Arizona weekly citizen., 1889-05-11
CASA GRANDE MINES.
Their Condition. - What Has Been Done, What is Being Done, and What Viii be Done.

Leaving Casa Grande on last Monday
 morning, the reporter of the CITIZEN
 started to visit some of the camps in the
 Casa Grande mining district - time
 would not permit his visiting all of
 them. There are number of good
 mines in this district, and many are
 very rich; some of them have already
 yielded precious metals in large quanti-
 ties, others have proved their worth by
 furnishing enough pay rock to keep
 their owners in comfortable living cir
 cumstances and pay all the expenses of
 development work and few have been
 demonstrated by shafts, tunnels, in- | clines, dips and spurs to be the largest
 ore bodies in the Territory. The first
 camp visited was that of the Central Silver Mining Company, situated twelve
 miles south of Casa Grande. The work
 in this camp is being directed by MT. J. c. Loss, general manager and superin tendent. Mir. Loss, however, was not
 present at the mine, being now in St.
 Louis for the purpose of buying 20
 stamp mill for this property. The origi-
 nal discovery of this property was made
 by Quajatah Indian in 1869 and now
 consists of the Silver Reef, Horn Silver
 and Grey Eagle claims. Mir. c. Loss,
 superintendent of the Golden West min
 ing Company entertained the scribe
 hospitably, being ably assisted by MT.
 M. c. King, the foreman of the mine.
 The first mine visited was the Silver
 Reef. Here is where the most work has
 been done and where it is still being
 pushed. A steam hoist is in opera
 tion which serves the double-purpose of drawing up the ore and also water which was encountered at the bottom of shaft No. 1, which is 250 feet deep. This shaft has followed the vein down, and is in ore all the way. It has been opened at five levels. At B feet cross cuts have been run east, west and south in all 90 feet, At 90 feet a 140-foot cross-cut; at 110 feet 1t IS cross-cut east and west; at 200 | feet two main drifts have been made, | one east 80 feet and one south 80 feet | and the latter has been cross-cut east 90 | feet and west 40 feet. At the bottom of | the shaft there is 142-foot south drift | and west drift of 73 feet and one north | running 88 feet. All the work done on | the mine has been in ore, in some places | in the tunnel the wall is encountered on one side only, and the width of the veins are not known, but the work clearly | demonstrates that practically the | amount of ore in sight is sufficient to run mill and smelter for years. There has been taken out of this main shaft | over 800 tons of ore which is now on the dump that will average S22 to S24 in silver and about 20 per cent lead.
 Shaft No. has been sunk on the | Horn Silver claim and is 150 feet deep | and the ore is of a higher grade and | carrying less lead. This ore is chlorides and horn silver. About 100 tons of this ore is on the dump and it will average S26 to s2S per ton.
 Shaft No is also on the Horn Silver and is down 160 feet, and it is confident ly expected that when this shaft is sunk to the water level bonanza ore body | will be encountered. The bottom of | this shaft is now in 45-ounce ore. From the surface to the 60-foot level S25,OOO | was taken out of this shaft. From 60 feet to 100 feet the shaft is barren of ore, but the last 60 feet has yielded fine ore and the indications are that large body has been encountered and it is growing steadily richer as greater depth is reached. This shaft enters the noun tain at an elevation of fifty feet higher than shaft No. 1, where an unlimited supply of water was encountered at 247 feet, and it is estimated that water will be struck here at 300 feet Besides these shafts there are three or four oth- CTS on the property ranging from B to 75 feet in depth and ore has been en- in all of them.
 The mill site is now being graded on a beautiful location just below shaft No. l, from which the ore can be emptied into the ore bins. The mill will be 8S by 90 feet and will consist of a 60-ton water jacket furnace, Buffalo blower, 45-horse power engine, boiler, breaker, car trucks, chutes and every modern appliance for convenience; also a sampling mill and 20-stamp concen- trator and the capacity of mill and smelter will be 120 tons of ore daily. 4 force of men went on Monday to Butte to take down the smelter and machinery there which has been purchased and will be removed to this camp as fast as men and teams can accomplish the work. MT. J. c. Loss will buy the mill in St. Louis and all the machinery will arrive in the course of sixty days.
 The distance of only twelve miles over which coke and supplies will have to be transported renders the operations on this property cheap and besides they have water of the finest quality in abund- ance, which will have to be pumped from the mine before a greater depth can be obtained.
 This mine IS in the foot hills and adjoining lies the fertile Quajatah valley where any surplus water can be utilized for agricultural purposes, This valley is now occupied by the Quajatah h. dians who have for five or six years cul- tivated good portion in their crude way and the crops of wheat now being harvested by them, grow nwithout any irrigation except from water from the clouds, is almost beyond conception. The wheat in many places as is high as ones head and the ground is covered. The heads are large and the grain fully These Indians have ditches that carry water from the aroyas leading from the mountains into their fields where it is held by dams until it soaks up. The success which attends their ancient modes of tilling the soil is only evidence of what can and will be done in few years by the hand of progress and civilization.
 The Central Silver Mining Company has splended camp and everybody herewith are lon the go" early and late, but the reporter received many courtesies for which he is thank ful. To MT. M C.. King, the foreman and to MT. B. c. Piper who manipulates the steam hoisting works he returns special thanks for safe, but, to him, unpleasant trip into shaft No. 1, and through the various cross-cuts,