Arizona silver belt., 1888-06-02

copa, and the Silver King in Pinal counties, may be mentioned, but there are numbers of smaller well-construct- ed and ably-managed mills in many localities.
 A new field for silver mining, for which Arizona is not well prepared, is the production of silver-lead ores. Within very recent perlod many ex- tensive and valuable lodges of such smelling ores have either been dis covered, or more inteiligently pros pected, especially Tn Pima county, in the Tucson, Santa Rita, and Patago- nian mountains, where, 1 am con vinced, immense masses of such ore can be extracted. The ore is moderate Tn grade, i. c., from 15 to 40 ouncas silver, and either carries ample fuxing qualities, or the necessary Auxing ma terial is procurable Tn the vicinity. At present the facilities fer smelting are extremely limited. The few works specially built for custom ores do not seem to ba popular and are too distant and inaccessible for wagon transpor- tation, 80 that the better class of ore are shipped to eastern works, such as those at Socorro and Fl Pase, for re- ductien, leaving the lower grade ore unavailable. Although the railroad freight rates have been reduced they are stlll too high. and the transporta- tion charges to the railroad too sxpen- sive to leave much, if any, profit to the miner.
 The samplng-works, recently es- tablished at Tucson and Prescott, have aided to mitigate this embarrassment by offering at least speedy settlements to owners, but the want of several centrally located smeltlng-works is apparent enough. The expected re- sumption of work in many silver mines of Cochise, Pinal, Pima, and Yavapai counties will increase the bullion product greatly this year.
 An obstacle of importance is the water question in Tombstone. With out active cooperation progress in the famous mines of this well-known town will be much retarded; nearly all the work done at present being necessarily above the water level; meanwhile many smaller mines are honght up and cOnsolIdat{d with the Grand Central.
 Gold mining in Arizona has not been very progressive lately, but is about upon par compared with the past few years. Enough, however, has been accomplished to show that gold ore assaying less than s per ton can be proftably worked on large scale. The Vulture, in Mar1copa county, with It's eighty-foot veln, is so well known that comment is unneces- sary. The Mammoth, in Pinal coun- ty, is another such property, with 10 to 20-foot vein, assaying from S9 to $15 per ton in gold. It is very re markable that in these large mines concentration has been applied Tn one mill only quite recently, with daily saving of two tons concentrates, assay ing $27O per ton, while the other mine is now idle and awaiting gener- al reconstruction, including the intro duction of several Frue vanners, which. It is claimed, will save 40 to 50 per cent gold, reported as having been lost heretofore.
 There are, at this time. numerous gold producing mines in Pinal, Yava- pal and Maricopa counties, apart from those already mentioned; but the gold field or belt running from southeast of Pinal county, northwesterly through Maricopa, the southern part of Ya7a- pal, and thence to the Colorado river through Yuma and Mohave counties, is immense, and may be said to be sim ply scratched. There is probably no section in the United States where gold quartz mining can be more prot itably prosecuted Tn large way than within the gold belt just described, provided that modern plants with inn proved methods and labor-saving ma chinery are used as in other places. Gold mining is not nearly so depen- dent upon railroads as copper, lead or silver mining; the bulk of material used can generally be obtained near the mines; but, assuming that Arlzo- na will shortly possess additional rail road facilities such as are now enjoyed by other States and Territories, it is not too much to say that her gold mines will prove to be of extraordina- y value and importance.
 As already stated, the working of the gold-bearing copper ores of Yuma, and, 1 believe, of Mohave counties. are practically speaking, a new depar- ture which will, sooner or later, be a prolific source of gold production.