From a 1964 geological survey,
L. Utter (written communication) states that the Carlisle was a producing mine prior to 1880. In 1883, the Carlisle was sold to a group which included Marshall Field, N. K. Fairbanks, and other prominent merchants and capitalists from Chicago. Between 1883 and 1887, the Carlisle group of claims was patented, a 20-stamp mill built, and the Carlisle mine operated to the 300- or 400-foot level. During this period the company was organized as the Carlisle Mining Company.
In January 1887, the Carlisle Mining Company was sold, reputedly for $1,000,000, to English interests, the Golden Leaf Mining Company, Limited, and Henry Cameron Richardson. The Rothschild interests in England were involved in the purchase. The affairs of the Carlisle Gold Mining Company were conducted by a series of trustees until 1896 when the Steeple Rock Development Company was organized. At about this time, other companies were interested in the district, including the Laura Consolidated Company, also controlled by English interests.
The Steeple Rock Development Company and its predecessor company spent large sums of money developing the Carlisle and other properties in the district. The Carlisle was developed to 600 feet; the mill was enlarged to a 60-stamp mill;... and a smelter was built at the Carlisle mine. The smelter was supposedly unsuited for the complex Carlisle ores. Although about $4,000,000 worth of ore, principally gold and silver but including small tonnages of copper, lead, and zinc, were shipped from the Carlisle during this period, the great expenses incurred resulted in 1897 in the mine being closed. The smelter was dismantled and moved away, supposedly to be replaced by one more adapted to the Carlisle ores. This was never done, and the mine remained shut down. In 1914, the estate was sold to George H. Utter.
Between 1914 and 1917, Utter operated the Jim Crow mine, sinking the shaft to 300 feet. Some mining was done at the Carlisle and other properties by Utter and by other individuals, but only small lots of ore were mined and shipped. In 1920, operations virtually ceased, and between 1920 and 1932 essentially no ore was mined. In 1927, the United Metals Corporation dewatered, examined, and sampled the Carlisle mine. It sank the winze from the 600- to the 700-foot level, drifted on this level, and drilled some diamond-drill holes below it, but mined no ore. In 1930, the mine was again allowed to fill with water.
Between 1943 and 1946, the Syndicate operated the Carlisle mine under lease from the Carlisle Development Company which owned the property. The complex gold-silver-copper-lead-zinc ore was first treated at the mill of the Southwest Minerals Company in Duncan, but in 1944, the mill at East Camp was converted to flotation to handle the ore. Mining by the Syndicate ceased in 1946.
Between 1936 and 1941, the Veta Mines Inc. and other lessees operated the Carlisle mine, and in 1941 and 1942, it was operated by Southwest Minerals Company. The ore and also old mill tailings were treated at the mill in Duncan.
In 1960, the Carlisle group of four patented and fifteen unpatented claims belonged to the Carlisle Development Company, Mrs. Roy B. Wilson, Phoenix.[1]
