James P. Lindsey (1843 – 1910)

Prospector

2024 Inductee from Mining’s Past

James P. Lindsey is remembered as a classic example of the pioneer Arizona prospector. The rich copper deposits that he first discovered above Safford, Arizona at the Lone Star mining district of Graham County, continue to produce to this day and are being mined by Freeport-McMoRan.

The minerals in the district were first discovered in 1878 by Lindsey, who christened his lode claim the “Lone Star of Texas” after his native state.  Lindsey, who would later be known as the “pioneer of the Lone Star district,” was born in Texas in March 1843.  He served in the Confederate Army as a sharpshooter during the Civil War.

In the late 1870s, Lindsey made his way to Arizona.  In an unambiguous reference to his home state, Lindsey claimed a rich ledge of copper ore as the Lone Star of Texas lode, and within a few years the surrounding area would be organized as the Lone Star mining district, known today as the Safford district.

It would take Lindsey and his partner, Gila Valley pioneer Peter Anderson, some twenty years of patient prospecting and development to finally realize a profit on their Lone Star property.  In 1899, they sold the Lone Star to a New York firm for what in today’s equivalent would be well over $400,000.

Within a year he had invested his money in a farm about 10 miles northwest of Thatcher near the Gila Valley farming community of Fairview. Around 1900 he located a group of “promising claims” in the Clark mining district on the western side of the Graham (Pinaleño) Mountains. Lindsey was one of the best known miners and ranchers in Graham County having resided there for over 30 years.

Lindsey was murdered by an employee on those claims in 1910, living the free life of a prospector he began in Arizona in the late 1870s. The killings took place in Lindsey’s cabin on his mining claims.

Mary Catherine (Mollie) Gortner (1851 – 1917)

Prospector

2024 Inductee from Mining’s Past

Mary Cathleen Gortner was the first woman to stake a gold claim in her own name in 1891 in the Cripple Creek Mining District of Colorado. This was clearly a bold move and out of step with the times as it was very uncommon to have a woman claim something of such value.

In the spring of 1891, Gortner’s son Perry left their home in Colorado Springs as a surveyor to map mining claims in Cripple Creek. All he talked about was the gold there. Wanting to see for herself what the fuss was all about, Gortner loaded the family wagon with supplies and joined other wagons headed to Cripple Creek. She set up housekeeping in the log and canvas tent Perry had recently completed. You had to be tough and courageous to be a woman in a mining town.

In September of 1891, Perry, while surveying upper Poverty Gulch, saw a huge herd of elk. Later he told his mother about the herd so she headed out to see for herself. As she made her way up Poverty Gulch, three hundred yards past Cripple Creek's first gold strike, Bob Womack's Gold King Mine, she decided to rest. Gortner never made it up high enough to see the elk. When looking downward, she noticed an interesting rock formation winking at her - pure gold laced in quartz. With her heart racing, Gortner hid the gold samples amongst her clothing. She had to be calm, as there were a number of prospectors in the area. Earlier that day Mollie had visited with Bob Womack who had overlooked her find for more than a dozen years prospecting an area he had nicknamed Poverty Gulch.

Although Gortner staked the claim and owned the mine, it was her son Perry who kept an office out at the Mollie Kathleen Mine. As soon as she set foot on the mine site, the miners would scramble up out of the tunnels. It turns out they were superstitious and refused to be caught in a one-thousand foot vertical shaft with a woman on the grounds.

The National Geological Survey visited her mine while in production and its authors entered their report of the mine being "Discovered by Mr. M.C. Gortner".  Mr. Gortner's name was Henry - - - Mollie's name was Mary Catherine Gortner.

She died in 1917. Henry would later die of a broken heart one short year later. Perry Gortner was left 1/3 interest in his mother's gold discovery and was the managing operator of the Mollie Kathleen until 1949. Mining continued until 1961. Rather than closing down the mine completely, a decision was made to continue mine tours which are still being offered to this day. 

John M. Callow (1867 – 1940)

Metallurgist & Inventor

2024 Inductee from Mining’s Past

John Michael Callow was born on July 7, 1867 in Northrepps, Norwich, Norfolk, England. He was a mining engineer and metallurgist. He was awarded the Douglas medal by the American Institute Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, 1926, for achievements in non-ferrous metallurgy. Callow came to the United States in 1890. He is the originator of pneumatic flotation in treatment of ores. The Callow flotation machine was one of the leading flotation machines for the first few decades of flotation. Callow's discoveries stimulated the development of mining in areas previously considered economically marginal. Callow was awarded 18 patents during his career.

He began his career as an engineer and draftsman with Stearns, Roger Manufacturing Company in 1892. He moved to  the Metallic Extraction Company, in 1894 as an engineer and operated mines and mills in San Juan County, Colorado from 1895-1896. He was on the engineering staff at Samuel Newhouse from 1898-1901 and entered into private practice from 1901-1906, inventing the Callow settling tank and Callow traveling belt screen. He then started the General Engineering Company of Salt Lake, New York and London in 1906.  As President and manager, he built up a network providing a wide variety of metallurgical expertise throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and England. He retired in 1933.

He designed and built a 500-ton per day plant for National Copper Company, Mullan, Idaho, installing pneumatic flotation cells in 1912. He was the designing and construction engineer for Mount Isa Mines in Australia from 1928-1931 during its initial construction.

Callow died at his home in Redhill, Surrey, England in 1940.

Richard Graeme (1941 – 2021)

Mineralogist

2024 Inductee from Mining’s Past

A native of Bisbee, Arizona, Graeme was an active collector and student of Bisbee minerals from the age of 6. He spent 55 years in the copper industry, much outside of the United States, in senior management positions. He retired as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Lumina Copper SAC.

By his early teens, he had amassed a collection of minerals and was well-known to mineral dealers and other collectors as a source of specimens. In 1959 while looking for minerals in the Cole Mine, he collected a specimen that would later be recognized as a species new to science and in 1975 was named “Graemite” in his honor.

Graeme worked as an underground miner at Bisbee for a dozen years before completing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geological Engineering in 1972 at The University of Arizona. The day after receiving his diploma, he was promoted to Resident Geologist of the Copper Queen Branch. With the closure of the Bisbee mines, Graeme worked in a number of Western States.

He was the General Manager of gold mines in California, New Mexico and Nome, Alaska as well as a coal mine in Utah and a copper mine in New Mexico, where he was instrumental in district reclamation. He then became Vice President of Operations for Sharon Steel Natural Resources based in Denver and later Vice President of Operations for Golden Queen Mining Company in Mojave, California.  Graeme then moved abroad to work on developing mines in Ghana, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, and other countries.

He also served as Vice-President and General Manager of Gold Fields La Cima in Peru, and as Vice President and Country Manager of Gold Fields Venezuela. Prior to that, he was Vice President and Head of Operations for Gold Fields Ghana, Ltd., located in West Africa.

No matter where he was in the world, he continued to study Bisbee’s mineralogy, geology, and history while writing about all of these aspects and encouraging others to pursue Bisbee scientific research. The Graeme Family Reference Collection is the most complete collection of Bisbee minerals ever compiled and is readily available to any student interested in Bisbee minerals. In addition to the mineral suites, he and his family have compiled what is probably the most detailed history of the Warren Mining District.