Ordnance Testing

on. The Silver City R
educti on Works went by several n
ames before it was

finally scaped. It was originally build by the Hearst family to handle gold and silver ores hauled from their Pinos Altos mines. This were difficult years for the operation, and a final crunch came in 1902. The plans was handling just about every ore it could get - custom smelting included. And that meant copper was among those ores. Copper, in fact, was such a vital part

of the smelter's daily operations that depressed copper market conditions forced a closure of the smelter. That was in April. On June 30, 30, 1903, the plant caught fire and was leveled. Silver City's hopes were dashed since the whole operation was going t