Hartford District (Huachuca Mountains District), Huachuca Mts, Cochise Co., Arizona, USA

Ref.: The Resources of Arizona - A Manual of Reliable Information Concerning the Territory, compiled by Patrick Hamilton (1881), Prescott, AZ: 40.

Wilson, E.D. (1941), Tungsten Deposits of Arizona, Geological Series No. 14, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 148: 47-49.

Alexis, C.O. (1949), The Geology of the Northern Part of the Huachuca Mountains, Arizona, University of Arizona, PhD. Thesis.

Weber, R.H. (1950), The Geology of the East-central Portion of the Huachuca Mountains, Arizona, University of Arizona, PhD. Thesis.

Wilson, E.D., et al (1951), Arizona zinc and lead deposits, part II, Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 158: 36-40.

Burnham, C.W. (1959) Metallogenic provinces of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Bulletin 65, 76 p.: 31.

Hayes, P.T., and Raup, R.B. (1968) Geologic map of the Huachuca and Mustang Mountains, southeastern Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-509, 1 sheet, scale 1:48,000.

Keith, Stanton B. (1973), Arizona Bureau of Mines Bull. 187: 9-10, 64 (Table 4).

This district is essentially the Huachuca Mountains, or the southern end of the Huachuca range. It produced copper and silver (carbonate of silver) but is a source of Cu-Pb-Zn-Ag-Au-W (Cd). The district is located in T.22-24S., R.19-21E.

Mineralization is twofold: 1.) Base metal oxides, carbonates, and sulfides in quartz veins, irregular replacement bodies, and disseminated in complexly folded and faulted Paleozoic limestones, Cretaceous sedimentary and volcanic rocks. This mineralization is often found in exotic blocks of PAleozoic (?) limestone in Triassic-Jurassic volcanics which have been intruded by Jurassic quartz-monzonite stocks and associated dikes; and, 2.) tungsten mineralization in quartz veins, irregular bunches and disseminations in metamorphosed Paleozoic limestones and Cretaceous Bisbee Group sedimentary and volcanic rocks.

Workings are many relatively small mines and prospects. Total production (through 1970) was 9,000 tons of base metal and precious metal ore yielding 37 tons of copper; 294 tons of lead; 188 tons of zinc; 393 ounces of gold and 25,000 ounces of silver. A portion of this district lies within the Fort Huachuca military reservation and is off limits to public access or collecting. Further, a portion of the district, including that portion where the State of Texas mine is located, is within the Coronado wilderness area and collecting is strictly prohibited (let it rot in place doctrine).

This district also contains several/numerous natural caves or caverns.