The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Summer 1996, Volume 42, Number 3
Richard W. Crawford, Editor

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Hedges

Cover: The gold mining town of Hedges in the Colorado Desert, northwest of Yuma, Arizona, ca 1900.

 

p174

Page 174. In the late 1890s the mining camp of Hedges filled a small narrow canyon in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains. The schoolhouse is located at center. The 40-stamp mill is at upper left. The superintendent’s elegant large house is at the right rear on the hillside above the company compound.vicinity.

 

 

p176

Page 176. Hedges townsite neighborhoods, districts, and major mine locations.

 

p177

Page 177. A large mule team hauls loaded supply wagons past the company store.

 

 

p178a

Page 178. Company management pose for a “Wild West” picture with the stagecoach, ca. 1900.

 

 

p178a

Page 178. Company management pose for a “Wild West” picture with the stagecoach, ca. 1900.

 

 

p178b

Page 178. View of the East Neighborhood ca. 1900 depicting vernacular Mexican architectural styles. Note the exterior ocatillo ramada kitchens. An adobe house is located at the right edge and a wattle and daub house at center left. The 40-stamp mill building and cyanide plant can be seen at upper center and left

 

 

p180a

Page 180. The 100-stamp mill located on a high bluff beyond the eastern edge of town

 

 

p180b

Page 180. The majority of the workforce at Hedges consisted of Mexican laborers. A group of miners pose before the company store.

 

 

p182a

Page 182. Figure 1
Relative percentages of Ethnic Groups at Hedges from 1900 Federal Census

 

 

p182b

Page 182. Figure 2
Hispanic Marital Patterns from 1900 Federal Census

 

p182c

Page 182. Figure 3
Anglo-American Marital Patterns from 1900 Federal Census

 

p183

Page 183. Figure 4
Skilled and Unskilled Labor Categories by Ethnic Groups

 

p184a

Page 184. A hoist operator at Hedges, ca. 1905. Courtesy California Historical Society, TICOR, Special Collections, University of Southern California Library.

 

p184b

Page 184. These workers in the extraction room of the Free Gold cyanide plant were probably among the better paid skilled laborers at Hedges. The man at left holds zinc shavings used to recover gold from the cyanide solution.

 

p186

Page 186. A miner’s monthly account statement indicating wages and expenses.

 

 

p187

Page 187. “Muckers” loading ore carts in the open pit of the Golden Cross mine.

 

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p189

Page 189. Hedges’ Alianza Hispano Americana Lodge No. 8, meeting inside the schoolhouse, ca. 1902. Courtesy Arizona Historical Society, Yuma.

 

p190

Page 190. Square set timbering exposed in the Golden Queen mine after a major cave-in., ca. 1896. Courtesy California Historical Society, TICOR, Special Collections, University of Southern California Library

 

p191

Page 191. The tall banks of sandy tailings were unstable and made filling the cyanide plant rail carts as hazardous as underground work. Courtesy California Historical Society, TICOR, Special Collections, University of Southern California Library.

 

p194

Page 194. The verdict of the coroner’s inquest in the shooting of Juan Gonzales.

 

p195

Page 195. This grim reminder of Hedges’ violence is preserved in the Curatorial Collections of the San Diego Historical Society.