The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1879-04-26
ARIZONA SENTINEL.
Copper.

In the year 1860 and 1861 there was in
augurated upon this Coast a very great
interest in its copper deposits Men hail
ing from the Lake Superior copper re-
gions discovered the famous prospects in
Calaveras County, which subsequently de-
veloped into the great Union mine, anu
the town of Copperopolis is the Il'in5
monument of these discoveries. Inc Ca
element from this beginning spre"u a.
over the State and t& neigh6orihs h''
ritories. Gold and silver "eio
rarily disregarded, and in the pioSpoe'o'
coh,n DIVIDES sulphurets, carbonates ana
~ "indications," formed the
.,,b;oot of many a conversation. Mines
Of copper were opened over vast stretch
or country. 1t may safely be asserted
that in every county from Del Norte to
San Diego, a distance of 500 or more
miles, the ruins of these enterprises can
be easily found. In the region some
twenty miles from Crescent City several
large mines were opened, and at least
three hundred thousand dollars expended
in workings there. The great obstacle to
successful copper mining in those early
times was that the miners themselves
the ores. Almost invariably did they find
large veins of low grade sulphurets, and
these were not possessed Of sufficient
metallic value to insure profit. The
price of ingot copper was materially re-
duced after the war, and now we know of
but one or two copper properties in Cali
fornia that are not abandoned, and these
are being worked upon a very moderate
scale.
In still earlier days the Ajo mines, loca-
ted in Pima County, Arizona Territory,
were discovered, in range of mountains
running southeast and northwest. The
ores found by the original ownersof these
mines, unlike those of California, were
mostly oxides and carbonates, carrying
good deal of native copper in seams and
globules through the rock, and assaying
from 80 to so per cent. in copper, with
traces of gold and silver A company.
composed of some English capitalists, de-
| fO do vol 1p Nv
tent. Several thousand tons of the ore
were mined and shipped to Europe, when
the rate of transportation to Fort Yuma
alone, the shipping point, in those days
was at least $50 per ton. Shafts and
tunnels upon the property are indisputa-
BILE evidence of these operations. Several
Of these are upwards of 200 feet in depth,
and the ore had been removed by the
| Mexican miners, who carried it to the
surface by means Of the es caleras (noteh ed
trees used as ladders,) placed in the shafts
from side to side. Eventually TIE Indians
became very hostile, the war between the
North and South, unsettled the military
protection so requisite in those days in
that country, and the price of copper de-
preciated to such an extent that the Aijo
properties, like their California neigh
bors, succumbed to the pressure, but, I'M
like them. have left to the enterprise of
: to-day a valuable property with good
record, and permanent Improvements, and
large amount Of ore upon the dumps,
available for shipment to the East under
the new regime of cheap and rapid trans
portation now being inauguratcd by the
enterprising managers of the Southern
Pacific Railroad.
The Ajo mines have seven distinct
veins of copper ores, fully developed by
the labor of the English company that
has passed away, and it is not unreason-
able tc predict that Yankee energy, con-
trolling steam power, can do at least as
well as they did, when they placed their
: dependence on camels and mules for
transportation.
Arizona is to be congratulated upon
being able to attract the attention of the
world, as she is now doing. Capital from
the older States Is flowing in upon her for
the development of her vast mineral re-
sources, ribs of steel are binding her daily
most intimately to them, her Governor is
at the East enthusiastically explaining
her many tempting opportunities, and in
no direction do we find progress so plainly
= stamped as in the near future of Arizona.
That Fer mineral wealth will yet astonish
the world we do not doubt, and copper is
destined to form one of her most lasting
and impol tant exports.-E'rchange.
BY direction of She Secretary of War, an