Quicksilver: Terlingua and the Chisos Mining Company

by Kenneth Baxter Ragsdale, Joe B. Frantz (Foreword)

"This is the fascinating story of Howard E. Perry and his Terlingua fiefdom on the edge of Big Bend National Park. Ragsdale's Quicksilver: Terlingua and the Chisos Mining Company is perhaps the best book written on the Big Bend country."—William H. Goetzmann

Before Terlingua achieved some notoriety as the site of the annual World Championship Chili Cookoff, the ghost town was the bustling center of the mercury mining industry in the United States. This study, available again in a redesigned paperback edition, examines the company town and its feudal lord, Chicago industrialist Howard E. Perry, who built a hilltop mansion overlooking the dry domain.

Based on many primary sources, Quicksilver is solidly researched and historically sound. Color and authenticity come from the author's interviews with such individuals as Robert Cartledge, who for nearly three decades worked as store clerk, purchasing agent, and finally general manager of the Chisos Mining Company in Terlingua.

Genres: History

366 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terlingua was a very remote town in south-western Texas in the Big Bend region—a town that only came to exist because deposits of mercury were found in the area. This book tells of the history of this remote mining town and the Chicago-bred "quicksilver" baron, Howard Perry, who founded it and ran it for years almost as a feudal lord more than a businessman. Well-researched and with an emphasis on ethnic conflict between white Americans and Mexican workers in the area that is welcome but surprising considering the book was written in the late 1970s before ethnocultural/labor studies historiography was much in style with mainstream historians in the South, this book is a very crucial volume to anyone interested in western Texas, the Big Bend, mining history, or company towns. The writing is strong, inviting, and while not of the nearly-novel-like trend some contemporary historians take on, it's a book you'll find hard to put down if you're into the topic. Dr. Ragsdale has apparently written several other books on Texan history which I now am keen to read.

[Stephen Mauro · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good local history. Gets bogged down in discussing mining accounts and ongoing litigation, but some really great anecdotal accounts of the region are preserved here. Mine owner Howard Perry ran his town like a fiefdom, and the author does a good job exploring the strengths and weaknesses of this complex man. The Mexican mine workers had a rough go of it, but then again, it's a rough part of the world...