The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1878-09-21
Lessons for Castle Dome.

. with occasional intervals of abar
donment during stampedes t
placer gold diggings, etc. The
now give stronger proofs tha
ever Of being true fissure, AM
permanent mines. A one-hOrs
expert examined them a few
years ago, and reported that the.
gave out and carried no meta
below q depth of $50 feet. Thi
report shook the confidence o
local merchants, and made /
difficult for miners to get neces
sary advances of money and pro
visions for developing their pro
perty. The said expert, at the
time of making his examination,
could not have gone down lon
feet in any of the old shafts, he.
cause they were so badly caved
that no man would have dared tc
go down even if he could. AL
work had been done under hand.
windlass, and was usually aban-
doned below 120 feet, owing to
difficulty and delay of hoisting
even that distance by hand;
though several shafts had been
sunk over 200 feet, by hand, on
good galena. Until recently most
Of the work was done by men
without means, except such adj
vances as they could get from
local merchants. Timber was eX-
pensive and hard to get; there
fore openings were not perma-
nently secured, and were usually
abandoned when they began to
cave. Still the district has kept
on shipping lead ore, has employ
ed a large number of men, and
supported great many women
and children.
Last Winter some Of the Castle
Dome mines were purchased by
California men, who had means
enough to work them. They
were mines that were compra-
lively new, and that had no note
worthy record; but as work pro-
crosses on them they are proving
to be strong mines, and profitable
in spite of the great fall in price
of lead, from 81 to 81 cents per
pound. One of them, the Arkan-
saw, was bought for a nominal
price. q horse-W Whim was put Oh,
and two shafts, sixty-6ve feet
apart, were sunk to a depth of
275 feet, and their bottoms con-
nected by drift. Excellent and
ore was followed all
the way down; that in the bot
tom having width of thirty
seven inches, clean galena. Ans
other shaft, also in good ore, is
now being sunk to the same level,
where it will be connected with
the others. These facts are of
no especial Importance, except
as they completely refute the
" dictum " of the expert who |
gave Castle Dome such a black
eye. The ArkansaW alone has
now, below that experts limit of
l50 feet, over 1,G00 tons OF galena
'eady to take out, sack and ship
% market.
The PocahOntas is a north ex-
ension of the Arkansaw, and
lIsO carries galena below $50 feet;
ind strong enough at the bottom
o look as is it could go clear to
he middle Of the Earth. The
7ein is covered to the northward,
mt its metal was followed,
through its LOCO feet, to its north
,rn boundary. Captain Stark
then located another ex-
ension of 1,500 feet, called the
Railroad. He had to sink through
hirty feet of gravel before he
wen struck bedrock. There he
ound the galena in vein. matter
'ver seven feet wide, and is now
on it, taking out three
0urths OF ton of clean galena
ally, from the shaft alone. En-
four and a half feet he
'ot five tons; in sinking forty-six ,
eet he took out twenty-six and a
aIf tons, sacked and weighed. i
his promises well for the stope.
We have spoken of 4" shafts;"
hey are really inclines," as
hey follow the vein, which varies :