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Santa Rita, Hanover and Fierro, in Grant County, New Mexico
A famous mine in New Mexico is the open-pit copper mine at Santa Rita.
Santa Rita, Hanover and Fierro are about 15 miles east of Silver City
in Grant County, in New Mexico, southwest United States, in areas where
burrowing, digging, loading, hauling, milling and smeltering has been
going on for at least the last two centuries.
In the early 1800's, the Spanish governor in Santa Fe ordered his military
to take drastic measures against the Apache Indians, the most troublesome
of all tribes. Among the military officers was Lieutenant Colonel Jose
Manuel Carrasco who befriended some Indians and was given a gift an
arrowpoint of pure copper. An Indian told of an outcropping of
copper far up the Mimbres towards mountains known as the Pinos Altos.