Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1889-07-24
MARVELLOUS COMBINE.
San Pedro Mountains Riches The Cop
per Company's Plant and In
exhaustibie Mines.
Extensive improvements - New Towns
Resources Santa FEES Direct
Rail Connection.

San PEDRO, July 22-The Santa Fe
Copper company has the largest copper
mines in the southwest. To its immense
ly valuable possessions and already ex-
tensive works San Pedro can point as the
insurance and foundation OF its perma-
nency and prosperity as great mining
town.
This company has titles here to about
IS, 900 acres. It will always be for the in
terest of the capital invested here remain
and toincrease Is investments by develop
ment Of the mineral wealth stored up in
these mouqtains at the loot of which san
Pedro is situated. Enough capital has
been expended on This one mine in the
eleven years since it vas opened to dem
onstrate its future value. No one can
measure that. 1t has been my good for
tune to-day to spend several hours in ex-
ploring it and TWO other properties Of the
Santa Fe company under the personal
guidance of the gentlemanlv mine cap
tains, Messrs. Z. Kuhn and O, L. Alex
ander. l have visited many mines in the
eastern states and The west, but have
never been so impressed with the
GATHERING WEALTH
or great bodies Of ore rs with this. \
climb OF mile and half over good
road up mountain side brought me to
the entrance. The massive tilRbers and
planks in which the tunnel is encased in
dictate preparations for operations OF many
years. The workings extend into the
the solid rock OF the mountain, which
rises 900 feet above them, We followed
the tramsay till we came TO the engine
room in the heart of the mountain. There
the cars began to descend, and stumbling
along the track for 1000 feet We reached
the miners at work. The veins OF ore are
ten and twelve feet thick. The passages
are large and roomy and are perfectly dry,
with shafts that afford good ventilation.
Our candles revealed the rich ore all
about us shining on the rocky walls like
the treasures
REVEALED BY ALADIN's LAMP.
The sound of pick and hammer and
drill are heard also above and below lis.
We climbed to the levels above and iol-
lowe ed the pitch dark passages as We did
the FIRST here are ores OF the same rich
ness and extent, and the workmcn rs
busiy engaged MS below. Then We de-
scend to a third level and find great ex-
cavations extending far into the depths
of this great mountain, rs profitable to
work as the others. Still another level
can be traversed i'll the same way, but we
have seen enough We have taken into
our hands the shining specimens from
many heaps OF ore at our feet, or gathered
them from the tram cars as they swiftly
passed US, dragged up the dark inclines
by cables. The ores vary in color; in
formations they are bright pyrites, car
Donates and gold and silver bearing glance,
and in brilliant hues, but it seems incredi-
Bile that such quantities of copper could
have been capitalized into the substance of
single mountain, to he revealed and
utilized by the industry OF man Already
amile's length of the tunnels, eight or ten
feet wide and high, run up and down the
interior of these solid mountain sides, and
there is no end TO the deposits OF mineral
that have been penetrated.
Wn u uIt
questioning our intelligent companions,
Capt. Kuhn, and his foreman, Ben
Jacobs. There are $50 men at work, half
of them by night and the rest by day
What matters the time? 1t is all night
there. Every six hours they come out for
their meals, leaving behind them fifty or
more charges of dynamite, the shots from
which follow the retreating miners, sound
ing through the dense air OF the tunnels,
as we heard them, like the heavy firing
OF artillery in distant battle. For thirty
days in month these men necessarily
work, supplying the smelling works below.
THE NEW ADMINISTRATIONS OF THIS
mine is introducing many changes. Steam
power has been substituted already for
mules--in hauling cars in the mines.
The pipe is on the way for the forcing
Of water from the company's present
pump works in the valley to the smelter
and thence to the mines. The tramways
have been surveyed to transfer directly to
the smelter from the mine the ores which
are still transported by teams. Twenty
teams are now employed in this way.
Sixty more teams are kept on the road
transporting copper matte and coke to
and from the railroad. At CerrlllOs
twenty-five miles away, 800 tons OF ore
are thus freighted to the smelter, and
400 to 500 tons OF copper matte to the
railroad each month. The product Of
this mine is about $4,000 per month
when fully worked Of. This is distribut-
ed among $50 men for WORK and teams,
with other expenditures on the ground
from 100000 to $4,000 monthly. The
miners get So per day, and are steadily at
work all seasons, and generally healthy
and contented. Yet with these excellent
wages they have most unhealthy caverns
and dug outs to sleep and live in. Doubt
less these workmen will be better cared
for in this respect by the new company. 1t
would be well, for the interests of economy
as well as humanity, to build few board
ing houses. Rarely does one see so In
tellisent and manly company of work
men in the employ OF q mining corpora
ton as here
But the Santa Fee Copper company is
developing
OTHER STORES OF MINERAL
wealth. This mountain has marvellous
combination of native wealth. A horse
back ride to the very summit, 1000 feet
higher than the principal mine, over anew
road brings US to the apex, where
Mr.. Alexander is developing for the com.