| By 1870 the town came to life as miners
discovered lead, zinc, silver, copper, and even some gold. The post office came
to Kelly in 1883. Eventually the town featured two hotels, two churches, two
dance halls, seven saloons, and an estimated population of three thousand, but
today it is reduced to a mine. Like so many Western mining towns, Kelly was
plagued by indian attacks until about Magdalena was established. A railroad was
constructed from Socorro to Magdalena to carry the ore down smelters in
Socorro. In 1904, Sherwin-Williams Paint company purchased the Graphic Mine, as
the "green rocks" which were zinc carbonate became very valuable in the
manufacture of paint. From 1904 to 1928 over $21,000,000 of zinc was mined.
Today no one is left but ruins of the mine and a few buildings are still there
to see. |
