Arizona silver belt. [volume] (Globe City, Pinal County, Ariz.) 1878-19??, 1883-07-21
Saturday, July, FL. 1883.
Railway Screed No. 2.
Water Power.

AS an auNlliaTy 10 INC Arl4oua MIL
eral Belt railroad Construction and
Improvement Company has been
formed, with capitalization Of $10,-
100000. One Of the objects is to erect
reduction works on the south bank of
Salt river, at which point the ores of !
the Tonto and of Globe District could |
be handled. The scheme has more
than hint of feasibility in it, it has
all the elements of success. At pres
cnt there are eleven mills in this Dis
trict, only four of which, the Mack
Morris, Isabella, Stonewall Jackson
and Tidwell have done any work for
a year, and they in the most desultory
manner. The reason for their idle
ness needs little looking for,--it is be-
cause of the cost of working and the
scarcity of high grade ore. AS the
matter stands now, it costs about $50
to work $50 ore, and as the major
part of the ore in Globe, as in other
districts, is of a lower grade than that
it makes it impossible to handle it
proftably. BY the erection of works
on the Salt river, the whole condition
of things can be changed to such an
extent that $40 ore, in moderately
sized vein, will become paying prop
o,ition. The advantage lies in the
great capacity of the proposed mill, its
adaptibility to any sort of ore, and the
low cost Of reduction. 1t is proposed
to utilize the water power of the Salt
river to run it, and so dispense with
the necessity for expensive plants and,
to some extent, of expensive employ
ees. Water furnishes the cheapest
motive power With the ditch or
race which the company intend build
ing and which has already been To-
Gated, surveyed and plated, head of
Is and $500 feet is secured by the
time the mill site is reached. The
Salt river runs, normally, 10000 cubic
feet per minute, equal to 1850 horse
power. The Mack Morris mill has
capacity Of twenty stamps with $50
horse power. Taking this as basis
to calculate upon the river furnishes
enough power to run at any one point
$40 stamps. Farther up the river
another ditch privilege has been To-
Gated, which gives the company power
equal to 5120 horse power. After
performing its work the water returns
through proper channels to the river
and no loss of volume is sustained.
Many of the items of expense that are
imperative in a steam mill are done
away with where water is used; for
instance engineers at$5 per day,
$40; two fremen at SIS; five cords
of wood at $3.50; S5S per day. Add
to this the less cost of. oil and lights,
no wear and tear of boiler, engine or
boiler pump, and you have, in an or
dinary twenty stamp mill, saving,
daily, of at least SIS. Instead of ali
the paraphernalia of engines and boil
ers and pumps, the cost of which has
always been so heavy in districts far
removed from railroad, a single tur-
bine wheel worth $1,000 would do the
work. The east fork of the Verde
carries several hundred miners inches
of water and it could be utilized as a
motive power, too; thus giving, at
points seventy miles apart, chances for
the reduction of ores at such low
figure that almost every vein could
be made to produce wealth. The ca
pacity of this country for producing
ores ranging from $50 to $40 per ton
is enormous. A careful calculation
made by thoroughly competent man
gives the cost of reducing ores by a
mill such as is projected, at 81 per
ton; the cost of hauling over the rail-
road would be 81 per ton; the cost OF
hauling to the railroad, 81; cost of
taking out, 81, or $ll all told. The
difference between that and tie value
of a $50 ore would afford percentage
to the Construction and Improvement
Co. and a prolific the miner. Such a
mill would develope the mineral re-
sources of this country as nothing else
ever can, and the transportation of
ores, and supplies to the mines and
bullion to the East would prove an
important factor in the business of the
railroad. The company has an as
sured success, if intelligent, honest
and liberal management prevails, in
their scheme.
In all the ages since the waters of
Rio Salinas first commenced to plough
their way through the lime rock oppo-
sition, the mighty force locked up
within its ripples has lost itself in the
Pacific Ocean; now it will be har-
messed to turbine wheel, and made
TO do the will of men.