Chloride NM

Chloride got its start in 1879 when the first cabin was built. A year or two before, Mr. Harry Pye was passing through the area with a mule train heading for the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. He spent the night in the canyon, camping in thick brush to help conceal his location from Victorio, an Apache Chief. While in the canyon, he picked up some ‘float,' rocks that had washed down the creek when it was in flood stage, thinking that the rocks looked promising.

Pye, an Englishman, had mustered out of the Army in Arizona Territory a few years before. He had drifted into New Mexico Territory, where he had worked as a prospector, a freighter, a scout, and an Indian fighter.

He eventually had his float samples assayed, and found that they were high in Chloride of Silver. Pye then had to make a decision: he could terminate the freighting contract he had with the Army and prospect for the source of the high grade ore he had picked up, or he could continue his contract and go prospecting when the contract period was over. He elected to continue with the contract, maybe because the pay was assured while prospecting was not. He kept his find a secret until the contract had expired, then he began to try to find prospectors to come with him.
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