A Time-Travel Hike Up Mineral Creek to Cooney Camp & Mine
author: O'Connor, Michael
source date: 2014
availability: web

Hiking account and history of Mineral Creek and Cooney Camp. Detailed narrative of Victorio's War: his flight from San Carlos Reservation on September 2, 1877 with 300 Chihenne and Bedonkohe Chiricahua; his failed negotiations with the US government for a reservation at Ojo Caliente; his desperation leading to the decision to liberate his family in April 1880. Covers Victorio's attack on the Cooney Mine on April 28, 1880 — three men killed outright, miners fleeing into mountains, James Cooney and Jack Chick warning settlers in the Frisco Valley; the horses returning to the Roberts Ranch covered in blood. Includes Agnes Meader Snyder's first-hand WPA interview from 1937 (sole surviving witness of the Alma Massacre). Covers the peak of Cooney Camp at 300-400 souls with three ore processing mills including the 100-ton/day Mogollon Gold and Copper Company mill; the transition to Mogollon as veins extended into Silver Creek; the dismantling of Cooney Camp buildings and equipment in the 1910s; Mogollon reaching 6,000-8,000 at its heyday.