Las Vegas free press., 1892-01-16
REVIEW OF THE MINES.

TO one who has watched the sta
tistics of New Mexico's ore product
for the past half dozen years it mus t
have appeared that her star had
passed the zenith and was low down
in the horizon. This idea is not cor
rect. The fact is, there has been a
slight improvement generally, al
though at present there are fewer
mines in bonanza than is usual; but the
statistics have been more honestly col
lected from more candid producers.
The requirement of the department
of mines and mining of tie llth cen
sus-sworn statements-helped to
bring this about. We have seen,
some years ago, the territory credited
with S5,OoO,OOO product in gold and
silver, when it is possible that 81 $780,
900 would have covered it. 1t might
have paid six years ago to boom with
falsehoods, but the coming down to
facts is what hurts prosperity. The
writer is of the opinion that the year
1891 has been up to the average of
the past eight years, though possibly
10 per cent below it, with notable
increase in the lead product and de-
crease in the silver output. Copper
IS not one of the principal products
of New Mexico. The number of fairly
profitable small mines with slight
ore reserves is large, and miuing has
become, in parts of New Mexico, es-
pecially in Grant and Sierra counties,
an industry of the people and not
alone of the thoroughbred miner.
Nearly all of the output of metals
from New Mexico comes from west
of the Rio Grande and south of the
latitude of Santa Fe. The only ex-
ceptions are the mines of the south
ern part of Santa Fe county and the
White Oaks and Organ mountain
districts. The English company
operating the Cash Entry mine, near
Cerrillos, has expended large sums of
money in development and machin-
cry during the year. The San Pedro
copper mine-easily the chief copper
producer of the territOry-has added
little luster to her record this year.
The Lincoln-Lucky mines are now
being worked with good results. The
most prominent success achieved,
however, has been that of the owners
of the Old Abe gold mine at White
Oaks, which has been systematically
developed during the year and which
has produced probably one-third of
the entire gold output of the terrific
ry for 1891.
The southwest portion of the ter
ritory-west of the Rio Grande-is
more productive of the precious
metals. Socorro county produced
largely of lead carbonates low in
silver from the well known mines of
the Magdalena mountains. A 90
stamp mill was erected on the Last
Chance mine in the Mogollon noun
tains and is now turning out bullion
of which the value is about one
third gold. The Maud s., Vingo
and Confidence mines have also
been actively worked, and from the
first two ores running high in gold
have been milled in the district of
Silver City.
In Sierra county the Hermosa,
Percha and Chloride districts have
remained in statu quo. Hillsboro
has been unfortunate by reason of
bad management, although the Bo-
nanza mine has been worked at a
profit. Kingston's record is some
what improved, and her future pros
poets are much brighter by reason of
the apparently successful operations
of a new reduction works. Lake
Valley has produced from fifteen to
twenty cars of ore per month during
the year.