Arizona weekly citizen., 1891-08-15
CLIFTON AGAIN, More About the Arizona Cop
 per Co.'s Mines RAILROADS AND CABLES. The Long, st Incline in the
 World.
Mines Where Ore is Quarried Rather than Mtned-String of 1sO Bur
 ros- Notes.

In :; former communication I noted
 some of the extensive operations of the
 Arizona Copper Co. Qimited) at Clifton.
 Since then I have had an opportunity
 to acquaint myself still further with the
 accomplishments of this great corpora tion, and will herewith present the facts
 for publication.
 Soon after the requirement of a DOT
 tioH Of the copper mines at present be-
 longing to this company it was decided
 to construct a 20 inch gusge railfUad
 from the snelters at Cliftan to the mines
 a few miles above. This was accom-
 plished in 1880. Opposite the Long,
 fellow and Detroit groups. about four
 miles above Clifton, cable incline, 2,2OO
 feet long, with a rise of 800 feet, was
 built. Of this portion of the compsny's
 enterprise, and the miners connected
 herewith gave some outlines in the
 prior letter above mentioned.
 Three miles above the Longfellow up
 Chase creek incline road, we come to two
 more incline railroads, one leading to the
 Metcalf
 The cable road to the King is in two
 sections. Tine first is oyer 1000 feet,
 connecting with a 1,6O0 foot track
 through tunnel and by bridge across
 east Chase creek 30 feet high and 60
 feet in length. Here the second part
 of the incline starts up rise of AGO
 feet to the King mine. The incline
 cables to the Netcalt and King mines
 are nearly parallel. The former is over HOO feet long, with pitch of between
 thirty and forty degrees.
 The King in the past has produced a
 large amount of rich copper ore. It Is be-
 ing operated under lease at present.
 The Metcalf group, embracing the Metcalf, Oriental, Little Annie, and others, is under the foremanship of Ed win Merry, thorough mining man, who has been ID the employ of the company for nearly ten years. MT. Merry had charge of the grading of the most diff cult work on several of the company's inclines. He has at present only about p men under his charge, though his monthly output is fally 1000 tons of ore. This remarkable showing he at- I tributes to the ease and facility of taking l out the ore, it being in such large bodies, so near the surface, and of such | easy character for extracting. The work | has all the semblancs of quarrying. | being mostly open cuts. I inspected | some bodies of ores from 100 to 300 feet l wide, and extending from the surface | downward to unknown depths, and | averaging, I was told, from per cent to 20 per ceLt copper-all first class con- centrating ore.
 Geo. A. Green is the popular manager of the company's store at the Metcalf.
 Chas. NJ. Shannon, now making head quarters at the Metcalf, is half owner in the Hughes $ Shannon mine, which | embraces the crowp of the hill between the east and the west forks of Chase | creek, and adjoining the company's | property on the north. There is con- siderable development work done on it, and thousands of dollars worth of ore have been extracted and sold to the A. | c. company. The claim shows crop of rrI T. place body 4CO feet wide Is exposed on | the surface. Open and cross-cuts in | various places give strong indications | that it Is one of the most extensive de- posits of good ore in tie district. Sever al experts have reported very favorably on the property, an,i offers of big money have been declined. Mir. Shannon is practical newspaper man, having taken his first lessons under Judge Hackney. the founder of the Globe Belt. Subse- quently he devoted seven years to the profession in New Mexico, editing the Silver City Sentinel and other papers in that territory.
 4 north extension of the Metcalf mines owned by Arbuckle & Schuman is mentio .ed as highly promising copper producer.
 One mile above the Metcalf group, fol lowing the company's narrow guage We come to the foot of the Coro- nado incline, 3300 it. in length, 400 it. of ::the upper end having grade of 45 de grees. Officials say that the Coronado incline railroad is the longest in the United States, and the second longest in the world. It may be doubted If any sleeper road Is iR successful operation elsewhere. The operation is ou the same principle Hs that Of the Long fellow, previously described, the weight of the descending cars bringing the cars to the top.
 A trip from Clinton to the several groups of mines of the Arizona Copper Cc. by railway and up the several in- ciines always affords interest to visitors h no place on the main line is there less than 20O 1t. grade, and for few rods Tn one place it is 303 it. per mile-greater than auy other road lat the time it was built in the world. The late Capt. U. F. Davis was the engineer in charge of E it's construction. He was civil engineer of prominence, having been a chief n the construction of the Central and Southern Pacific railroads, but to { quote his own language, Il regard the I Of the Coronado railroad { lRd it's inclines, the crowning triumph ,f my life, having not only the greatest ( yrades, but the sharpest curves of any -oad in the world, and its successful { working setting at nauRht all prescribed T .ules of engineering science" The rails I Ised are of 9 pounds weight, made of r Iteel. The cars are two and half tons V and weigh from 5000 to $500 T pounds. The engines now used are 21s t ons weight, and were manufactured O for this work by H. K Porter, 'ittsburg, Pa. Twelve loaded!or IS empty O .ars are considered load for the engine, il md 12 miles per hour the usual speed. An engineer, fireman, and three brake J nen operate train. Henry Arbuckle, a he oldest engineer on the road, esti- lt mates that an average of 300 tons of ore t nd other freights are handled daily on $ | N