Mine Hill

A family outing that took a tragic turn, would forever haunt Chance City and Mine Hill.  The tragedy that befell 10 year old Dan Hollenshead brought into clear focus the real and immediate danger that these abandoned mines posed.  The accident left local residents and his classmates, grasping to understand how and why this could have happened.  The mine workings had been abandoned for years, with little or no effort made by owners and operators to safeguard them prior to shutting down operations.  Located in close proximity to the Gage pumping station  (operated by  El Paso Natural Gas Co). Housing provided at the site was home to a number of families (including the Hollensheads).  With so many dangerous and unsecured mine openings nearby,  it  was an accident waiting to happen.  On April 27th 1968, around noon, the Hollenshead family and some friends set out from the Gage Compressor Station.  The purpose of the outing was to explore some of the mine openings  on the western slope of Mine Hill.   Of interest to the group was an adit with a large portal located near a draw at the bottom of the slope.  This adit was part of the Hearst, Haggins & Tevis holdings and was first worked around 1882.  I have not been able to identify this mine by name, nor have I found any records that identify the mine.  Then Luna County Sheriff, C.C. "Slick" Gray told a reporter for the Deming Headlight in 1968, that  "It was the old Quincy Mine" however that information was incorrect.  Most likely this adit was part of the Jessie Group or Burke Mines, possibly the Little Jessie Mine.

During the 1994 NM-AML safeguard project,  the adit was designated as  #131, which the contractor spray painted above the portal.  The Hollenshead party entered the adit and proceeded an estimated 450ft. into the hillside at which point a vertical shaft intersected their path.  This shaft starts at the surface about 200' above where it intersects the adit. It is located amongst a cluster of open stopes and shafts that are now secured with steel netting equipped with bat gates.  As Danny's brother Edward climbed around the opening, Danny approached, lost his balance and plunged an estimated 100 ft. into the shaft.  A call went out to emergency responders, The Luna County Sheriff's Office, The Deming Fire Dept. & The State Police arrived on site.  A radio call  went out to the Grant County Sheriff's office to contact  R.A. White, Deputy Inspector of Mines for the State of New Mexico in Silver City.  White's expertise was needed to determine  how much rope would be needed to reach the boy.  Lee Pelayo (at the time a Luna County Commissioner) was on the scene, as the lightest member of the rescue party he was lowered into the shaft and recovered the lifeless body. For Pelayo, a World War II POW and Bataan Death March Survivor, it was a heartbreaking experience.  The Hollenshead family put up a plaque at the mine opening, now secured with heavy angle iron.  A tribute to a young man who in an instant was taken from this world. Not an uncommon occurrence at Chance City, but hopefully the last.

Few reports concerning accidents in abandoned mines  have happy endings. New Mexico has experienced at least eight  abandoned mine related fatalities in the last 40 years and numerous related injuries.  Author Philip Varney (New Mexico's Best Ghost Towns) writes of a conversation he had with an EPNG employee at Gage, who told him that he was the replacement for another employee who was found at the bottom of a mine shaft at Chance City. However the NM-AML has no record of this accident nor have I found any mention of it in local newspaper archives.  The accident that took the life of young Dan Hollenshead, in 1968, led to the safeguard efforts at Chance City.  However, there was a lapse of  26 years between the time New Mexico Inspector of Mines, William Hays filed the report and when it resurfaced.  NM- AML Bureau staff made  securing the mine openings at Chance City a priority once they became aware of the tragic events.  In 1994 the project was launched to safeguard all the abandoned mine  adits, shafts and open stopes on Mine Hill.  The project started on June 14th 1994 and was completed by October 2nd. 1994.  In all, 164 mine openings were identified for safeguarding. The NM- AML Bureau worked with UNM bat biologist J. Scott Altenbach, to identify the mine openings and features used by bats and owls as habitat.  The Museum of New Mexico also conducted a survey of the site and recommended  that the remaining ruins of Chance City and other surface features such as head frames, timber load outs, hand laid rock retaining walls and even trash piles be preserved.

With many of the openings located high on the steep hillsides, getting the materials to construct grates and bat closures proved problematic.   Using explosives, polyurethane foam plugs and by back filling, the contractor secured over 130 mine openings.  On the western slope, a system of open stopes and shafts were enclosed with heavy steel netting that allows bats to exit and enter while keeping humans from falling in.  Where the openings  were not accessible to heavy equipment or vehicles, men carried the materials up the steep hillsides.  What leads someone into a mine opening? For some mine explorers the need to know or see what is inside, motivates them, yet most of the time there is nothing to see inside a mine shaft. However this intuitive curiosity can cause a normally cautious person to ignore safety concerns.  The key to safety around mine openings is to visually establish an immediate safety zone, If it doesn't look safe, it probably isn't.  Dan Hollenshead was a classmate, I attended Smith School with him. I remember him as a good natured, lanky kid, always up for a game of kick ball or tag. Whenever I venture out to the Victorios, I stop by adit 131 for a quick prayer and sometimes a verse of Danny Boy, always in the hearts and memories of those who knew him.

Ye'll come and find the place where I am lying

And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.

And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me

And oh, my grave shall warmer, sweeter be"

This is the report of the accident as printed by the Deming Headlight: 

Youngster killed  in mine mishap

A family outing Saturday ended in tragedy for Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Hollenshead of Gage when their son, Danny Waller Hollenshead, 10, fell more that 100 feet to his death in a mine shaft.  The family and some friends were exploring an old mine about 20 miles west and five miles south of Deming near the El Paso Natural Gas Co. site when the accident occurred.  According to Sheriff C.C. "Slick" Gray, it was the old Quincy Mine, which was originally mined by the Spanish and worked again in the early 1900's.  The group had gone about 450 feet into the mine by means of a lateral shaft to a point where a vertical shaft crossed their path. Investigating officers stated that Danny was watching his brother, Edward climbing up in the vertical shaft and lost his balance, plunging down into the pit. An emergency call to the Sheriff's Dept. brought members of the Fire Dept., Sheriff's Dept. and State Police to the scene as well as County Commissioner Lee Pelayo. As the lightest member of the party, Pelayo was lowered on a rope to recover the boy's body.
In addition to his parents and brother, Danny is survived by his sister, Karen and both sets of grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. C.D.Hollenshead of Hot Springs,Ark. and Mr. and Mrs. L.E. Lehman of El Paso. He was born Feb. 22, 1958 in El Paso and was a fourth grade student at Smith School.  He lived in Gage for the past two years and was a member of the Methodist Church.  Memorial services were held at Wheeler's Chapel at 10 a.m. Monday, the Rev. James Miller of El Paso officiating. Burial was scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday in Restlawn Cemetery in El Paso with the Rev. Miller also officiating at the graveside services.