144 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES 
About halfway between Wilna and Ladim sidings the railroad 
crosses the Continental Divide at an elevation of 4,587 feet. <A 
sign marks the place, which is on the broad bolson or valley fill of un- 
known thickness, far from the rock ledges in the hills to north and 
south. About a mile north of Ladim siding there is a low butte con- 
sisting of limestone with much chert which is probably of Ordovician 
age (Montoya) or possibly of Lower Cretaceous age. (Turn to sheet 
20.) To the west is a gentle down grade into Lordsburg, but with 
the course changing to northwest to pass the north end of Pyramid 
Mountain. At Separ siding are wells over 600 feet deep from which 
about 40,000 gallons of water a day is pumped for use by the loco- 
motives. It is contained in gravel and sand in the thick deposit of 
alluvial fill which underlies this valley. About 12 miles north of 
4200" 
sh Ce 
SECT! 
verte ate ein = g Horizontal scale 
°° 1500 Fee t 1,500 3,000 Feet 
Ficure 34.—Sections across Victorio Mountains, south of Gage, Luna County, N. Mex. 
@, Atidesite; Tag, agglomerate, shale, and sandstone; Cg, Gym limestone (Permian); Sf, 
Sikicwans limestone; Om, Montoya limestone; p, porphyry dike 
Separ are the foothills of the Burro Mountains, consisting of granite 
_ overlain to the east by volcanic rocks forming high conical buttes. 
Considerable turquoise has been obtained from these mountains, 
mainly by the Indians. This beautiful gem mineral was mined by 
American aborigines at an early time, for beads and pendants of it 
are found in ruins at Chaco Canyon, N. Mex., the earliest of which 
( to the annual growth rings in some “of the timbers) prob- 
ably ifita back to the time of Christ, and turquoise is mentioned in 
many of the old myths of the pueblo people of the Southwest. In 
1539 Marcos de Niza met Sonoran Indians who worked in turquoise 
mines in New Mexico, probably those at Los Cerrillos, which for 
centuries were the most productive source of the minerel in this 
country. The very old mines in the Burro Mountains were relocated 
__-years ago and worked for some time. 
Far to the south is Big Hatchet Mountain, and to the southwest 
the Pyramid Mountains are BIORUDE a. cs yucca (see pl, 20, 4); 
