Benson Smelter

Location

Unknown

There was a smelter operating in the area from 1881 to 1909, and wagons brought in loads of copper and silver ore to be shipped out via rail. ⁷

As of 1882 in Arizona and New Mexico there were a number of deposits of lead ores being developed. These ores were rich in lead but generally poor in silver. Steps were being taken in different places to smelt these ores, using lead as the carrier of silver. The two principal lead smelters in Arizona during 1883 - 1885 were the Benson smelter and the smelter owned by the Tombstone Mill and Mining Company, located at Millville near Charleston.

The Benson Mining and Smelting Company operated a smelter at Benson, Arizona. The smelter was initially blown in on September 28, 1882, and after a little more than two years of operations, it was shut down and shipped to Mexico.⁸

---

References

1. Mineral Appraisal of Coronado National Forest, Part 12, Santa Rita Mountains Unit, MLA11-94 (1994). SR 591-609
   http://repository.azgs.az.gov/sites/default/files/dlio/files/nid1813/usbm_mla_011-94.pdf
2. Mining in the Santa Rita and Patagonia Mountains of Arizona, U.S. Department of Interior, 1915. Republished 2014 by Kerby Jackson.
3. Mike Bertram,
4. USGS Mineral Resources Data System - using WGS84 (https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/map-commodity.html#home)
5. Index of Mining Properties in Santa Cruz County by Staton B. Keith, bulletin 191, Arizona Geological Survey, 1975
6. Index of Mining Properties in Pima County by Staton B. Keith, bulletin 189, Arizona Geological Survey, 1974
7. https://www.rvwest.com/article/benson/All_aboard_and_headed_for_Benson
8. History of Smelting in Arizona, by Forrest R. Rickard, 1987; in History of Mining in Arizona, J. Michael Canty and Michael N. Greeley, eds. Published by the Mining Club of the Southwest Foundation, Tucson, Arizona, 1987.