PILOT MOUNTAIN
Pilot Mountain turquoise is made up of a group of mines at the southern end of the Pilot Mountains in Mineral County, Nevada a short distance outside of Tonopah. The two most well known mines being the Moqui-Aztec or S. Simmons and the Montezuma or Troy Springs mine. The Montezuma is still being worked two or three times a year and produces a hard thin veined turquoise with colors ranging from a bright blue to dark blue, along with a dark blue with a greenish cast. Light to dark brown limonite mottled patterns are associated with this material. William Miller of Tonopah discovered the Montezuma in 1905.

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PINTO VALLEY MINE see CASTLE DOME page

RED MOUNTAIN
The Red Mountain turquoise mine produces a very fine turquoise. Known for both the high quantity of small high-grade nuggets that it produced and the beautiful dark blue spider web of its best grades. Red Mountains top material is a hard compact spider web and is equal to any of the classic turquoise mines such as Number Eight, Lone Mountain or Nevada Blue. Besides a dark blue color with a dark matrix the mine produces colors in the blue green range with a stunning gold or rust-colored spider web.

Located in Northern Nevada the mine was owned for many years by Austin Turner. Turner did little mining. Much of the turquoise had been mined before Turner had taken over the claim. From 1982 to 1985 Erman Blossom and his partner leased the mine and removed a fair amount of turquoise. Turner sold the mine in 2003 and today the present owner works the mine a few times a year where turquoise is still being found in the mine’s old dump.

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ROYSTON
The Royston district is one of the better known turquoise producing areas in Nevada. Royston turquoise comes from a group of mines about 24 miles northwest of Tonopah. Although the district is made up of a number of small mines the three more important mines are the Royal Blue, the Bunker Hill, and the Oscar Wehrend. Royston turquoise can be unbelievably beautiful. High-grade Royston is a very hard material. Colors range from a light blue, intense blue or a dark sky blue. Also included are a number of shades of green and many times with green and blue together in one stone. The matrix includes different shades of brown. The best Royston is equal to that found in any American mine.

The Royal Blue mine constituted the main workings in the area. The blue colors from this mine were beautiful and equal to any and the matrix was especially fine. In 1968 high-grade cut stones retailed at $1.00 a carat, which in today market would be the equivalent to over $20.00 a carat. The mine was discovered in 1902 by two miners named Workman and Davis, they later sold the mine for $3000. Over the years as with other mines the Royal Blue changed hands numerous times. The Bunker Hill mine was discovered in 1927 by Roy Palfreyman and Bert Kopenhaver. The Oscar Wehrend mine was discovered in 1909, production from this mine was low and not of the quality of the other two. Today the Royston district is still producing turquoise of high quality, but in limited amounts.