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Quicksilver mine goes bust
On this day in 1942, the Chisos Mining Company filed for bankruptcy. The
company, a major quicksilver producer at Terlingua in southern Brewster
County, was established in 1903. Founded by Howard E. Perry, a Chicago
industrialist, the Chisos reported its first recovery in 1903, and
during the next three decades became one of the nation's leading
producers of quicksilver. Several factors contributed to the success of
the operation. First, the property contained some of the richest ore in
the quicksilver district; second, Perry engaged men of outstanding
caliber to supervise the onsite operations (metallurgist William Battle
Phillips and geologist Johan August Udden); third, quicksilver prices
peaked during World War I, the period of the mine's maximum recovery;
and fourth, an abundance of cheap Mexican labor was available.
Production declined during the late 1930s, and the company filed for
bankruptcy in 1942. The Esperado Mining Company purchased the Chisos
assets and operated the mine unsuccessfully until the end of World War
II.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- CHISOS MINING COMPANY
- PERRY, HOWARD EVERETT
- PHILLIPS, WILLIAM BATTLE
- UDDEN, JOHAN AUGUST
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- The Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville houses its first prisoner (1849)
- General Land Office opens (1837)
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