Editing Silver City, New Mexico (section)

===Mining and rail development===
The communities of Silver City and [[Pinos Altos, New Mexico|Pinos Altos]] developed as 19th century miners recovered easily extracted copper, gold and silver from ore deposits of the area. Standard-gauge [[Santa Fe Railroad]] reached Silver City in 1886, and [[Silver City, Pinos Altos and Mogollon Railroad]] was incorporated in 1889 to build a railway north to [[Mogollon, New Mexico|Mogollon]]. Construction was limited to {{convert|5|mi|km}} of grading<ref name=cab>{{cite journal |last1=Tufford |first1=Garrie L. |year=1999 |title=A Caboose for the Silver City, Pinos Altos & Mogollon |journal=[[Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette]] |issue=January/February |pages=30&31 |publisher=Benchmark Publications}}</ref> until Wisconsin-based Comanche Mining and Smelting purchased the railroad in 1903<ref>Myrick (1970) p. 150</ref> after horse-drawn ore transport became uneconomical. The Silver City smelter burned shortly after purchase, but was rebuilt with three blast furnaces and a reverberatory furnace to handle 225 tons of ore per day.<ref name=kth>{{cite journal |last1=Pashina |first1=Keith |year=1992 |title=The Silver City, Pinos Altos & Mogollon Railroad |journal=[[Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette]] |issue=May/June |pages=39–45 |publisher=Benchmark Publications}}</ref> Regular SC, PA&M steam service was briefly running from 1907 to 1913.