of Lajitas To the right, a dirt road switchbacks up Tres Cuevas Mountain to the area of the Lone Star Mine. To the left of center is the diminutive Amarilla Mountain, named after the Spanish word for yellow. Running through the center of the photograph is North Lone Star Mine Road, heading toward Contrabando Creek and Big Bend Ranch State Park in the distance. I was enamored by the visual motion in the sea of light-colored hills (left) that looked almost fluid, like waves lapping at the shore of dark rock (right). 114 : IN SEARCH OF GHOST TOWNS 83. Terlingua Hills West of Terlingua Looking west across the Long Draw just north of Thirty-Eight Hill, one sees the area of Villa de la Mina in the distance. Villa de la Mina was the site of one of two famous chili cook-offs in the Terlingua area along Texas FM 170. The gently undulating hills in the Terlingua area are dotted with defunct mine shafts where cinnabar ore was extracted from the earth. Flying Inland to the Lone Star and Mariposa Quicksilver Mines : 115 84. Villa de la Mina Near Terlingua mining district The apparent red tailings of an abandoned cinnabar mine (left) can still be seen at Villa de la Mina. Toxic mercury compounds resulting from cinnabar mining and mercury processing were typically left on-site. It is estimated that the Terlingua district has greater than two million cubic meters of mine waste, with mercury levels varying widely from 4.1 to 19,000 micrograms per gram. There are environmental concerns about the mercury compounds entering the watershed and being transported downstream toward Big Bend National Park. In previous times Native Americans used cinnabar as a red pigment for making pictographs and face paint. 85. Ghost Town South of Lowes Tinaja The ruins of a building and rusting vehicles litter this tiny ghost town just south of Black Mesa in the Lone Star Mine district. After the decline of quicksilver mining in an area, buildings were frequently abandoned. The artifacts of the people who worked the mines, and often died at a young age, dot the hillsides along with their grave markers. 86. Quicksilver Mines North of Lajitas Mariposa Mine (left) and Lone Star Mine (right) were large quicksilver mines. The prominence to the left is California Hill, nearly circled by mine roads. Comanche Creek (center) cuts a canyon through the Sierra de Cal as it heads toward Lajitas, where it meets the Rio Grande. The mountaintop in this area is pitted with mine shafts and adits, and ruins are abundant. The Lone Star and Mariposa mines have been reclaimed and their openings fitted with grates that allow bats to fly through while keeping curious human visitors out of the decaying underground workings that are subject to cave-ins and dangerous gases. 118 : IN SEARCH OF GHOST TOWNS 87. Canyon amid the Mines Headwaters of Comanche Creek Croesus Canyon is located in the upper reaches of Comanche Creek between the Lone Star and Mariposa mines. Here a spring creates an oasis of green and a miniature sanctuary for wildlife on the parched mountaintop of the Sierra de Cal. The availability of rare water makes the upper canyon a prime location for bird watching in a remote setting filled with history. As a photographer, I am intrigued by the way the light ricochets around the interior walls of the canyon, imparting a warm cinnabar-colored glow. Flying Inland to the Lone Star and Mariposa Quicksilver Mines : 119 88. Sawmill Mountain Three miles north of Terlingua Sawmill Mountain (left), elevation 3,797 feet, rises sharply just west of Terlingua Creek as it flows south to the Rio Grande. Sawmill Mountain is composed mostly of intrusive tertiary igneous rock and is shaped by a normal fault that runs through the mountain. To the right is Texas Highway 118, which connects Terlingua and Study Butte with Alpine to the north. Sawmill Mountain is a key component in the aquifer system that flows through igneous rock and...