The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1883-05-18
BLACK RANGE MINES.
An Unprejudiced Opinion Con-
cerning Some OF them.

cerning Some OF them.
Located in Bear canon, about midway
between Chloride and Grafton, is the
Nordhausen location, owned by Messrs.
Utter and Others of Santa Fe. The pro-
perty is situated on quartz and calc
spar ledge, the groupings of which show
with unusual prominence and strength
as far as the eye can reach. The vein
proper has width of fourteen to eigh-
teen feet, and is enclosed in the junior
porphyritic formation of the district,
universally conceded the most prolific
In mineral veins of value. The filling
while properly denominated as spar
and quartz gangue, perhaps more near
ly approachs Gale spar this mineral
greatly prominating. The develop
ments consist of a shaft about sixty
feet in depth, from which levels have
been driven showing the vein as above
stated. Quite number of tons of ore
on the dump show the calcareous gan
que TO contain very considerable
amount of galena and sulphate Of lead
ores. The mine itself shows streaks of
this ore from one to two feet in thick
ness, and to all appearance the work.
ings are just beginning to enter the
heavily mineralized zones of the VEN.
So far the shaft has shown steady i'm
provement in depth IN the amount of
clean galena ores, and further open
ing may prove the property of unusal
value us Il producer of argentiferouS
galena, No work at present is being
done on the mine, although operations
will doubtless be resumed at an early
/ day.
When that time comes, and it is
| doubtless now near at hand, that con-
centratorS and smelters shall be erected
in the Chloride district, the value Of
the lead producing mines of that sec
ton, will be far greater than is now
/ generally supposed. Without the lead
for iux, the smelling of the majority of
the ores of the district will prove ap
impossiblllty, and in an emergency the
products of mines like the N0rdhausen
will be invaluable. Without them the
entire section would be dependent upon
distant metallurgical works for the re-
duction of the ores OF the Apache and
Chloride districts.
Fourteen to sixteen miles south of
| ChloIi ide is HermoSa or PalOmaS dis
trict, in which several new strikes have
recently been made. The grade of the
ore so far brought in has been good,
and considerable attention is paid to the
new section by the prospectors in Chic
rideand nelghboring camps. The veins
so far opened are located on a contact
between porphyry and limestone, t e
sedimentary rock forming the cap. The
locations showing ore up to the pres
ent time are the American Flag, Silver
Brick, Americana, Antelope, LexingE
ton Palomas Chief, Pelican and Alba
tross. Quite little mining town is
growing up at the new district. known
rs HermOsa, and several business
houses are preparing to open branch
stores at the new town. The develop
ment work done on these mines ranges
from ten to one hundred feet, and some
very fine ore has been taken out The
base metal of the majority Of the mines
is galena, and the silver occurs as sui
phides and chl0rides, and occasionally
is found as native silver, in the talcose
matter accompanying the vein. Ok
ides and carbonate of lead have also
been found, but usually associated
with a good deal of silica, making it in
terior to the galenas and sulphates
The future developments In the dis
trict will be watched with much in
terest.
Regarding the American Flag, the
BLACK RANGE, whose editor visited
the mine few days ago, says: Work
in the shaft of the American Flag
which was stopped for few days
while the dump was cleaned up, sorted
and the richest mineral sacked, has
again been resumed, and the air is full
of native silver, manganese, sulphurets,
carbonates and silver glance. The
lead holds out in fine shape and prom
ises to run to the center of the earth.
In addition to the great Ivahoe vein,
there are many other strong leads in
the vicinity of Grafton. on which fully
as promising locations are situated as
are found on the mother vein of the dis,
\ trict.
+ Included in the list of promising
properties about Grafton is the Lit
tie Granite lode. located one and d
half miles above Grafton, ON Turkey
creek. A shaft down fifteen feet shows
vein OF three fee in width with q
northerly coarfe, Tie gangueis quartz