File:Fort Santa Rita Loc 00001v.jpg

Other Title: Cantonment Dawson Fort Webster Creator(s): Historic American Buildings Survey, creator Related Names:

  Phelps Dodge Mining Company 
  de Elgua, Francisco Manual 
  Kennecott Copper Corporation , Owner

Date Created/Published: Documentation compiled after 1933 Medium: Measured Drawing(s): 2 Reproduction Number: --- Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html) Call Number: HABS NM-197 Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print Notes: Significance: In 1804, the Spanish King bequeathed to Don Francisco Manuel de Elgua a grant to the Santa Rita del Cobre, a copper mine of such riches that the metal was found in native copper sheets - planchas de cobre - on the surface. Located deep in Apache territory, the mine's shipments of copper were protected by presidial soldiers from Janos for the four hundred-mile, mule-back journey to Chihuahua City. Although some type of fortification existed from the start of operations, Mexican records suggest that the large, triangular adobe fort was built ca. 1834. After the Mexican-American War, U.S. boundary commissioner John Bartlett, who used the site as his field base camp for 8 months, described the building: "it is triangular in form, with circular towers on the corners. It is built of adobe, with walls from three to four feet in thickness, and a single opening on the eastern side." U.S. troops with Bartlett called the fort Cantonment Dawson. During 1852, the troops renamed the structure Fort Webster and used it to protect overland travelers bound for California. When miners reopened the copper works in 1858, the fort was again used for defense; the last recorded Apache attack on Santa Rita occurred in May 1869. Subsequently the fort fell into disuse. The corner of the fort nearest the creek was washed away by floods. The remainder of the building was used as a powder magazine, a storehouse, and a jail. With the introduction of large scale, open-pit mining in the 1910s the structure further deteriorated. By 1920, only the east tower stood. The Chino Mines Division of Kennecott Copper Corporation maintained the remaining tower and used it for storage. In 1952, it was removed prior to open-pit mining of the ground it once occupied. Survey number: HABS NM-197 Building/structure dates: ca. 1834 Initial Construction Building/structure dates: 1852 Subsequent Work Building/structure dates: 1952 Subsequent Work Subjects: copper mining war (Mexican-American War) war (Military-Indian Conflicts) Indians of North America watch towers forts & fortifications adobe buildings Place: New Mexico -- Grant County -- Santa Rita (historical) Latitude/Longitude: 32.80361, -108.06028 Collections: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey Part of: Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress) Bookmark This Record: