Arizona weekly citizen., 1888-04-07
Mineral Wealth of G fla County

,Wntten for tho CITIZEN by Dr. Alex TrippeD
 It IS probably an undisputed assertion
 that the mineral wealth of GilR county
 surpasses that of any other county ID this
 territory, when it's very small geogrBphi-
 cal extent is duly considered. Deduct
 ing the portion which at this time lays
 within the limits of the White Noun
 tam Apache Indian reservation, the
 balance left is but about sixteen hun
 dred square miles, of which the part
 north of the Salt River is, tC a great ex-
 tent. non minerai land, or where SO, but
 little explored. It may be said then,
 that the mineral portion of Gils county
 is limited substantially 70 the Gila and
 Salt rivers north and south; with but a
 small width east and west.
 Yet of that small area of mineral land,
 it may be said, that il IS riddled with s
 net work of veins, carrying gold, silver,
 copper and lead, some of which have be-
 come famous for their great yield in
 metal, considering the very limited de-
 velopments made in these mines.
 It IS DOW fully ten or more years since
 mining in Globe district, the most i'm
 portsnt of the three mining districts.
 has been started beyond the stage of the
 prospector's work, at time when the
 new county was yet merged in Pinal
 county. The discoveries of phenome-
 nally rich ores in Richmond Basin, and
 in the Stonewall mine at McMillenville.
 were as usual, followed by a boon,
 during which, sundry prospect holes
 were sold, and purchased by eager
 speculators at enormous figures. At
 about that time, the town of Globe sprung into existence. and prospered
 without any railroads; money was plenty and easy to make. Incompetent or extravsgent mine managers had 1t all their own way; the mine work was done without due consideration, mills were built without tiIst having ore to supply them; and all went on seemingly well, until disappointment increased, ss would be natural, and the usual romance of s mining boom was superseded by & still ness and indifference 70 mining matters, and n reflection that, mining. like any other business, must be done ID busi- ness way, If it is to be successful. At the present time, Globe, the pretty town, is awaiting & second sd- vent and resurrection of mining business, which IS certain to come, based, how ever, upon different methods and priuci- ples, than those which prevailed in past times.
 Globe, the central point of the mineral part of the county, and the county town, is particularly famous for it's unrivaied d copper mines. At present, but one of them IS worked; the sdven. of g railroad will start many of them. When 1t is started, that with coke costing Sj2 per ton at Globe, the unrefned copper is produced there for little above cents Q pound. and put into marketable condi- tion at Baltimore inside of 9 cents. IL goes without saying that cheap coke at Globe means a close competition of The Globe copper mines with the largest | mines Of Lake Superior and Montana, Several good copper mines a. Globe, with | plants, are at rest, simply because the l owners do not want 10 exhaust their | mines for the little profis they could l make at such extremely los prices, as 1 ,Opper hss been selling for quite awhile, | lntll recently, lt IS likely. however. that | 'oms more will start work shortly. with | he present encouraging price of copper. | It is a mistake to believe thst the mines | 1t Globe are the only ones in the district | ss very promising copper mines are sit | Isted within twelve miles around Globe. | md some very fine prospects are ioand | north of Sal. river in the Sierra Ancha | 'Rnge of mountains.
 4 very remarkable connection between liver and copper ore is observed in the | ilobe mines. Native silver, and in some ,ases. native gold, is found imbedded in be midst Of oXidIzsd copper ores, while ln the other hand. most of Rrgentiferous 'res carry copper with them. FoI an ghich requires so much fuel Is copper smelling, the question of cheap uel is of the utmost importance. This Till not only be satisfactorily solved, by heaper transportation by a railroad but ither railroad now contemplated. but specially the Tucson, Globe & Northern, Vill cut through the Deer Creek coal Ields and those laying north of Salt riv- r on Cannon Greek, and extending in 0 direction through Q part f Yavspai county. True, these osl fields are mostly within the lines of he empire created by our paternsl gov rnment for 6 handful of savsees and therefore not accessible under the pres ent laws, but these circumstances nay e-certainly they should be changed.
 I am not inclined to be selfish or uu- ensrOus, or 10 pay in kind the practice f our neighbOrs of Pinal county, in not the merits of their copper lines, especially those on the Gila rIver round Riverside, There are 2 number f excellent copper mines, more or less 1nnected with silver in some shape or ther. which deserve serious considers- on, these having at once the advantage cheaper coke, against the disadvant- ge of mostly having refractory ores sedInR concentration or uncomunop 1antities of fluxing materiale.
 The silver mines of Globe and its yici- ( lty are represented by two famous q inea. which bid fair to become leading | lver producers in AriZoua. mean the mine and the Mack Morris e inc, the latter having produced within V 70 and half years when worked some t here near SS00O00 iu bullion. That [ e mine is now idle is simply due to q isjudgment and no ether cause; if is t " under consideration to reopen this c nous mine again, which means the D Ork on three or four more on She same D dge
 The 5tonewRll mine is on a ledge, which n be followed for smauy miles and 1ich has great number of locations
 1t; unfortunately these are within the
 dian reservation and no titles csn be T stained for these properties. Still. if d e SiOnewsll mine had been owned by Il ming men and managed properly, if It ,uld have. and can now produce. if d. .rked, a very large qusntity of silver V lliOn, Il The vicinity si Glote has great W mber of rich and promising silver ot aspects. It has been thought by lt ne that the mines near Globe have ca
 depth, that the ore gives out at A to allow depth. Nothing could be more VI a mistgke. The fact is, that being fo ,st sll in eruptive or igneous rock the th Ius are more or less disturbed and ed ilted neHr the surface. and that hard al any have been followed and develop. pa
 beyond that area of disturbance. ", e hope of future success must be bas- m
 upon some real mine work, some DO nO EuperiOr tO mere surfara xrork or ye