The Arizona sentinel., 1877-09-22
The Silver King Mine.

t0ucn or romance tHat enndHCeo
the interest attaching to lis devel-
opment. It lies at the base of the
Pinal mountains and within a
stones throw of the military road
constructed by General SLOVENIAN
when in command of the Depart.
ment of Arizona. 1t was originally
discovered by two Of his soldiers,
who found specimens of silver
chlorides on the groupings, while
working on the road. They kept
their secret for long time, in.
tending to profit by it when dis
charged from thearmy; hut when
that occurred Stoneman's camp in
this vicinity had been broken up.
the troops withdrawn and the
Apaches held andisputed posses
sion of this part Of the country.
One of the soldiers was a dissi.
pated wretch and died at Yuma.
The other disclosed the secret to
various parties around Florence
and several expeditions were Or
ganized TO re-discover the mine,
all resulting in loss Of life, Of ami
mails or in failure to find it. Finally
Messrs. Mason, Long, Reagan and
Copeland discovered the mine
through the accident of a pack
animal wandering from the trail
and being caught upon the crop
pings. The groupings were i'm
mense and formed a hillOck some
thirty feet above their native
ridge, carrying an ore body ninety
feet in one direction by about
seventy in another.
The topof this ore body was sub.
sequently quarried offand the rich
er parts assorted and shipped. II e
entire flour thus left was sampled
and assayed by Janin, the expert
and gave return 1911 per ton, At
FIRST the locatOrs Of the mine rad
to struggle against the many dill
ficulties OF poverty, hostile Indians
and distance from civilization. 1t
is reported that less than two
years agothey took a small wagon
load of their ore TO Tucson and
offered to sell One.half of their
mine for s 600, finding no buyers.
But few months later Copeland
and Long sold out their interest
to the other two for $50. 900, and
the whole sum Was paid from the
net profits of the mine in less than
six months. Since that time one.
half of the property has been sold
for 100000 and the ownership
vested in an incorporation with a
nominal capital of $l0,OOO.OOO in
100,0e0 shares. The mine lies in
a basin at the foot of precipitOu>
mountains whirh tower high
above it in great palisades fringed
with huge mOnoliths that stand
erect like the remaining pickets
of broken fence. Viewed from
below the upper parts ofthe noun
tain appears formed of lava and
magnetism limestone. Thedebri.
at their base comprises an incon
ceivable variety of volcanic anC
other igneOus rocks, all more %
lesstinged with the color of oxidiz
ed iron. The mine itself occurs il
abeltofbrown and gray speich cut
ting through county of granite
A very common and super
fetal theory for its occurrence
declares that the mine has slid OF
from the main mountain, ant
consequently is a stock of or
independent of any true assure
Very little observation and refiec
ton are enough TO satisfy one tina
the formation in which the min
occurs IS wonderful in its regular
ity for miles i'm several directions
that it ante-dates that of tn
mountains which have been SUI
perimp0sed upon it, and that dill
ferences occur so great rs to forbi'
the presumption of its heing
Glide Extensions have been Ia