USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Men of achievement in the great Southwest Illustrated. A story of pioneer struggles during early days in Los Angeles and Southern California. With biographies, heretofore unpublished facts, anecdotes and incidents in the lives of the builders > Part 14
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ing engineer. Here it was that he received his introduc- tion to that most alluring of all pursuits-mining. After hav- ing spent thirteen years in the service of the company and re- ceived a knowledge of miner- alogy and geology that was ac- quired by practical experience, he determined upon visiting the West and investigating for himself the possibilities af- forded hy the mineral re- sources of the Southwest.
Six years ago he commenced looking over sections of the West for a suitable mining property, and two years ago he commenced investigating the region around Mojave. He has since then been actively en- gaged in prosecuting develop- ment work on the properties which he acquired. The first property he purchased was the Echo group of mines, which he secured title to in 1901. The following year he purchased the Gray Eagle group, and merged the two under the one title of the Echo Mining Com- pany, of which he is president. Mr. Hooper arrived at a time when the Mojave district was literally honeycombed with prospect holes. He was too late to stake a claim, but not too late to invest in claims others had staked, and the business judgment of years, reinforced by a keen discernment, directed him wisely in the selection of properties. The first properties he purchased had been pro- ducers, the Echo having shipped over $10,000 worth of ore, while the Gray Eagle had also entered the list of shipping mines to the extent of some $30,000. He was successful with his promotion from the start, organizing the company under
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G. H. HOOPER.
the laws of the Territory of Arizona, and interesting personal friends in the East in the company.
Development work on the property is now conducted through a tunnel some 800 feet in length, which cuts the vein 256 feet from the mouth of the tunnel. A mill with a capacity of thirty-five tons daily is in operation at the mine, and is proving most satisfactory. Preparations are now about com- pleted for the addition of twenty more stamps to the mill, and cyanide equipment, at a cost of $20,000. The ore is free milling, and is a gold and silver proposition, that coming from the Gray Eagle running about three ounces of silver to an ounce of gold, while the ore from the Echo group is practically free from any silver.
The water problem, which has proven so difficult a sub- jeet for many desert com- panies, has been successfully solved by Mr. Hooper, Thom- son & Boyle and the Karma Company, who have built a four-inch pipe line a disatnee of fifteen and a half miles and brought the water neces- sary for mining and milling directly to the mines in quan- tities sufficient for all pur- poses. The location of the company's properties, which consist of over 250 acres of the best mineralized section of the Mojave district, is most accessible to the railroad, be- ing but four miles from Mojave, the junction of two of the great transcontinental lines, while freight to the mines is hauled from Fleta, a station on the Southern Pa- cific, but two miles from the mine.
Mr. Hooper came to Los Angeles from a successful business career in the East, and his experience has proved that it is not so much mining ore as correct business principles that counts in mining. In floating the Echo Mining Company he has been conservative in his representations, and as a result the stockholders of the company, which is a close corporation, have reasons to congratulate themselves. Mr. Hooper is a man of ability and keen perception, and these qualities have combined to establish an enviable reputation in mining circles throughout the State.
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MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
GEORGE MITCHELL.
TT. IS a noteworthy fact that a great change has taken place in the history of mines and mining within the past two decades. Where formerly the average person's conception of a "mine" brought visions of gold, today the well informed listener inquires, "What kind of a mine is it?" In the days of the Comstock Lode and the acquisition of wealth by the Sharons, Mackays, Floods, O'Briens and other of the early California millionaires, their wealth was obtained from the apparently exhaustless silver mines of the Comstock. Later mining millionaires were known as "gold kings," while today the wealthiest mining men of the United States are " copper kings." Such enormous fortunes as those accumulated by the late Marcus Daly, Senator William A. Clark, F. Au- gust ·Heinze and other of the Montana mining men were amassed in the pro- duction of copper. And while Montana, Arizona and Michigan have long held the record for the copper-producing States, much capital is now being directed to the fabulously rich deposits of this metal just across the interna- tional boundary line which separates us from our sis- ter Republic to the south.
Stories of the wealth of these mines are legion, and it is an established fact that they have been mined for the past three cen- turies. Undoubtedly much of the wealth of the Az- tecs came from famous producers, but among the mining men of the day who have profited by their exploitation and success- ful treatment of their ores, few have profited to a greater degree than George Mitchell, who has in the course of less than five years earned recogni- tion among such copper magnates as Senator W. A. Clark, F. August Heinze, and others of lesser magnitude in mining circles. The wonderful success of Mr. Mitchell has not been due to a practical knowledge of min- ing. That he has acquired in the course of experience. Not the talent and skill which enter into the detail, but the genius to select and direct special ability, and a masterful knowledge of metallurgy, which enabled him to find a way of treating and fluxing the refractory ores that had defied the efforts of the most capable mining experts and metallurgists the coun- try has produced. On this rare gift has been builded the great- ness of his mines.
Since early boyhood Mr. Mitchell has been associated with
more or less mining excitement, and at his birthplace in Swansea, Wales, he had many opportunities to become familiar with the great smelting and refining concerns of that historic city. His father was a sea captain, and the family had lived in Wales for generations. As a lad young Mitchell attended the public schools of his native city, later supple- menting this with a course at the Morgan Chemical School, of Swansea, from which institution he graduated at an early age. Soon after his graduation he secured a position as sampler and assistant in the laboratory of a copper, silver and nickel works, so although still young in years, it can readily be seen that Mr. Mitchell is ripe in experience, for at a time when most boys of his age were engaged in the elementary studies, he had already selected and was embarked upon the career that was to win him wealth and influence. During a period of three years' service with the company he steadily ad- vanced and filled the posi- tions of smelter, refiner and reducer of gold, cop- per and nickel in the metallurgical department of the works. Subse- quently he secured em- ployment with the South Wales Smelting Company at Swansea, and at the age of twenty was in com- plete charge of the smelt- ing department of this im- mense concern. During this period of time young Mitchell was receiving an insight into metallurgy which proved invaluable to him in later life. His duties gave him complete charge of the testing and refining of copper ores, which were received by the smelter from practic- ally all over the world, thus giving him oppor- tunities to become familiar with the character of ores which would have been denied a metallurgist in a less renowned plant than that in which he was retained.
GEORGE MITCHELL ..
The same opportunities which presented him with samples of ores from all quarters of the globe, also instilled into his breast the desire to see the mines from which the samples were obtained, and accordingly, in 1887, he determined to . visit the United States. Arriving at Baltimore he immedi- ately secured recognition as a metallurgist of ability, and obtained a position with the Baltimore Copper Works, remain- ing in charge of their plant for a year. For the next few years he was identified with a number of smelting and
MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
103
refining plants in various parts of the country, before he finally moved to Montana, where he became associated with the smelting interests of that great copper camp.
Upon the erection of the immense plant of the Boston- Montana Copper and Silver Mining and Smelting Company at Great Falls, he assisted in the construction of the works, and upon its completion assumed the duties of assistant super- intendent and general foreman. He remained with these great interests until 1890, when at the earnest solicitation of Senator W. A. Clark he consented to take charge of his smelting works at Jerome, Arizona. The United Verde, with a dividend record of nearly $25,000,000, still further impressed upon Mr. Mitchell's mind the great possibilities of copper properties. While engaged in his metallurgical work in con- nection with the various smelters, his inventive genius harl wonderful opportunity for action. He patented refining fur-
before, the mines had been worked for silver by the Span- iards, and the slag, rich with copper, was left upon the dump. Marcus Daly's experts and W. A. Clark's experts had attempted to report on the properties, but owing to imperfect titles at one time, and the inability of another to secure the holdings he wished, both deals fell through. Something like fourteen years ago a representative of St. Louis capital had erected a smelter on the east end of the claims, but the project was abandoned and the enterprise failed. Later, along came F. August Heinze, fresh from his successes in the Northwest. He reopened the plant and, too, was compelled to admit his defeat. The truth of the matter has since been demonstrated that the Cananea's successful working was a metallurgical and not a mining problem. It remained for George Mitchell. with his genius and technical skill, combined with his perseverance and practical experience, to solve the solution of the fluxing
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RESIDENCE OF GEORGE MITCHELL.
naces and refining processes that are in use by such great mining properties as the Copper Queen of Arizona, and the famons United Verde Mines of the same place, while in his own great smelters at Cananea they are also in general use. These inventions have proved a gratifying source of revenue to him, as well as a process which he invented for saving the remelted slags from the ordinary convertors ; he also invented a steam generator which is being operated with success at his · Mexican smelters.
It was along in 1897 that Mr. Mitchell became interested on his own account in the famous Cananea property, and, resign- ing his position at the United Verde, he devoted his entire time to the acquirement of the claims constituting the group. The history of the mines reads like a romance. Centuries
of the ores of this ancient old bonanza - which seemed sim- ple when it was announced that the ores of the east and west ends, when properly mixed in the right proportion, solved their own problem of smelting.
Following the acquisition of the property, and the organiza- tion of the Cobre Grande Copper Company by Mr. Mitchell, was a series of law suits and litigation extending over a period of two years in both the Mexican and the United States courts. The Cobre Grande Company, failing to comply with the terms of its agreement, Mr. Mitchell had the property reconveyed to himself, and pooling issues with W. C. Greene, who had acquired large holdings in the Cananea, formed the present Greene Consolidated Copper Mining Com- pany.
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MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
The reins of management having been retained by Mr. Mitchell, he at once inaugurated a series of improvements which involved the building of miles of mountain roads and trails from Naco, the nearest town on this side the line, and later a railroad to the property. Immense smelters with a daily capacity of hundreds of tons now treat the ores which baffled the skill of metallurgists since 1618, when the mines were first worked. Mr. Mitchell, after clearing up the titles to the property, commenced an acquisition of the claims embraced in the Cananea's group, which have demonstrated the wisdom of the action, as the company would not dispose of them today for a very large sum.
Mr. Mitchell had attained the noon of life when he was called upon to administer the affairs of the Cananea. He had traveled extensively and had come in contact with the most successful of the world's mining operators and experts. Travel is a great educator, and Mr. Mitchell has been an apt student. He has been associated with the greatest mining experts of the age, and has personally examined and studied the veins of the Andes, the Rockies and the Cascades. His investments have expanded with his acquisition of wealth, and today they extend from Alaska to Chile. His judgment of the value of a mine is unerring. His fortune has been made not by promoting or by stock speculation, but by actual development of mines, and taking metal out of the ground where it has lain since the beginning of time.
Briefly it may be stated that Mr. Mitchell has developed the Santa Rosalie Gold Mine of Sonora, Mexico, and placed it upon the list of dividend payers. This famous old property is credited with having produced over $14,000,000, and that by the primitive methods in vogue hundreds of years ago.
While Mr. Mitchell's mining enterprises in the past have been conducted upon a gigantic scale, and have made million- aires of many of Mr. Greene's friends and associates, his latest exploitation, The Mitchell Mining Company, or as the Mexican corporation is known, " La Dicha Mining and Smelt- ing Company," promises to eclipse in value the famous Cananea properties two to one. For the past two years Mr. Mitchell has been interested in the properties acquired by the - company, all of which are located in the State of Guerrero, Mexico, a section of the Republic which offers greater oppor- tunities for capital in the exploitation of its undeveloped mineral resources than any portion of the United States: The principal properties of the Mitchell Mining Company, com- prising mining and timber lands, are located in the districts of Bravos and Tavares, bordering immediately upon the coast line of the State of Guerrero, and lying within a radius of thirty-five miles of the port of Acapulco, on the Pacific Ocean.
The company has acquired some 200,000 acres of timber lands adjoining its mining properties, most of the ground being heavily timbered with pine and oak, making an ample supply of mining timbers readily accessible, and sufficient to insure all the mining timbers that may be required for the next thirty years. The mining properties of the company consist of what is known as the La Dicha group, titles to
which have been granted direct from the government, as well as several hundred " pertenencias " under denouncement, title to which is now in process of issue, and are taken over by the company clear of debt. They consist of the following groups : La Dicha, 20 pertenencias; Mckinley, 20; Edward VII., 12; Odell, 152, and the Hensey, 96 pertenencias; a total of 300 pertenencias, or an area of 1968 feet in width by 16,400 feet in length.
These various locations have been made upon a continuous wide vein of sulphide ores, and can be traced by the large outcroppings for the full length of the property of 16,400 feet. Probably never before in the history of mining properties has there been such great natural development, the vein having been exposed in five different places by a river and its branches, these streams cutting the vein down to the sul- phides to a depth of from 150 to 200 feet below the apex of the iron croppings and showing a width of 175 to 200 feet.
Since Mr. Mitchell became interested in the property he has expended over $300,000 in developing the same and estab- lishing permanent quarters at the mine. Development work has been prosecuted through nine tunnels and four shafts, making in all over 2500 feet of development work on the property. A force of between two and three hundred men is constantly upon the company's pay roll, and Mr. Mitchell with characteristic vigor and enterprise is delving into the property with the object of getting it upon a dividend-paying basis. Millions of dollars worth of ore is in sight, and reports of mining experts of national reputation corroborate the report made by the eminent geologist, Mr. Robert T. Hill, of Washington, D. C., who in December of last year made an exhaustive examination of the property.
The company owns an 18,000-acre plantation in the imme- diate vicinity of its mining property on which it has herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, it being the purpose of the management to supply the camp with fresh meat from its own ranch. Pineapples, bananas, limes, grapes and all tropi- cal fruits grow in abundance upon the plantation, and its possibilities are almost unlimited.
The officers of the Mitchell Mining Company are among the best known mining, financial and professional men of the country, men whose names are associated with gigantic and successful enterprises. Mr. Mitchell is president and treas- urer of the company, and administers its affairs. His reputa- tion as a copper expert is international, and he may properly be classed with the "copper kings" of the world.
His interests are not confined to his Mexican mines, for he is heavily interested in Los Angeles realty, and owns one of the city's most attractive homes, located in the midst of spacious grounds and a profusion of tropical foliage. His business requires his time in various parts of the country, but his family make this their permanent home. All of Mr. Mitchell's investments seem to have wooed and won the smile of Dame Fortune, and his success has been little short of phenomenal.
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MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
NILS OLOF BAGGE.
I T HAS been urged against mining by the novitiate that one has to be the " early " bird to reap a harvest of gold. No impression could be more erroneous, as has been demonstrated beyond dispute by countless instances to the contrary in the mining history of the Great Southwest; and residents of Los Angeles do not have to go beyond their own dooryard for convincing evidence that every day has its opportunities, and that they are not reserved for the "lucky " man more than for the conservative and far-seeing investor. Especially is this true of quartz mining, where extensive development is required to exploit a mine, and even in the case of placers the successful working of abandoned ground is of frequent occurrence. Among the striking exam- ples afforded by the little colony of mining men in this city substantiating the preceding assertions, few better individual instances could be quoted than the following career of the gentleman whose name will be recognized at the head of this article.
A native of Gothenberg, on the west coast of Sweden, N. O. Bagge com- menced life but thirty-four years ago. He early evinced a fondness for study, and before leaving his teens had graduated from the princi- pal home college, with the sole idea of emigrating to this country, having become impressed with the greater opportunities afforded here, and he accordingly arrived in New York City in 1888.
His technical knowledge served him in good stead, when he was first called upon to visit Southern Ari- zona and make a report upon some properties there in the interest of Eastern clients. Being a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, he was brought into close touch with mining men, and afforded many opportunities for profitable investment.
NILS OLOF BAGGE.
Realizing the possibilities of American capital and push in Old Mexico (having had the matter of labor, particularly, brought forcibly to his attention) ; he has therefore kept two competent mining engineers and experts in the field there, hunting up desirable properties for development. Mr. D. W. Shanks of this city, one of the engineers in Mr. Bagge's employ, reported most favorably on their property, consisting of 319 pertenencias, or Mexican mining claims, and upon vis- iting the property and personally examining it, Mr. Bagge purchased the claims.
For years, the Parral branch of the Mexican Central Rail-
road has borne past this mountain range mine-seekers from the States bound for Parral or points far away in the Sierras. Twenty miles from Jimenez, Sierra de Almoloya looms up to the left of the railroad, and about four miles distant from the nearest station, and at thirty miles it has passed from view.
Thirty-five years ago, the old Spanish adobe smelters, in treating the lead ores of the Santa Barbara district, sent their pack trains of burros to the prospect holes of this mountain, esteeming the low-grade surface ores of high value for flux- ing, by reason of the large percentage of iron in them, not dreaming at the time of the valuable high-grade ores immediately under their feet. Shallow holes were sunk in the mountain side, but before any depth was had, the adobe smelter was a thing of the past, and with it was forgotten the Sierra de Almoloya. Peo- ple were looking for pros- peets less accessible.
For two years more the coyote held undisputed sway in these mountains, and it remained for a Mex- ican mining engineer to uncover the treasure.
The Sierra de Almoloya lies in the great lime belt that skirts the eastern base of the Sierra Madre. It is the same belt in which are found the famous mines of Santa Eulalia, Mapimi, Terrazas andi Sierra Mo- jada, which have yielded and still yield millions every year. In none these camps, justly famous as they are, do the ores carry such values in gold as are found in the Sierra de Almoloya, which is des- tined to take rank with the traditional mines of olden Mexico, which, pouring forth their riches into the waiting laps of the Spanish invaders, marked the golden age in Mexican history.
In addition to maintaining an office in this city, Mr. Bagge still retains his New York connections and office, and is engaged in working and developing numerous other properties in Arizona and Mexico, besides the two mentioned.
Mr. Bagge is a firm believer in the great, future of Los Angeles, and backs his opinions by having large real estate and other interests here. He owns one of the city's most artistic and attractive homes, located in the most exclusive residence portion of Los Angeles. The grounds abound in a wealth of tropical trees, shrubs and climbing vines.
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MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT IN THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
STEPHEN W. DORSEY
S TEPHEN W. DORSEY is a native of the Green Mountain State, and passed his boyhood and early manhood among the hills of his native State. In 1861, at the commencement of the Civil War, he enlisted as a private in the First Ohio Infantry. After serving his country with distinction during the four years of the war, he was mustered out with the rank of colonel in the army. His experience while serving in the army under Tom Scott, one of the Assistant Secretaries of War, who was in charge of the transportation of troops and supplies, had directed his attention to the possibilities of a railroad career. At the close of the war, at the request of Mr. Scott, at that time president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, he became identified with the reorganization and construction of the lines which had become demoralized during the four years of carnage just closed. Mr. Dorsey continued his connection with Mr. Scott in the Southwest for several years.
When the Texas and Pacific, Little Rock and Ft. Smith, and Arkansas Central railroads were organized, Mr. Dorsey took an active part in the incorporation and construction of all these roads, moving to Arkansas to devote his en- tire time to the prosecution of the en- terprises. These railroads are today the great trunk lines of the States they traverse, and stand a lasting monument to the untiring efforts and persevering genius of their builders.
Mr. Dorsey was ever mindful of the duties of good citizenship, and despite the responsibilities devolving upon him, was a member of the Republican Na- tional Committee for the five successive campaigns commencing with that of 1868. During a large portion of this time he served as chairman of the Ex- ceutive Committee. His political career, with its attendant successes, is well known. His presence has been felt upon the floor of the United States Senate for the full term of six years, and his record was one of pride to his con- stitnency.
STEPTIEN W. DORSEY.
Mr. Dorsey commenced to devote his attention to mining as early as 1873. In connection with the late Senator Chaffee of Colorado, he acquired interests at Central City, and the excitement of Leadville's discovery in 1878 found represent- atives of Senators Dorsey and Chaffee on the ground. Silver Cliff, and the great Colorado silver camp, Aspen, have also claimed a share of his time and attention. When the Cripple Creek discoveries were made in 1891, Mr. Dorsey was early upon the territory and acquired claims and prop- erties that he still retains an interest in. His Colorado mining enterprises, in fact, covered all the principal camps of the State, and covered a period of nearly a quarter of a century. In most of his mining operations he has acted independently, and the measure of success he has attained must be credited to his individual and personal efforts.
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