DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Hubert Work, Secretary

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

George Otis Smith, Director

Bulletin 771

ORE DEPOSITS OF THE SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND 

BANNER MINING DISTRICTS, ARIZONA

BY

CLYDE P. ROSS

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1925 -
ADDITIONAL COPIES

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON, D. C.

AT

25 CENTS PER COPY
CONTENTS

Page

Summary ___,_________ , _ __ _ vn

Introduction 1

Scope of the report 1

Location and extent of the area_ _ 2

Acknowledgments ______ ___ ___ _ -- 2

Topography 4

Stratigraphy and petrology 6

General features _ . _i 6

Paleozoic section__ _ 6

Cretaceous stratified rocks _ - 11 	/

Older Tertiary stratified rocks_________________ __ 15

Gila conglomerate________-_ _ _ __ 17

Quaternary alluvium____ __ __ ____ _____ 18

Cretaceous intrusive rocks __ 19

Quartz-hornblende diorite _ _ ____ __ 20

Quartz-mica diorite _____ _ _ __ 20

Structure____i________________ _ ______ _ _.._ 21

Geologic history__________________________________ 23

Ore deposits____ ___ __ __ _______^____ 29

History and production___ ____ __________________ 29

Claim boundaries _____________________________ 30

Lead-silver veins_______________________________ 30

Pyritic gold deposits.____________________________ 32

Disseminated pyrite deposits _______________________ 33

Contact-metamorphic deposits_______________________ 34

Generalizations and inferences________________________ 39

Mines and prospects. _ __ _ _ ______ 41

Adjust mine.__ ___ ___ ______!____________ 41

Saddle Mountain group______________!____________________ 43

Little Treasure mine.__ _______________________ 46

Lee group_____ ____________________________ 47

Carmichael group_______________________________ 48

Two Queens mine________________________________ 48

Pool's mine___________________________________ 49

Hoosier group ___________________1____________ 50

Rieder & Bailey group__ ______ ____________ 51

Faull group___________________________:______ 52

Christmas mine__ ___ ____ ___________________ 52

Mellor prospect__ ___________________________ 60

London-Arizona mine ____________________________ 61

Schneider group _____________________________ 63

Apex mine _ _ ______ 63

Gold-Copper Mines Co _ __ _ _ ._ 64

Hogvall prospect_____________________________:_ 65

nt
IV CONTENTS

Mines and prospects Continued. " Page

Seventy-nine mine ____________ ___ ________ 66

Columbia mine_______ ________________________ 67

McHur prospect ______________________________ 68

Premier group _ __ 69

C. & B. group__________________________________ 69

Index___ ___ 71

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

PLATE I. Geologic map and section of the Christmas area________ 2 

II. A, The upper part of the valley of Rock Creek; B, Lee Mountain and surrounding hills-____________________ 8

III. Generalized columnar sections of Paleozoic rocks in regions

near the Christmas area______________________ 8

IV. A, Cambrian quartzite on upper Ash Creek; B, Ripple-marked

Cambrian quartzite on upper Ash Creek _ ___ ___ 8

V. A, Mottled Cambrian quartzite on upper Ash Creek; B, Tornado

limestone in the box canyon on upper Ash Creek-______ 8

VI. A, Coarse Cretaceous conglomerate on upper Ash Creek; B,

Coarse Cretaceous conglomerate on Gila River above Apache i 

Spring _ 16 '^

VII. A, General view of older Tertiary conglomerate north of Saddle 

Mountain; B, Close view of older Tertiary conglomerate on 

west side of the Tablelands _______ _______ 16

VIII. A, Tuffaceous conglomerate of Tertiary age on the Tablelands;

B, Dike of quartz-mica diorite cutting Cretaceous volcanic 4 

rock on south side of Deer Creek east of Adjust mine___ 16

I.. A, Contorted Tornado limestone on Gila Eiver near southwest' ^ 

corner of the Christmas area ; B, Fault block of Tornado limestone on east side of Gila River near Apache Spring____ 16

X. Property map of the Saddle Mountain and Banner mining districts ______ ___ ____________________ 32 {

XI. A, Outcrop of Big Rock vein on Saddle Mountain group; B, Sill ,^ 

of altered trap in Tornado limestone on Gila River just south 

of the southern border of the Christmas area_________ 32 

XII. A, Outcrop of gypsum on Little Gold Gulch; B, The old Christmas workings-1_______-___________________ 56

XIII. Map showing relations of the stoped-out ore bodies of the

Christmas mine to the surface geology____________ 56

XIV. A, Contact-metamorphosed limestone north of No. 3 shaft, 4 

Christmas mine; B, Tunnels constituting the principal workings of the London-Arizona mine________________ 56

XV. Geologic section through No. 3 shaft, Christmas mine_____ 56 \

XVI. Geologic map of the part of the Banner mining district in the

Ray quadrangle __________________________ 64

XVII. A, Curtin shaft; B, Workings on the Schneider group of the

Gila Canyon Copper Co_______________________ 64
ILLUSTRATIONS V

Page

FIGUBE 1. Index map showing location of the Saddle Mountain and Banner mining districts_______________________ 3

2. Columnar section of Paleozoic rocks on upper Ash Creek___ 7

3. Section through the west end of the Tablelands, on line B-B',

Plate I, showing relations of the Tertiary stratified rocks_ 15

4. Blue Bird workings of Adjust Mining Co____-_-____ 42

5. Plan of principal workings at Little Treasure mine ____ 46

6. Geologic section through No. 1 shaft, Christmas mine____ 56

SUMMARY

An area 7% miles square in the southwest corner of the Christmas quadrangle, in Final and Gila counties, Ariz., was mapped geologically in the 

spring of 1922, and the ore deposits in the Saddle Mountain and Banner mining districts, which lie mainly in this area, were examined. The rocks of 

the two districts comprise pre-Cambrian Final schist; a considerable thickness of Cambrian, Devonian, and Carboniferous beds of marine origin; Cretaceous lava, pyroclastic rocks, and sedimentary beds; dioritic intrusions of 

probable early Tertiary age; Tertiary formations of' volcanic and alluvial 

origin; and Quaternary alluvium of several ages. The Paleozoic succession 

just south of the Christmas area differs in a number of details from those 

both east and west. Some of the Cretaceous conglomerate is coarse and 

poorly sorted, and the possibility of a glacial origin is suggested. There is 

a strong unconformity at the top of the pre-Cambrian, but the Paleozoic 

formations, in spite of the great time gaps between them, are essentially conformable with one another. Erosion and some structural disturbance occurred 

after the deposition of .the Carboniferous limestone, and further folding and 

faulting after the Cretaceous volcanism, with recurrent periods of faulting up 

to comparatively recent time.

Nearly 30 mines and prospects are described. Most of these were visited, 

but data for a few were gathered from other sources. All the ore deposits 

are believed" to be genetically related to the intrusion of dikes and similar 

masses of quartz-mica diorite near the beginning of Tertiary time. The deposits in the area include lead-silver veins, pyritic gold deposits on shear 

zones, disseminated pyrite deposits, and contact-metamorphic deposits. Ore 

bodies of the last type have in different places been mined for copper, lead, 

zinc, and gold, and vanadium prospects have been opened on deposits that 

may be related to this type. As all the different types of deposits were 

formed during the same period of mineralization and all are related to the 

intrusion of the quartz-mica diorite it is to be expected that gradations between them may be found, and the veins and- shear zones that are characteristic of the Saddle Mountain district may grade in depth into contact-metamorphic deposits such as are characteristic of the Banner district.

ORE DEPOSITS OF THE SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND 

' BANNER MINING DISTRICTS, ARIZONA

By CLYDE P. Eoss

' INTRODUCTION

. Scope of the report. The field work for this report occupied about 

two months in the spring of 1922 and included the geologic mapping 

of about 56 square miles in the southwest corner of the Christmas 

quadrangle and the examination of most of the mines and prospects 

in the Saddle Mountain and Banner mining districts. The area 

mapped includes the Christmas mine and will, for convenience, be 

referred to as the Christmas area. The mines and most of the 

prospects in the Saddle Mountain district and the part of the Banner 

district included in the Christmas area were studied in some detail, 

and most of those in the part of the Banner district lying in the 

adjacent Eay quadrangle were examined more briefly. There was 

little mining activity in either district when they were visited, and 

most of the larger mines were either in charge of caretakers or deserted. In consequence many of the workings were inaccessible.

The report is intended to give an idea of the character of the ore 

deposits in the two districts and the extent of their development. 

The general geology of the Christmas area is also discussed. Eansome x has described that of the Eay quadrangle, and the part of his 

geologic map of that quadrangle which includes the Banner district 

is reproduced on Plate XVI. A number of the ore deposits in that 

district are described in the Eay folio. The Christmas area includes 

all the known ore deposits of any consequence in the Christmas 

quadrangle. In the southeastern part of the quadrangle there are 

coal deposits that have been known for 40 years and prospected in a 

number of places, but little coal has ever been shipped, and no mining has been done since about 1907. The essential facts regarding 

the coal fields are contained in a report by Campbell,2 and the avail1 Ransome, F. L., Copper deposits of Ray and Miami, Ariz.: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 115, 1919; U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Ray folio (No. 217), 1923.

2 Campbell, M. R., The Deer Creek coal fleld, Ariz.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 225, pp. 

240-258, 1904.

3146a 25 2 X
2 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

able data are summarized and brought up to date in a -report on the 

Aravaipa and Stanley mining districts.3 The general geology of the 

Christmas quadrangle has been studied by Darton.4

Location and extent of the area. The Banner and Saddle Mountain mining districts lie respectively in Gila and Final counties, 

Ariz. They are in the southeastern part of the Mescal Mountains 

and include portions of the Ray, Christmas, and Winkelman quadrangles as mapped by the United States Geological Survey. (See 

fig. 1.) The portions in the Winkelman quadrangle contain no 

large prospects and were not studied during the present examination. Winkelman and Hayden, on the Arizona Eastern Eailroad, 

are the principal shipping points for the two districts. Winkelman 

is somewhat over 70 miles by stage northeast of Tucson and 96 

miles by railroad southeast of Phoenix. Hayden, at which there 

is a copper smelter of the American Smelting & Refining Co., is iy2 

miles northwest of Winkelman.

The Saddle Mountain mining district is in Final County and may 

be approximately defined as the area southeast of Gila River, west of 

Reed Basin, and north of 'an east-west line passing through or just 

south of Saddle Mountain, a prominent landmark just south of the 

Christmas quadrangle, whose southern boundary crosses its north 

flank, the lower slopes lying in sees. 13 and 14, T. 5 S., R. 16 E., as 

shown on the map (PI. I). This district was in the early days 

included in the San Carlos district.5

The Banner mining district is a triangular area in Gila County, 

bounded on the southeast by Gila River, on the north by Dripping 

Spring Valley, formerly known as Disappointment Valley, and on 

the southwest by the boundary between Gila and Final counties. 

The northwest end of this district is by some included in the Dripping Springs district.5

The Christmas area, shown on the geologic map (PL I),is a square 

7% miles on a side in the southwest corner of the Christmas quadrangle. This area includes all of the Saddle Mountain district in 

which there are prospects of any consequence and part of the Banner 

district. The western part of the Banner district is shown on 

Plate XVI.

Acknowledgments. The mining men of both districts gave information and hospitality generously, and the assistance rendered by 

them is greatly appreciated. N. H. Mellor, O. L. Orem, and a number of others facilitated the examination of the Saddle Mountain district. J. N. Carmichael's claim map of that district was of much

8 Ross, C. P., The geology and ore deposits of the Aravaipa and Stanley mining 

districts, Graham County, Ariz.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 763, 1925.

* Darton, N. H., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Christmas folio (in preparation). 

S U. S. Geol. Survey Mineral Resources, 1907, pt. 1, p. 167, 1908.
sI-1 5) ® S to ? ot S

^ P

S i

Vertical ve

QC 

f 

O

Q i i

Q

Ucc

| O It bcj

W IS

o m

GD

l> ftJ 

E=)

>^>ftJt -i

N O

Mississippian and 

Pennsylvanian Upper Cretaceous Pliocene and Pleistocene or Pleistocene (?) Recent Recent

CD 

rt 

4

of?

M)C13

<a 2.Bpp,

a

w

ce

r+

o3- H^

W Cf -3g? a

5

p * * i ct 

G« 5 o 5" 

<'I2.3

c+ 3 "^

r^ ,:^

s

PROBABLY EARLY 

TERTIARY

CARBONIFEROUS

'

ous

Whitetail (?)conglomerate 

"oarse .?anrf anr gravel suf.iently indurated to form ep slopes and small bluffs) Older basalt Siliceous tuff and tuft'Hceous conglomerate YouiiKf)' lava Basalt, quarts latile, and rhyolite)

J

TERTIARY

Gila conglomerate j5£\Afoderatelyjirinly cement- a < 

ed gravel andsand) jw?,

Older alluvium 

(sand and gravel lightly cemented) j

-S

*Y AND 

NARY ?

QUATERNARY
INTRODUCTION

assistance. A. L. German, of Christmas, made the stay there a 

pleasant one and contributed, much information. At the other mines 

in the Banner district information was freely given by those in 

charge.

(\HISE 

rorpbstone

BislDee ./

100 Miles

FIGUKE 1. Index map showing location of Saddle Mountain and Banner mining districts,

Adz. (shaded area)

The officials of the Gila Copper Sulphide Co. generously gave access to a detailed geologic report on the Christmas mine by Augustus 

Locke and Guy N. Bjorge and furnished maps and other information. 

The data in the maps and report were freely drawn upon and were 

of much assistance in preparing the description of the Christmas 

mine.
4 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ABIZ.

TOPOGRAPHY

The area here described contains the southeastern parts of the 

Mescal and Dripping Spring ranges separated by a depression occupied by different streams in different parts. The valley of Gila 

River cuts across both ranges and the intervening depression. The 

ranges are not so well defined in the area shown on Plate I as in those 

to the north and west. The area is covered with rugged hills and 

mountains, which, with the exception of the mesa in the southeast 

corner and the sharp ridge in the northeast corner, show little regularity of form or system in arrangement. Few rise as much as 1,000 

feet above their bases. The highest point is a peak in the Mescal 

Range, at an altitude of 4,755 feet above sea level, and the lowest is 

on Gila River, near the southwest corner, where the altitude is about 

1,950 feet.

The only parts of the Mescal Range mapped are the sharp ridge 

already mentioned and the hills between it and Rock Creek. This 

is a subsidiary portion separated from the main range by Granite 

Basin, an intricately dissected depression, part of which is included 

at the northeast corner of the area mapped. The irregular hills 

south of the ridge and partly cut off from it by the narrow valley of 

Little Ash Creek rise to heights about 1,000 feet below the peaks on 

the ridge crest opposite them.

The depression between the two ranges is occupied by Dripping 

Spring Wash, Rock Creek, and Reed Basin. Dripping Spring 

Wash, which joins Gila River from the northwest, has a sandy flood 

plain from 500 to 2,000 feet in width. The stream has cut a shifting 

channel with steep banks a few feet high. There is water in the 

channel near the mouth, even in dry seasons, but it is derived from 

wells by means of which parts of the bottom lands are irrigated. 

The flood plain is bounded on both sides by scarps, above which the 

valley slopes gently up to the mountains on either side. The width 

of the open valley below the steeper mountain sides is about V/2 

mileSi The slopes are scarred by numerous precipitous-walled 

gulches so closely spaced as to divide the valley sides into a series 

of narrow, flat-topped ridges that trend almost at right angles to 

the main stream.

The depression between the ranges is occupied for a short distance by Gila River and is continued southeastward by the valley 

of Rock Creek, which empties into the Gila over a mile upstream 

from the mouth of Dripping Spring Wash, but almost exactly in 

line with that stream. The creek is appropriately named. It has 

a narrow channel carved in rock, with numerous low waterfalls. 

The portion of the valley below the steep mountain sides has an
TOPOGRAPHY 5

average width of about 2,000 feet, and the streamward slopes are* 

steeper than the corresponding slopes in Dripping Spring Valley. 

The tributary gulches have cliffs in many places, but they are not 

such narrow, nearly straight gashes in the valley sides as those tributary to Dripping Spring Valley. (See PL II, A.) Water seeps 

to the surface in a number of spots in the channels of the tributaries 

of Rock Creek even after long-continued dry weather. The differences in the two valleys result largely from the differences in the 

rocks underlying them, although the much greater length of Dripping Spring Valley has its effect also.

Kock Creek is separated from Eeed Basin by a poorly defined 

divide south of Corral Mountain. Keed Basin, of which only the 

west end is shown on Plate I, is a continuation of the depression 

between the ranges. It is, however, drained by Deer Creek, which 

leaves this depression through a gap in the southern rim of the 

roughly triangular basin and flows a little north of west through 

the Dripping Spring Range into the Gila. The valley of the portion of the stream which is shown on the map resembles that of 

Rock. Creek, but is narrower, deeper, and steeper walled. Deer 

Creek differs from Rock Creek, however, in that the greater part 

of its channel is floored with a thin deposit of alluvium. Water 

flows at the surface in stretches of this stream in the driest seasons. 

Ash Creek, farther south, has a similar though more tortuous valley. 

Water flows at the surface in a large part of the channel of this 

stream also throughout the year.

The portion of the Dripping Spring Range included in the area 

mapped is an irregular group of low mountains that constitute part 

of the southeastern end of the range, which to the northwest assumes greater proportions and a more regular form. The highest 

peak in this part of the range is Lee Mountain, which rises 3,787 

feet above sea level (PL II, B) ; a number of the other peaks have 

altitudes of 3,000 feet or more. The Tablelands, which form a conspicuous feature of the southeast corner of the area mapped, have 

flat summits with altitudes of almost 3,500 feet.

The valley of Gila River cuts diagonally across the area. It has 

a sandy flood plain ranging from a few hundred feet to more than 

1,000 feet in width, over which the river wanders in shifting channels with banks 1 foot to several feet high. Fragmentary terraces 

formed of unconsolidated or poorly consolidated alluvium border 

the flood plain in places, but for the most part the mountains rise 

abruptly from it. Water flows at the surface most of the year, but 

in very dry seasons some stretches of the bed are dry.
6 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

STRATIGRAPHY AND PETROLOGY

GENERAL FEATURES

No rocks older than Carboniferous crop out in the area mapped. 

Above the-limestone of that age are Cretaceous stratified rocks of 

volcanic and sedimentary origin, followed by Tertiary sand, gravel, 

tuff, conglomerate, and lava, with Quaternary alluvium in stream 

valleys. These rocks are intruded by quartz diorite of two types, 

probably of early Tertiary age. Strata older than Carboniferous 

crop out in the surrounding region and doubtless underlie the Christmas area also. There are differences in the Paleozoic sections to the 

east, west, and south. The Cretaceous rocks that crop out over the 

greater part of the Christmas area might in detailed work be subdivided on the basis of sedimentary and volcanic origin, but the rocks 

of the two types are so intimately interbedded that it proved impracticable to attempt such subdivision in the present work. The Tertiary stratified rocks can be grouped into five divisions, but the complete sequence is not exposed at any one place. The Quaternary 

alluvium has been grouped into older and younger alluvium, and 

careful physiographic work would probably suggest furtli^r subdivision. Only the medium and coarser grained intrusive rocks have 

been mapped. Small dikes and irregular intrusions of fine-grained 

porphyritic rocks of diverse types are so numerous that to map them 

would be impracticable.

PALEOZOIC SECTION

Kb rocks older than Carboniferous crop out in the Christmas 

area, but immediately south of this area, on the upper part of Ash 

Creek, are excellent exposures of rocks ranging all the way from 

pre-Cambrian metamorphic rocks to the top of the Carboniferous 

limestone. The results of a paced traverse along Ash Creek through 

this section are given in Figure 2, and a comparison of this section 

with similar sections in neighboring regions is shown in Plate III. 

The top of the section is at the southern boundary of the Christmas 

area, a little over iy2 miles from the southeast corner. A small 

area of the Carboniferous limestone of this section is shown on the 

map (PI. I). At the base of the section is green and purplish schist 

which has the appearance characteristic of the Pinal schist 6 of the 

Hay-Globe region, and, like that formation, is probably of preCambrian age. Above the schist is a metamorphosed sandstone in 

which bedding can be discerned. The strike is N. 80° W., and the 

dip is about 50° N. A dark-green gabbro crops out on both the up8 Ransome, F. L., The copper deposits of Ray and Miami, Ariz.: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 115, pp. 32-36, 1919.
STRATIGRAPHY AND PETROLOGY

stream and downstream sides of 

the metamorphosed sandstone. 

The canyon walls above the metamorphic rocks are composed of 

Tertiary volcanic beds. The next 

rock encountered along the 

stream is a quartzite. This unconformity is taken to be the one 

that separates the pre-Cambrian 

and Paleozoic formations in the 

region, and the quartzitic strata 

above it are believed to belong 

to the Apache group 7 (Cambrian ?). The total thickness of 

the rocks that may be assigned 

to this group is only 600 feet, 

but the thickness in the GlobeBay region is over twice as much, 

as can be seen from Plate III. 

A number of the formations of 

the Apache group are either absent or are represented by beds 

differing lithologically from 

those in the Globe-Eay region. 

There is nothing corresponding 

to the Pioneer shale, and the 

Scanlan and Barnes conglomerates are represented only by 

small lenses of conglomerate and 

scattered pebbles near the base 

of the red cross-bedded quartzite, which is the lowest member 

of the group present. The pebbles are quartzose, and few exceed half an inch in diameter. 

The red and pink quartzite, 

about 210 feet thick, at the base 

of the group, probably corresponds to the Dripping Spring 

quartzite. The 90 feet of thinbedded green shale and red 

quartzite above this is probably 

equivalent to the Mescal limestone. The overlying 300 feet

7 Idem, p. 39.

Probable 

equivalents 

in GlobeRay region.

Tornado 

limestone.

stone.

Troy quartzite.

stone.

Dripping 

B p! r i n e

Barnes con-\ 

glomerate. \ 

Scanlan con- \ 

glomerate .

Absent.

Final schist.

o-p'^o^ct -r?T*

i i

i -=> i

i = i

1 o

=>! 1

! 1 o

10 I

1 !

1 o 1

1 1

=> 1 1 => 1

1 1

-= 1

1 <= !

=> 1 1 1 <= 1

1 o 1 1 1

1 ° 1

o |

1 1 c

0 |

1 1

0 1

1 o 1

0 1

1 0 1

1 1 o

_o 1

_l o |

I <=

4HH1 o |

o I

1 o I

o |

] =1 -'n^T

1 1

=^=

c'-:X'-£t**«-i' Ci

.. . ;.-.

- --;

- _> _

' < ': :' :' :' ' : 

*%&':: ! v':V^i

m:,. ' . ;;;.,;

V\V'- ' $ 

^WJ§ wW1\ov\i

\\v\\\\xv\\

Ash Creek. 

Andesite. andesite 

breccia, conglomerate.

\Vell-bedded limestone, mostly 1 ight gray.

in part red and buff.

Beds 1 foot to several

feet thick. Numerous 

small chert concretions.

sils of lower Pennsyllowcr Mississippian age 

in lower part. 1,100 

feet.

Crystalline limestone, 

white and massive 

above, gray and indiav tinotly bedded below. 

\ 95+ feet.

Soft green fissile

Red cross-bedded 

quartzite. (10 feet.

Light-colored Quartzite, ripple marked. Has 

few Upper Cambrian 

fossils. 100 feet.

and the two members 

above grade into each 

__ other. 110 feet. 

Thin banded green

00 feet. 

Pink quartzite, grading downward into red. 

86 feet.

Red quartzite, crossbedded on a small scale ; 

pebbly at base. 125 

feet.

Metamorphosed 

micaceous sandstone, 

thickness uncertain. 

Intruded by gabbro 

which may extend into 

rocks above.

Chloritic schist.

FIGUEB 2. Columnar section of Paleozoic 

rocks on upper Ash Creek, showing correlations with Globe-Ray region
8 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

of quartzitic beds may correspond to the Troy quartzite. The basalt 

present in many sections in the Globe-Kay region is absent here. 

The quartzite in this section is less metamorphosed than is characteristic of the Apache group in the Globe-Kay region. In most beds 

the original clastic grains can be seen with the unaided eye, bedding 

can be distinctly seen, and the rock in places might appropriately be 

called quartz sandstone. (See PI. IV, A.) A number of the beds 

in the upper part of the section are beautifully ripple marked. (See 

PL IV, B.) Some of the beds near the top of the group have curious 

rounded protuberances on their surfaces. (See PI. V, A.) The 

relief was doubtless produced by differential solution, but the reason 

for the selective action is not clear. ,

Some of the upper beds in the part of the section supposed to correspond to the Troy quartzite are sparingly fossiliferous. The few 

fossils collected here were examined by Edwin Kirk, who reports: 

" This lot is almost certainly of Upper Cambrian age. In the literature this horizon has variously been determined as Middle and 

Upper Cambrian. The best opinion at present, however, is that it 

should be referred to the Upper Cambrian." He identified the fossils as Obolus sp. and Lingulella sp. Campbell 8 found fossils in 

these beds that were considered by Walcott to be of Middle Cambrian 

age. If the group is equivalent to the Apache group of Ransome, as 

the similarities in stratigraphic position and lithology make very,' 

probable, then it would appear from the determination cited that the 

whole of the Apache group is as old as Upper Cambrian.

The rock stratigraphically above the quartzite is green shale 

about 100 feet thick. It weathers readily into masses of soft flakes 

less than an inch in greatest dimension. No fossils were found in it. 

The stratigraphic position of this shale is apparently equivalent to 

that of the Martin "limestone 9 in the Globe-Bay region, and it may 

therefore be, like the Martin, of Devonian age.

The rest of the section measured is made up of limestone, with a 

total thickness of about 1,200 feet. The limestone can be subdivided 

into at least two parts on lithologic grounds, but the distinctions are 

so fine and the varieties merge into one another so gradually that 

even where the exposures are as excellent and complete as they are 

in this part of the valley of Ash Creek it would be difficult to set 

definite limits to the divisions, and it would be almost impossible 

to map them over any considerable area. The lower part of the 

limestone is light blue on fresh surfaces, crystalline, and massive. 

The thickness of limestone of this character is about 100 feet, but

8 Campbell, M. E., The Deer Creek coal field, Ariz.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 225, 

p. 243, 1904.

9 Ransome, F. L., op. cit., pp. 45, 46.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE II

A. THE UPPER PART OF THE VALLEY OF HOCK CREEK

Shows the large valley occupied by a small stream. The prominent bluffs are composed of Gilu conglomerate. Tertiary lava in the background and Cretaceous stratilied rocks in the foreground

B. LEE MOUNTAIN AND SURROUNDING HILLS

Shows characteristic topography of the Dripping Spring Range in the Christmas area. 

The rocks are principally Cretaceous lava and pyroclastic rocks
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE in

. GLOBE-RAY REGION ASH CREEK ARIVAIPA-STANLEY REGION

«iA»^>^Air-^r-*«*/T\./ . »».«.«tir-^\i-»m^-v>-.

Carboniferous

w

§ 

1

1

1

 o 

c 

a

 a

' 1

1

Devonian

c?

1

XI

I

P«

<u

XI

I

Tornado limestone 

1000 feet 

Thick beds of light gray limestone. 

 Foosils scarce in lower or Mississippian portion, but plentiful 

in Pennsylvanian portion. No 

recognizable plane of division 

between Missisaippian and Pennsylvanian

Martin limestone 

325 feet 

Generally rather thin beds. Fossillferous in upper half. Gritty 

at base. Shale at top

Troy quartzite 

400 feet

Generally cross-bedded quartzite 

with lenses of conglomerate. 

Shaly rusty beds with worm

casts at top

Vesicular basalt flow, 25-75 ft

Mescal limestone

226 feet

Thin varicolored, more or less

dolomitic beds with conspicuous

cherty layers

Dripping Spring quartzite 

400-500 Feet

Barnes conglomerate, 10-55 ft.

Pioneer shale,. 150-200 feet

Maroon shale, nrkcoic and quartzitic nenr bam>

Soanlon conglomerate 0-15 feet

^/^

^

//*

/''' ' 

/'' /

/' /' /

S / .

<3

Carboniferot

1K

1?

C

1 

T3

§'S,

 3

i

Dev.(?)

<u

2

3

A

T3 

C3

CJ

a

£1

<& 6

 * 

o.

B

IV

1

Tornado limestone 

1200 feet

Well-bedded limestone, mostly 

light gray, with chert concretions. More massive in top 100 

feet. Abundant Pennsylvanian 

fossils in upper few hundred 

feet. Scarce lower Mississippian fossils in lower part. Massive portion unfossiliferous

Soft green shale 

100 feet

Red, pink, and whitishquartzite 

300 feet 

Cross-bedded and ripple marked

Thin-bedded green shale and 

red quartzite, 90 feet

Pink and red quartzite, 210 feet

Cross-bedded in lower part.

Pebbly near base

1 IM^/'-IMCVlOA/t/TV

2

Carboniferol

C

a

I

s 

c

issippian Peand 

.2

3

Devonian

c

a c

,0

§

O

Tornado limestone

1200 feet 

Well-bedded limestone, mostly 

light gray on weathered surfaces. Numerous siliceous concretions. Fossils not abundant 

and poorly preserved in most 

outcrops

Martin limestone 

(1-100 feet

Lightcolored quartzite 

100-500 feet

Cross-bedded in part, some pebbly

beds. Shale at base in places

1 l»I^^AI«r«->0«,tlT-^

 -"""""" "

_ ^ - - " ~ '

/

GENERALIZED COLUMNAR SECTIONS OF PALEOZOIC ROCKS

IN REGIONS NEAR THE CHRISTMAS AREA

UNCONFORMITY
XI. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN- 771 PLATE IV

A. CAMHRIAN QUARTZITE ON UPPER ASH CREEK, 

SHOWING BEDDING

£. RIPPLE-MARKED CA.MRRIAN QUAHTZITK ON UPPKR ASH CREEK
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE V

A. MOTTLED CAMBRIAN QUARTZITE ON UPPER ASH CHKEK

B. TORNADO LIMESTONE IN THE ROX CANYON ON UPPER ASH CREEK-
STRATIGRAPHY AND PETROLOGY 9

the upper' limit is indefinite. This part might be further subdivided into a lower half in which bedding can be discerned and 

an upper half in most of which there are no visible bedding planes. 

Above the 100 feet of comparatively massive limestone is about 1,100 

feet of well-bedded limestone, most of which is light buff as exposed 

in the canyon walls. (See PI. V, B.) The beds are from 1 foot to 

several feet thick and contain siliceous concretions stained yellow 

and red by iron oxides. The concretions are more numerous in the 

upper part of the section. The topmost limestone strata are in unconformable contact with beds of both Tertiary and Cretaceous ager 

and the measurement of the section could not be carried farther. At 

about the border between the well-bedded and massive limestones 

there are a few narrow bands containing small pebbles of metamorphosed trap. In the limestone in this vicinity traces of fossils were 

noted in a number of beds. A few that appeared sufficiently distinct 

to be determinable Avere collected and submitted to. G. H. Girty for 

examination. In the beds near the top of the section fossils are 

abundant, but most of them are fragmentary. A collection from 

these beds was submitted to Mr. Girty at the same time, together 

with collections from similar limestone near Christmas and near the 

Lower Coal Field mine, on the north side of Reed Basin, 2 miles 

east of the east boundary of the area mapped on Plate I. Mr. Girty 

reports that the age of the collection from the lower horizon on Ash 

Creek c'an not be determined with any definiteness, but he believes- 

" that it is probably lower Mississippian (Madison or Lake Valley)." 

The only form he identified in it is Triplophyllum sp. The collection from the upper part of the section is " definitely Pennsylvanian,. 

and probably lower Pennsylvanian." The list of fossils identified 

in it follows:

Triplophyllum'? sp. 

Derbya crassa? 

Chonetes mesolobus. 

Productus semiveticulatus. 

Productus cora. 

Marginifera splendens. 

Marginifera muricata. 

Pustula nebraskensis? 

Spirifer cameratus. 

Spirifer rockymontanus. 

Squamularia perplexa. 

Coinposita subtilita.

Campbell also collected fossils of Pennsylvanian age from the 

upper limestone beds.

From these paleontologic data and comparison with data from 

neighboring regions it appears probable that the entire 1,200 feet of
10 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNEE DISTRICTS, AEIZ.

limestone is equivalent to the Tornado limestone of Ransome 10 and 

includes strata of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian age. In the 

area in the Winkelman quadrangle between the limestone on Ash 

Creek and the Tornado limestone in the Ray quadrangle are scattered 

exposures of similar limestone containing fossils of similar appearance. There are so many resemblances in lithology, stratigraphic 

position, and age between the limestone of Ash Creek and the typical Tornado limestone that the correlation is made with confidence. 

Limestone similar to that on Ash Creek was found in several 

places in the Christmas area, and in these places the evidence for 

correlating it with the Tornado is even better. The crest and southern flank of the prominent ridge in the northeastern part of the 

area are composed of such rock, and the exposure, can be traced continuously northwestward into the Ray quadrangle, where it joins a 

mass mapped by Ransome as Tornado (see PI. XVI). The fossils obtained near the Lower Coal Field mine came from the base of the 

ridge near the contact with the Cretaceous rocks and consequently 

from the top of the limestone section. Mr. Girty states that, like 

those from the upper beds on Ash Creek, they are " definitely Pennsylvanian, and probably lower Pennsylvanian." The list of fossils he 

identified in the collection follows:

Fusulina secalica. 

Rhombopora lepidodendroides. 

Derbya crassa. 

Chonetes granulifer. 

Productus cora. 

Prodtictus semireticulatus ? 

Marginif era wabashensis ? 

Pugnoides Utah. 

Dielasma bovidens. 

Spirifer cameratus. 

Spiriferina kentuckyensis. 

Ambocoelia planiconvexa. 

Composita subtilita. 

Hustedia mormoni.

Near Christmas and in the southwest corner of the area there are 

masses of limestone which are eastward extensions of masses of 

Tornado limestone in the Ray quadrangle. (See Pis. IX, J., and 

XIII.) Small bodies of similar rock are brought up by a fault on 

the left side of Gila River near Sulphur Gulch. (See PI. IX, B.) 

The fossils found near Christmas submitted to Mr. Girty proved to 

be indefinite. He states concerning this collection:

It may be Pennsylvanian, yet it obviously does not present the same fades 

as the two well-characterized Pennsylvanian faunas represented by the collections from Ash Creek and near the Lower Coal Field mine. On the other

10 Ransome, F. L., op. cit., pp. 47-49.
STRATIGRAPHY AND PETROLOGY 11

hand, it does not present any of the well-known lower Mississippian facies, 

though it contains nothing (unless it were the form called Derbya? sp.) that 

would debar it from the Madison or lower Mississippian. I should, however, 

prefer to call this lot Pennsylvanian rather than Madison. No .upper Mississippian is known in this region, else it might even be upper Mississippian.

The list of fossils follows: 

Cladochonus sp. 

Derbya? sp. 

Spirifer sp.

Coinposita aff. C. immatura. 

Myalina sp.

In the parl. of the Banner district included in the Ray quadrangle 

the Paleozoic section corresponds essentially to the section for the 

Globe-Ray region shown in Plate III. For descriptions of these 

rocks the reader is referred to the work of Ransome. 11

CRETACEOUS STRATIFIED ROCKS

Rocks of Cretaceous age crop out over more than two-thirds of 

the Christmas area. Considerable quantities of other rocks are 

found only along the northern border and in the southeast corner. 

The Cretaceous rocks include all the '.somewhat metamorphosed 

volcanic rocks and the sedimentary beds associated with them ana 

can easily be distinguished from the Tertiary lava and tuff by their 

less fresh appearance.

There is doubtless much variation in the succession of beds in 

different places, and in the Christmas area no place was found 

where a satisfactory section could be measured. The thickness is 

certainly over 1,000 feet, and the maximum may be as much as 

twice that. It may be roughly estimated that two-thirds of the 

total thickness is of volcanic origin and the remainder of sedimentary 

origin. Probably in some localities the proportion of sedimentary 

beds is much less than this. The irregular distribution of sedimentary beds, the irregularity and indistinctness of stratification in 

the volcanic rocks, and the numerous faults make accurate estimates 

impossible. Evidently sedimentary beds occur at several horizons 

in the section. In Reed Basin there is much sedimentary rock, 

especially near the Lower Coal Field mine, east of the Christmas 

area, where according to an estimate by Campbell 12 there is some 

500 feet of sedimentary rock at the base of the Cretaceous section. 

In the valley of Little Rock Creek, especially on the left side, below 

the scarp of The Tablelands, are numerous beds of sedimentary rock,

11 Ransome, F. L., The copper deposits of Ray and Miami, Adz.: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. 

Paper 115, 1919.

12 Campbell, M. R., The Deer Creek coal field, Ariz.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 225, 

p. 246, 1904.
12 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNEE DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

principally conglomerate, but lava and pyroclastic rocks are interstratified with them. Along the portion of Deer Creek north of 

this locality there are beds of coarse conglomerate. On both sidesof Ash Creek near the point where the stream crosses the southern 

border of the Christmas area are exposures of sedimentarjr rock, 

principally coarse conglomerate. Such beds form the base of theCretaceous section and rest unconformably on the Tornado limestone. Others were noted interbedded with the .volcanic strata on 

the slopes on either side. Near the head of Rock Creek, on the south 

side of the stream, are some thin beds of sandstone and conglomerate 

with volcanic breccia stratigraphically above and below. The 

Cretaceous rocks between Little Ash Creek and Rock Creek contain a considerable proportion of sedimentary beds. In places sandstone rests directly on the Tornado limestone, the bedding in the 

two being nearly parallel. For hundreds of feet along the contact, 

however, a gray hornblende porphyry, evidently a lava flow, is the 

lowest member of the Cretaceous section. In the mountains on the 

east side of Gila River below the mouth of Rock Creek conglomerate 

and other sedimentary rocks are interbedded with the volcanic 

strata. Coarse conglomerate and sandstone occur on the west side 

of the Gila near the railroad tunnel. A mass of sandstone, shale, 

and conglomerate with subordinate volcanic material extends from 

a point about 1,400 feet southwest of the Two Queens mine northward to Deer Creek. The above include all the localities covered 

by the Cretaceous rocks in which any considerable quantity of 

sedimentary rocks were noted. Elsewhere the rocks are predominantly of volcanic origin.

Most of the sandstone is yellow on weathered surfaces, but beds 

containing considerable calcareous material are dark gray when 

broken. Some massive beds are several feet thick. The shale is 

composed largely of clay and carbonaceous matter. It is fine 

grained, and much of it is thin banded. The colors are light green, 

various shades of gray, and black. Indistinct evidence of plant remains was noted in a number of outcrops, and carbonized tree stumps 

are reported to have been found. 13 No coal was noted in the Christmas area, but a little is supposed to have been found near the mouth 

of Little Ash Creek. Probably the major part of the sedimentary 

beds are conglomerates. Many contain pebbles or cobbles from a 

few inches to over a foot 'in diameter, composed largely of quartz, 

quartzite, and various granitic rocks, mostly somewhat metamorphosed. Pebbles of limestone, probably from the Tornado, are 

present in some beds, and andesitic pebbles can also be found. The 

pebbles in many such beds are well rounded and fairly well sorted.

13 Mellor, N. H., personal communication.
STRATIGRAPHY AND PETROLOGY ° 13

These beds resemble the far older and more indurated Barnes conglomerate of the Globe-Bay region, and it is conceivable that they 

liave been derived in part from eroded outcrops of the Barnes. 

There are also numerous thick beds in which most of the cobbles 

are composed of similar ancient quartzose and granitic rocks but are 

not well sorted and are in part subangular. Some of the cobbles in

 such beds are over 2 feet long. Typical examples are shown in 

Plate VI. Whether the pebbles and cobbles of ancient rocks were 

derived from the Barnes conglomerate or directly from the ancient 

rocks, it would seem that many of them must have been transported 

long distances. -No rocks from which they could have come crop out 

in the Christmas area, and it is unlikely that any such rocks were 

'exposed on the surface on which the Cretaceous beds were laid down. 

Some conglomerate beds are made up largely of fragments of the 

andesitic rocks. The pebbles in these beds are notably more angular than those composed principally of older rocks. In some the 

pebbles show little rounding. Beds that contain principally andesite pebbles lie stratigraphically both above and below beds that 

contain numerous pebbles of old rocks. Ransome 14 reports that 

south of O'Carroll Canyon in the Ray quadrangle the Tornado 

limestone "is unconformably overlain by a layer of angular cherty 

iragments, derived from the limestone, embedded in a gray clayey 

matrix." Such material was not noted in the Christmas area.

Most of the volcanic strata are breccias of various types, although 

unbrecciated flows were noted in numerous places. Many of the

 flows, both brecciated and unbrecciated, have amygdalodial texture. 

The prevailing colors are purple and green, although various shades 

of gray, brown, red, and black were noted. Most of the lava is of 

andesitic composition, but basalt crops out over considerable areas. 

In many of the andesites the ferromagnesian minerals have broken 

down into epidote, chlorite, calcite, and other alteration products, 

but in some of them hornblende is a prominent constituent. The 

feldspar is clouded with opaque dust and alteration products and 

ranges in composition from oligoclase to andesine. The basalt

 examined is a fine-grained black rock consisting essentially of 

bytownite feldspar and biotite, with much chlorite and epidote, some 

<calcite, and other alteration products.

Near the head of Little Rock Creek is an outcrop of a drab andesite

 cut by ramifying dikelets of smoke-gray sandstone a few inches wide. 

The andesite is composed predominately of feldspar microlites of about 

the composition of oligoclase, with epidote and other alteration products. There are a few small lath-shaped oligoclase phenocrysts. The

14 Raiisome, F. L., The copper deposits of Ray and Miami, Ariz.: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 115, 56-57, 1919.
14 ' SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

sandstone is fine to medium grained and is composed largely of quartz 

and altered feldspar with some epidote and chlorite. Clastic dikes 

in the Cretaceous rocks of this region were also observed by Campbell,15 but those he examined had a filling of conglomerate instead 

of sandstone.

The determination of the age of the volcanic and sedimentary 

strata described above rests largely on evidence obtained in the region 

east of the Christmas area, as no identifiable fossils have been found 

in them within that area. The stratigraphic evidence in the Christmas area shows that the rocks are younger than the Tornado limestone, on which they rest unconformably, and antedate the older 

Tertiary beds, which lie unconformably on them. The angular discordance between the Tornado limestone and the overlying beds is 

so slight that in most exposures it is imperceptible. The only place 

where a marked difference in the attitude of the beds was observed 

was on upper Ash Creek, and here the structure is complicated by 

small normal faults. The presence of an unconformity is attested,, 

however, by minor irregularities in the contact as exposed along 

Little Ash Creek and by the sharp change in lithologic character. 

The unconformity at the base of the /Tertiary beds can be seen by a 

glance at the map (PL I). In the northwestern part of the area 

Tertiary strata dipping gently southwestward rest on the truncated 

edges of more steeply inclined Cretaceous beds. In the southeast 

corner of the area the Cretaceous beds dip northwest and the Tertiary 

strata above them dip east.

The Cretaceous beds can be traced in continuous exposures eastward through the coal fields into the Stanley mining district. On 

the basis of collections of imperfectly preserved leaves and shells 

Walcott 16 and Campbell 17 both considered the corresponding rocks 

to be of Cretaceous age. A recent collection of invertebrate fossils 

found near the base of the Cretaceous in the Stanley mining district 18 was examined by T. W. Stanton, who states that they are of 

Colorado age. Thus the sedimentary beds in the lower part of the 

formation were clearly laid down in the early part of Upper Cretaceous time. Fossils have not been found in beds in the upper part 

of the formation, but it is probable that the whole group of volcanic 

and sedimentary beds was deposited in Upper Cretaceous time.

./

15 Campbell, M. R., Conglomerate dikes in southern Arizona: Am. Geologist, vol. 33, 

pp. 135H38, 1904.

10 Walcott, C. D., and Bannon, M., Deer Creek coal field, White Mountain Indian Reservation, Ariz.: 48th Cong., 2d sess., S. Ex. Doc. 20, p. 7, 1885.

17 Campbell, M. R., The Deer Creek coal field, Ariz.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 225, 

p. 240, 1904.

18 Ross, C. P., The geology and ore deposits of the Aravaipa and Stanley mining 

districts, Graham County, Ariz.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 763, 1925.
15

OLDER TERTIARY STRATIFIED ROCKS

The bedded rocks younger than the Cretaceous rocks just described and older than the Gila conglomerate may be termed older 

Tertiary stratified rocks. They consist of rocks of both sedimentary 

and volcanic origin and have yielded no fossils. Four divisions 

were mapped in the southeast corner of the area, where the rocks 

are well exposed. (See fig. 3.) The same divisions were recognized 

in the outcrops between the main ridge of the Mescal Range and 

Rock Creek, but with a number of differences, particularly in the 

thickness. The lowest division, although probably present in places, 

was so scantily represented that it could not be mapped in this part 

of the area. It bears a striking resemblance to the well-known Gila 

conglomerate, as can be teen from Plate VII. It is tentatively correlated with the Whitetail conglomerate of the Globe-Ray region, as 

it is similar in age, stratigraphic position, and origin to that formation. As can be seen from Plate I, its thickness is variable. The

W. ...... . ., ,,, Basalt Tuff and tuffaceous Rhyolite E.

WhrtetailC?) __ \. conglomerate y

conglomerate tsxsxn^ * &

Cretaceous volcanic" "''-^J-^-^'^^^ 

and sedimentary rocks

l MILE

FIGURE 3. Section through the west end of The Tablelands, showing relations of the 

Tertiary strata. For line of section see B-B', Plate I

maximum is about 400 feet on upper Ash Creek. The exposure 

around the rim of The Tablelands decreases gradually in thickness 

to the northeast. At a point 2,000 feet west of the east border of the 

area mapped none of the rock is visible, but east of this point the 

thickness again gradually increases. A little red gravel can be 

found in places at the base of the Tertiary section in the outcrops 

north of Rock Creek, and this is doubtless equivalent to that underlying The Tablelands. Its thickness in this part of the area is nowhere more than a few inches.

In the scarp of The Tablelands the material of the lowest division 

is coarse sand and gravel, sufficiently indurated to form steep slopes 

and small* cliffs but easily broken down by a pick. The deposits are 

distinctly bedded but not well sorted. The fragments composing 

the beds range in size from coarse sand up to cobbles 2 feet long. Most 

of them are subangular, but in some beds the pebbles are fairly well 

rounded. The material is derived in large part from the Cretaceous
16

rocks beneath. Pebbles of ancient rocks are present in some beds, 

but these may come from the Cretaceous conglomerate. (See PI.

VII, B.} Viewed from a distance most of the deposits are light 

brown, but some exposures appear almost cream-colored. In places 

the beds immediately below the lava have been baked to a dark red 

by heat from the igneous rock, and are much harder than the rest of 

the deposit. As already stated, this formation, which is mapped as 

Whitetail (?) conglomerate, rests with angular conformity on the 

Cretaceous stratified rocks below The Tablelands. Near the south 

 edge of the area mapped it extends beyond this formation and overlaps on the tilted surface of the Tornado limestone.

The next succeeding unit of the Tertiary bedded rocks is basalt. 

In the scarp of The Tablelands this rock can be seen to rest on the 

Whitetail (?) conglomerate just described with a small angular discordance. The dip of the lava is in approximately the same direction as that of the alluvial deposits but gentler. The maximum 

thickness of basalt on The Tablelands is approximately 500 feet. 

Northwest of Corral Mountain the thickness is of the same order 

of magnitude, the maximum being perhaps somewhat greater. These 

thicknesses have been built up by successive flows, some of them only 

a few feet thick.

The basalt in the southeastern part of the region is a fine-grained 

black or brown rock, sparingly vesicular, consisting of augite and 

olivine, with some iddingsite and epidote. In the vicinity of Corral 

Mountain much of the rock is dark red and highly vesicular.

The unit next above the basalt consists of tuff and tuffaceous conglomerate of siliceous composition. In the conglomerate on The 

Tablelands the pebbles are subangular, and range from a fraction of an inch to a few inches in greatest dimensions. Most of them 

are composed of a dark-gray aphanitic rock with pronounced flow 

structure and tiny phenocrysts of quartz and feldspar. It is a soda 

rhyolite consisting essentially of quartz and alkali feldspar, in part 

albite. A characteristic exposure of such beds is shown in Plate

VIII, A. The thickness in the western part of The Tablelands is 

somewhat over 300 feet. In the area north of Bock Creek there is 

a similar tuffaceous conglomerate containing pebbles of rhyolite, 

basalt, and pumice in a nearly white matirx of tuff. The thickness 

is nowhere more than a few score feet, and in places it is not exposed. 

On Corral Mountain there is a small amount of tuffaceous conglomerate at the base of and also interbedded with the lava th#t caps the 

mountain, but as the maximum thickness observed was only about 20 

feet it was not mapped.

The tuffaceous beds are capped by lava flows of variable composition. In a number of places the rock is dark gray or purplish, 

shows a few phenocrysts of quartz and alkali feldspar in a ground-
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE VI

A. COARSE CRETACEOUS CONGLOMERATE OM UPPER ASH CREEK

£. COARSE CRETACEOUS CONGLOMERATE ON GILA RIVER ABOVE 

APACHE SPRING
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE VII

A. GENERAL VIEW OF OLDEK TERTIARY CONGLOMERATE NORTH OF 

SADDLE MOUNTAIN

H. CLOSE VIEW OK OLDER TERTIARY CONGLOMERATE ON WEST SIDE 

OF THE TABLELANDS
TJ. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE VIII

A. TUFFACEOUS CONGLOMERATE OF TERTIARY AGE ON THE TABLELANDS

S. DIKE OF QUARTZ-MICA DIORITE CUTTING CRETACEOUS VOLCANIC 

ROCK ON SOUTH SIDE OF DEER CREEK EAST OF ADJUST MINE
U. S. GKOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE IX

A. COMTORTED TORNADO LIMESTONE ON GILA RIVER NEAR 

SOUTHWEST CORNER OF CHRISTMAS AREA.

B. FAULT BLOCK OF TORNADO LIMESTONE ON EAST SIDE OF GII.A 

RIVER NEAR APACHE SPRING

The limestone is in pafl contact metamorphosed, and prospecting has been done in it
STRATIGRAPHY AND PETROLOGY 17

mass of devitrified glass with flow structure, and has the composition of a rhyolite or quartz latite, and this name is consequently used 

on the map. In places, however, the lava in this stratigraphic position is basalt. The lava that caps the small mesa on The Tableland? 

near the southeast corner of the area, marked on Plate I by the altitude figure 3535, is basalt containing bytownite feldspar, epidote, ancl 

iddingsite. The original ferromagnesian minerals were probably 

olivine and augite, but they are now almost completely destroyed' 

by alteration.

The Whitetail (?) conglomerate, basalt, tuff and tuffaceous conglomerate, and rhyolite described above are clearly of Tertiary 

age. They are younger than the Cretaceous stratified rocks and 

older than the Gila conglomerate, which is believed to be of Pliocene and Pleistocene (?) age. In the absence of fossils the date of 

formation can not be more closely fixed with certainty. They are 

contemporaneous with part of the Teritary volcanic rocks in the 

Stanley mining district, a few miles farther east.

GILA CONGLOMERATE

The poorly consolidated alluvial deposits that occupy the greater 

part of Dripping Spring Valley belong to the Gila conglomerate. 

Kemnants of the same formation crop out on the north side of Rock 

Creek. (See PI. Ill, A.) Beds mapped as belonging to the Gila 

conglomerate are coextensive with beds so assigned by Ransome 19 

in the portion of Dripping Spring Valley that lies in Ray quadrangle.

Thicknesses of several hundred feet of the formation are exposed 

in the Christmas area, and much of it has obviously been removed 

by erosion. The formation is made up of conglomerate and coarse 

sandstone, which is sufficiently cemented to stand up in cliffs but is 

not hard. The material is in the main poorly sorted and subangular, as is characteristic of the formation in most localities where it 

has been observed. The pebbles are derived from the Paleozoic 

strata, especially the quartzites, from various granitic rocks, and 

from Cretaceous volcanic rocks, and, chiefly on Gila River and north 

of Rock Creek, there are beds in which fragments of Tertiary basalt 

and ryholite are abundant. It is clearly younger than anj^ of the 

formations of which it contains fragments. In San Pedro Valley, 

in the Winkelman quadrangle, south of the Christmas area, fossils 

of Pliocene age 20 have been found in rock believed to belong to the 

Gila formation. 21 On this evidence the Gila conglomerate in the

10 Ransome, F. L., op. cit., pp. 71-74.

20 Gldley, J. W., Preliminary report on fossil vertebrates of the San Pedro Valley, Ariz.: 

U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 131, pp. 120-121, 1922. 

a Bryan, Kirk, personal communication.
18 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

Christmas area may be provisionally considered as at least in part 

of Pliocene age.

QUATERNARY ALLUVIUM

All the alluvial deposits younger than the Gila conglomerate may 

be grouped under the name Quaternary alluvium. Two divisions 

are recognized, and physiographic study would probably reveal 

more. The older alluvium includes the partly consolidated deposits, remnants of \vhich can be found on slopes above the present 

flood plains. Patches of it have been mapped in several places 

along Gila River, on Ash Creek below the Two Queens mine, and 

on a rjdge south of O'Carroll Canyon. On the north side of Deer 

Creek nearly a mile above its mouth and at Christmas there are 

slopes whose smooth contours contrast sharply with the dissected 

hillsides around them. These slopes are veneered with cemented 

gravel, which has been mapped as belonging to the older alluvium. 

There are in places patches of older alluvium so small and irregular 

that they have not been mapped. One such place is on upper Ash 

Creek near the southern boundary of the Christmas area. Alluvium 

of this age may be present in the parts of the area mapped as 

underlain by the Gila formation.

The second division of the Quaternary alluvium may be termed 

Recent alluvium. It occupies the channels and flood plains of the 

present streams. It has been mapped only in the flood plains of 

Gila River and Dripping Spring Wash, where the width is sufficient to warrant showing it. On Deer Creek gravel and sand occur 

for the first mile and a half above its mouth and from a point near 

the mouth of Little Rocky Creek upstream. In the intervening 

stretch the amount of gravel on the bedrock along the stream is 

small. There is a width of 100 feet or more of Recent alluvium 

along the whole of the portion of Ash Creek in the Christmas area. 

Recent alluvium occurs near the mouths of nearly all the streams 

emptying into the Gila, and many others have small amounts of 

gravel in places in their channels.

The older alluvium is in general a coarse, poorly sorted gravel 

composed of subangular to rounded fragments of Tertiary and 

older rocks. Most of it is more or less cemented with caliche. It 

is of either Pleistocene or Recent age. Part of the material mapped 

as older alluvium at Christmas consists of large angular blocks of 

andesitic rock and diorite porphyry and is probably talus, but some 

of it shows evidence of sorting by water. Some of the talus material may be of recent origin.

The Recent alluvium is unconsolidated. The flood-plain deposits 

mapped consist of sand and silt. The material in the smaller stream 

channels is coarse sand, gravel, and boulders. The boulders are
STRATIGRAPHY AND PETROLOGY 19

all of local derivation, and most of the gravel has not been carried 

far. On Ash Creek, however, limestone and basalt pebbles were 

noted several miles below outcrops of such rocks.

CRETACEOUS INTRUSIVE ROCKS

The Cretaceous stratified rocks are everywhere cut by numerous 

small masses of fine-grained porphyritic rocks which may for purposes of description be grouped together. Many are similar petrographically to the flows and evidently are genetically related to 

them; others may be of later origin. Probably most of these intrusive bodies are dikes, but there are also a number of sills and irregular masses. Although the aggregate area of outcrop of such 

rocks in the Christmas region is large, most of the individual masses 

are so small and their relations are so complex that they could not 

be mapped without the expenditure of an undue amount of time. 

The dikes range in width from a few feet to more than 100 feet. 

Some of them may be traced for a few hundred yards, but most are 

shorter. The sills have about the same range in dimensions as the 

dikes. Some of the irregular masses may be as much as a few 

thousand feet in greatest dimension. In many places it is difficult 

to be sure whether a given mass is of effusive or intrusive origin.

These intrusive rocks have about the same range in color and composition as the Cretaceous lavas. Among the colors noted are 

purplish, green, black, brown, and gray. The greater part are 

andesites, consisting largely of hornblende and either oligoclase or 

andesine. There are a few masses of quartz latite containing oligoclase, orthoclase, hornblende, and quartz, and others of basalt containing augite, olivine, and calcic plagioclase. Most of them contain variable amounts of chlorite, calcite, sericite, and other alteration products.

Most of these porphyritic rocks may be confidently considered to 

belong to the same period of volcanism as the lava and associated 

strata which they cut, and they are consequently of Cretaceous age. 

There are, however, bodies of light-gray andesite, consisting essentially of hornblende and oligoclase, some of which may be related to 

the diorite dikes described below and consequently probably of early 

Tertiary age. This suggestion is founded on Ransome's observation 22 

that in the vicinity of Troy, in the Ray quadrangle, fine-grained 

rock with small hornblende phenocrysts occurs as a marginal facies 

of quartz diorite porphyry dikes. On the other hand, in several 

places in the part of the Christmas area occupied by Cretaceous 

strata there are masses of similar gray hornblende porphyry which

23 Ransome, F. L., The copper deposits of Ray and Miami,. Ariz.: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 115, pp. 65, 66, 1919.
20 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

are rudely stratified and appear to be of effusive origin. It is probable that some of the intrusive gray hornblende porphyry is related 

to such flows and consequently of Cretaceous age. In several places 

hornblende porphyry is cut by dikes of quartz-mica diorite.

QUARTZ-HORNBLENDE DIORITE

The intrusive mass in the northeast corner of the Christmas 

area, that near the mouth of Dripping Spring Wash, and the associated dikes are composed of essentially the same kind of rock, a 

quartz-hornblende diorite. The color of the rock in general is a 

mottled gray with a greenish cast in weathered specimens. The 

phenocrysts are nearly white plagioclase, black or green hornblende and biotite, and quartz. Biotite is subordinate in amount 

to hornblende, and quartz is only sparingly present. The groundmass is gray, has a fine allotriomorphic texture, and appears to 

make up rather less than half the volume of the rock. The feldspar phenocrysts appear to be all plagioclase with zonal growths. 

The average composition is about that of oligoclase. In the 

groimdmass there is also a small amount of alkali feldspar. The 

rock is thus a porphyritic quartz diorite. As hornblende predominates over biotite in it the word " hornblende" is added to its 

name to distinguish it from the somewhat similar rock cropping 

out farther south, which is called quartz-mica diorite.

The quartz-hornblende diorite is younger than the Cretaceous 

strata intruded by it and older than the Gila conglomerate, which 

rests on it in erosional contact. It may, like similar rock in the 

Bay quadrangle,23 be tentatively considered to be of early or middle 

Tertiary age, more probably the former.

QUARTZ-MICA DIORITE

The rock composing the intrusive mass at the Christmas mine and 

the dikes east and south of it shown on Plate I is called quartz-mica 

diorite. Rocks of this and related types were described by Ransome 24 

under the term quartz diorite porphyry. For convenience the word 

porphyry, descriptive merely of texture, is omitted, as its use would 

make the name of the rock too long.

This rock is of predominantly greenish hue in most exposures, but 

fresh specimens have a mottled gray color. At a distance the dikes 

appear as nearly white bands. (See PL VIII, B.} Phenocrysts of 

feldspar, biotite, and quartz compose less than half of the volume of 

the rock. Hornblende is present in some specimens but is nowhere 

a prominent constituent. The groundmass has a fine to medium

23 Ransome, F. L., op. cit., p. 32. 

2* Idem, pp. 64^66.
STRUCTURE 21

grained allotriomorphic texture and. contains feldspar, quartz, 

epidote, and in many specimens chlorite, calcite, and other alteration products. The feldspar in both phenocrysts and groundmass is 

predominantly plagioclase with an average composition. about that 

of oligoclase, but subordinate amounts of alkali feldspar, in part 

microcline, are present. The average composition of the rock is that 

of a quartz diorite, although in some of the dikes the proportion of 

alkali feldspar is nearly sufficient to give the rock the composition of 

a granodiorite. It can be distinguished from the similar quartzhornblende diorite by the presence of numerous biotite phenocrysts 

and by the somewhat greater abundance of quartz.

This rock, like the quartz-hornblende diorite farther north and 

similar rocks in the Ray quadrangle, is probably of early Tertiary 

age. The only direct evidence as to its age is the fact that it cuts 

Cretaceous strata.

STRUCTURE

In a broad way the structure of the Christmas area appears to be 

synclinal. Exposures of Cretaceous rocks in which satisfactory determinations of the attitude of the beds can be made are few and 

scattered, so that, in general, only the broadest features of the structure can be ascertained. The structure section on Plate I indicates 

what is known of the structure through the middle of the area. It 

seems that before faulting introduced complications the Cretaceousstrata were bent into a syncline of broadly oval outline occupying 

most of the area mapped and having an outlet to the east in the narrower and more elongate syncline underlying what is now Reed 

Basin. The axial plane of the main synclinal basin appears to strike 

about N. 60° E. and seems to pass somewhere in the neighborhood 

of Lee's mine, but the available data are insufficient to establish these 

inferences with certainty. Eastward the axis swings around and* 

as Campbell 25 has shown, the narrower fold under Reed Basin is 

asymmetric and its axial plane extends approximately along the 

course of Deer Creek. In the central and south-central parts of the 

Christmas area the attitude of the strata could not be accurately determined, but it is believed that most of the beds are very gently 

inclined. A number of the quartz diorite dikes lie near the inferred 

position of the synclinal axis, and the average trend of the dikes 

is approximately parallel to the assumed strike of the axis. Tornado 

limestone rises from under the Cretaceous rocks in the northeast, 

southeast, and southwest corners of the area. The limestone seems 

to have been folded concomitantly with the Cretaceous rocks and 

probably underlies them throughout. The fact that the beds of the

28 Campbell, M. R., The .Deer Creek coal field, Aria.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 225, 1904.
22 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

two formations lie so nearly parallel to each other in most localities, 

where the contact is exposed, both in the Christmas area and theregion east of it, would seem to indicate that there had' been littlestructural disturbance of the Tornado limestone before the Cretaceous strata were laid down. However, there appears to be an angular 

unconformity in the southeast corner of the area, and Campbell 28' 

reports one in Eeed Basin, so that there must have been some disturbance of the limestone before Upper Cretaceous time. In view 

of the structural history of the region in which the Christmas area, 

is situated and the apparent slight extent of the angular unconformities, it is probable that the movements prior to Upper Cretaceous time consisted largely of faulting. It is impossible to judgeto what extent the buried parts of the Paleozoic rocks may have been 

broken by faulting at this time. The pebbles of old rocks in theCretaceous conglomerates suggest the possibility that such rocksmay have been exposed in the Christmas area at the time of their 

formation, but it is equally possible that these pebbles were derived 

from distant sources. In the southwest corner of the area the 

Tornado limestone dipping out from under the Cretaceous rocks-- 

is bent into a number of small folds and broken by small faults in 

addition to the general northeastward tilting of the strata. (SeePL IX, A.)

The Cretaceous rocks are broken by normal faults. The longest: 

zone of faulting that has been mapped is. the one which has been, 

called the Christmas fault at the mine of that name. This fault 

starts in the Eay quadrangle northwest of the Christmas mine and 

bounds the block of Tornado limestone containing the ore bodies, 

of the mine on the northeast. What appears to< be a continuation of

the same zone of fracturing can be traced by means of limestone 

blocks southeastward into the Winkelman quadrangle in sec. 15,. 

T. 5 S., R. 16 E. One such block is shown an Plate IX, B. The average strike is about N". 25° W. At Christmas the relative downthrow 

is on the east side, but farther south it appears to be reversed. 

Faulting was not traced continuously in the areas between the 

blocks of limestone, because of the absence of distinctive beds by 

means of which displacement could be detected, but it is thought 

probable that there is an essentially continuous zone of faulting.. 

If so, the zone has a minimum length of about 7^ miles. In the part 

of the area where the Cretaceous rocks are the only stratified rocks 

exposed there are certainly some faults and may be many. The 

veins of the Saddle Mountain district follow fractures whose strikesvary within rather wide limits. The average strike of the veins is:

28 Campbell, M. R., op. clt, p. 245.
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 23

roughly parallel to the average strike of the quartz diorite dikes 

that is, about N. 60° E., nearly at right angles to the strike of the 

Christmas fault. The dikes may also occupy fault fissures. Slickensided surfaces on outcropping masses of andesitic rocks attest 

the presence of faults not marked by either veins or dikes. There 

may well be other faults of which no direct evidence was found. The 

apparent large thickness of andesitic strata in the vicinity of Lee 

Mountain may be the result of repetition by faulting.

The Tertiary beds in the northern part of the area are broken by 

numerous faults. Some of these have been mapped, but there are 

doubtless many others. In the area between Little Ash Creek and 

Rock Creek are a number of separate exposures of rhyolite at different altitudes. It is probable that these are remnants of a once 

continuous lava sheet and that their present separation has been 

brought about in large measure by faulting, aided, of course, by subsequent erosion. The faulting here continued long enough to involve 

the Gila conglomerate. The strikes of the faults mapped vary 

markedly. The throw is of the order of several hundred feet in 

some places. The close alinement of Dripping Spring Wash, Rock 

Creek, and the stretch of Gila River between the mouths of these 

streams doubtless has structural significance. Ransome 27 has suggested that the portion of the Dripping Spring Range in the Ray 

quadrangle may be structurally a homoclinal block tilted to the 

southwest and shattered by numerous later faults, many of which 

he has mapped. On this hypothesis, which as he has shown fits the 

known facts better than any other that has been proposed, there 

is a fault zone buried under the Gila formation in Dripping Spring 

Valley, and the origin of the valley is directly related to the displacement along this zone. The same line of faults probably continues southeastward across the Christmas area, and the depressions now occupied by Rock Creek and the stretch of Gila River 

mentioned have resulted primarily from it. The Tertiary .beds 

underlying The Tablelands were not shattered into such small 

blocks as those farther north. In the portion of The Tablelands 

included in the Christmas area there is evidence of nothing more 

than minor dislocations. The rocks have, however, been tilted a few 

degrees from the horizontal by a series of successive earth movements, as is proved by the angular unconformities between the rocks 

of different types.

GEOLOGIC HISTORY

The early geologic history of the Christmas area must be inferred 

from rocks that crop out in adjoining regions, for none older than

27 Ransome, F. L., The copper deposits of Ray and Miami, Aria.: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 115, pp. 81-84, 1919.
24 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

Carboniferous are exposed in this area. As Ransome 28 has shown, 

the Final schist records a period of marine sedimentation followed 

by folding, compression, and metamorphism of the sedimentary 

beds, all of which appears to have taken place long before the close 

of pre-Cambrian time. The Final schist was later intruded by 

igneous rocks of various types. At the end of the period of plutonic activity the region, according to Ransome, was mountainous 

and was being attacked by active erosion, which eventually wore 

it down to a peneplain. One more event in pre-Cambrian time 

may be indicated by the beds of metamorphosed sandstone unconformably below the quartzites1 correlated with the Apache group 

on Ash Creek south of the southeast corner of the Christmas area. 

This rock is well bedded and, although containing much mica of 

metamorphic origin, is not nearly as schistose as the rock underlying it, which is believed to belong to the Final schist. The 

sandstone may represent deposits formed during an incursion of 

the sea long after that during which were deposited the beds that 

later became the Final schist, but still in pre-Cambrian time.

Ransome 29 considers that a large part of the quartzite and conglomerate of the Apache group in the Ray quadrangle was deposited 

in deltas, but that the Mescal limestone, near the middle of the 

Apache section in that region, is of marine origin. The crossbedding in the quartzite on Ash Creek indicates the play of shifting currents during its formation, and the ripple marks so beautifully preserved on some of the beds in the upper part of the section 

show that these beds were laid down in currents and under shallow 

water. The scanty fossils found in the upper beds are of marine 

Origin. The Mescal limestone is absent, but its place in the section 

appears to be occupied by thin-banded green shale and red quartzite. That the rocks of the Apache (?) group exposed in Ash Creek 

were formed in Cambrian time, from sediment dumped by rivers 

in the shallow sea water at their mouths, appears to be proved by 

the discovery of Upper Cambrian fossils near the top of the rocks 

correlated with the Troy quartzite.

No rocks of Ordovician or Silurian age have yet been recognized 

in the region adjoining the Christmas area, and the events of those 

periods are consequently unknown. The Martin limestone, which 

contains Devonian fossils in its upper part, is of marine origin. This 

formation has been recognized west 80 and east 31 of the Christmas 

area, and there is shale which may be its equivalent in Ash Creek

28 Ransome, F. L., op. cat, p>. 84. 

28 Idem, pp. 85-86.

30 Idem, pp. 45-46.

31 Ross, C. P., The geology and ore deposits of the Aravaipa and Stanley mining 

districts, Graham County, Ariz.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 763, 1925.
GEOLOGIC HISTOEY 25

on the south, so that it is probable that the Christmas area was 

covered by the sea in Devonian time. In Mississippian and Pennsylvanian time thick deposits of limestone were formed.

No deposits representing -Permian or early Mesozoic time are 

known in this area, which may have been above sea level during 

this long interval. In the Globe-Ray region extensive faulting and 

intrusion of diabase occurred at some time in the Mesozoic era, and 

Ransome 32 believes that these events may have taken place before 

the formation of the Cretaceous andesitic strata. No diabase was 

found in the Christmas area, and no evidence bearing on the age of 

the diabase was obtained during the present investigation. There 

was some structural disturbance in the time between the deposition 

of the Tornado limestone and that of the Cretaceous strata, but the 

approximate parallelism of the two formations in most places where 

the contact can be observed would seem to indicate that the amount 

of disturbance in most parts of the area was small.

In Colorado time there was sufficient relative subsidence of the 

area to permit the waters of the inland Cretaceous sea to overflow 

it. The shore of this sea at the time of its greatest westward extent 

in the region appears to have been near the west border' of the 

Christmas area, as no sedimentary Cretaceous rocks are known beyond this boundary. From the character of the shale and sandstone and of the invertebrate fossils which have been found in them 

in the region east of the Christmas area 33 it is evident that they are 

of marine origin. The coal and conglomerate both indicate that the 

shore of the sea was close at hand. Perhaps these beds were laid 

down in a reentrant in the western shore of the Cretaceous sea.

The origin of the coarse conglomerate that consists largely of 

cobbles of ancient rocks is open to some question. The shape of the 

cobbles is such as may have resulted from abrasion in streams, but 

they are so poorly sorted and in part so ill rounded and so large that 

they can hardly have been transported far by water. There are 

a number of conceivable sources for the material of the conglomerate, 

but from the data available it is difficult to visualize such conditions in Colorado time at any place near by as would make it a 

suitable and probable source for the material. In the northern half 

of the Christmas quadrangle quartzite of the Apache group and preCambrian granite are now exposed in abundance.34 The Mescal 

Range now constitutes a formidable barrier, cut only by the narrow 

canyon of Gila River, to southward transportation of material from 

this part of the quadrangle. These ridges may not have existed in

83 Ransome, F. L., op. cit, p. 87.

^Ross, C. P., op. cit.

M Darton, N. H., personal communication.

31463 25 3
26 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

Colorado time, and if so, material to form the conglomerate might 

have been brought southward, provided the ancient rocks were then 

exposed. It would seem that, if the movement in which the Mescal 

Range was uplifted and the consequent erosion had not yet taken 

place, then the ancient rocks would still have been covered by later 

Paleozoic strata. In view of the present distribution of the Cretaceous rocks and the geologic history of the Globe-Kay region,35 it 

seems more probable that sufficient movement had already taken 

place to initiate the formation of the Mescal Range and that the 

depression south of the range had been outlined before the deposition of the Cretaceous strata that now occupy it. On the assumption that the production of the dominant structural forms of the 

present day had already been begun and that consequently the broad 

features of the present topography had been blocked out, the cobbles 

of the Cretaceous conglomerate may have been transported by an-, 

cestors of Gila River and Dripping" Spring Wash, emptying into an 

arm of the Cretaceous sea. It is conceivable that part of the material may have been derived from masses of ancient rocks then exposed and now covered by the Cretaceous deposits, but there is no 

direct evidence to confirm this hypothesis. The probable physiographic conditions in Colorado time, together with the lack of evidence of any such structural disturbance as would have been required to cause such ancient rocks to crop out in this -part of the 

area in Colorado time, render the hypothesis unlikely. The andesitic 

material in the matrix of the coarse conglomerate and the subangular 

andesitic pebbles, mostly a few inches wide, that make up the greater 

part of some conglomerate beds were undoubtedly derived by erosion of volcanic beds formed earlier in the same period. If the 

cobbles of the coarse conglomerate were brought down by streams, 

as suggested, it would seem that the streams must have had steep gradients and that many of the cobbles were transported for rather 

short distances in them. It would be possible for such conglomerate 

to be formed by the reworking of beds of coarse alluvial material, 

but the original source of this material would be equally undeterminable. Another possibility may be suggested. If glaciers existed in 

this region in Colorado time, conglomerate beds of the sort described 

might well have been derived from the till formed by them with 

only a small amount of transportation or sorting in running water. 

A glacier might transport debris far from its source without much 

rounding of the edges of the component fragments.

Whatever the origin of the Cretaceous sedimentary beds, it is 

evident that volcanism was the dominant factor in the formation 

of the Cretaceous succession. Great masses of material, largely of

35 Ransome, F. I/., op. cit, pp. 84-89.
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 27

andesitic composition, were ejected from vents whose location is 

unknown. Many of the eruptions took place with explosive violence, but quiet outflows of lava also played an important part. 

The volcanic beds are traversed by numerous porphyritic intrusive 

masses, principally dikes. Many of the dikes are of similar composition to the volcanic beds and doubtless are related to them. Some 

of ihes'e may mark conduits through which lava was ejected.

After the deposition of the Cretaceous rocks they and the rocks 

below them were relatively uplifted to a position well above sea 

level and folded. In the Christmas area the principal folding in 

the Cretaceous beds preceded the deposition of the Tertiary strata. 

This does not accord with the record in the Stanley district, only a 

few miles to the east, where strata of both ages are sharply tilted 

but along the contact are essentially parallel to each other.

The folding was succeeded by faulting, which continued, probably 

intermittently, throughout the Tertiary period and may have 

extended into the Quaternary. Indeed, there are indications in the 

general region in which the Christmas area lies that fault movements have continued up to the present time. It seems that since 

some time in the Mesozoic era the earth's crust in this region has 

not been in stable equilibrium. The adjustments necessitated have 

been made largely by fracturing and slipping of the rock masses 

along the fractures. In the Christmas area there has been extensive folding, and in neighboring regions evidence of folding can be 

seen in many places, but in nearly all it is of minor importance. 

The process of adjustment has continued up to the present time by 

a series of movements of diminishing violence. The igneous activity, both intrusive and extrusive, which has been manifested .at 

various times must be intimately related to the readjustment. The 

movements of magna may have in part produced the necessity for 

readjustment in the crustal rocks and in part resulted from the 

movements of those rocks. If the mass of quartz-hornblende diorite 

in the Mescal Eange is a laccolith, as it appears to be. its intrusion 

doubtless contributed to the uplift of the overlying rocks. The 

part played by the dikes and irregular intrusive masses' is less clear. 

All the intrusive rocks in the Christmas area, except those connected with the Cretaceous volcanism already mentioned, appear 

to be of Tertiary age. The granular rocks were intruded early in 

the Tertiary period, and the fine-grained rocks connected with the 

Tertiary volcanism probably came later. In any particular area 

the periods of crustal movement were probably separated by periods 

of quiescence, and it may well be that the disturbances were of local 

rather than general effect. Thus in the Christmas area there were 

strong crustal disturbances after the formation of the Cretaceous
28 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER. DISTRICTS, AEIZ.

beds and before the deposition of the earliest known Tertiary strata, 

whereas less than 10 miles farther east, in the Aravaipa-Stanley 

region, there is little evidence of structural movements in the corresponding interval. There can be little doubt that the rocks of 

both formations in the two areas are essentially contemporaneous.

The resultant effect of the earth movements subsequent to the 

Cretaceous volcanism probably was to uplift the region and increase 

its relief. Erosion, thus accelerated, continued long enough to subdue the relief to a notable degree. The present remnants of the 

earliest Tertiary strata were laid down on nearly level surfaces, 

but in the intervening areas in which no Tertiary beds now remain 

there were doubtless hills. The summits of the Mescal B-ange may 

never have been covered by Tertiary strata, and the same may perhaps be true of such heights as Lee Mountain. The great similarity 

between the conglomerate at the base of the Tertiary sequence and 

the Gila conglomerate implies similarity in the conditions prevailing at the time of deposition. This means that erosion was still 

active and that the climate was not very different from that of to-day, 

although it may have been more humid. The deposition of the 

conglomerate was followed successively by the eruption of basaltic 

lava, the deposition of siliceous tuff and tuffaceous agglomerate, 

and the outflow of rhyolitic lava similar in composition to the fragments in the agglomerate. There are slight unconformities between 

these deposits which appear to indicate that earth movements were 

in progress during the period of volcanism.

After the eruptions ceased normal faulting was resumed, and there 

was probably sufficient uplift to accelerate erosion once more. Large 

quantities of the Tertiary lava and associated sedimentary beds 

were swept away. The major features of the resulting topography 

were probably in many respects similar to those of the present day. 

Near the end of the Tertiary period came the deposition of the Gila 

conglomerate. This formation is found at present in the Christmas 

area only in the valleys of Dripping Spring Wash and Eock Creek. 

It resulted from the deposition in stream valleys of excess loads of 

sediment brought down from points farther upstream, and consequently it probably never formed a blanket over the whole area, 

but its distribution was probably once more extensive than at present. 

Later came further faulting, in which blocks of the Gila were thrown 

down against the edges of blocks of older Tertiary lava. These 

movements probably came early in the Pleistocene epoch. A little 

later, perhaps accelerated by the movements just mentioned, erosion 

became sufficiently powerful to cut deep gulches and sweep away 

much of the Gila formation. Subsequent fluctuations in the erosive 

power of the Quaternary streams are recorded by alluvial deposits
ORE DEPOSITS 29

of at least two ages, which might be accounted for either by 

climatic changes or by earth movements. There is an increasing 

volume of evidence that climatic changes have occurred since the 

late Pliocene. The fossils in beds of that age in San Pedro Valley,36 south of the Christmas area, seem to show that the climate 

when these beds were deposited was more humid than at present. 

The testimony of old residents shows that there have been marked 

changes in vegetation in the last 40 years. On the other hand, as 

Ransome 37 has shown, the character of the Gila formation in the 

mountains is such as could have resulted from streams acting uncier 

conditions similar to those of the present, and the recent changes in 

vegetation are in part to be accounted for by the influences of 

human industry. From the data now available it can not be said 

that the climate at any time since the late Tertiary has differed 

markedly from that of the present, although some changes doubtless 

have taken place.

ORE DEPOSITS

HISTORY AND PRODUCTION

A large part of the ore deposits of the Saddle Mountain and Banner districts have been known and intermittently worked since the 

seventies, but little ore was shipped before the beginning of the 

present century. None of the mines were ever developed sufficiently 

to attain steady and profitable production for more than a few 

years at a time, and not many of them have been profitably operated 

for more than a few consecutive months. Ore of good grade has 

been found in numerous places, however, and in some of the deposits 

there may be large quantities of ore of commercial grade still unmined. From available estimates of the production of the mines and 

prospects visited it appears \ hat over 550,000 tons of copper ore, about 

6,500 tons of lead-silver ore, and a little zinc ore have been shipped 

from them. Gold ore of a total value of some tens of thousands of 

dollars has been shipped from a few mines. Vanadium ore has been 

mined in two or three places, and a little may have been shipped. 

Except for some small pockets of high-grade gold ore, the ores of the 

several metals mined have been of moderate tenor. Most of the copper ore contains from 2 to 4 per cent of copper, but there are small 

bodies of notably higher grade. Probably most of the lead-silver 

ore mined contained less than 40 ounces of silver to the ton, although 

some ore assaying as much as 250 ounces to the ton has been found. 

Some of the gold ore found near the surface was very rich, but most 

of the deposits do not contain large amounts of this metal.

30 Gidley, J. W., op. cit., p. 121.

37 Ransome, F. L., op. cit., pp. 71-74.
30 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

CLAIM BOUNDARIES

The property map (PI. X) shows all the mines and prospects in the 

two districts regarding which any information was obtained. The 

position and extent of the claim groups whose outlines are drawn in 

full lines are fairly accurately known. The dashed lines show in a 

general way the position and extent of the land comprised in the 

respective groups but are not at all accurate in detail. For a number 

of claims the data obtained are insufficient on which to draw even 

approximate boundaries. The position of these claims is indicated by 

the names supplemente'd where possible by symbols showing the location of the principal workings. It is probable that there are a few 

prospects regarding which no information is available and which 

are consequently not shown on the map. The boundaries of the 

Banner mining district are believed to be correctly shown, being 

based on data supplied by D. W. O'Carroll, one of those who originally set the limits of the district. Exact data regarding the boundaries of the Saddle Mountain district were not obtained. Those 

drawn on Plate X are believed to be roughly correct, although it is 

possible that the southern boundary should be moved south a short 

distance to include prospects reported to be situated near Biddick's 

cabin on Ash Creek. No ore deposits are known for considerable 

distances east and north of the limits of the Saddle Mountain district 

indicated on Plate X.

LEAD-SILVER VEINS

The deposits grouped under the term lead-silver veins have a 

gangue consisting essentially of quartz, barite, and calcite and 

contain galena and other sulphides. Ore bodies of this type are 

known only in the Saddle Mountain district, and most of them 

are north of Old Mill, between Ash Creek and Deer Creek. Most 

of the known veins are on the Adjust, Saddle Mountain, and Little 

Treasure properties and on the claims of J. N. Carmichael and 

J. W. Lee, which lie in this vicinity.

The country rock is Cretaceous andesite of various types, principally of effusive origin, cut by several dikes of quartz-mica 

diorite. The deposits lie principally in the volcanic rocks but 

also cut the diorite in places. They have been formed along zones 

of strong shearing and brecciation, partly by replacement of the 

rock, partly by filling of openings with vein matter. In most of 

the veins there is a central portion from a few inches to perhaps 2 

feet wide of vein matter with only a minor amount of material 

derived from the original rock. The vein matter in most exposures is banded, with altered rock material between many of the 

bands ranging in width from a thin film up to several inches. In
ORE DEPOSITS 31

many places the banding is obscured by brecciation, and the vein 

is composed of a heterogeneous collection of angular fragments of 

vein matter and altered rock. In a few places the veins contain 

openings lined with crystals. After mineralization was well under 

Avay there was renewed movement, resulting in brecciation of the 

vein matter; The zone of intense mineralization is flanked on both 

sides by sheared country rock, more or less thoroughly altered and 

replaced and in some exposures interleaved with bands of vein 

matter. Next beyond are zones in which the rock is not greatly 

sheared but is altered and contains small amounts of pyrite and 

other products of mineralization. The transition between this material and the mineralized country rock is gradual. In most places 

there are fairly well defined walls between which the more intensely 

mineralized parts of the vein are confined. The walls show^ slickensides and in some places are lined with gouge. The width between walls is in places as much as 7 feet but in most exposures 

is less than half that. The strike of the veins ranges from-east to 

N. 35° E., the average! is about N. 70° E. The dips range from 

60"° to 90°, and dips to''the north and south are about equally common. The veins weather more easily than the surrounding andesite, 

and their, outcrops are consequently inconspicuous, as can be seen 

irom Plate XI, A. Vegetation grows a little more freely on the 

mineralized outcrops than elsewhere, and some of the veins can be 

traced on the surface by means of the lines of bushes along them, 

but this is at best a vague and unsatisfactory guide. At a number 

of places the veins are known to branch, and there can be little 

doubt that in general they form a linked system. Some idea of 

the attitude of the better-developed veins can be gained from the 

strikes and dips plotted on Plate I. A number of other veins are 

known to exist.

The nonmetallic minerals of the veins are quartz, barite, and calcite, with gypsum in the oxidized parts. The country rock associated 

with them contains sericite, chlorite, quartz, and calcite, developed 

in large part during the mineralization. The hypogene sulphides are 

galena, sphalerite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite. Chalcopyrite is nowhere abundant, and much of the ore does not contain it. Much of 

the pyrite is in the marginal parts of the veins and disseminated in 

the wall rock. The pyrite is the latest and galena the earliest of 

the hypogene sulphides to form. Quartz crystallized in two generations. The silver, which is the metal of principal economic importance, appears to be associated with all three of the common sulphides but is probably most abundant in the galena. In some 

specimens of galena tiny bright blebs are visible under the microscope, and these are probably a silver mineral. No other hypogene 

silver minerals are known, and the silver content of the.ore can be
32 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

learned only by assay. There is a little gold in all the ore, and rich 

gold ore is reported to have been found in the early days. Indeed, 

it was the discovery of a gold nugget near the head of Little Gold 

Gulch by a member of a scouting expedition from old Camp Grant 

about 1880 that first drew attention to these veins.88

Most of the veins have been more or less oxidized at the surface, 

but in many outcrops there is residual hypogene sulphide. The 

depth to which oxidation has reached ranges from a few feet to 

perhaps as much as 40 feet. The oxidized metallic minerals known 

are cerusite, anglesite, limonite, and kindred iron oxides, and small 

amounts of chrysocolla. Gypsum is a prominent .constituent of the 

oxidized parts of the ore bodies, occurring as flakes on the walls, in 

irregular masses, and in veinlets. Some of the veinlets are closely 

spaced and approximately parallel, producing a banded appearance 

like that of the original ore. Much of the oxidized ore is ironstained material that shows little evidence of the presence of valuable metals yet may yield as much as 100 ounces of silver to the ton. 

Supergene silver minerals were distinguished only in ore from the 

Little Treasure mine. This ore contains wire silver partly filling 

small cavities and probably also argentite and pyargyrite. In some 

of the veins the supergene copper sulphides chalcocite, covellite, and 

bornite are present, but the copper enrichment is too slight to be of 

much commercial importance in any of the ore so far discovered.

PYBITIC GOLD DEPOSITS

The deposits in which pyrite is the characteristic sulphide and 

gold the metal of principal economic importance may be termed 

the pyritic gold deposits. The deposits in the vicinity of the lower 

part of Ash Creek are of this character. They include those on 

the Hoosier group, the prospects held by Reider and his various 

partners, Cook & Piper, R. F. Cook, Charles Courtney, part of 

the claims of J. N". Carmichael, and those of the Two Queens and 

Pool mines. Some of J. W. Lee's claims may be on bodies of this 

character. The deposits on the Hogvall prospect, near Chilito, 

and those on Mellor's prospects, near Christmas, also resemble this. 

type.

The deposits lie in shear zones, which so far as known strike 

somewhat north of east and dip very steeply. They are principally 

in Cretaceous volcanic rocks. Some are in apparently intrusive 

hornblende porphyry. There are dikes of quartz-mica diorite near 

most of them, and such, rock has been sheared and mineralized in 

places. The Hogvall prospect, which may be of this class, is in 

the Martin limestone. Part of the mineralized rock on the Hoosier

a* Chittenden, G. B., letter dated October 10, 1922.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE X

PROPERTY MAP OF THE SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER MINING DISTRICTS
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE XI

A. OUTCROP OF BIG ROCK VEIN ON SADDLE MOUNTAIN GROUP

S. SILL OF ALTERED TRAP IN TORNADO LIMESTONE ON GILA RIVER 

JUST SOUTH OF THE SOUTHERN BORDER OF THE CHRISTMAS AREA
ORE DEPOSITS 33

group is in the Tornado limestone. Cretaceous sedimentary strata 

lie close to a few of the deposits.

The rocks along the mineralized zones are sheared and brecciated, 

and chlorite, sericite, calcite, and quartz have been developed in 

them. Pyrite is present wherever it has not been destroyed by 

oxidation, and in numerous places it is accompanied by chalcopyrite. Magnetite and specularite are prominent in the ore in limestone on the Hoosier group and were also noted in some of Reider's 

specimens. Metallic gold can be panned from some of the specimens of oxidized rock, and the rock containing pyrite also carries 

gold. Much of the unoxidized ore is reported to carry $5 to $15 

worth of gold to the ton, although considerably higher assays have 

been obtained from small bodies. Some of the oxidized parts of 

the zones carry larger proportions of gold, and high assays have 

been obtained on samples of such ore. There is sufficient copper 

in some of the ore to be of commercial value, assays as high as 10 

per cent of copper being reported. These mineralized bodies have 

been formed principally by metasomatic alteration of the rocks 

along paths opened by shearing. . The replacement of the rocks 

was accompanied by the filling of crevices by quartz and minor 

amounts of other minerals.

Oxidation is irregular and in most places does not extend very 

deep. On the Hoosier group it goes down less than 50 feet. From 

the scanty information available it seems that it may reach greater 

depths on the Reider & Bailey group and at the Two Queens mine. 

In most of the outcrops oxidation has been thorough and the sulphide minerals are completely destroyed. Gold has been concentrated in favorable parts of the oxidized ore bodies, probably in 

the main by the leaching out of more soluble constituents. Much 

of the oxidized material is stained with copper.

DISSEMINATED PYRITE DEPOSITS

In a few places pyrite crystals are disseminated in rock where no 

definite shear zones are present. These deposits may be merely 

variations of the pyritic gold deposits on shear zones, jusfc described. 

In this class may be grouped some of the deposits on Little Gold 

Gulch, on the Faull claims on Gila River, and a quarter of a mile 

east of the old Christmas workings. The rocks in which the pyrite 

occurs are basalt and dark andesite of Cretaceous age. Some of the 

rock on Little Gold Gulch is reticulated with narrow quartz veinlets, and on the east side of the gulch are shear zones which have 

been prospected for gold.

On Little Gold Gulch below the pyritic deposits and near Christmas in the rock containing disseminated pyrite there are prominent

31463 25 4
34 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

outcrops of white gypsum filling joint cracks and extending beyond 

in masses of nearly pure gypsum. (See PI. XII, A.) The mode of 

formation of these deposits and their relation, if any, to the bodies of 

disseminated pyrite near by are not known. There is plenty of sulphur, both as sulphide and as sulphate, deposited by hypogene solutions in neighboring ore bodies and calcium is widespread in the 

rocks of the region. The gypsum of these two deposits may have 

been precipitated from water of the vadose circulation that had 

derived its sulphate content from oxidizing sulphides, or from 

ascending solutions related, to those which produced the ore bodies, or 

from an intermingling of such solutions and descending meteoric 

water.

CONTACT-METAMOBPHIC DEPOSITS

The ore bodies described under the term contact-metamorphic 

deposits are replacement masses, largely in limestone, which owe 

their origin to emanations from near-by intrusive rocks. Most of 

them contain garnet and other characteristic contact-metamorphic 

minerals. In, others such minerals were not found, but the deposits 

are otherwise so similar to the 'more typical contact-metamorphic 

deposits that it seems best to group them together. The deposits 

thus grouped include those of the Christmas mine, the LondonArizona properties, the Schneider group, and the Gold-Copper, 

Seventy-nine, Apex, and Columbia mines. The deposits of the 

Cowboy mine and the C. & B. and Premier prospects may also be 

related to this group. The deposits on the Scottish American Copper 

Co.'s property south of the London-Arizona claims are presumably 

similar, but this company was not operating at the time of visit and 

so far as could be learned had not done much development work. A 

large part are in the Tornado limestone, but there are also extensive 

replacement deposits in the Martin limestone, some in the Troy 

quartzite, and related deposits in the Mescal limestone and in diabase.

The deposits of this group show greater diversity than those previously described, partly because of original differences in the 

country rock and partly .because of variations in the proportions of 

the minerals present. Some of the deposits are largely confined to 

certain limestone beds, others are of irregular outline, and still others 

are of veinlike form on shear zones. All these variations are due" 

principally to differences in the effect of mineralization on different 

kinds of rock.under what appear to be in other respects fundamentally similar conditions. Some of the deposits are mined for 

copper; others are mined for lead and silvef, or for lead and gold. 

Parts of some deposits have been mined for the zinc contained, and 

oxidized portions of a few have been prospected for vanadium. 

All the deposits were formed by replacement, rather than by the
ORE DEPOSITS 35

filling of open spaces, all lie near dikes or similar masses of quartzmica, diorite, and nearly all are known to contain typical contactmetamorphic silicate minerals. The evidence seems clear that most 

of the deposits on the properties mentioned above were formed by 

emanations that had their source in the quartz-mica diorite magma 

and that interacted with susceptible parts of the rocks in contact 

with the intrusions, forming replacement masses, parts of which contain sufficient quantities of metallic minerals to constitute ore. The 

diorite near the deposits is itself altered, and apparently a part 

of the mineralizing emanations welled up through it from the: 

magma until they encountered conditions favorable for spreading 

out into the inclosing rocks. The alteration in the diorite consists 

in sericitization and the introduction of pyrite and quartz.

The shape and location of the ore bodies in limestone appear to 

be controlled in general by the shape, size, and position of the 

dioritic mass that was the source of mineralization, the character 

and position of fractures or shear zones in the limestone, and the 

size and position of beds susceptible of replacement. At some 

places, as at the Christmas mine, the ore bodies appear to follow 

the intrusive contacts rather closely. Elsewhere, especially where 

the dioritic masses exposed are small, the ores are farther from the 

contact. Most of the deposits afford evidence that the entrance 

of the mineralizing material was facilitated by fracturing of the 

rock, and the deposits are more or less localized along such fracture 

zones. In some places the existence of the fractures can only be 

inferred from the elongation of the ore bodies in certain directions. 

Elsewhere evidence of shearing and brecciation can be clearly seen. 

The places where premineral fracturing can now be discovered 

are in general those where replacement of the rock has not extended 

far beyond the, fracture zones, and in a number of such places con- . 

tact-metamorphic minerals were not observed. The fractures and 

shear zones, both inferred and observed, have steep dips and strike 

nearly east, manjr of them somewhat north of east, although 

there is considerable local variation. The average strike of the 

fractures thus corresponds to the average strike of the quartz-mica 

diorite dikes as shown on Plates I and XVI, and the fracturing 

may be related to the intrusion of the diorite and have taken, place 

at the same time or just prior to the intrusion. At each of the 

deposits in limestone certain of the beds are more thoroughly replaced than others, and only fractions of the replaced portions are 

of value as ore. This probably results in part from original differences in composition and in permeability. At the Christmas 

mine, in the Tornado limestone, the comparatively pure and coarsergrained beds are more thoroughly replaced by ore minerals than the 

finer-grained rocks with a lower carbonate content, although the
36 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

latter are also greatly altered. Such obvious differences in lithologic character do not, however, account for some of the differences 

noted, as is strikingly illustrated by the bed locally known as the 

O'Carroll ore bed, near the base of the Martin limestone. Mineralized rock at this horizon occurs at a number of places on a line of 

outcrop about a mile east of Chilito, but there is little evidence of 

mineralization at other horizons in the formation where the original 

lithologic character would seem to have been similar. It is possible that this difference may be partly accounted for by the relations between the limestone and the intrusive rock. The diorite 

masses that presumably caused most of the contact metamorphism 

in this vicinity now crop out west of the O'Carroll ore bed and at 

lower altitudes, and the upper parts, now eroded, may never have 

reached much above that bed. There are, however, a number of 

smaller masses of similar diorite that did reach high enough to cut 

the Martin limestone above this horizon. The lateral limits of the 

replacement bodies are conceived to have been determined in each 

place largely by the distance the emanations traveled along a particular bed from the point of access to the point where chemical 

interaction ceased because of exhaustion of the emanation. The 

point of exhaustion was in turn dependent on the quantity, character, and physical condition of the material given off by the 

intrusive magma, and on the readiness with which it was able to 

react with and permeate the limestone. The points of access were 

apparently along the contact of the more replaceable bed with an 

intrusive body of quartz-mica diorite and along fracture zones that 

cut the bed. The valuable sulphides were in the main localized 

along the fracture zones and not at the intrusive contact. In the 

simplest case ore bodies produced as suggested above would have 

the form of elliptical disks with rounded edges, bounded above and 

below by beds of shale or other difficultly replaceable material. 

Between different ore bodies in a single bed and between the ore 

bodies and the intrusive mass the limestone would be more or less 

thoroughly replaced by minerals other than the valuable sulphides. 

As a matter of fact such a shape is never more than approximated, 

and some of the ore^-bodies are most irregular in form. The irregularities have resulted from the numerous possible variations in the 

character and condition of the bed affected, the emanations, the 

fractures, and the intrusive, as well as from interference between 

the emanations circulating from neighboring points of access to 

the same bed. At a number of places there are several beds which 

proved susceptible of replacement by ore minerals, and as a consequence more or less separate ore bodies have been formed one 

above another, separated by altered but valueless material. Some 

complexities resulting from postmineral faulting have been super-
ORE DEPOSITS 37

imposed on the original irregularities, but so far as known these are 

of minor importance.

The minerals resulting from the contact metamorphism in lime- 

.stone include quartz, two varieties of andradite garnet, vesuvianite, 

wollastonite, epidote, pargasite or a similar amphibole, chlorite, 

fluori-te, chalcedony, magnetite, specularite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, 

sphalerite, galena, and perhaps bornite. Calcite has been recrystallized and redistributed. All these minerals, except fluorite, have 

been found in the Christmas mine. Most of the other deposits are 

known to contain some of the silicates mentioned, and more of these 

as well as other minerals as yet unknown in the region will probably 

be discovered in the course of future development and study. Many 

of the deposits in limestone visited contain most of the metallic sulphides listed above, but the proportions vary widely. Details of 

the occurrence of the several minerals are given in the mine descriptions (pp. 41-69).

At the Christmas mine and probably also elsewhere the replacement bodies grade, in most places abruptly, into limestone that has 

been recrystallized into marble but is otherwise little altered. The 

alteration in the beds between those containing the ore bodies is 

largely silicification, although most of the minerals mentioned above 

can be found in such beds in minor amounts, and epidote and chlorite 

are rather common in them. Many of these beds still show stratification and are plainly of sedimentary origin; these were doubtless 

shale and impure limestone. In places, according to Locke and 

Bjorge, there are sills of fine-grained quartz-mica diorite that are 

difficult to distinguish from metamorphosed shale. The original 

character of some of the beds between ore bodies can not be determined. In the Tornado limestone exposed along Gila River immediately south of the south boundary of the Christmas area there 

are fine-grained sills of dark-green trap like that shown in Plate 

XI, B. Megascopically this rock resembles the diabase that is widely 

distributed in the Ray quadrangle. Under the microscope it is seen 

to be altered to an aggregate of quartz, calcite, and indeterminate 

dark dust. Some of the barren strata in the Christmas mine may 

be composed of more thoroughly silicified rock of this character.

Little information is available regarding the ore deposits in the 

Troy quartzite. Ore of good grade has been mined from such rock 

on Schneider Hill, but the bodies found appear to have been all 

rather small. It is probable that these ore bodies are replacement 

deposits similar and closely related genetically40 those in limestone 

just described. The major difference probably is that the quartzite 

was less favorable for replacement than the limestone, and consequently the ore bodies produced in it were smaller aiftkmore irregular. . A^
38 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

The deposits in diabase at the Columbia mine differ somewhat 

from the other deposits described in this section but are probably 

related genetically to them. They are replacement deposits along 

shear zones near intrusive bodies of quartz-mica diorite. Contactmetamorphic minerals have not been found in the diabase, but 

calcareous shale in another part of the mine contains vesuvianite 

and garnet, and the mineralization is similar to that of the typical 

contact-metamorphic deposits.

Oxidation has attacked all the contact-metamorphic deposits of 

the area, and a large part of the ore mined was oxidized material. 

In most of the deposits, however, residual hypogene sulphides can 

be found at or near the surface. Oxidation probably nowhere 

extends more than 100 feet below the surface and in most places 

less than that. The oxidized minerals include malachite, cbrysocolla, azurite, native copper, gold, hydrous manganese oxide, limonite, and kindred iron oxides, copper pitch ore, cerusite, anglesite, 

plumbojarosite, wulfenite, gypsum, and alunite. Concentration of 

the oxidized minerals of the valuable metals has taken place to 

some extent, especially in the lead deposits. The rich gold ore of 

the Apex and Cowboy mines may have been produced by concentration during oxidation. In both the gold was found in the 

oxidized part of lead ore bodies, but specimens were not available 

for examination. Vanadinite has been found associated with wulfenite in oxidized ore at three places in the Banner district. This 

mineral was not recognized in any of the deposits visited in the 

present investigation, but wulfenite .is known to have been obtained 

from two of them. It may well be. that the vanadinite was formed 

by the oxidation of lead deposits similar to those of the Seventynine mine, for example.

Enrichment by supergene sulphides has taken place in all the 

copper deposits seen but appears to be sporadic. The principal 

supergene sulphide is chalcocite. A little covellite was noted. Bornfte is present in small veinlets in .the ore bodies and might be 

interpreted as formed either in a late stage of hypogene deposition 

or early in the production of supergene sulphides, both chalcocite 

and covellite being later than the bornite. If the bornite is supergene, then enrichment of this character has greatly improved the 

tenor of the ore at Christmas. Veinlets of chalcocite, almost certainly of supergene origin, penetrate the ore down to at least 

the 300-foot level, but the amount of enrichment from this source 

in the ore seen is pifabably not very large. To judge by the available specimens.,massive chalcocite was present in the ore of the 

Schneider H.ill deposits and in the tunnels of the London-Arizona 

mine. TKese specimens were, however, probably picked from the 

richer ore, and a considerable part of the ore shipped is believed
ORE DEPOSITS . 39

to have been oxidized material without large amounts of sulphides 

of any kind in it.

GENERALIZATIONS AND INFERENCES

A number of generalizations and inferences can be drawn from a 

study of the ore deposits of the Saddle Mountain and Banner districts, and most of them have a direct bearing on economic problems. The following statements are based on all available evidence, 

but they must be regarded as expressions of opinion rather than of 

proved facts.

The ore deposits of the two districts have so many points of similarity that they may be confidently regarded as genetically related 

products of the same period of mineralization. Some are certainly 

and the others probably not older than the end of the Cretaceous, and 

all are of types that are generally regarded as genetically related to 

igneous rocks. The only igneous rocks known in either district 

whose character and age would permit their consideration in this 

connection are the quartz-mica diorite and quartz-hornblende diorite, 

both believed to be of early Tertiary age. Many of the ore deposits 

are intimately associated with quartz-mica diorite, and nearly all 

the known deposits have outcrops of- this rock near by, whereas the 

quartz-hornblende diorite is not known to be associated with any of 

the ore deposits. Thus the same magmatic source from which the 

quartz-mica diorite came also supplied the agents of mineralization. 

Although the mineralizing solutions presumably came for the most 

part from depths below anything yet exposed by erosion, they rose 

near and in part through masses of quartz-mica diorite which are 

so exposed, and ore bodies are therefore to be expected only in the 

vicinity of such masses. Of course, there may be dioritic dikes with 

associated ore bodies which through the vagaries of erosion do not 

crop out. A study of the geologic map of the Christmas area (PI. I) 

and of that of the Ray quadrangle, reproduced in part in Plate XVI, 

brings out some features of the distribution of the intrusions. In 

the Saddle Mountain district most of the dikes of quartz-mica diorite 

are included in an area about 4 miles long and V/% miles wide trending about N. 70° E., which is the average strike of the dikes. The 

same area includes nearly all the known mineral deposits in the 

district and all those known to be of any value. In the Banner 

district the diorite bodies are more scattered, more irregular, and on 

the average larger. Associated with these are contact-metamorphic 

and similar ore bodies, a number of which are larger than the deposits 

of the Saddle Mountain district. In the vicinity of Troy, partly in 

and partly beyond the limits of the Banner district, there is another 

group of dikes. These lie in an area about 5 miles long by 2^2 miles
40 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

wide, trending about N. 80'° E., which again is about the average 

strike of the dikes. The Columbia mine and a. number of others 

are in this area. The strikes of the dikes in both groups are fairly 

consistent within the group but are independent of the direction of 

the major faults in the region. The dikes and the veins associated 

with them appear to occupy fissures and shear zones formed subsequently to much of the faulting in the region, although some of 

the dikes near Troy seem to follow fissures that form parts of the 

regional fault pattern. The set of fractures now occupied by the 

dikes and ore deposits was probably produced at an early stage in 

the structural disturbance in which the quartz-mica diorite was 

intruded. Where the fractures were closely spaced the diorite 

magma may have split up into smaller masses than it could elsewhere. 

Another possibility is that under the areas of closely spaced dikes 

there are diorite masses larger than any exposed at the surface and 

that the force of intrusion of these masses caused the production of 

fractures in the overlying rocks through which narrow apophyses 

from the diorite magma were thrust.

As the ore deposits are interrelated, -it follows that gradations 

between them may be expected. It is conceivable that a vein containing no contact-metamorphic minerals might be found to grade into a 

contact-metamorphic deposit where the conditions were favorable. 

Typical contact-metamorphic deposits can be formed only in rock 

susceptible of replacement of that character. In these two districts 

the rocks known to be suitable for such replacement comprise the 

purer beds of the Tornado limestone and certain beds in the Martin 

limestone, especially one near its base. Deposits have also been found 

in the Troy quartzite and in a rock supposed to belong to the Mescal 

limestone, but they are of less value. It is probable that valuable 

contact-metamorphic deposits of any great size will not be found in 

any of the rocks in the region other than those enumerated above, 

and that most of the large ore bodies of this type are confined to 

the Tornado and Martin limestones.

Although all the deposits were produced in the same period of 

mineralization they were doubtless not all formed simultaneously, 

and different types were probably formed at slightly different times. 

The contact-metamorphic deposits were doubtless produced in 

general at an early stage. The order of formation of the pyritic 

deposits, disseminated and in shear zones, and the lead-silver veins 

is not known. If order of deposition of the minerals in the ore is 

a criterion, then it would seem that the pyritic deposits are younger 

than those of galena and sphalerite, but other evidence is lacking.

From the facts above set forth something can be inferred as to 

future possibilities in the exploitation of specific deposits, and
MINES AND PROSPECTS 41

examples of such inferences are given below. . The Cretaceous strata 

that form the wall rock of the veins of the Saddle Mountain, district 

are underlain by the Tornado limestone, which is cut by quartz-mica 

diorite, perhaps by a large mass of this rock. Consequently contactmetamorphic deposits may be expected in the limestone, but it is 

by no means certain that they lie under the deposits now being 

worked, which may be underlain by quartz-mica diorite in which 

there has been little or no valuable mineralization. Before passing 

out of the Cretaceous rocks the lead-silver veins may grade into 

pyritic deposits in depth, or the reverse may be true, according to 

which is the older. At the Christmas mine the bottom of the No. 3 

shaft is probably less than 200 feet above the lower limit at which 

valuable ore bodies are to be expected, but on the downthrown side 

of the Christmas fault limestone lithologically favorable to the 

production of ore bodies extends to much greater depths and has not 

yet been explored.

ADJUST MINE

Location. The Adjust mine, owned by the Adjust Mining Co., is 

on the south side of Deer Creek in sees. 34 and 35, T. 4 S., R. 16 

E., about 21/2 miles by trail from Christmas station on the Arizona 

Eastern Railroad. A branch of the road from Wmkelman through 

Old Mill extends to the southern base of the hill on which the mine 

is situated, the distance being about Sy2 miles. At present supplies 

are brought in by automobile on this road. When ore is shipped 

it is taken to Christmas station by burro pack train down Deer 

Creek.

Property. The Adjust Mining Co., which has recently been reorganized, has 13 unpatented claims, on which there are a number 

of shafts, adits, and cuts. The principal developments are on the 

Blue Bird vein, shown in Figure 4, where there are more than 1,500 

feet of -workings. About 640 tons of ore,39 principally oxidized 

material, has been shipped. In May, 1922, after a shutdown of 

several months, the mine was reopened with the intention of carrying out sufficiently extensive development to determine the value 

of the ore bodies to a depth of 300 feet or more.

Character of the deposits. The country rock is principally Cretaceous andesite, but there are some small dikes of gray porphyry, 

probably quartz-mica diorite. These dikes are too small to show 

on Plate I, but larger ones have been mapped northwest and southeast of the property. Several veins crop out, but only one, called

89 Heron, C. M.,. letter dated July 12, 1922.
42 SADDLE MOUNTAIN; AND BANNER, DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

nn

the Blue Bird vein, has been 

developed to any extent. The 

Blue Bird vein has a proved 

length of nearly 1,500 feet 

and may be much longer. 

Its average strike is about 

N. T0°-80° E., but there are 

numerous variations beyond 

these limits. The dip is to the 

. northwest in some places and 

to the southeast in others, but 

in general the vein is nearly 

vertical. The vein has wells' defined and fairly continuous 

no slickensided walls from 3 feet 

a or less to as much as 7 feet

* apart. Between the walls 

I there is altered and brec- 

< ciated country rock inter- 

£ leaved with bands of vein 

f matter. The amount of min-

*1

3 eralization varies notably.

3 There are considerable

q stretches in which the vein

= filling is of too low tenor to

| be regarded as ore, and in few

*' places does ore fill the whole

n r

I space between the walls." In 

I No. 1 tunnel the well-mineralized part of the vein is 1 

to 2 feet wide. In places in 

No. 1 shaft and parts of No. 2 

tunnel the width is as much 

as 3 feet. Assays show that 

for a'length of 200 feet in No. 

2 tunnel ore of sufficiently 

high tenor to be profitably 

mined is exposed. This ore 

shoot is also exposed in No. 1 

shaft and tunnel. In addition samples of satisfactory 

tenor from other parts of the 

workings have been assayed.

The gangue minerals noted are quartz, barite,-and calcite. The 

sulphides are galena, sphalerite, and pyrite, with small amounts of
MINES AND PROSPECTS 43

copper minerals, probably chalcopyrite and bornite. The andesite 

included in the vein is nearly everywhere thoroughly altered and 

largely replaced by vein minerals. The ore in places is stained with 

limonite, and the sulphides are partly or completely oxidized. The 

distribution of such material is irregular, but it appears that oxidized ore rarely extends much over a score of feet below the surface. 

Much of the ore mined contains about 30 ounces of silver and a small 

fraction of an ounce of gold to the ton, although ore containing more 

than 250 ounces of silver t'o the ton has been found. In 1920 325.11 

tons of ore averaging 0.15 ounce of gold and 49.99 ounces of silver 

to the ton was shipped, and in 1921 298 tons averaging 0.15 ounce 

of .gold and 48.46 ounces of silver to the ton.40 The shipments consisted principally of oxidized ore,-more or less hand sorted. The 

ore which it is planned to develop in the immediate future is principally sulphide material. Tests made by the company's engineers 41 

on a composite sample of sulphide ore show that gravity concentration is hindered by the abundant barite, but flotation gives satisfactory results. To determine the distribution of the gold and silver, 

separate concentrates of the lead, iron, zinc, and slimes were made. 

It was found that the concentrates containing large proportions of 

lead, iron, and slime contained two or three times as much silver and 

gold as those high in zinc, but that the zinc concentrates contained 

too much silver to be discarded. These tests appear to indicate that 

most of the precious metals are associated with the galena and pyrite, 

but that some are too closely associated with the sphalerite to be 

separated by the methods of concentration used.

SADDLE MOUNTAIN GROUP

Location. The claims of the Saddle Mountain group lie north of 

Old Mill, on the ridge between Ash Creek and Deer Creek, southeast 

of the Adjust Mining Co.'s property.

History. In 1900 the Saddle Mountain Mining Co. was organized 

by G. B. Chittenden, and a portable concentrating mill was erected 

on Ash Creek at the site of an arrastre put up by previous prospectors. The ruins of this mill still remain and the place is known as 

Old Mill. A little over $120 a ton was paid by a smelter in El Paso 

for the first two carloads of concentrates derived from oxidized ore 

shipped. The ore concentrated assayed about 12 ounces in silver 

and $1.50 in gold to the ton. A third car of concentrated sulphide 

ore was shipped. The concentrate in this car was found to average 

only about $30 a ton, although the ore treated was about as rich as 

that from the oxidized zone previously concentrated. This result

40 Data furnished by Adjust Mining Co. from smelter returns. 

« Heron, C. M., letter dated July 12, 1922.
44 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNEE DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

led Mr. Chittenden to believe that a smelter near by was needed in 

order to treat the Saddle Mountain Co.'s ore successfully, and he 

consequently took steps to obtain what is now the Christmas mine, 

where there were two small blast furnaces. (See p. 53.)

After this mine was acquired the company appears to have done 

more work there than at its original property near Ash Creek. The 

Gila Copper Sulphide Co. was organized in 1909 and took over the 

property of the Saddle Mountain Mining Co. at both places. Work 

has continued intermittently on the original Saddle Mountain group 

up to the present time, much of it being done by lessees. Ore has been 

shipped from time to time, but records of the amounts are not 

available. In 1922 the deposits of this group and an adjoining one were being worked under lease by 0. L. Orem and T. S. Sanford. In the spring they did most of their work on the claims on 

the north side of the ridge above Deer Creek. In July they found 

and mined ore on the south side above Little Gold Gluch. Most of 

the ore mined by them is oxidized material.

Property. The Saddle Mountain group comprises 15 patented 

claims and one unpatented claim developed by a number of short 

tunnels, shafts, and pits. Workings are reported to aggregate 3,450 

feet.42 These are scattered over the property, with no more than a 

few hundred feet of workings at any one place, and a considerable 

part of them are now inaccessible.

Character of the deposits. The country rock at the property consists principally of Cretaceous andesite and andesitic breccia cut by 

a long dike of quartz-mica diorite and smaller masses of the same 

rock, offshoots of another! large dike a, little farther south. The 

long dike Jhas an exposed length of over three-quarters of a mile, 

extending somewhat beyond the borders of the group, and a maximum width of outcrop of over 30 feet. The average strike is N. 50° 

E.j and the dip is variable but steep. Indistinct stratification in 

the andesite on the south slope of Deer Creek indicates that it lies 

nearly horizontal. A line of exposures which may be parts of a single 

vein extend northeastward from the streamway in Little Gold Gulch, 

through the saddle east ,of mineral monument No. 2180 down to 

Deer Creek .just upstream from bench mark 2215. The vein in most 

places appears to be on the northwest side of the long quartz-mica 

diorite dike and roughly parallel to it, but in the saddle the dike 

itself is mineralized. The vein ranges in width from 2% to 5 feet, 

and the wall rock is mineralized for several feet beyond these limits. 

The average strike is about N. 50° E. The dip ranges from 60° to 

90° and is toward the northwest in some places and the southeast in 

others. -

« Weed, W. H., Mines Handbook, vol. 15, p. 275, 1922.
MINES AND PROSPECTS 45

About 3,000' feet east of the saddle, at an altitude of 2,700 feet on 

the south slope of the Deer Creek valley, another vein is exposed 

in a 90-foot tunnel and open cuts. This vein is called) the Big Rock 

vein, from the claim, in which the principal workings are situated. It 

is 2 or 3 feet wide, strikes nearly east, and dips 70°-85° S. (See 

PI. XI, A.) The wall rock shows some alteration but little mineralization.

The two veins are of similar type. They have fairly well defined 

walls, in places with slickensides. Thin layers of gouge are present

 on parts of the walls. The unoxidized parts of the veins are made 

up of quartz, barite, calcite, galena, sphalerite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, 

and altered andesite or, in places, quartz-mica diorite. In many 

places banding is the dominant feature of the vein structure, but 

elsewhere the vein is a heterogeneous mixture of fragments composed of vein minerals and altered country rock. The wall rock in 

most exposures is mineralized for a few inches to several feet 

beyond the vein. The alteration consists in the development of

 chlorite, sericite, carbonate, quartz, and pyrite. Most of the pyrite 

noted is disseminated in small crystals in the wall rock. There are 

small patches of more massive pyrite in the veins in places, principally near the walls. Oxidation in these deposits is irregular 

and appears to extend only to shallow depths. The oxidized 

minerals are limonite and kindred iron oxides, anglesite, cerusite, 

gypsum, and small amounts of chrysocolla. Nearly all the oxidized 

material contains residual galena and sphalerite, but little pyrite 

remains in it. Gypsum occurs as flakes on tunnel walls, in small 

.masses in the vein matter, and also as distinct veinlets an eighth 

of an inch or less in width. In some specimens there are numerous 

veinlets of gypsum approximately parallel to one another and to 

the banding of the original vein matter.

There are workings on both sides of Little Gold Gulch at short 

distances above the -streamway, at about the 2,550-foot contour. 

On the west side is a shaft on a vein in bleached and fractured gray 

andesite on slips that strike about N. 80° E. and dip 75° K On 

the east side of the gulch is a 75-foot tunnel in similar rock. 

Various slips of widely variable strike and dip are exposed in it, 

with narrow seams of pulverulent white gypsum on them.

Much of the rock on the east side of Little Gold Gulch north of 

the large dike of quartz-mica diorite that crosses it is nearly black 

massive basalt. This is thought to belong to the Cretaceous flows, 

but its relations to other rocks are not clear, and it may be of intrusive origin. In Little Gold Gulch this rock contains rather 

sparsely disseminated pyrite, and in the upper part of the gulch 

above the 2,500-foot contour there are outcrops of similar rock
46 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

reticulated with stringers of ribbon-banded quartz. On the upper 

slopes to the east the rock has a rusty color and is cut by a number 

of narrow shear zones containing some quartz and stained with 

limonite. There are a number of prospect pits here, and the shear 

zones are reported to contain 'gold. Several of the zones are offset 

by small faults. It is reported *3 that one of them is cut by a small 

andesitic dike similar in appearance to those which cut the ore in 

the Christmas mine.

Location, The Little Treasure mine is in the SE. 1/4 sec. 35, T. 4 

S., R. 16 E., and the NE. 14 sec. 2, T. 5 S., B. 16 E. The property 

covers much of the northeast end of a mountain on the south side of 

Deer Creek and is about 9 miles by road from Winkelman and & 

miles by trail from Christmas station on the Arizona Eastern Railroad.

Dip of vein 

so" Width of vein

FIGURE 5. Plan of principal workings at Little Treasure mine

History. The claims were located by N. H. Mellor, of Winkelman, about 1901 and have been controlled by him since then. He 

built the road from Dudleyville south of Winkelman past this property to the coal prospects in Reed Basin in 1904 at a cost of $3,000 

and has kept it in repair as far as his mine. A few carloads of ore 

have been shipped.

Property. The property comprises six unpatented claims. The 

principal workings are on the southeast side of the mountain, at an 

altitude of about 2,700 feet. They consist of two tunnels roughly 

240 and 150 feet long with a shaft about 55 feet deep connecting with 

the upper and shorter tunnel at its face. In tjie lower tunnel there 

is a winze and short crosscut. (See fig. 5.) There are other small 

workings on the property, but recent work has been restricted to 

those described.

43 Mellor, N. H., personal communication.
MINES AND PROSPECTS 47

Character of the deposits. The country rock of the tunnels is a 

massive black basalt. This rock is doubtless of Cretaceous age and is 

thought to be of effusive origin. In the valley to the south a large 

dike of quartz-mica diorite which extends east from the Two Queens 

mine fingers out in a group of narrow dikes, of which the larger 

ones are shown somewhat diagrammatically on Plate I.

The vein developed by the lower tunnel in the Little Treasure 

mine has an average strike of ,N. 50° E., dips 55°-75° NW., and 

has a width of 30 to 40 inches of brecciated and altered rock between 

fairly definite walls, of which the hanging wall is the more pronounced. The part of the vein that is thoroughly mineralized has a 

width of less than a foot. A small amount of sulphide is contained 

in the oxidized ore exposed at the mouth of the tunnel, and the proportion of sulphide increases until at about the position of the winze 

there is almost* no visible oxidation. Another vein exposed by the 

crosscut to the northwest strikes about N. 70° E., dips nearly vertically, is 15 inches wide, and contains imoxidized sulphide ore.

The vein in the upper tunnel has an average strike of about N. 75° 

E., with considerable variation. The dip ranges from nearly vertical 

at the mouth of the tunnel to about 80° S. near the face. The width 

of vein breccia exposed is 3 to 4 feet; the walls are somewhat less 

well defined than those in the lower tunnel. The, ore near the tunnel 

mouth and in the upper part of the shaft is oxidized, but at the 

bottom, of the shaft there is some unoxidized sulphide. The vein 

structure is similar to that of the Big Rock vein and others of that 

type on the Saddle Mountain, Adjust, and neighboring properties. 

The' hypogene minerals found are quartz, barite, calcite, galena, 

sphalerite, and pyrite. Oxidation was noted only near the mouths 

of the two tunnels and the tipper part of the shaft, and even in these 

places it is far from complete. Specimens of ore from the lower 

part of the shaft and from the upper tunnel show some evidence of 

enrichment by descending water. There are small cavities lined with 

wire silver and black films on galena and sphalerite and black 

stringers through the gangue which resemble argentite, although the 

amount in the specimens collected is too small for conclusive tests. 

Some of the ore contains dark-red "grains that are probably 

pyrargyrite.

LEE GROUP

J. W. Lee has claims covering most of the irregular area southeast 

of mineral monument 2180 bordered on the northwest and south by 

the claims of the Saddle Mountain group and on the northeast by 

the Little Treasure property. He also has some claims between 

Pool's mine and the Carmichael group. There are several tunnels, 

other workings, ^and trails on these claims, made in the course of
48 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND«BANNER DISTRICTS, ABIZ.

assessment work. The deposits are similar and related to the others 

in this vicinity.

CABMICHAEL GEOUP i ,

J. N. Carmichael has a group of 20 unpatented claims in sees. 

2, 3, 4, 9, and 10, T. 5 N., R. 16 E. They lie in an arc extending 

from a point near the mouth of Little Gold Gulch north of the 

Two Queens mine and down to Ash Creek about a mile from its 

mouth. These claims contain a number of shafts, and other workings made in the course of assessment work, and veins carrying gold 

and silver have, been exposed in them. The deposits are similar 

to the others in this vicinity.

ISfe'ar the mouth of Little Gold'Gulch, near the southeast end of 

this group, is a peculiar deposit. A ma^s of andesite shot through 

with numerous 'stringers of white pulverulent material crops out 

on the east side of the stream bed. In a large part of the outcrop, 

which is shown in Plate XIIp A, the white material greatly exceeds 

the andesite in amount, and in the lower part scarcely any solid rock 

is present. The white material appears to be almost pure gypsum, 

mixed with a little calcite.

TWO QUEENS MINE

Location. The Two.Queens mine is near the summit of the ridge 

on the north side of Ash Creek about three-quarters of a mile northeast of Old Mill. There is a road up to the mine from Ash Creek, 

but it is now washed out in places. The distance from Finney, the 

nearest siding on the Arizona Eastern Railroad, up Ash Creek to7 the 

mine is somewhat over 3 miles.

Property. The property comprises about nine patented claims. 

From 1906 to 1908 it was operated by the Central Mining & Development Co., but since then it has been idle. Three small, lots of ore 

averaging $36.53 to the ton are reported 44 to have been shipped to a 

smelter. The workings are said to comprise a shaft 260 feet deep 

with two 100-foot crosscuts off it, a tunnel over 400 feet long with a 

90-foot winze off it, and several shallower shafts.

Character of the deposits. The country rock comprises Cretaceous strata of both sedimentary and volcanic origin cut by small 

intrusive masses. Sandstone, in part calcareous, conglomerate, and 

carbonaceous shale make up a large part of the Cretaceous strata. 

The rest consists of andesitic lava, flow breccia, and tuff. West and 

south of the mine are masses of gray hornblende porphyry which lie 

approximately parallel to the stratification of the sedimentary rocks 

and andesitic lava. These are probably intrusions. There is a dike

** Stevens, H. J., Copper Handbook, vol. 8, p. 504, 1908.
MINES AND PROSPECTS 49

of quartz-mica diorite at the principal shaft and another somewhat 

longer one a short distance to the north. The dump of the principal 

shaft shows andesite breccia, quartz-mica diorite, and a brown mineralized rock. Under the microscope the quartz-mica diorite is 

seen to be altered. It has a finer-grained groundmass than most 

of the rock of this type. The feldspars are sericitized, and the 

biotite chloritized and replaced by calcite. Pyrite, chlorite, and 

calcite are sparsely disseminated throughout. The alteration in the 

andesite breccia is similar'to that in most of the Cretaceous lava 

in the Christmas area, except that there is more calcite than in most 

specimens examined. The brown rock is thoroughly altered. It 

now contains calcite, quartz, sericite, chlorite, epidote, and slightly 

oxidized pyrite. Most of the rock is a fine mosaic of quartz with 

small amounts of the other minerals disseminated through it, but 

in places calcite is segregated into masses, of good-sized grains. 

The minerals have evidently resulted by metasomatic replacement 

of those of some previously formed rock during the process of ore 

deposition. Although the original minerals are completely destroyed, vestiges of what appears to have been a porphyritic texture can be discerned: From the appearance of this almost obliterated texture and the fact that incipient alteration of the same 

type has occurred in quartz-mica diorite found at the same place 

it is thought that the brown rock was produced by the mineralization of quartz-mica diorite.

Gold ore is reported to have been found in pockets at the surface in the early days. The tunnel is said to have cut a mass 

of oxidized ore, and the winze below it to have in the bottom sulphide ore carrying $16 in gold to the ton and 10 per cent of copper.

POOL'S MINE

Location. The principal workings of Pool's mine are in sees. 

3 and 4, T. 5 S., R. 16 E., about 2y2 miles by trail from Christmas 

station on the Arizona Eastern Railroad. There is another prospect 

which was worked by some of the people interested in Pool's mine 

on the east side of Gila River in the NE. 14 sec. 5, T. 5 S., 

R. 16 E. This is about a mile up the river from the railroad siding 

of Finney.

Property. The property at Pool's mine comprises 10 unpatented 

claims and is owned by the Ash Creek Gold Mining & Milling Co., 

of Winkelman. At the place marked " Pool's mine " on Plate I is 

a shaft, now full of water, equipped with a whim. There is a dump 

of considerable size at the shaft. The vein is exposed in a series 

of shallow cuts for a few hundred feet northeast of the shaft, and 

above these cuts are some shacks. About 1,500 feet to the east is
50 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

another inclined shaft. There are reported to be 600 feet of workings on the property.45 At the prospect on Gila Kiver there are 

several short tunnels and a shallow shaft. No work appears to 

have been done at either place for some time.

Character of the deposits. The country rock at Pool's mine is a 

dark andesite. The deposit exposed in the cuts is a shear zone a 

few feet wide. The mineralized rock on the shaft dump is andesite 

in which chlorite, calcite, quartz, pyrite, and chalcopyrite have 

been introduced, cut by narrow stringers of quartz containing a 

little pyrite. The deposits were worked for copper and gold, but 

the ore found does not appear to have been of satisfactory grade. 

The shaft 1,500 feet farther east is at the contact between andesite 

and slate, both belonging to the Cretaceous bedded rocks. The slate 

is at the base of a considerable body of sedimentary beds which 

extends from the vicinity of the Two Queens mine through this 

place northward to Deer Creek. In the shaft :is a zone of sheeted 

and brecciated altered andesite about 4 feet wide, with quartz 

stringers, calcite, and a little pyrite. The zone strikes N. 55° E. 

and dips steeply to the southeast. There is a small dike of quartzmica diorite close to this shaft, and another jusit south of the shaft 

at the place marked " Pool's mine " on Plate I.

The prospect on Gila River is in a small fault block of Tornado 

limestone surrounded by Cretaceous andesitic strata and cut by a 

dike of hornblende porphyry 20 to 30 feet wide, with vertical dip, 

striking N. 20° E. The limestone dips gently northeast, and the 

andesitic strata above lie approximately parallel to the limestone 

beds. At one place on the contact is a mass of quartz-mica diorite 

cutting both andesite and limestone. The outcrop is so small that 

it could not be shown on Plate I. The west boundary of the limestone block appears to be a fault, the limestone being on the upthrown 

side.

On both sides of the hornblende porphyry dike the limestone 

shows irregular recrystallization and replacement with quartz, 

fluorite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite. The sulphides are partly oxidized 

to limonite, hematite, and a small amount of malachite. The porphyry is also in part altered and stained with limonite. The altered 

limestone exposed is small in amount. Locally the replacement 

spread out along bedding planes.

Location. The Hoosier group is on Sulphur Gulch in sees. 4 and 

5, T. 5 S., R. 16 E. The principal workings are in the NW. i/4 sec. 4. 

Sulphur Gulch empties into Gila River abou.t 1,000 feet above the

Weed, W. H., Mines Handbook, vol. 15, p. 219, 1922.
MINES AND PROSPECTS 51

mouth of Ash Creek and half a mile from the railroad siding of 

Finney.

Property. The Hoosier group comprises about eight unpatented 

claims owned by J. Miles and C. H. Crozier. About 1,500 feet from 

the mouth of Sulphur Gulch, in a side gulch, is a shaft on the vein. 

The same distance up the main gulch and some 50 feet vertically 

above it on the north side is another shaft, reported to be 48 feet 

 deep, and a short tunnel. There are reported to be two or three 

shallow shafts on the vein between the two mentioned. In the main 

gulch a crosscut tunnel is being driven by Mr. Miles to intersect the 

vein exposed in the 48-foot shaft and the short tunnel. He has a 

tent house near the mouth of Sulphur Gulch.

Character of the deposits. Most of the rock on this property is 

andesite of various types, including light-colored hornblende porphyry. At the shaft first mentioned above there is a small mass of 

"Tornado limestone. (See PI. I.) The block is bounded on the south 

by a slip that strikes N. 75° E. and dips 80° S. The shaft has been 

\sunk on this slip, the rock along which is mineralized. The limestone 

block is about 200 feet long in a northwesterly direction and 100 feet 

wide. The southwest boundary appears also to be a fault with downthrow to the southwest. Beyond the limestone block to the northwest this fault is marked by a zone about 20 feet wide of fault breccia 

composed of hornblende porphyry, dark andesite, and limestone. 

The mineralized rock on the dump of the shaft here appears to be 

limestone almost completely replaced by quartz, chlorite, magnetite, 

specularite, and pyrite. The vein in the tunnel on the hillside 1,500 

ieet to the northeast is about 3 feet wide, stands nearly vertical, and 

strikes N. 65° E. The vein matter is thoroughly oxidized and consists essentially of limonite and quartz. In the lower part of the 

48-foot shaft a small amount of pyrite is exposed in gangue consisting largely of chlorite and quartz. A little pyrite is exposed in the 

andesite in the tunnel below, but in May, 1923, the tunnel was not 

yet long enough to reach the vein exposed in the tunnel and shaft 

on the hillside above it.

RIEDER & BAILEY GROUP

Location. The Kieder & Bailey group is on the south side Of Ash 

Creek nearly a mile up the winding streamway from its mouth. The 

principal workings are in the NW. y± sec. 9, T. 5 S., R. 16 E.

Property. This group comprises several unpatented claims, and 

Mr. Rieder has other claims covering much of the W. 1/2 sec. 5 and 

probably extending beyond. There are a number of workings in this 

area, but none are extensive. In May, 1922, Mr. Rieder was working 

on the south side of Ash Creek a short distance below the mouth of
52 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

the gulch down which the road from Winkelman comes. Here he> 

has two tunnels side by side. One of these has caved near the face,, 

where mineralized and fractured rock is reported to have been encountered, and the other was being driven to open up this ground, 

if possible, without resorting to timbering.

Character of the deposits. The rock in this part of the Christmas area is a complex of Cretaceous effusive rocks and fine-grained 

intrusive porphyries. Northwest and southeast of the tunnels 

mentioned above are the dikes of quartz-mica diorite shown on Plate 

I, and there are smaller masses not mapped. The rock in and near 

the tunnels is principally gray hornblende porphyry. Several small 

slips stained with iron and copper salts are exposed in the tunnels. 

Specimens found loose at the mouth of one of the tunnels, presumably 

from the mineralized zone in the caved ground, contain quartz-mica 

diorite cutting chloritized andesite. The diorite is altered, containsnumerous pyrite crystals, and is cut by quartz stringers containing 

t chrysocolla.

In the general vicinity of these tunnels there are a number of 

poorly defined shear zones in andesite and hornblende porphyry.. 

The outcrops of these zones consist of altered country rock with 

quartz stringers containing limonite, chrysocolla, other oxidation, 

products, and small amounts of unoxidized pyrite, specularite, and 

magnetite. Some of the specimens furnished by Mr. Kieder yield 

free gold when panned.

FAULL GROUP

A group of copper claims belonging to James Faull lies on both 

sides of Gila Eiver just above Christmas station, At the time of 

visit assessment work was in progress in a tunnel in Cretaceousandesite a short distance south of two dikes of quartz-mica diorite on 

the east side of the river. In the tunnel streaks of altered andesite 

containing pyrite crystals are exposed.

Other claims in this vicinity are held by Mike O'Brien and by 

Simon Beaurle, but little work has been done on them for some 

time.

CHRISTMAS MINE

Location. The Christmas mine, which is the largest in the area 

mapped, is on the west side of the valley of Gila River about 8 miles 

by road north of Winkelman, in sec. 30, T. 4 S., R. 16 E. (unsurveyed); the property exten-ds also into sees. 19, 20, and 29 of this 

township and sec. 25, T. 4 S., R. 15 E. The branch line of the 

Arizona Eastern Railroad has its terminus at Christmas Station, 

which is just above the channel of Gila River and about 650 feet vertically below the settlement at the mine. The ptation and mine are
MINES AND PROSPECTS 53

connected by a winding road over l1/^ miles long, and by an aerial 

tramway nearly as long.

History.^ Dennis O'Brien and William Tweed first staked claims 

on what is now the Christmas property about 1880. About 1882 Dr. 

James Douglas, acting for the Phelps-Dodge Co., bought Tweed's 

-claims and obtained options on O'Brien's. Pie built a wagon road 

irom Picacho, bridged Gila River above the mouth of Ash Creek, 

and set up two small water-jacket furnaces for smelting the ore. 

A small amount of oxidized copper ore was mined. In 1884 operations were terminated because the deposits were then inside the San 

Oarlos Indian Reservation, and mining was prohibited. From this 

time until the reservation boundary was shifted, only annual assessment work was done. On December 22, 1902, through the efforts of 

G. B. Chittenden, of the Saddle Mountain Mining Co., an Executive 

order was issued restoring to the public domain the part of the reservation in which the deposits lie. The area restored is a triangle about 

15 miles on a side.

Just before Christinas, 1902, Chittenden and three other men 

located a group of claims covering the deposits. The mine was named 

from this circumstance. The Phelps-Dodge Co. protested, but before 

the case came to trial a compromise w.as effected, and the Saddle 

Mountain Mining Co. bought the Phelps-Dodge holdings, consisting 

of about 40 mining claims. After a test of the ore with one of the 

furnaces already installed the Saddle Mountain Mining Co. purchased another furnace having a rated capacity of 150 tons. In 

July, 1905, this furnace was blown in, and it continued in operation 

until the spring of 1907, when the mine was shut down. The product 

sold is reported to have had a value of $872,000. During this time 

113,322 tons of ore was mined and the development of the mine was 

carried to a depth of 300 feet through two shafts. In 1909 the Gila 

Copper Sulphide Co. was formed and took over the property of the 

Saddle Mountain Mining Co. This new company operated the 

Christmas mine until about 1914. From 1915 to 1919 work was continued under contract by the American Smelting & Refining Co. 

This company gave up the management in January, 1920, and the 

mine was .again shut down in April, 1921. From 1915 to 1920, inclusive, 415,264 tons of ore was mined.

Property. The Gila Copper Sulphide Co. owns the Saddle Mountain group of silver claims (see pp. 43-46), 640 acres of coal land 

in the lower coal field in Reed Basin east of the Christmas area, 

and 35 patented and 21 unpatented claims at the Christmas mine, 

including the 18 unpatented claims of the Shamrock group 

southwest of Christmas, recently purchased. The developments at

40 Compiled from data supplied by G. B. Chittenden and others.
54 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

the Christmas mine include five shafts, over 16,000 feet of lateral 

workings, and a number of stopes. (See PL XIII.) All the 

stopes are above the 400-foot level. The No. 3 shaft is the only one 

now equipped for operation. It has two compartments for cages 

and a ladderway and is 800 feet deep, with workings radiating 

from it at the 100, 200, 300, 350, 400, 500, and 800 foot levels. The 

pumps are installed on the 500-foot level, and the shaft below this 

is at present full of water. Somewhat more than 2,000 feet southeast 

of the No. 3 shaft are the Christmas workings, made in the early 

days. These consist of a terraced open cut with numerous short tunnels penetrating the mountain side at each terrace level. A view of 

these workings is shown in Plate XII, B. The Devils Gate incline 

starts at the surface in this vicinity and slopes down to the 300-foot 

level of the main mine. The slopes north and west of the Hackberry 

shaft are also honeycombed with old shallow workings. Some workings on the Shamrock group southwest of Christmas have recently 

been purchased by the Gila Copper Sulphide Co., but little systematic development work has yet been done on these claims.

The settlement of Christmas is about 2,000 feet east of the collar 

of No. 3 shaft and down the slope from it. The company's offices 

and shops, a post office, a school, and sufficient houses for several 

hundred people are situated there. The houses are owned by the 

company and used by its employees, principally Mexicans. Although the mine was not working when visited, a number of Mexican families were still living there. Houses for those of the engineering staff who have families are grouped by themselves at a 

little distance from the rest. The superintendent, A. L. German, 

and his brother, J. German, were the only "Americans employed at 

the property at the time of visit.

Character of the deposits. The rocks that crop out in the vicinity 

comprise Quaternary alluvium and slide rock, Cretaceous andesitic 

strata, Tornado limestone, and dikes of quartz-mica diorite and 

other rocks. (See Pis. I and XIII.) All the limestone in the vicinity 

of the mine is altered in varying degree by contact metamorphism. 

The limestone and the ore derived from it are cut by narrow dikes 

of altered andesite. The material mapped as older alluvium on 

Plate I is in large part composed of water-rounded and roughly 

sorted boulders, pebbles, and sand but also includes angular blocks, 

which are probably talus from the upper slopes. The greater part 

of both the talus and the water-transported material has a weak 

calcareous cement. In Plate XIII, which is intended to bring out 

the relations of the ore bodies to the geologic structure, this covering 

material has, for the sake of clearness, been omitted. The andesitic 

rocks overlie the-Tornado limestone on the southwest and butt against 

it in fault contact on the northeast. The traces of bedding in the
MINES AND PROSPECTS 55

andesite are too indistinct and variable for accurate determination 

of the attitude of the beds, but in general they appear to strike northwest and dip southwest at low angles. There seems to be little 

angular discordance between them and the underlying Tornado limestone. The andesitic strata east of the mine appear to dip west or 

southwest. South of the old Christmas workings, in limestone beds 

comparatively undisturbed by faults, the strike is N. 70° W. and the 

dip is 10° SW. The mass of altered limestone in the mountain spur 

north of No. 3 shaft has an inclination of a few degrees to the west. 

Near the shaft it is in general nearly flat-lying. (See PL XIV, A.) 

A mass of quartz-mica diorite partly mantled by older alluvium 

crops out from a point about half a mile east of Christmas 

westward along the valley in which No. 3 shaft is situated. The 

cover of .detritus makes its exact outlines indeterminate, but it is 

evidently the largest mass of such rock that crops out in the Christmas area. It is essentially a thick dike with a number of narrow 

apophyses extending fro.m it. The bodies of similar rock exposed 

farther east on the road to Christmas station and also on the main 

road south of the station are doubtless connected with it in depth. 

East of Christmas the main dike has a width of nearly 1,000 feet, and 

at the town it is probably even wider, but it narrows abruptly to the 

west. At No. 3 shaft the outcrop is only about 400 feet wide, and 

700 feet west of the shaft it appears to be less than 150 feet wide. 

The strike is somewhat north of east, and the dip is steep. The section through No. 3 shaft indicates that here the average dip is about 

70° NW. The section through No. 1 shaft, 350 feet farther west, 

shows a- similar dip. The section through No. 3 shaft, shown in 

Plato XV, is drawn from one prepared by A. Locke and Gr. N. 

Bjorge, with some of the. details omitted and the probable boundaries of the intrusive mass between levels drawn in, to bring out" 

the general relations more clearly. The section through No. 1 shaft, 

shown in Figure 6, is drawn from one by S. H. Sherman. Both sections show that slivers of altered limestone are included in the 

diorite, lying approximately parallel to the walls of the dike. The 

engineers of the Gila Copper Sulphide Co. have made a distinction 

between coarse-grained and fine-grained quartz-mica diorite. The 

fine-grained rock makes'up the greater part of the intrusive masses 

and is reported to be cut in places by the coarse-grained rock. The 

latter is, however, probably merely a somewhat later phase of the 

same intrusion, for there appears to be no essential petrographic 

difference between rock termed coarse grained and that termed fine 

grained on the company's maps. f 

There are numerous faults and slips in the rocks in the mine and 

its vicinity. Much the largest of these is the one known as the 

Christmas fault. (See p. 22.) In the vicinity of Christmas this
56 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

fault has an irregularly curvilinear outcrop, denoting that the fault 

surface or combination of surfaces is not, plane. The average strike 

is about N. 60° W., and the dip is steep to the northeast. The rocks 

on the northeast side have slipped down relative to those on the 

southwest at least 500 feet and perhaps more than twice that.

The Christmas fault is reached by (drifts in the northeast end of 

the developments on the 300-foot level, now caved and inaccessible. 

The map of this portion of the mine in the report by Locke and 

Bjorge shows that the footwall is composed at one place of altered 

calcareoiis shale and at another of garnetized limestone, and that the

EXPLANATION 

Ore

FIGURE 6. Geologic section, through No. 1 shaft, Christmas mine, May 31, 1910. For 

line of section see B-B', Plate XIII. From drawing furnished by Gila Copper Sulphide 

Co., Christmas

hanging wall consists of crushed andesite with quartz-mica diorite 

beyond the andesite. The rock in the fault zone itself is crushed 

diorite with fragments of limestone. This zone has an average 

strike of about N. 70° W. and dips 65-67° NE.

The evidently abrupt westward swing of the contact between the 

Cretaceous rocks and the limestone south of No. 3 shaft under the 

cover of alluvium and slide rock and the comparatively greater 

uplift of the limestone north of the shaft suggest strongly that there 

has been faulting here, with the strike of the fault roughly parallel 

to that of the main diorite mass, and the downthrow on the south.
TJ. S. GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE XII

OUTCROP OF GYPSUM ON LITTLE GOLD GULCH

B. THK OLD CHRISTMAS WORKINGS
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE XIII

EXPLANATION

Quartz-mica diorite

^

^

^N

Andesite

Tornado limestone

Fa u 11 (U, upthrow; D, downthrow)

\^^mm^

^S

^

x$sy»; <^¥^

^s s^^ s$^

s>§s ^$N

STORES

 I00'level

.._._._. 200'level

 ----..... 300' level

 - 350] level

...,....,,.,..>..,..,..... 400' level

 500' level

^ ^§S^

300

. Christmas

J^^l

^SM^ shaft

-N-Ni^>->^i^J

^s

^y^^

^^$^

^

j» - -

^

SSS,

^$s 5$N

^

^

N>i

^

^

^>x

1:SS5

>.3 shaft

^

;>; :: ^Yy;;:YYYY ;;;Y:;:Y^;-^^^;:;-^:^"; 

;:; ;: ; ; ; : :: :YY/;Y;:;> ; : Y;; ; ;Y;//;; V ;:V:::; : Y.

^'; : } 1//:^^

m?$^

^s^$N

^ ^

^N

s$l

x^^^^$ ?$^ <SS^N ^S-

^> ^

^

s^t ^y^$mN xrc

^^SC5

'^.;.-<»Kr- v x->

^

MAP SHOWING RELATIONS OF THE STOPED-OUT ORE BODIES OF THE CHRISTMAS MINE TO THE SURFACE GEOLOGY 

Geology from Plate I, with modifications from maps and sections furnished by Gila Copper Sulphide Co. Slope* from mine map* of Gila Copper Sulphidt Co.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN1 7.1 PLATE XIV

yl.ICONTACT-METAMOflPIIOSKD LIMESTONE NORTH OF NO. 3 SHAFT, 

CHRISTMAS MINE

B. TUNNELS CONSTITUTING THE PRINCIPAL WORKINGS OF THE 

LONDON-ARIZONA MINE
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE XV

N W.

^~ -=--

*1-

-- ~ . < . , *-, <:.-g

i'v Tj

Shear

.- 371 SUB LEVEL \ 

// \

. __ / / / \ o1 ,>

^^^iP^f^^^^^l^^^^^V/^? '>

"/ '/

SBMill^S^

\

Workings are shown about SO fbet \ 

from each side of section

__._._._ Workings southwest 

of section

Workings northeast 

.....................

\

\

aoo LEVEL ~~~^7.

50 100 ISO 200 Feet

' ^jriKcff / \ \ ' ,

I i

EXPLANATION

Oi/l-^x Quartz-mica diorite

; Coarse quartz-mica diorite

GEOLOGIC SECTION THROUGH NO. 3 SHAFT, CHRISTMAS MINE 

Drawn from section by Augustus Locke and Guy N. Bjorge
MINES AND PROSPECTS 57

Such a fault would result in carrying the limestone south of the 

shaft far enough down to put the base of the formation probably 

well below the bottom of the shaft. On the north, however, it would 

seem that the base of the Tornado limestone should be found at less 

depth. There are so many minor faults in this vicinity that accurate 

stratigraphic measurements are difficult to make. From available 

maps it appears that the Tornado limestone here has a thickness of 

the order of 1,000 feet, of which about half is above the collar of 

No. 3 shaft. As the limestone at this locality is only slightly inclined 

the base of the. formation north of the shaft would lie at about the 

500-foot level. If the Tornado here is thicker than 1,000 feet its 

(base would be correspondingly lower. Measurements by Locke and 

yBjorge on Tornado Peak, about 2^ miles west of Christmas, show 

J that 1,530' feet of limestone and interbedded shale and a few narrow 

sills of dioritic porphyry are exposed here, of which about 1,200 

feet has been assigned to the Tornado limestone and the remaining 

lower beds to the Martin limestone. If the Tornado limestone at 

Christmas is of this thickness its base would come somewhat more 

than 700 feet below the collar of the No. 3 shaft, and probably this 

is its approximate position. Stratigraphically below the Tornado 

is the Martin limestone, which has an average thickness of about 

325 feet.47 Certain beds od: this formation are susceptible of replacement by mineralizing solutions, as is shown at the London-Arizona 

mine and elsewhere.

Besides the two faults just discussed there are numerous others of 

less throw. The largest of these encountered by the underground 

workings are shown in the section in Plate XV. A fault with 

rather steep dip to the southeast is shown extending from the 300- 

foot to the 500-foot level. Above the 200-foot level on the south 

side is a flat-lying fault along which there is1 reported to be much 

brecciation and evidence of movement. Numerous small slips and 

zones of sheeting appear throughout the mine. A number of examples of these are shown in the sections in Plate XV and Figure 6. 

On the surface also many such minor faults are visible. A number 

can be discerned in the view shown in Plate XIV, A. These slips 

vary widely in attitude. They dip at all angles from the horizontal 

to the vertical, and the inclination of a large proportion of them is 

toward the northwest. The strikes also vary greatly, but a large 

part of those shown on the level maps prepared by Locke and 

Bjorge are within a range of 30° either side of east.

The formation of the faults described above has probably occupied considerable time. Where ore is crushed or displaced by a

a Ransome, F. L., The copper deposits of Ray and Miami, Arlz.: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 115, p. 46, 1919. 

31463 25 5
58 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

fault, it is -obvious that the movement was of later date than the 

ore deposition, and it is probable that some such movements have 

taken place in comparatively recent time. On the other hand, there 

is evidence of faulting before the deposition of the ore, and probably before the intrusion of the quartz-mica diorite. The shape of 

the stopes shown in Plate XIII may be assumed to correspond 

approximately to the shape of the ore bodies mined, with, of course, 

exceptions resulting from incomplete mining of the ore and other 

causes. A large portion of the stopes are elongated in a direction 

a little north of east, and many have narrow extensions at their 

ends that have similar trends. These facts appear to indicate that: 

the solutions that deposited the ore found most easy access and, 

their products were consequently concentrated along roughly parallel 

paths whose average trend was a little north of east. It is probable v 

that these paths of easy access were fractures in the rocks produced 1 

before the advent of the mineralizing solutions. Movement on the Christmas fault and on the large fault that strikes parallel to the 

main diorite dike is believed to have been initiated before the intrusion of the diorite. It is possible that a large part of the movement 

preceded the intrusion and that the diorite came in along a zone of 

shearing thus produced. This inference would help to explain the 

thin slivers of limestone in the diorite. The fracturing along the 

Christmas fault disclosed in drifts on the 300'-foot level proves that 

movement has taken place on this fault subsequent to the formation 

of the diorite and the ore, and there is also evidence of postmineral 

movement along faults with northeasterly strikes, but no such move- \ 

jnents appear adequate to account for the-displacement of the limestone south of No. 3 shaft relative to that north of the shaft. The

relations of the quartz-mica diorite to the Christinas fault suggest 

that much of the movement on that fault took place before the 

intrusion of the diorite. Both on the 300-foot level and in the open 

cut at the old Christmas workings narrow apophyses of the diorite 

extend out along the fault, as if following lines of weakness produced by previous fracturing.

All the limestone in the vicinity of Christmas shown on Plate I 

is metamorphosed, and the metamorphism continues westward beyond the limits of the area mapped, though it dies out gradually in 

this direction. The amount and character of the alteration differ 

markedly in different places and in different beds in the same place. 

The rocks resulting from the metamorphism may be grouped into 

four principal types meta-shale, silicified limestone, marble, and 

garnet rock with all sorts of gradations between them. The metashale is derived from the impure, shaly beds in the limestone series. 

It is a fine-grained, indistinctly banded rock, light green in most 

specimens. It contains quartz, epidote, a little garnet, and calcite.
MIZSTES AND PROSPECTS 59

^

Much of the quartz has been recrystallized, but in places the original detrital texture has been preserved. Most of the rock of this 

type contains little or no sulphides, but small masses of ore are reported to have been found in it in places. Silicified limestone appears to be of irregular distribution. In some places masses of varying size and irregular shape consisting essentially of quartz with 

minor amounts of garnet, sulphides, and other minerals are inclosed 

in garnet rock. Elsewhere there is massive rock consisting of small 

interlocking grains of quartz and flakes of partly chloritized biotite. 

In places the quartzose rock contains drusy cavities and is probably 

to be interpreted as of the nature of vein filling, but in other places 

the rock is clearly the result of a metasomatic replacement of limestone. The marble is merely limestone that has been recrystallized

/

'but in other respects is little altered. It is more nearly white than 

the unaltered limestone and of variable but in general coarser grain. 

In places near ore it is crisscrossed by tiny veinlets containing pyrite 

and a little chalcopyrite. The garnet rock makes up much the 

greater part of the altered limestone seen in the mine or on the slopes 

above it. It consists largely of green andradite garnet, with varying amounts of dark reddish-brown andradite, epidote, chlorite, an 

amphibole resembling pargasite, quartz, vesuvianite, and in places the 

metallic minerals of the ore. Wollastonite is reported by Locke and 

Bjorge to have been found in this rock. The garnet rock lies on 

both sides of the thick dike of quartz-mica diorite on the west or 

footwall side of the Christmas fault. The boundaries on the sides 

, away from the intrusive rock are irregular. Masses of garnet rock

/ were observed in places to be bordered by zones of marble. In a 

' number of places the transition between garnet rock and marble is 

abrupt, but gradations between the two can also be found. The 

garnet rock has evidently been formed by replacement of the more 

calcareous beds of the formation. Small residual masses of marmarized limestone are present in it in places. The bodies of garnet 

rock are separated by beds of meta-shale, and in a few places, according to Locke and Bjorge, by small sills of highly altered quartzmica diorite.

Certain portions of the garnet rock carry notable quantities of 

metallic minerals and locally contain enough copper to constitute 

ore bodies. The hypogene metallic minerals are magnetite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and small amounts of sphalerite and galena. One specimen was found in which magnetite occurs in a form resembling that 

of micaceous hematite. The gangue consists of the minerals of the 

garnet rock listed above and in places veinlets of chalcedony. Bornite is a prominent constituent of the ore and may be hypogene, 

although in places it seems more probably a product of later enrich-

, ment, like the chalcocite and covellite that are rather generally dis-
60 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

geminated in the ore on and above the 300-foot level. The oxidized 

metallic minerals noted in the ore bodies near the surface are malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, native copper, limonite, hydrous manganese oxide, and copper pitch ore. Gypsum veinlets are present in 

some of the oxidized ore. The company's records show that in 1915 

to 1920 the ore shipped contained on the average 0.007 ounce of gold 

and 0.28 ounce of silver to the ton, 2.8 per cent of copper, 18 per cent 

of iron, 26 per cent of lime, 33 per cent of silica, and 2.5 per cent 

of sulphur.

The following statements regarding the distribution of the minerals in the deposits are abstracted from the report by Locke and 

Bjorge. They prepared detailed geologic maps of the workings accessible to them, which include much that can not now be examined^ 

Ore is found in the limestone near the more highly mineralized\ 

parts of the quartz-mica diorite, and this fact may be used as a guide 

in prospecting. The garnet rock near the contact with the main intrusive mass contains much magnetite and little copper. The blocks 

of limestone included in the intrusive rock are highly metamorphosed 

and likewise contain much magnetite but little copper. Some of the 

best ore has been found in limestone masses projecting into but not 

surrounded by the diorite.

The quartz-mica diorite in the mine and in the open cut of the 

old Christmas workings is in general fairly fresh. The feldspars are 

scarcely more thoroughly sericitized than those in similar rock elsewhere. The biotite is, however, somewhat more bleached and chloric 

tized than in outcrops at a distance, and epidote, calcite, pyrite, and 

secondary quartz are developed in places but-no where abundantly.

In several places under ground there are narrow dikes of purplish 

andesite cutting garnet rock, ore, and diorite. The andesite consists 

of plagioclase of the approximate composition of andesine, hornblende, and epidote. Except for the introduction of the epidote, the 

rock shows little alteration.

N. H. Mellor has, besides the Little Treasure mine, described on 

page 46, a small group of unpatented claims on both sides of Gila. 

River just below Christmas. The rock in this vicinity is Cretaceous 

andesite cut by irregular masses of a bleached and altered igneous 

rock that may be sericitized quartz-mica diorite, containing a little 

pyrite in places, and by masses of typical and comparatively unaltered quartz-mica diorite. There are a short tunnel and shallow 

shaft in one of the masses of altered igneous rock, and some other 

small workings elsewhere. On the east side of the river some 

small outcrops of gossan appear in the bank of a tributary wash,
MINES AND PROSPECTS 61

and the outcrop of diorite at this place shown on Plate I has a 

little copper stain. Near by there are a few other outcrops of the 

diorite containing inclusions of andesite, but they are too small to 

show on the map.

LONDON-ARIZONA MINE

Locatimi. The property of the London-Arizona Consolidated 

Copper Co. covers a broad area near and for the most part north 

of Tornado Peak, in Gila County. The settlement of Chilito, near 

the London-Arizona mine, is about 5 miles by road north of Haydten, and the property extends somewhat less than 2 miles east and 

more than iys miles west of Chilito, with a width of more than a 

/mile.

l History?* The deposits of the present London-Arizona mine 

were located about 1880 by Watson. The claims were later acquired by D. W. O'CaiToll and about 1906 sold to the Dripping 

Springs Mining, Smelting & Reduction Co., which was reorganized 

about 1908 as the London-Arizona Copper Co. In 1913 the LondonArizona Consolidated Copper Co. was formed as a merger of the 

London-Arizona, London-Range, London-Shamrock, and Ball Copper companies. Work was carried On intermittently until 1920, 

principally by lessees. From a set o>f tunnels east of Chilito, 

15,443 tons of ore ranging in tenor from 2.75 to 18 per cent copper 

was shipped to the Hayden smelter. The average grade of this 

/ore is estimated by Mr. Scott as perhaps 4.5 per cent of copper. 

From the vicinity of the Curtin shaft 1,016 tons of lead ore and 

51 tons of zinc ore were shipped, principally from shallow workings. Since then the Shamrock group has been purchased by the 

Gila Copper Sulphide Co. There is at present no activity on the 

claims of the company, and ownership of a large part of them 

has been reassumed by Mr. O'Carroll.

Property. The London-Arizona Consolidated Copper Co., when 

organized, had 132 unpatented claims. The workings include a 

shaft about 180 feet deep near the road on London-Range ground 

less than a mile southwest of Chilito; the group of tunnels of the 

London-Arizona mine just east of the settlement (PI. XIV, B) ; 

the Curtin shaft, 325 feet deep with short drifts off it, about a mile 

east (PI. XVII, A) ; the O'Carroll and Ball shafts, still farther 

east; and a number of smaller workings. The London-Arizona 

workings, from which most of the output has come, consists of about 

60 tunnels 49 at short intervals in a mineralized limestone bed. These 

tunnels extend about 2,000 feet along the mountain side. Some of

*8 Data from Harry Scott, of Chilito, Ariz., and Weed, W. H., Mines Handbook, vol. 15, 

pp. 319-320, 1922.

18 Weed, W. H., Mines Handbook, vol. 15, p. 320, 1922.
62 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER. DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

them penetrated to the other side of the mountain. On the slope 

below the tunnel mouths are several shallow shafts and other workings. Plate XVII, B, shows most of them. The somewhat unusual 

character of the workings results from the fact that the mining was 

done by numerous lessees working under the general supervision of 

the company's officers. The lessees were paid on the basis of samples 

of the ore on their dumps, and the ore was transported to the smelter 

at Hayden by the company.

Character of the deposits. The property, as can be seen from 

Plate XVI, is in the fault complex of the Dripping Spring Range, 

The Troy quartzite and the Martin and Tornado limestones are weill 

represented. In the eastern part Cretaceous andesitic strata crop oufa 

North and west of Chilito is an extensive area of diabase. There are\ 

a number of dikes of quartz-mica diorite, and probably other similar 1 

rocks. The deposits of the London-Arizona mine developed by the 

series of tunnels already described are in a mineralized bed near the 

base of the Martin limestone, known as the O'Carroll ore bed. There 

are ore bodies at this horizon at a number of places between this 

locality and the Apex mine, a distance of more than a mile. Most 

of the ore mined in the London-Arizona tunnels was oxidized material in which copper carbonates were the principal valuable minerals, but some of the ore contained supergene chalcocite, and pyrite 

was found in a few of the tunnels. Specimens of the ore kindly 

supplied by Mr. Harry Scott contain malachite, chalcocite, andradite 

garnet, specularite, quartz, and probably vesuvianite. Ore is reported\ 

to have been found in nearly all the tunnels, but apparently in small \ 

discontinuous masses. The workings in the Troy quartzite on the 

slope below the tunnels are reported to have found little ore. Wulfenite ore was found in the London-Range shaft, and, according toMr. Scott, a vein of rhodocrosite 4 feet wide was cut in this shaft 

at a depth of about 120 feet. In the open cuts and shallow workings 

in the vicinity of the Curtin shaft some small ore bodies are exposed. 

These are replacement bodies, which are in large part irregular and 

not confined by the bedding planes of the limestone. Some of the 

bodies lie approximately perpendicular to the bedding, but Mr. 

O'Carroll, who acted as guide here, states that in places the ore 

makes out along bedding planes. The gangue resembles that of the 

Christmas ore, containing quartz, andradite garnet, and other minerals, but there is more oxidation than in the ore now exposed at the 

Christmas mine, and also a wider range in the proportions of the 

valuable metals present. In places the ore has been mined for lead, 

principally in the form of cerusite, though galena is reported ta 

have been found near the surface in places. In other outcrops zinc 

predominated, and a little zinc ore has been mined. Elsewhere oxidized copper ore was found.
MINES AND PROSPECTS 63 

SCHNEIDER GROUP

The Schneider group of claims, owned by the Gila Canyon Copper Co., is on Schneider Hill, northwest of Chilito and about 5 miles 

by road from Hayden.

The claims were held by Jake Schneider from some time in the 

eighties until about 1907, when he sold them to the Hotchkiss Syndicate. The Gila Canyon Copper Co. was formed about 1912 to 

work the deposits. In 1916 and 1917 the Gila Canyon Consolidated 

Copper Co. had an option on the property, but later it appears to 

Jiave reverted to the Gila Canyon Copper Co.

/ The principal production was made from August, 1916, to Janu-

/' ary, 1919, when 225 cars of copper ore of a net value of $129,384

/ are reported 50 to have been shipped to the smelter at Hayden.

/ Work continued into 1920, but since early in 1921, when the manager,

G. B. Chittenden, left, the property has been abandoned.

The Schneider group consists of 17 unpatented claims on which a 

considerable amount of development work has been done. There is 

a tunnel about 1,800 feet long 50 and numerous shallow workings, 

as can be seen from Plate XVII, B.

The ore bodies on the Schneider group appear to be all in the 

Troy quartzite, which is underlain and intruded by diabase. Quartzmica diorite intrudes both quartzite and diabase. (See PI. XVI.) 

The ore so far found appears to have been in discontinuous replacei ment bodies, and the known masses are reported to have been largely 

J mined out. A large part of the ore mined was oxidized, but pyritic 

material enriched by supergene chalcocite was also encountered. 

The diabase contains disseminated pyrite crystals and is otherwise 

altered.

APEX MINE

Location. The Apex mine, also known as the Lavell, is on the 

southwest side of the crest of the Dripping Spring Range, threequarters of a mile north of Chilito in a straight line, at an altitude 

of about 4,250 feet. A wagon road about 5 miles long extends from 

the mine southeastward to the Globe-Winkelman highway and the 

Arizona Eastern Railroad at Finney.

History. The deposit was discovered by Joe Lavell, who was 

grubstaked by S. 0. Stuart about 1914. It was worked by lessees 

for a time. Then Mrs. K. B. Muller bought a half interest, and she 

and Lavell worked it. In 1917 and 1918 it was Avorked under lease 

by some ISTeAv York people. In 1918 Lavell died, leaving Mrs. 

Muller as the owner. From October, 1922, until his death in. 1923, 

the mine was under lease to Dr. 0. M. Roberts, who supplied the

00 Weed, W. H., op. cit., p. 274.
64 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, AEIZ.

historical information here given. He estimated that $15,000 to 

$20,000 worth of gold ore has been shipped to smelters, besides an 

unknown quantity of high-grade gold ore, some of which is reported 

to have contained as much as 70 per cent of gold.

Property. The principal opening is a tunnel over 300 feet long 

from which stoping has been done laterally and upward. A shaft 

extends from the surface to the tunnel, and there is an inclined winze 

approximately below the shaft. A number of other tunnels and 

shallow shafts have been driven. The property includes a small 

mill, now out of repair, built about 1901, and a dwelling house.

Character of the deposits. The ore bodies are in the Martin lime-\ 

stone, which is underlain by the Troy quartzite. Below and intru-1 

sive into the quartzite is diabase. (See PL XVI.) A dike mapped V 

on Plate XVI as quartz diorite porphyry cuts both quartzite and { 

limestone. This rock differs somewhat from the typical quartz-mica V 

diorite of the Christmas area. Its ferromagnesian constituent was 

probably originally biotite, but it is now altered to chlorite and associated minerals, does not appear to have been abundant, and is not 

identifiable in the hand specimen. Quartz phenocrysts are more, 

abundant than in the typical quartz-mica diorite. The feldspar is 

largely andesine.

The ore deposits are in the Martin limestone at places where the 

beds have been broken by steeply inclined fractures. The principal 

ore body is on a fracture zone with a trend somewhat north of east. '\ 

The ore has been followed for about 300 feet into the mountain along \ 

this zone. Ore of good grade is confined vertically to a zone only ^ 

about 15 feet high and from a few1 inches to a number of feet in \ 

width, but the mineralized rock extends beyond these limits. In the 

lower part of the winze is a green rock, evidently a mineralized 

quartzite, so that it is probable that alteration by the mineralizing 

solutions extended down into the Troy quartzite. This rock contains 

quartz, part of which retains its original clastic texture, chlorite, calcite, epidote, and pyrite. According to Doctor Roberts, the ore body 

here is largely worked out except for pillars and low-grade ore 

making out along the bedding of the limestone. Other ore shoots 

may be developed. The ore seen at the time of visit consists largely 

of quartz, limonite and kindred oxidized iron minerals, cerusite and 

probably other oxidized lead minerals, and some white alunite. The 

high-grade ore is stated to have contained much coarse wire gold.

GOLD-COPPER MINES CO.

The property of the Gold-Copper Mines Co. is a little over a 

quarter of a mile southeast of the Apex mine on the road to Finney. 

The mine buildings are on the crest of the divide of the Dripping
o II

II

CAMBRIAN AND POSSIBLY ALSO ORDOVICIAN AND SILURIAN DEVONIAN CARBONIFEROUS QUATERNARY
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY BULLETIN 771 PLATE XVII

A. CURTIN SHAFT 

Tornado Peak in the distance

B. WORKINGS ON THE SCHNEIDER GROUP OF THE GILA CANYON 

COPPER CO.
MINES AND PROSPECTS 65

Spring Kange, at an altitude of about 4,250 feet, and the workings 

are near by on the northeast slope of the ridge.

The deposit was located about 1914 by S. 0. Stewart, who gave 

J. H. Bamsey a half interest in it for working it. Later the GoldCopper Mines Co. was formed and additional claims were located. 

In 1921 Bamsey and Doctor Buff acquired an option on the property 

and did some work. A mill was completed in the fall of 1921, but 

no ore has been shipped, and when visited in June, 1922, the property 

was idle.

I The mine is developed by several, tunnels one above another. At 

the mouth of the lowest is the mill, which is equipped with amalga- 

/mation plates, two concentrating tables, and, below these, cyanide 

/ tanks. It is reported to have been in operation 11 days and to have 

treated 23 tons of ore. On the ridge above the mine are several 

houses, one of which is occupied by J. J. Hill, who was of assistance 

in the examination of the property.

The country rock of the mine is principally the Martin limestone. 

The tunnels follow a vein striking about N. 80° W., with nearly 

vertical dip. One tunnel follows another and smaller mineralized 

fissure. In a number of places altered igneous rock forms the south 

wall of the main vein. In the hand specimen this is a fine-grained 

dull-green rock speckled with numerous small white feldspar phenocrysts. Under the microscope it is seen to be so highly altered that 

close determination of its original character is impossible. It is 

/ an aggregate of chlorite, epidote, residual bits of feldspar, and indeterminate alteration products. The rock is probably an altered 

intrusive andesite, perhaps related to the dioritic dikes that are 

common in this region. The limestone along the fissure is mineralized for a width of a foot or two. In the central part is a seam 

several inches wide consisting largely of long, narrow, well-formed 

quartz crystals, a feature not observed in any of the other deposits 

examined. In several places the mineralization extended short distances away from the vein along the bedding planes of the limestone. 

A little copper-stained pyrite was noted at one place, and at the 

mouth of one tunnel was a small pile of mineralized rock containing malachite.

HOGVALL PROSPECT

Anton Hogvall has a prospect on the south side of a gulch threequarters of a mile almost due west of Tornado Peak and somewhat 

over half a mile southwest of Chilito. Here several short tunnels 

have been opened on mineralized stringers and irregular gossan 

bodies in the Martin limestone. Pyrite was seen on the dump of 

one tunnel. The ore is reported to carry gold.
66 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ. 

SEVENTY NINE MINE

Location. The Seventy Nine mine is in the Kay quadrangle, a 

little less than 2 miles northwest of Tornado Peak and 4^ miles 

northwest of Hayden in air lines. The principal workings and mine 

buildings are on the northwest side of a wash at! an altitude of 

somewhat more than 3,300 feet above sea level, and there are prospect holes along the streamway above this.

History. The deposit was located in 1879 by Mike O'Brien and 

his brother Pat, but little work was done on it until December, 1919. 

From that date until April 27, 1922. the mine was held by the Continental Commission Co., which is reported to have shipped about 

3,000 tons of ore averaging 24 per cent of lead, 1.75 per cent of 

copper, and 4 ounces of silver and 80 cents in gold to the ton. In 

April, 1922, the mine was taken over by the Seventy Nine Mining 

Co., and in June, 1922, the managers reported that shipments of 

about 50 tons a day were being made of ore averaging about the 

same as that previously shipped. Recently 52 the mine has been ordered reconveyed to. the Continental Commission Co. as a result of 

litigation.

Property. The property comprises 23 claims. 53 The mine has 

been developed by two tunnels, one above the other, with irregular stopes from them. Most of the stoping now in progress starts 

from the upper tunnel. The ore is sent down chutes to the lower 

tunnel and trammed to the surface. There is a winze down 70 feet 

on a 35° slope from the lower tunnel. A short distance up the gulch 

from the mine are the office, boarding house, and a few other buildings. Not far from the boarding house is a prospect shaft, and a 

few hundred yards.farther upstream is a tunnel from which a little 

stoping has been done! Other prospect workings are scattered over 

the property.

Character of the deposits. The country rock is the Tornado limestone. In the northeastern part of the mine is a dike of altered 

dioritic rock flanked by fault breccia, and near the mouth of the 

lower tunnel some irregular masses of comparatively fresh quartz - 

mica diorite are exposed. The ore has been formed as replacement 

bodies of galena along certain beds in the limestone separated by 

silicified beds, perhaps originally somewhat shaly, which are also 

more or less mineralized in places. About five different beds of ore 

from 3 to 5 feet thick are reported to have been found. There appears to be more unaltered galena in the upper stopes than below, 

but throughout the mine a large part of the ore is cerusite. Anglesite and small amounts of azurite and malachite are also presenting, and Min. Jour.-Press, vol. 115, p. 862, 1923. 

w Weed, W. H., Mines Handbook, vol. 15, p. 254, 1922.
MINES AND PROSPECTS 67

At the shallow shaft near the boarding house the ore, which is an 

irregular body formed by the replacement of limestone, is thoroughly 

oxidized. The minerals recognized are wulfenite, cerusite, limonite, 

andradite, garnet, quartz, calcite, and a little hydrous manganese 

oxide and malachite. There is also a small amount of a yellow 

powdery material, probably an oxidized lead mineral, but it was 

impossible to separate enough for a conclusive test. Garnet is also 

reported in outcrops of some of the ore beds at the main mine. The 

tunnel farther up the gulch contains oxidized ore, but here copper is 

I the metal sought, and no lead is reported to be present. The ore is 

stated to carry several ounces of silver to the ton. This deposit is 

also in the Tornado limestone but appears to have been formed along 

a fissure instead of along the bedding. The minerals recognized are 

chrysocolla, malachite, cuprite, black copper oxide, hematite, magnetite, quartz, garnet, and calcite.

COLUMBIA MINE

Location. The Columbia mine of the Dripping Springs Mines 

Corporation is in a tributary gulch on the south side of Dripping 

Spring Valley about three-quarters of a mile west of the point where 

the highway to Globe swings north out of the valley and 2 miles 

east of Troy. It is about lSi/2 miles from Winkelman and 12 miles 

from the terminus of the Arizona Eastern Railroad at Christmas 

station.

History. Most of the claims were located by J. W. Read, part of 

them in 1901. The Dripping Springs Copper Co. acquired the 

property about 1915 and was reorganized into the present company 

about 1920. Most of the development work was done in this year, 

and some copper ore was shipped. When visited in June, 1922, 

development work was1 in progress under Mr. A. T. Copley, superintendent, who kindly furnished the historical and other data 

regarding the mine. In the fall of 1922 exploration by diamond 

drilling from the floor of the principal tunnel was started, and an 

ore body 10 feet wide is reported to have been encountered.54

Property. The Columbia group comprises about 20 claims. The 

Dripping Springs Mines Corporation also owns the Pearl group 60 

of claims, near Mammoth. At the Columbia mine there are a 

number of buildings, an air compressor, and other equipment. The 

principal underground workings consist of a tunnel about 550 feet 

long with a crosscut at the end of the tunnel extending 950 feet 

south and 350 feet north and a shallow winze at the north end.

w Eng. and Min. Jour.-Press, vol. 115, p. 688, 1923. 

BG Weed, W. H., op. cit., p. 265.
68 SADDLE MOUNTAIN AND BANNER DISTRICTS, ARIZ.

Some stoping has been done, and there are several branch drifts 

off the crosscuts and smaller workings elsewhere.

Character of the deposits. The rocks' in this vicinity are a complex of small fault blocks of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and 

intrusive diabase, with intrusions of quartz diorite porphyry and 

granodiorite only short distances away. Plate XVI shows the 

general features of the geology, but is on too small a scale to illustrate fully the complexity of the faulting. The rock mapped by 

liansome as quartz diorite porphyry is probably equivalent to that 

called quartz-mica diorite in the present report. Most of the rock 

exposed underground is diabase, but there is a block of limestone 

supposed to belong to the Mescal limestone, and at the north end , of the crosscut some metamorphosed shaly rock is exposed, perhaps 

also a part of the Mescal limestone. Mr. Copley states that five \ 

fissures showing mineralization are known. They strike in general \ 

nearly east and dip 70°-SO° S. Gouge and altered country rock 

without much quartz in belts 3 to 8 feet wide occur along these fissures, widening out into the limestone where this rock forms one of 

the walls. Small bodies of copper carbonate ore have been found 

and stoped in places. Mr. Copley states that cuprite was noted in 

cracks in one of the veins, and small amounts of pyrite and chalcopyrite have been observed. In the altered shale at the north 

end of the workings a bed about 4 feet thick has been replaced by vesfuvianite, magnetite, and doubtless other minerals. Picke"d sam- \ 

pies from this bed are reported to contain 3 to 7 per cent of zinc, V 

but no zinc minerals appear to be present in the specimen collected. \ 

Garnet is probably present in places, and some specularite is asso- \ 

ciated with the magnetite showing incipient replacement along octa- \ 

hedral partings'.

McHUB PROSPECT 66 \

In Seventy-nine Gulch'there was in 1917 a vanadium prospect 

owned by Mac McHur. The exact location is not known, but it is 

possible that the deposits are on the ground of the present Seventy 

Nine Mine. Irregular masses of gossanlike material containing 

siderite, wulfenite, and vanadinite crop out in the gulch for about a \ 

quarter of a mile, and there are shallow workings at intervals. The 

country rock is the Tornado limestone, with diabase coming in near by ' 

and possibly against it in places. About a mile above this is an outcrop of ferruginous quartz at the contact of limestone and diabase, 

called the Iron Spike vein. A little wulfenite and vanadinite and 

some copper staining occur here. About a mile below the McHur 

prospect a small mill has at one time been operated by Mr. Boykin, 

of Tucson.

88 From notes by F. L. Hess, of the U. S. Geol. Survey, taken in April, 1917.
I

MINES AND PROSPECTS 69 

PREMIER GROUP 57

The Premier group, owned by S. 0. Stewart, comprises 10 unpatented claims on the south side of Dripping Spring Valley 2 miles

northwest of Christmas. The location shown on Plate X is only

approximate. The deposit is developed by several pits and by an

open cut about 25 feet long, with a drift from one end extending

20 feet to the east and a winze 12 feet deep at the end of the drift.

The country rock is the Tornado limestone. The vein strikes about

 magnetic east, dips nearly vertically, and can be traced for about

; half a mile on the surface. A dike of quartz 'porphyry about 60

j feet wide cuts the vein at a small angle. It is stained with iron

/' oxide and appears to contain a little vanadinite. At the open cut

' mentioned the spongy gossan-like material extends out north of the 

vein and lies nearly flat along the bedding of the limestone. Above 

the drift the limestone is crushed and recemented by caliche-like 

material. The vein ranges from 10 inches to 3 feet in width and 

contains iron-stained, spongy quartz with vugs and cracks lined with 

thin coatings of vanadinite and wulfenite.

C. & B. GROUP 57

The C. & B. group, owned by E. E. Cutler and Calvin Bywater, is 

( on the south side of Dripping Spring Valley, about 9 miles above its 

f mouth. It comprises five claims and is developed by a 20-foot shaft 

and two tunnels, 30 and 60 feet long, with a 10-foot winze below the 

shorter one. The tunnels are on a vein of oxidized material, striking 

approximately N. 60° E. and dipping southeast along the contact 

between limestone and diabase, and the shaft is on a branch of the 

vein, also on the contact between the limestone block and diabase but 

striking N. 35° W. and dipping northeast. Near by is a small outcrop 

of red granitic rock. Movement and brecciation have taken place 

along the vein fissures. The vein matter is well oxidized and for the 

most part soft, although silicified in places. Vanadinite and wulfenite are present in the soft material and also form coatings on 

brecciated diabase for a width of a few feet. Cavities left by galena 

crystals that had been oxidized and removed were noted at one place.

These contain vanadinite. There are some small veins on the 

property. A little ore has been mined, and some is reported to have 

been shipped during the war.

67 From notes by F. L. Hess, of the U. S. Geol. Survey, taken in April, 1917.
\
INDEX

Page 

Acknowledgments for aid.................... 2-3

'Adjust mine, description of....-.-... ..... 41-43 

/Alluvium, nature and divisions of........... 18-19

Apache group, occurrences of___. 7-8 

origin of................................. 24

IApex mine, description of _-_- - 63-64

(Banner mining district, geologic map of part

of..................-...---------- 64

location of...-...---...-.-.-.-.---------- 2

property map of....----------.-----.---. 32

Barnes conglomerate, occurrence of..-...--.. 7

Big Rock vein, outcrop of, plate showing.... 32

Blue Bird vein, features of._.--.----...---. 42

Boundaries of claims and districts, accuracy

of......... .... --- 30

C. & B. claims, features of 69

Cambrian quartzite, plates showing...._.. 8

Carmichael claims, description of.. ..-. 48 

Christmas area, geologic map and section of.. 2 

Christmas fault, features of _............ 22

Christmas mine, contact metamorphosed limestone in, plate showing..-------- 56

'. geologic section through No. 3 shaft of,

plate showing....__--........ 56

history of.___._ 53

location and extent of the property.... 52,53-54

old workings of, plate showing........... 56

ore deposits in_------------------------ 54-60

stoped-out ore bodies of, map showing 

relations of, to the surface geology....-..- ----..-...- 56

Climate, former, of the area_ . .. 29 

Colorado time, eventsof...--. ------------ 25-26

Columbia mine, description of-.-...... ._- 67-68

Copper, production of...-------------------- 29

Cretaceous conglomerate, plates showing.... 16

Cretaceous intrusive rocks, nature and occurrence of 19-20,26-27

Oretaceous stratified rocks, description of.... 11-

14,25-26

.Dripping Spring quartzite, probable occurrence of...-.--------------.-.-.-- 7

Faull copper claims, features of........... . 52

Faulting in the area.------------------ 22-23,27,28

Geologic history of the area.---..------------ 23-29

Gila conglomerate, occurrence and age of. 17-18,28 

flirty, O. H., fossils determined'by..------ 9,10-11

Gold, pyritic deposits of. .__ ...__._... 32-34 

production of.....-...-.......----.-.--.. 29

Gold-Copper Mines Co., property of....- 64-65

Page

Gypsum, peculiar occurrence of. ..... 48 

peculiar occurrence of, plate showing. 56

Hogvall prospect, features of . 65 

Hoosier claims, description of.. -_....... 50-51

Kirk, Edwin, fossils determined by......_. 8

Lead-silver ore, production of. .. .. 29 

Lead-silver veins, nature and location of..... 30-32

Lee claims, features of.. __.... .. 47-48

Lee Mountain, plate showing__ _.._ 8 

Little Treasure mine, description of...------ 46-47

London-Arizona mine, Curtin shaft of, plate

showing.-.....----.------------.. 64

description of.---...---..- .... ...--. 61-62

tunnels constituting principal workings

of, plate showing......-.-------. 56

McHur prospect, features of.. ____....... 68

Manganese, occurrence of....-----.-_._.. 62

Martin limestone, probable occurrence of.. 8,24-25 

Mellor prospect, description of......__._ 60-61

Mescal limestone, beds equivalent to....---. 7,24

Minerals resulting from contact-metamorphism__._____._........... 37

Mines, production of..__-----____._ 29

Molybdenum, occurrence of. ......._.... 62

Ore bodies, probable relations of.------------ 39-41

Ore deposits, contact-metamorphic, nature

and occurrence of_------------- 34-39

pyritic, nature and occurrence of--...... 32-34

Oxidation, minerals resulting from_....... 38

Paleozoic rocks in near-by regions, columnar

sections of.. - _. 8 

Paleozoic rocks of the area..........- .----- 6-11

Final schist, probable occurrence of..___. 6 

vicissitudes of.- ------ --- - 24

Pool's mine, description of_-----------_- 49-50

Premier claims, features of__--- - - 69 

Production from the mines.--- - - --- 29 

Pyritic ore deposits, nature and distribution

Of---. 32-34

Quartz-hornblende diorite, nature and occurrence of___------.--...--.----. 20

Quartz-mica diorite, Cretaceous volcanic

*"" rock cut by, plate showing...... 16

nature and occurrence of_ .. 20

Rieder & Bailey claims, description of .... 51-52 

Rock Creek, valley of, plate showing.. 8

Saddle Mountain claims, description of .. 43-46

71
72 INDEX

Page 

Saddle Mountain mining district, location of. 2

property map of_____. ______.. 32 

Scanlan conglomerate, occurrence of. ____ 7 

Schneider claims, description of______.. 63

workings of, plate showing......__.... 64

Scope of the report......___.____.. 1-2

Seventy-nine mine, description of. ..1....... 66-67

Stratigraphy of the area, general features of.. 6 

Structure of the rocks...________... 21-23 

Summary of the report. ___._______ vn

Tablelands, The, formations exposed in__. 15-17 

Tertiary conglomerates on, plates showing.............................. 16

Page

Tertiary conglomerate, older, plates showing. 16 

Tertiary stratified rocks, older______ 15-17,28 

Topography of the area__.--..-.__.._ 4-5 

Tornado limestone, plate showing........... 8,16

probable occurrence of.. . 8-11

sill of altered trap in, plate showing _ 32

Troy quartzite, possible occurrence of...._ 7-8

Two Queens mine, description of.__.._ 48-49

Vanadium, mining of.__.-....,. ...... 29

occurrences of..____....... J . 68,69

Whitetail conglomerate, probable occurrence

of............................... 15-17

O

' \.

/1 >. U t»J,

Pg

et