Our Lady on the mountain - history, folklore, and geology of Magdalena Peak

Abstract

Today, 120 yrs after the editor of the Bullion waxed so eloquently, the Lady continues to keep up her silent watch. Her regal gaze has overseen the arrival and departure of countless centuries, the seemingly endless activities of humankind, the comings and goings of their enterprises and developments. She has observed much: the wanderings of the Native American Pueblo Indians and their Paleo-Indian ancestors before them; the arrival of the Spanish soon after 1540; the American prospectors and miners during and immediately after the Civil War; and the birth and death of North, Middle (Kelly), and South Camps at the foot of their mines. The mills, smelters, railroads, and towns built to serve the Kelly, Graphic, Waldo, and other prominent mines in the Magdalena mining district are gone now; they lived and died in little more than a centu