The Mogollon Cemetery: A Gila Treasure Preserved

Now listed in the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties, the Mogollon Cemetery is a relic of a bygone time

Leia Barnett, August 27, 2025

The thing about the Greater Gila Bioregion is it’s full of treasure. Not the kind to be plundered, let’s be clear (though plenty of international mining ventures are already on that bandwagon…), but the kind that emerges when a particular set of ingredients collide in one landscape: unparalleled biodiversity, a unique and largely untold cultural history, and a committed (and in this case wonderfully eclectic) set of local residents who believe in the value of the former. 

In early 2021, I had the great fortune to meet, and then advocate alongside, a number of the rugged individuals who call the western slope of the Gila home. Mogollon, New Mexico (population 15, yes you read that right, 1-5!) sits in the middle of the Gila National Forest, just a few miles north of the northern boundary of the Gila Wilderness, along the banks of Silver Creek, which is a tributary of the San Francisco and Gila Rivers. It is not an easy place to get to, requiring at least four hours in a car from the nearest airport, along one of the windiest roads in the state. But the treasures it offers are well worth the trip, and there is one treasure in particular that is now better protected, thanks to the efforts of one of these community members, with the help and support of many others. 

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Forest Service Announces Phased Clean Up of 40-Year-Old Hazardous Mining Site in Gila National Forest

The mill site sits on public land just a few miles north of the Gila Wilderness boundary

MOGOLLON, N.M. — After years of advocacy from local community members and WildEarth Guardians, the Forest Service has announced they will begin a phased clean up in the fall of this year of the Challenge Venture mill site, a 40-plus year old mining facility that was shut down by the EPA in 1985. The mill site sits on public land in the middle of the Gila National Forest, just a few miles north of the Gila Wilderness boundary. 

Mogollon, New Mexico was a mining boomtown that peaked in population and mining activity in the early 1900s. The Challenge Venture project was an ill-conceived attempt to reinvigorate the gold fever of bygone times, and the owner and operator was notorious for flouting rules and regulations and failing to properly remediate sites once they were abandoned. The site has potentially been leaching toxic substances such as cyanide into the local watershed, and it has long been an eye-sore, occupying a site with some of the best views of the Mogollon Mountains and surrounding landscape. 

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Mogollon Cemetery is a site of historical significance

On Friday on August 15, 2025, the NM Department of Cultural Affairs, Historic Preservation Division’s Cultural Properties Review Committee entered the Mogollon Cemetery in the NM State Register of Cultural Properties. This project has been in the works since January 2022.  Below is a summary of the significance of the cemetery and the State Register nomination. 

 Mogollon Cemetery is a site of historical significance as it served the listed silver and gold mining towns of Mogollon and of Fannie Hill Mill and Company Town during their productive period 1887-1942.  Mogollon Cemetery remains little changed since its founding in the late 1880s when the first gold was discovered in 1887 by Frank Vingo at the Fannie Hill Mine. 

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Advocates say new mining claim near Mogollon threatens ecosystem and sacred sites

A new mining claim threatens the ecosystem and sacred sites around the town of Mogollon, about 75 miles northwest of Silver City, according to Indigenous and environmental advocates.

In late August, Canadian-based mining company Summa Silver announced that it had staked a new claim at the Mogollon Project. 

“Although the Mogollon mining district remains underappreciated, we think it has good potential to develop into a classic American mining district,” CEO Galen McNamara said in the Aug. 30 announcement. “Within that context, acquiring mineral rights to more land via inexpensive claim staking was an easy decision, particularly given that the new claims are known to have a number of prospect trenches and remain completely unexplored by modern methods.”

https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2022/09/20/advocates-say-new-mining-claim-near-mogollon-threatens-ecosystem-and-sacred-sites/

Silver mining puts Mogollon back in the crosshairs

BY BOB MOORE / GLENWOOD RESIDENT
PUBLISHED: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30TH, 2022 AT 12:02AM
UPDATED: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30TH, 2022 AT 12:15AM

In the remote and tiny town of Mogollon, New Mexico, an impending disaster of broad proportions is underway.

Much like the lone prospector with “gold fever” of days gone by, Summa Silver Corporation, a foreign-owned exploration company, has begun drilling in the Mogollon area in hopes of finding high-grade ore that the miners of the past missed. And just like the old-time prospector motivated by the greed of striking it rich, Summa Silver has recently staked additional mining claims expanding deep into Forest Service land encompassing thousands of acres of private and public lands.

Many local residents are concerned what the future may hold. If Summa Silver gets its way, Mogollon will be transformed into an industrial mining site, or, as CEO Galen McNamara states: “a classic American mining district.” Gone will be the serenity, the wildlife, the days-gone-by feeling that visitors and locals alike cherish. Noise, dust and light pollution will rule the day. Oversized and overweight trucks utilizing Mogollon’s narrow mountain road will turn a once beautiful scenic drive into a nightmare commute for all.

Continue reading–>

https://www.abqjournal.com/2544304/silver-mining-puts-mogollon-back-in-the-crosshairs.html

Film, panel outline Mogollon fight against mine exploration

Written by Nickolas Seibel on December 6, 2022 

By JUNO OGLE
Daily Press Staff
Federal land management sometimes means saying no to mining projects, but it is often up to those most affected to create the pressure for that to happen, panelists said Saturday after a screening of a new film about such a fight near the Gila National Forest.
The Silco Theatre in downtown Silver City was the site for the world premiere of “Guardians of the Greater Gila: No Fools Gold,” a documentary produced by WildEarth Guardians, a Santa Fe nonprofit environmental group.
The film tells the story of the residents of former mining town Mogollon and their ongoing fight against Canadian mining company Summa Silver. In the spring of 2021, the 15 residents of the town noticed activity in the area by the company. They formed the Mogollon Concerned Citizens and are campaigning to stop the exploratory drilling over concerns that mining would threaten the watershed, the roads, the Mexican spotted owl population and their livelihoods.

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https://www.scdailypress.com/2022/12/06/film-panel-outline-mogollon-fight-mine-exploration/