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Fox Mine; Nevada, Lander County, Bullion District. The Cortez or Fox turquoise mine is in the bottom of a canyon in the NE1/4, sec. 34, T. 27N., R. 47 E. about 1.5 miles southwest from the mouth of Cortez Canyon. The mine is accessible over a well-graded road.
The Fox turquoise mine is in a faulted, argillized block of chert in which the beds strike predominantly N. 60-degrees E. and dip about 45 degrees SE. Pseudomorphs of limonite after pyrite attest to the former presence of pyrite in the argillized zone. Greenish and blue turquoise occur in silicified, limonite veinlets that follow the bedding. Smaller veinlets form flat-lying units in the chert.
George Schmidtlein visited the deposit about 1910 or 1912; the location of the Fox mine was revealed to Schmidtlein by a servant in his household. It had been known to the indians for centuries and almost everyone in the vicinity had some of the turquoise in one form or another. In 1912 Schmidtlein and his wife made a trip east, taking some of the turquoise to the C. D. Peacock Jewelry Co., in Chicago. Peacock agreed that Fox turquoise was "very Pretty," but knew of no market for it, so Schmidtlein dropped the matter.
In 1914, Charles Schmidtlein, son of George, and Johnnie Francis filed an official notice of location on the property under the name of "Fox Lode Mining Claim." Other mines had been developed in Nevada at the time, and a definite market for the ore had been established. Schmidtlein and Francis worked the claim until they had established it's value and, in 1915 sold the property to William R. Mc Gaw for $3000.00.
McGaw put a crew of miners to work extending the development. The Fox turquoise mine has been developed as an open cut. Another cut was opened along the face of the vein and production expanded. Following the death of McGaw, Edward C. Smith, a relative, assumed management of the mine. When Smith died, his son Charles E. Smith became manager.
In the 1940's, Dowell Ward purchased the old Cortez claims and developed them using the names Fox, White Horse, Green Tree and Smith to differentiate among the colors produced in the area and to create a larger perceived share of the turquoise market. The area produces a huge amount of good quality green or blue-green turquoise with a distinctive matrix. The story is told that during the time he owned the claims, Dowell Ward, amassed one of the largest collections of rough turquoise ever. Dowell's widow Faye is now in possession of the collection and the claims.
The Fox mine has probably produced more turquoise than all the other mines in the state put together; a conservative estimate of the total production has been put "not less than 500,000 pounds." For years the mine produced more than 2,000 pounds of turquoise a month. The bulk of Fox turquoise is only a fair quality, being deficient in color, but is quite hard and excellently suited to artificial coloring. For this purpose, most of the mine production for years was sold to factories in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. Much excellent ore was, however, processed in the United States.
The turquoise was found in nodules of all sizes; hundreds were as large as a mans fist, many even larger. The Fox mine is also known for the sea foam type of nuggets and blue green kind of bubbly material it produces. It is often left in it's "nugget" rough state and slightly polished for that appearance. The mine is being worked again and this is new material. The color ranges from blue/green to a dark blue. The material is solid and hard (for Turquoise) and cuts well. The rough is almost all nuggets.
The largest true-blue nugget without matrix inclusions found at the Fox turquoise mine weighed slightly more than one pound, ( a troy weight pound is about 1,866 carats ) and was presented to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.. Another huge nugget, almost as large, was presented to Tiffany & Co., New York City. Mrs. Clara L. McGaw had a nugget which weighed about one pound but this had a slight amount of matrix in it.
Ray never travels alone, there is always a large assemblage of family around him, and to him everyone seems to be family. We suspect that when Ray is loading the car for a selling trip, anyone in the village wanting or needing a vacation shows up at his door with their bags packed. We are reasonably sure that everyone is welcome. The most common passengers are Ray's daughter and her son River. We have attempted to barter for River from time to time, but have yet to strike a deal. Ray is extremely fond of him, and Kira and Grange (Steve's red-headed offspring) may both be on their way to Santa Domingo if River remains.
Ray's vehicles are mostly of the well used variety, and it doesn't seem to bother him that he may be walking across the vast, open spaces of the desert Southwest at any moment if the car collapses. Knowing Ray, it wouldn't take him long to scrounge up a ride for the whole troupe. In fact, over the twenty-five years we have known Ray, there have been many stories which include long walks. The stories always end with the car being patched up and the selling trip continuing.
The creative side of this outgoing, gregarious Puebloan is as wonderful as his humorous side. Ray has won more awards for his art than any other Santa Domingo artist we know. This is saying a great deal, since we have been selling Indian art since the late 1969, when we were ten and eleven respectively. When the topic of high quality, natural turquoise bead necklaces and earrings is brought up, Ray Lovato is always mentioned. He has won awards at such prestigious shows as the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Gallup Ceremonials and the Eight Northern Pueblos. Very few of his counterparts use the quality of materials and pay attention to the detail the way Ray does.
The kicker, and in our eyes, the greatest reason for Ray's marketing success is that when he arrives at our door, he first presents gifts. There are always presents of homemade tamales, traditional bread or blue corn cookies. We are especially susceptible to the blue corn cookies, and our stomachs always swell when they arrive. We love them, we fight over them as a matter of fact. This gentle soul with laughing eyes sits back and lets his generous bounty do it's intended work. In addition to the food, Ray also brings his carefully crafted masterworks to entice us. Ray Lovato is the master of his world, a master craftsman, master baker, master of humor and master in the art of salesmanship. "Hurry back Ray - we’re out of cookies!"
