AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1 9 6 6 double issue - Desert Magazine of ...

DATING
OLD
MINING
CAMPS
by Kit Carson
38 / Desert Magazine / August-September, 1966
GHOST TOWNS and abandoned
villages arouse a great amount of
curiosity as to when they were occupied,
when abandoned, and why. To answer
these questions Lucien A. File, head of
the research department for the New
Mexico Bureau of Mines, conducted a
study on the subject and came up with
some interesting observations which will
make it possible for you to arrive at a
good many of these answers yourselves.
As certain as distinctive periods of the
past are dated by old bottles and tin cans,
mining camps and old houses may be
dated by what archeologists call their
"middens," or trash dumps, as we call
them. Throughout the years the design
and style of articles manufactured for
home consumption have changed. Bottles
and cans are an excellent source for dating.
These are usually found in dumps
or scattered around old ruins.
Another method for arriving at dates
of unknown sites lies in old newspapers
often found in tumbled down houses.
Sometimes these were used for insulation
and may be recovered without destroying
the ruins.
Camps active before 1900 may be
dated by soldered tin cans, square nails,
and beer bottles with hand-finished necks.
Bottles of this period were stoppered, not
metal capped.
In his research, File found that mining
camps from 1900 to World War I were
characterized by round nails and bottles
with hand-finished necks, but the bottles
had lips for metal caps, instead of cork
stoppers.
Hand forged nails were used as a construction
material as early as 11 B.C., but,
of course, didn't enter the Western Hemisphere
at that date. Hand forging of
nails was practiced during the Colonial
Period as a family enterprise and traded
to merchants for supplies. Wire nails
came into production about the turn of
the 20th century. My experience with old
buildings of the Southwest dates the
square-headed nail, with tapered, flat
shanks, as popular soon after the Civil
War until about 1900.
Another period distinguishable through
molding practices is from the 1920s until
the early 1930s, when the bottles had
finished necks and tin cans were crimped
instead of soldered. This period may also
be determined by certain mechanical
tools lost around the settlements, like the
"monkey wrench" of the Henry Ford
contraption, or "knuckle buster," as many
were wont to brand the spanner.
Tin cans for preserving food prior to
World War I required lead solder along
the seams, on the sides, and for the little
hole on the top of the can lid. This portal
allowed steam to escape during the canning
process and, as one of the last procedures
during the preserving process, it
was soldered. Food in this type of can
demanded particular attention, as certain
foods of acid content required a different
tin coating than other fruits or vegetables.
Before World War I, most bottles were
finished by hand; after this date they
were finished by machine. In the earlier
method, seams on the side of the bottle
ended at the neck, which was added to
the bottle in a separate hand of annealing.
In machine finished bottles, the identifying
mold-mark extends up the entire
length of the two sides and even across
the lip of the neck.
Bottles prior to 1900 had a distinctive
marking. During the 1890s, and earlier,
soft drink and beer bottles were made to
receive corks. The crown type (crimped
cap) as we know it today, was introduced
after that time.
Camps active before World War I
show an abundance of purple glass fragments,
whereas younger camps have little
purple and an abundance of clear glass.
Purple glass found in older camps was
originally clear, but sun exposure caused
a photochemical change in the manganeseoxide
in the glass, causing the color to
change to purple. When glass was made
by hand, the process could be adapted to
the material; but with the apppearance
of machinery in the glass blowing process,
the glass had to be adapted to the
new invention and this required pure
material less reactive to color changes
from exposure. Length of time required
for glass to change color depends upon
the composition of the glass, especially
of the manganese content, and upon the
color of the background, but color
changes can occur within a month, although
color becomes more pronounced
as exposure is lengthened. Violet colored
backgrounds seem to accelerate the
change, presumably favoring ultra-violet
light-
It should be remembered that some old
glass bottles were clear and did not contain
manganese; therefore, remained clear.
Bottles at old time mining camps often
have surfaces, some beautifully iridescent.
This is the result of excessive alkalis, especially
sodium, in the mix. Most utility
glassware found in old camps is known
as soda-lime glass. Alkali content was not
well controlled in older times, but was
curtailed when glass commenced to be
produced by the machine. Glass at the
older camps is, therefore, likely to have
corroded or iridescent surfaces. •