Mining Operations at the Blue Ridge Turquoise Mine
Lander County, Nevada

Here are a few photos of turquoise mining, shared by Grace Wintle, an owner of the Blue Ridge Turquoise Mine in Lander County, Nevada. The Blue Ridge is the mine that produces Orvil Jack turquoise, and Grace is the daughter of Orvil Jack, who staked his first claim in this area in 1956. The photo shows a portion of the mine in the background, and some of the equipment used to find the turquoise. The air compressor hooked to the truck is needed to run air hammers that are used to extract the turquoise vein. I'm not too mining savvy, so Grace explained the type of mining claims her family holds. "The maximum size a mining lode claim can be is 600 feet x 1500 feet, which equals out to 20.66 acres each. We have nine claims, so about 186 total acres. The number of claims has nothing to do with the number of pits a miner might have--other than to give us more land to dig on!"

Using an air hammer to drill around the turquoise in the rock

Jay Wintle, using an air hammer

Hand picks are brought in after the vein is exposed. Ah.. see that gorgeous green?

Cleaned Orvil Jack turquoise

Grace Wintle, left, and Bessie Jack, right. Bessie has retired from mining, satisfied to see her family carry on the tradition. Hmm, notice that vivid green shirt Grace is wearing... kinda reminds me of that famous green turquoise!

Let's end with some thoughts from Grace about turquoise mining:

"Mining is a treasure hunt. If you are starting in an area never dug before, you are hoping, planning, following a hunch... you start mining. You may find a vein or pocket of nuggets right away. You might dig for a long time and never see any turquoise, but trust me, a true miner always knows that 'with the next pass of the dozer, I'll find it.' That is the adventure, the excitement... then at the end of a long, hot, dusty day, your equipment has broken down, you are out of fuel, you are tired and hungry and you haven't seen a sign of turquoise. But there's always the next time, always tomorrow... when you just know you will find that huge vein of turquoise."

Back to the feature article about Orvil Jack Turquoise