Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
Organ, in Dona Ana County, is about 11 miles northeast of Las Cruces, New Mexico, on US Highways 70 and 82. Organ was first a mining camp in the foothills of the Organ Mountains. Mines produced millions of dollars worth of lead, copper and silver but after the turn of the century the mines filled with water and became unworkable. At its peak, Organ was home to 1,800 people. One of the first mines in New Mexico was the Stevensen Mine discovered in 1849 among the spired peaks of the Organ Mountains, east of the Rio Grande. Hugh Stevensen worked the area for 10 years producing $90,000 in value. A lead vein at the head of Soledad (Fillmore) Canyon was worked in the 1850's. But Indian problems hampered mining and by the Civil War little mining activity had taken place.
