I was born in Santa Rita Hospital. My grandparents on both sides lived there until the end. The last building left was the US Post Office. Both my grandfathers were mining engineers. My father graduated high school at New Mexico Military Institute, while my mother graduated from Cobre High School in Hurley. My father worked night shifts in the mine as a shovel oiler while attending New Mexico Western University in Silver City during the day. He later worked on the Saturn V rocket that took men to the moon. I worked on Lunar Rover quality control for Apollo 16 & 17 as a summer intern during college. The astronaut and US Senator Harrison Schmitt was also born in Santa Rita. He walked on the Moon. From Santa Rita to the stars! I enjoyed this short travelogue immensely. Santa Rita, like the best of New Mexico, was and is a state of mind. And I can assure you they were also devout people of faith. Santa Rita was never destroyed, it returned to the earth from which it grew.
What's interesting is that there is little discussion of the impact the Santa Rita mine has had on nearby communities. Besides destroying Santa Rita, the operation of the mine has nearly decimated the communities of Hanover, Fierro, and Hurley in terms of the availability of potable water. The mine has sucked up all the water rights, leaving land owners without access to clean water. The shrine, therefore, pays homage not to faith but to a memory of when good people chose to build community as opposed to stripping it barren.
What's to discuss? The mine was there for centuries before the town. Mines grow, towns move. You know that copper wire behind the electrical outlets in your house? You're welcome!
Out side of hurley apache Tahoe spring where mangas Colorado and other apache were treated to food, bullets and nails than scalped. Mangas coloradas survived was geroias father in law
