USA > Arizona > The resources of Arizona; a description of its mineral, farming, grazing and timber lands; its rivers, mountains, valleys and plains; its cities, towns and mining camps; its climate and productions; with brief sketches of its early history etc > Part 12
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Walnut Grove district embraces the southeastern end of the Antelope range, and the foot-hills adjacent. A ten-stamp mill has lately been put up by a Kansas company, to work the ores from the Josephine mine, and a ditch constructed to bring the waters of the Hassayampa to the rich deposits of Placerito creek. The ledges of the district are gold-bearing, and have produced some high grade ore.
Black Cañon district is twenty-five miles east of Prescott, and extends from the foot of the Bradshaw range to the Agua Fria. The veins are principally gold-bearing. The Iconoclast and the Black Mesa are the prominent claims. They have both been explored by shafts and tunnels, and their ores have yielded handsomely in arastras, for several years.
TONTO BASIN .- This district has a delightful situation in the southeastern part of the county, and between the Mogollon and the Mazatzal ranges. There is an abundance of wood and water. The ledges are well-defined, the formation being principally granite and porphyry. On the Gowan mine, a ten-stamp mill has been put up, and is running steadily. The ore is a gold quartz, and is said to yield handsomely. A great deal of de- velopment work has been done on the property. The Excursion is a large vein, assaying well in gold and silver. It is opened by several shafts and drifts. The Zulu, Last Chance, Osceola, Dougherty, and many other valuable prospects, are in Tonto Basin. This mineral-bearing region embraces a large area, but its isolated position has hitherto been the chief obstacle to its advancement. With rail connection it promises to become one of the leading camps of the Territory.
GROOM CREEK .- This pleasant camp is six miles south of Prescott, in one of the very best timbered and watered sections
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of Arizona. The climate in summer is unequaled. The ledges carry gold and silver, and are found in a granite formation. Al- though not large they are rich in gold and silver. The Lone Star has a two-foot vein of galena, which assays $100 per ton. It is explorcd by a tunnel, 160 fcct in length. The Dauphin shows a four-foot vein of milling ore, carrying gold and silver. The Nevada has a vein twenty inches wide, worth $100 per ton. Select shipments of ore from the Minnehaha have yielded $300 per ton, in San Francisco. The Golden Chariot, Mountain, Maribile, What Cheer, Surprise, Hcathen Chince, and dozens of other fine prospects, are to be seen in this district.
BIG BUG, one of the oldest camps in the county, is east of Lynx creek. A great deal of gold was taken out here in the early days from the free quartz found near the surface, but as depth was reached, sulphurets were encountered and operations ceased. The district contains some very high-grade sulphuretted ores, which only require the proper treatment to make them valuable. The Dividend, Galena, Big Bug and Eugenia have been worked extensively, and have produced considerable bullion. They are all patented. The Belcher, Lottie, Champion, Mesa and Oury are all encouraging prospects, but have little work done upon them.
Crossing the Sierra Prieta range, which walls in Prescott on the west, the traveler reaches what is known as Copper Basin. This basin is at the foot of the range, and is formed by the mountain spurs that lie between it and Skull and Kirkland val- leys. It is composed of low rolling hills, crossed by shallow ravines, and covered by a growth of scrub oak, juniper and pine. Near the center of the basin two prominent knolls rise above the surrounding hillocks, each of which is literally seamed by small, but rich veins of copper ore. These knolls, and the coun- try in every direction, for nearly half a mile from them, is thoroughly impregnated with the mineral, and as depth is reached, the ore bodies grow stronger and richer. The geological fea- tures of the basin show evidences of great surface disturbances. Granite, of a very coarse variety, porphyry, syenite, quartzite, lime and felsite are found jumbled together in a confused mass.
By the foot of the knolls mentioned, and along the little val- leys formed by the washes on cach side of them, huge masses of coarse conglomerate are found lying in a horizontal position, and thoroughly impregnated with copper. This conglomerate extends over the basin for nearly a mile square. Wherever found, it is rich in copper, and when a few feet are sunk on any part of the level territory around the knolls, it is encountered. It shows the action of fire and water, and evidently received the metal by precipitation.
The extent of the copper territory in this singular locality is about two miles north and south, and one mile east and west ; but the heaviest bodies of mineral are embraced in areas of about
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2,000 by 1,800 feet, and of which the knolls are the center. The ore is a green carbonate, an auzerite, and a black and red ox- ide. The oxides are found in the small veins already men- tioned, while the auzerite seems to be the most generally dis- tributed, and has stained the country in every direction. Careful estimates put the quantity of ore in sight, on the surface, at 20,- 000 tons, which will average over twelve per cent. In fact the basin may be considered a vast mineral farm, there being over 600 acres that show ore wherever sunk upon. As yet little de- velopment has been made upon this great deposit. Several shallow holes have been dug, and two tunnels started to tap the ore bodies supposed to be contained in the knolls. The beds of conglomerate are in places five feet thick, and have been traced to the wall of the Sierra Prieta, from which the flow has evi- dently come. There is an immense deposit of ore here, and with the facilities at hand for its reduction, it ought to be mincd and worked successfully. A smelter will soon be erected, and an effort made to garner the ripened harvest in this vast mineral farm. It is the most remarkable copper deposit in Arizona, and its development will be watched with interest.
Before closing this sketch of the mines of Yavapai, mention should be made of the group of silver mines on the western slope of the Black Hills. The Black Hills and the Homestake are the leading claims. They have been opened by several shafts, and show large veins carrying free milling ore of a good grade. On Cataract creek, near the Ave Supie village, a hori- zontal deposit of galena ores have been made in the rocky wall of the canyon. Considerable work has been done, and assays. of the ore give a yield of from $30 to $80 per ton.
+ Graham county has rapidly developed within the past two years as the great copper camp of Arizona, and to-day it has more capital invested in this branch of mining than any county in the Territory. Besides its vast copper deposits, it also con- tains gold in ledges and in alluvial deposits, likewise silver and coal. There is a large portion of the county within the San Carlos reservation that has not yet been prospected, but which is known to be rich in the precious metals. Wood and water is abundant in this region; the ores are of a high grade, and the climate, the year round is superb. The first mineral discov- erics, in what is now Graham county, were made by a party of prospectors from Silver City, N. M., in the fall of 1871. They discovered the Longfellow, the Detroit, and the Metcalf group. Bob Metcalf, the discoverer of the Longfellow, gave the Lesinsky Bros., of Las Cruces, N. M., an interest in the prop- erty, and in the early part of 1873 they erec'ed a crude Mexican furnace, and worked the orcs successfully for nearly a year, when they erected a water-jacket on the San Francisco river. In a short time the original locators were bought out, and the Lesinskys became the sole owners. They worked the
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property until September, 1882, when it was purchased by a syndicate composed of Scotch capitalists.
During the time the mines were worked by Lesinsky Bros., it is estimated they produced 20,000,000 pounds of copper bullion, and this under many disadvantages. The nearest railroad station was at La Junta, Colorado, nearly 700 miles from the mines. Roads had to be opened to Silver City, the nearest supply point, and coke was brought from the Burro mountains, eighty miles distant. All material and supplies cost enormously, but against all those obstacles, the richness of the ore left a handsome profit. Since the mines passed under the control of the present owners many important improvements have been made, and a large sum expended in opening the several groups. Not the least of these improvements is the building of a narrow- gauge railroad from Lordsburg, on the Southern Pacific, to the furnaces at Clifton, a distance of seventy miles. The cost of grading and equipping this road will be $20,000 per mile, or $1,400,000 for the entire road. This railway will effect a great saving in the cost of material and supplies, and will make it possible to work very low grade ores. The opening of the road will also be a great benefit to the district, and many a mine now lying idle can be worked to a profit, when fuel and supplies are cheapened.
Two furnaces (water-jackets) are in operation near the San Francisco river, seven miles from the mines. These furnaces are run by the abundant and never-failing water-power of the stream, which is here a strong and rapid torrent at all seasons of the year. The company will shortly crect five furnaces, with a united capacity of 150 tons daily. Water from the river, equal to 100 horse-power, will turn a turbine wheel which will run all of them. This fine water-power is an important factor in ore reduction, and those of a much lower grade can be handled than if the motive power was steam. The mines owned by the com- pany are situated on the spurs and summits of steep mountains, on both sides of Chase gulch, a tributary of the San Francisco. To bring the ore from them cheaply and expeditiously, a nar- row-gauge road (twenty-inch track) has been constructed up this gulch, and a small engine brings down car-loads of ore and carries back supplies. A great deal of heavy grading and cut- ting had to be done on this road, and the cost (seven miles) has been over $200,000.
Leading up the steep hill-sides to the different groups of mines on each side of the track, inclines have been built, and the loaded car coming down brings up the empty one. Ore houses are built at the foot of these inclines, where the ores are dumped, and then dropped by a shute into the cars which carry them to the smelter at Clifton. The grade on portions of this road from the smelter to the mines is 300 fect to the mile. The incline to the Longfellow is 2,200 feet in length, that to the Metcalf group
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is 1,400 feet, while that to the Coronado group leads up the side of a rocky precipitous wall and pierces its jagged peak a distance of 3,200 feet, and from there, by a gradual descent on the other side, to the mine. This dizzy track is at an angle of 32°, and is probably the longest incline in the United States over which cars are run by their own specific gravity.
The company have at present in their employ 450 men, one- half being Mexicans and Chinese. There are two incorpora- tions. One, under the laws of Arizona, known as the "Arizona Copper Company," own the mines and reduction works, but the entire property, including the railroad to Lordsburg, is owned by the "Arizona Copper Company, Limited," of Scotland. But one furnace is now running, the product being 8,000 pounds of ninety-six per cent. copper daily. When the railroad is com- pleted and the new furnaces built, the output will lead all Ari- zona. This is the most complete plant for the reduction of copper in the Territory, and few countries can show so heavy an outlay by one company. When the railroad from Lordsburg is finished, there will be expended, in improvements and the purchase of the mines, nearly, if not quite, $4,000,000. But the magnificent ore bodies fully justify this heavy outlay, and will yet return it twenty-fold.
The Clifton copper belt extends from the San Francisco river to Eagle creek, some ten miles east and west, and nearly twelve miles from north to south, or 120 square miles of copper-bearing territory. The general formation of this immense ore belt is porphyry, quartzite and lime. The larger ore bodies are found in felsite and lime. They occur in large chambers and deposits, but there are some, like the Coronado and the Queen, that give indications of being regular veins. The ore bodics are found in the steep and rocky spurs of the Peloncillo range. These moun- tains are much broken and cut by deep cañons and gorges. They are covered with oak, juniper and pine, and there is always an abundant supply of water in the San Francisco, Chase gulch, and Eagle creek. Conglomerate beds of volcanic origin sur- round the district on nearly all sides, which effectually shut off the ore bodies. This volcanic flow is a portion of that which once rolled down the Mogollon range from the great cone of the San Francisco. The gold belt seems to lie all around the copper deposit, being between it and the eruptive rocks. The country shows, in every direction, the traces of a mighty up- heaval, and of powerful volcanic action. The entire area men- tioned is seamed with copper veins, and the waters of Chase creek are highly impregnated with the metal. The ores are of a high grade and easily reduced, and with its fine, natural ad- vantages and railroad facilities, Clifton is destined to become one of the great copper-producing regions of the United States.
The Longfellow is the principal mine of Clifton camp, and since its discovery has produced over 20,000,000 pounds of cop-
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per. The mine is about five miles from the smelting works, on the west side of Chase creek, and near the summit of a rugged mountain, which rises over 1, 500 feet above the level of the creek. The property is worked by a tunnel, which taps the ore body about 200 feet below the apex of the mountain. Some 200 feet below the present tunnel another has been started, and both will shortly be connected by winzes. The ore is found in beds of felsite, resting on layers of lime, and occurs in large deposits, or chambers, some of which are 100 feet in length, by eighty feet in width. As far as explored the ore body appears to be about 600 feet in length, by 500 feet in width. Throughout this entire space the ground is honey-combed in every direction, by drifts, crosscuts, winzes, levels, stopes and inclines, making altogether, over five miles of underground streets and alleys.
The ore is always found near the lime belts, which sometimes cut it off; but by driving through these dykes it is again en- countered beyond. The entire ore body will average fifteen per cent. It is mostly a red oxide, and an auzerite. No ore has yet been discovered outside of the felsite and lime, and the mineral deposit seems to be confined to the space mentioned by the porphyry zone, which bounds it on the north and cast. In the early history of the mine no regular system was observed in its working, and the pillars of ore left standing to support the roof proved inadequate to the task, and a cave has occurred in one portion of the workings. The damage, however, is not serious, and is being rapidly repaired. The extent of the ore body in the Longfellow has not yet been determined. It seems to ex- tend through the mountain to the Detroit Company's ground, and for a depth of 400 feet good ore has been encountered. It is certainly the grandest copper deposit yet opened in Arizona.
The next group of mines owned by the company are known as the Metcalf group and are about three miles from the Longfellow, up Chase creek. The mines are on the sides of a steep mountain, 1,200 feet above the bed of the creck. The Little Annie, Little Giant and Oriental are the principal claims. The Annie shows the most development, the ore being taken from a series of open cuts along the ledge. The mineral occurs in pockets and chambers in a formation of lime and porphyry. It is a glance, with red oxides, carrying a high percentage of copper, and is covered by an iron capping, which also carries some copper. A tunnel has been started below the present workings to tap the ore bodies supposed to exist in the hill. It is now in 1,000 fect. Two tunnels have pierced the croppings, one being 230 and the other 400 feet. Good ore has been taken from cach, and there is every indication of its depth and permanency. The Oriental adjoins the Little Annie on the east. It is a large ore body, and shows traces of old Indian workings, the savages having evidently resorted to the deposits of chrome iron and bromide, / for their paint. The Hughes and Shannon claim is north of
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the Annie. It is not owned by the company, but is surrounded by their properties. It shows a bold out-crop, and is opened by several shafts and cuts, all in good ore.
The Queen group of mines are about two miles above the Longfellow. They include a half dozen in all, but the Queen is the only one opened. Four adit levels have been run on the ledge, being respectively, 200, 250, 200 and 225 feet in length. These levels are connected by winzes, and show a vein about eighteen inches wide that goes twenty per cent. The Queen has the appearance of a regular vein. It is encased in por- phyry walls, and has a dip of 45°. The mine has, heretofore, been worked in primitive style by Mexican labor, but under the new management it is expected a different order of things will prevail.
The Coronado group are on the summit of a steep and rocky range on the west side of Chase creek, and about eight miles from Clifton. The mine is approached by an incline from the railroad in Chase creek, which has already been noted. After passing over the summit of the rocky hill, the track is carried down a gradual incline, for over a mile, until it encounters the mountain on which the mine is situated. A tunnel has been driven through this mountain, following the vein, 1,200 feet. The track is laid through this tunnel, and the ores on the upper levels are let down by shutes into the cars, while those below will be raised by steam. Above this level two others have been started, and will follow the vein through the hill. The levels have been connected by winzes, and large ore bodies exposed. After passing through the mountain, the track will be carried around on the hillside above the other claims on the vein, which will be connected with it by inclines. This railroad and incline system of the Coronado group is a fine piece of engineering, and is one of the sights of the Clifton camp.
The Coronado is a well-defined vein, averaging ten feet be- tween smooth walls. The ore occurs in chambers, or swells, and is said to average fourteen per cent. It contains large quantities of silica, and requires to be mixed with other ores to smelt readily. There are six locations on the Coronado, some of them being opened by shafts and tunnels. Wherever opened the ledge is strong, continuous, and well-defined, and has more of the appearance of a regular lode than any claim yet discov- ered in the district. With the present elaborate appliances for developing it, the Coronado promises to become one of the lead- ing mines of the camp. The company own some forty claims, in all, but the above are the present ore producers.
The Detroit Mining Company of Arizona is another successful enterprise in Clifton district. The reduction works of this incor- poration are situated on the San Francisco about four miles below Clifton. Here two water-jacket furnaces, with a daily capacity of seventy-five tons, have been put up. One furnace is running
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steadily and turning out five tons of bullion-ninety-eight fine- every twenty-four hours. The power to drive tnc machinery is furnished by the San Francisco river. The ore is a carbonate and oxide, with some copper glance, and smelts very easily. The mines are about seven miles from the river, the ore being hauled that distance in wagons at a cost of $2.50 per ton. English coke is used, and it is found that one ton of it will smelt seven tons of ore. The works have been in operation about one year, and have already produced 3,580,000 pounds of copper. This copper is known as the "Anchor" brand, and always commands a high price.
The claims owned by the company lie adjacent to the Long- fellow, and are named the Yankee, Montezuma, Copper Moun- tain, and Arizona Central. The Yankee is on the other side of the hill from the Longfellow, and is a continuation of the same ore body found in the latter. A shaft has been sunk 150 feet, from which two levels have been run on the ore. Lateral drifts from these levels show it to be over 100 feet in width. North from the shaft, there is also a fine body of carbonate ore, which shows a width of twenty feet. On the surface, directly over this body of ore, the out-crop is 200 feet square, nearly all ore. North of the main shaft, 400 feet, another has been sunk to a depth of fifty feet, all the way in copper glance, of a high grade. From the bottom two cross-cuts have been run, twenty-five feet each way, both in ore. Average assays give eighteen and one- half per cent.
The Montezuma is south of the Yankee and has ore of a similar character. It is opened by a fifty-foot shaft and several open cuts. The Copper Mountain is about 500 yards from the Yankee, and is opened by an adit level 600 feet in length, follow- ing the ore. At the mouth of this level a shaft has been sunk which cuts the ore at a depth of eighty feet; from the bottom of this shaft a level has been run 600 feet, the entire distance in ore. Lateral drifts have also been opened, from which ore is now being extracted. It will average twelve per cent., and is a car- bonate with a manganese ganguc, and a red oxide with an iron gangue.
The Arizona Central is east of the Copper Mountain, and is opened by two shafts, eighty-four and fifty feet, respectively. The ore is a green carbonate with some copper glance and will go twenty per cent. The ore from this mine when mixed with that from the Copper Mountain makes a fine smelting material. These ores are all found in large chambers and deposits in beds of felsite. The beds lie horizontally, pillars being left standing to support the roof. The company employ about 125 men, two- thirds of whom are Mexicans.
The Clifton Copper Company, a New York incorporation, own · a group of mines northeast from the Arizona Company's proper- ties. The principal claims are the Lone Pine and Keystone,
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both of which show large ore bodies that give an average of from twelve to twenty per cent. They are opened by several shal- low shafts, the deposit showing about twenty feet wide, and being capped with iron croppings from ten to thirty feet in depth. On the western side of Chase creek, and about eight miles from Clifton, there are a group of claims upon which some work has been done. The Bon Ton, Mountain Lion, Lulu and Capitan are the most promising. The Lulu carries galena, which assays 240 ounces to the ton, in silver. The Bon Ton is opened by over 400 feet of tunnels, and has on the dump over 300 tons of ore, which is said to go twenty per cent. copper. Although but little work has been done on these properties, they show extremely well.
The Copper King Company own a group of mines on what is known as Greenle Gold mountain district, about five miles above Clifton, on the San Francisco. They are on a steep mountain, 1,500 feet above the river bed, and are known as the Union No. I, Union No. 2, New England and Montezuma. But little work has yet been done on these properties, but wherever opened they show strong, well-defined veins in a granitic formation. The ore is an oxide and a copper glance, some of it going as high as twenty per cent.
The Great Western company own the Ollie and the Great Western, situated westwardly from the Copper King company's claims. They are in the same formation, and the ore is of the same character. There is a seventy-foot shaft on the Ollie, which has yielded ore that went thirty-seven per cent. There is plenty of timber near these properties, and-water power in abundance in the San Francisco.
About four miles above Clifton, on the San Francisco, large gravel deposits are encountered. These gravel beds are all gold-bearing, and careful tests have proved they will pay. The Clifton Hydraulic Company have brought water in iron pipes a distance of four miles, to these beds. They have sunk shafts and driven tunnels and thoroughly exploited the ground. The gravel is on both sides of the river, will average in depth from ten to thirty feet, and has an estimated area of 3,000 acres. Gold is found all through this gravel, from the surface to the bed-rock. The company have expended a large sum in getting ready for work. They have the latest improved hydraulic machinery, a splendid fall from the San Francisco, and every- thing in good shape for a long and successful run. High up on the mountain-side, above the gravel deposits, are a g oup of gold-bearing quartz ledges. These veins are from two to six feet in width, in a formation of granite, and can be traced for several miles across the country. A few openings have been made, and some ore worked that produced over $20 per ton. With the fine water-power to propel machinery so near at hand, very low-grade ores can be worked, and a prosperous gold camp will yet spring up here.
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