The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1883-05-25
Unnecessary Untruths.

SOCOGTO wants q lOuT SIdck SlnblIeT
and a railroad through the Magdalena
mountains to the Black range, and IS
talking the scheme up in all its phases
and possibilities. THIS desire is laud-
able and the efforts to secure the OBJ
jet are praiseworthy, but the RANGE
wishes to remark for the benefit of the
Socorro Sun, that there are enough
good reasons to be urged in favor of
the scheme to require no such lies as
that paper published last week regard
ing the several districts of the Black
range, to-wit:
AT Kingston every mine there
produces smelling ore which must
be shipped on account of lack of tluX.
True, there is lead ore here, but not
of sufficient grade or quantity. Then
there is the Black Range. A bitter ex-
p%erience has been taught the owners of
several valuable mines there, that they
must depend on the Magdalenas in or
der to reduce their ores. Nulton's
Smelter VAS shut down because of the
obtaining fiux. The Occidental stamp
mill failed to reduce the splendid ore
which that mine produces. 1t is too re-
fractOry. Many other mines are in the
same situation. They have go,d ore,
but there is not the fluX in the range to
reduce it there
The residents of the Black range
would like to have railroad communi-
cation with Socorro and they rejoice at
the prospect of a four stack smelter at
the county-seat running constantly in
full blast, and the mines here would
doubtless contribute of their rich ores
to assist the work, but 1t is not because
there are not plenty of tluxeS here TO
reduce them. Large institutions choose
a wider fed than the Black range at
present presents and Socorro's chance
of securing one is better than any other
place in the territory, hence the Black
range people hope she will secure the
one now suggested, but If Kingston or
Chloride had a smelter they would not
ask the Magdalenas nor any other dis
trict for huxes. The Sun says we lack
lead iux and that the Black Knife shut
down because Of this fact. The Sun ex-
hibits wilful ignorance. Galena abounds
in the Black range. In the Cuchillos
argentiferous galena and copper are
the prevailing ores and in the Black
range, particularly in the Palomas dis
trict, galena is abundant with a silver
bearing value, running as high as one
hundred and twenty ounces. The Black
Knife smelter is u copper furnace and
the galena produced by the Black
Knife mine was laid aside and now can
be seen in IA pile by itself at the mouth
of the workings.
There are so many misstatementS and
d~er0gatory tales regarding the Black
range constantly coming from a special
class of Socorro's citizens that anything
new eases to be strange. When there
is not an Indian scare there must be
something else to occupy the time and
UC lldNlC llO LuCullN VI a lUU u HICSpUIl-
sible tale inventors to retard as far as
possible the growth of outlying sec
tons. They cannot see that the whole
county is too closely allied in interest
to be separated; that Socorro'S pros
perity is due largely to the development
in the Black range and other tributary
parts, but they must make war upon
everything not in Socorro's immediate
vicinity as they would upon a mortal
enemy. This sort of thing has been
going on so long and so necessarily
that there is a feeling of antagonism
growing here to Socorro and all thugs
therein outside Of half a dozen of the
leading institutions which are known
to be differently constituted.
Socorro has appointed a committee
to collect an exhibit of the county's
mineral products for the tertio mil
lennial exposition, and requests for
contributions OF specimens from the
range have been sent to the mine own
ers here. There is likely to he very lit
tie response, and for the reason that
the said owners do not expect to be
treated fairly in the exhibit. Guided
by their experience in other things they
will hoe their own rows or leave them
to the tender mercies Of the weeds.
This may not he the right spirit to
exist between the co~unty-seat and out