Arizona weekly citizen., 1890-05-17
AN OLD MINER
Makes a Vigorous Defense Of ahs Miner and ProspectOr. The Mid- dIeman Severely Overhauled. Good Mines ct Gro Slanoo.

bly, ask space in your valuable pape
 to reply to some of the assertions con
 tained in the above named article, and
 shall do 70 as a miner and prospecto
 of forty years experlence, and therefor
 feel somewhat gratified to do so. Yol
 speak of some gentleman now in Tue
 son, who came directly from the east fo
 the purpose of investing in mines II
 Arizona, and that they had been de
 ceived and brought here to se'
 properties that had been misrepresentec
 by the miners. Now, if the miners dic
 such thing as that, they certainly dio
 wrong, and ought to be severely repri-
 manded for it, but, it is my honest opin- ion that when you sift this matter to
 the bottom facts, you will find that the very miners in question have given
 some middleman a bond on their prop
 erty and that he was the one who had misrepresented it, and induced those
 gentlemen to come to this country, not
 the miner and prospector. In your article there is nothing said against
 this class of jawsmiths who are now, and
 have been the curse of mining in all this country, but here is what they do if a
 poor old miner has a good prospect.
 These fellows will do their best to get a
 bond on his property for little or noth- ing, they will add at least 400 per cent to pay them for manipulating sale, and if they fail to make the sale then
 the poor old miner has to bear the blame, and be cursed for having asked too much for his property. Should the miner ask decent price for his prop erty, and try to sell it himself, they will turn their eatling jaw (not gum loose on him and will do everything in their power to run his property down, and prevent him from realizing sale, because he don't do it through them. These fellows are somewhat like Pistol, one of Shakespeare's characters, who said the world was his oyster and be would open
 1t with his sword. Now these fellows lOOn ODOA luc plO6DCCIOI us their oyster and they are going to open him, not with a sword, but with their jaw.
 If man, like myself has g good prop erty, they will never condescend to ask him how much he will take for it. Oh no, that would look too much as if the miner knew what his property was worth; but they will make him ridicul- ously low offer, and if he refuse, they go for him, and swear to everyone that he asked SC much and that no one can buy it, when the truth is they have never asked him how much he would ask for his property. nor has he told them.
 More, Mir. Editor,:I have been in mining camps all the way from British Colum- bia to the Mexican line, and l will say that l have seen no country anywhere on the continent of America. where the old miner and prospsctor has as few friends as right here in this land of sill Yer, sunshine and inexhaustible cheek, called Arizona. As to your assertion that no matter how rich country may be, mines are never found on the surface: Now if you meant that for joke it is good, but if you mean it as an an asser- tion or fact you are all wrong. for the history of all the great mines of the world show to the contrary, and allow me to say that l have seen nearly every one Of the great mines of Peru. Chili and Bolivia in South America, also many of the great mines of Mexico, and in my own country, and can't call to mind a single one of all these great mines that did not show as good mines on the sur face or in the grassroots as they ever showed afterwards. Look at the Silver King, Tombstone and Quijotoa, all show ed as good ore in the grassroots as was found afterwards.
 There are just two requirements necessary in mining property to make it good business proposition. First, is there ore enough IF sIght to warrant the purchase of the property, and erecting thereon a plant; and secondly, will the ore pay decent percentage over and above the cost of mining and milling, of say from 5000 to S25C0 per ton? If the mining property fills the above two requirements then it is good business proposition. Further, will say to your wonderfully ahrewd tender-foot capitalist that there ar5 number of properties right here in Gro Blanco, that will upon a careful ex- animation fill the bill. Don't take any mans word when he tells you there are nothing here in Gro Blanco, but come and see for yourselves, and know you iii not go back with the Idea that there are no mines here.
 If these gentlemen are anxious to see good minirg properties, they must go where the mines are; they cant see them in Tucson, as it IS a physical impossibi- lity for us to haul the mines in there for them to look at between drinks. | Gentlemen, shake off the jawsmiths that are herding you around, and come out and see us, and 1 pledge you my word We will show you what will astonish you. In proof of this, give herewith a short description ofsone Of the properties that 1 will take pleasure in showing to you l They are called the Ragnarok mines Nos. | 1 and ,. These mines are located in | birdseye porphyry, and in No. l I have taken out and piled up in the last two years, without assistance, over 800 | tons of ore, and I have thousands of tons more in sight of the same sort. | This ore will pay 80 Der ton in the mill l The ore is free milling, and with a mill erected on the property, it can be mined and mllled at an expense not to exceed six dollars per ton. There is ore enough in sight in this mine to run a ten stamp mill year. A ten stamp mill, pro- perly constructed with all improve ments up to date, will average, say sev- enty tons per day of 24 hours, and there is no question with me at all, as Iknow what l am talking about. The ore of this mine, to put it at the lowest esti- mate, will pay over and above the ex- pense Of mining and milling, s20 per ton in silver and gold. The mill will crush 20 tons per day, and that means s4OO per day profit. A good mill, properly run, ought to run three hundred days in year, and if it makes that. it means S120,00 per ye;.r. This property can be bought, and ten stamp mill erected thereon, at price not to exceed S65, eco In one year the mill will pay for the property and itself, and give a profit of S55,0 ,0O0 besides to the owners. This will be good business, won't it?
 l am prepared to convince any man of good business sense that I do not A L