Description

View of an engine and derrick working at Onyx Mine Quarry, Big Bug Mining District, Mayer, Arizona Territory.

Discovered in 1889, the old onyx deposits in the Big Bug District were on the east bank of Agua Fria Creek near Mayer. They were described as beautiful and wonderful. Among others, the workings were once owned by Bucky O’Neill, Joseph Mayer, brothers George and Al McCann, and John Daugherty. The area abounded in exquisite rocks and stones, purportedly “In as many colors and shades as the rainbow,” The Prescott Courier, Oct 17, 1980, P 3.

The onyx was bound in an unusual quarry formation, which was not common knowledge at the time, as more regularly obtained onyx from Mexico had only been found in boulders. The Mayer-area quarry-mining activity was said to extend over 300 acres and was comprised of multiple claims. In 1922, the supply of stone was said to be “illimitable,” and more than 1 million pounds of onyx were shipped. According to Yavapai Magazine, January 1926, P. 8, “government engineers reported that there was 94,000,000 tons of it.”

Rough onyx was shipped to factories where it was “made into lamp stands, jewelry boxes, church altar rails, tabletops and other ornamental items. In 1927, seven automakers, including Ford, were using Mayer onyx for decorative detailing in their cars.” (Arizona Memory Project website.)  

Sharlot Hall once took the train from Prescott to Mayer in 1899 to view the onyx quarries. She talked about seeing a huge derrick in place that lifted giant blocks of rough onyx to be hauled away for distant processing. She was also impressed by a small onsite polishing factory that had been set-up under some local trees near the quarries, and said “We were shown onyx, black, white, green, dappled, satin onyx, crystal onyx, pebbled onyx, surely every combination that nature could devise and all beautiful.” The Journal Miner, July 10, 1899.

The fondness and uses for onyx reached its zenith in the early 1900’s. The quarry went through the usual tough times, changes in ownership, shut-downs, etc. Outside forces such as the World Wars and the Great Depression interrupted mining for onyx as well. The mining revived again for a time in the 1950’s. However, eventually the supply of commercial grade onyx played out; operations closed; and eager rock-hounds cleaned-out most of the remaining onyx scraps several decades ago.