Arizona republican., 1894-01-07

the Ariz. & N. M. railroad, the teaching works were inspected throughout and everything therein was found to gravi- tate with the regularity of clock-work. Thirty vats twelve feet in diameter and six feet deep are nsed for handling the ores and acids. This plant, which en- JOYS the distinction of being the only one on the face of the earth, is called the sul phuric acid process, or teaching plant, and is very similar to the meth ods employed in the cyanide process of extracting gold and silver, except that the former uses sulphulic acid and the precipitation is on scrap iron, while the latter uses cyanide of potassium and precipitates on zinc shavings.
 The sulphuric acid IS manufactured from ore, and these works are located little above the teaching plant. From ten to twelve tons of sulphuric acid are manufactured daily to supply the plant and five tons of scrap iron 8 day are consumed.
 The principle of the process is | that the acid first dissolves and carries off the copper, but | later, when the scrap iron is encoun- | tered, the acid adheres to the iron and dissolves it, thus leaving both the iron and copper reduced to liuuid form. | Another industry and new one in Arizona has been begun here, and shortly sulphate of copper, or "blue I stone," will be manufactured in con- mercial quantities. The peculiar ores of this camp make the best quality known, and in tests of practical use this blue stone acts six times as readily as the commercial article which in this country is produced either in New Jersey or San Francisco, Cal, while most that is used is imported from En- gland.
 The commercial value of blue stone is from 9114c. to 411ac. per pound and four tons can be made from one ton of cop per, thus on this frst-class article 18c. per pound for copper will be realized, instead of 101ac., the present price of copper. The analysis of this sulphate of copper or blue stone is given as fol- lows and shows on it's face great su- periority over the commercial article now used in smelters and galvanic bat teries: Copper, 25.1; sulphuric acid, 3S.6; water, 36; oxide of iron, .014; insoluble, .006. supt. Colquhoun has great hopes of supplanting the foreign article and will soon begin production in shipping quantities.
 The town of Clifton, though small, is really pleasant place to stop, as the hotel facilities are frst.class. The Clif- ton hotel is one of the best appointed as we'll as the most commodious in Ari- zona, and Jake Abraham, the gentle manly proprietor, leaves nothing un- done for the comfort and convenience of the guests of the house. The build ing itself is model of architecture and this supplemented with thorough man. agement and convenient arrangement makes it home-like place for the tray eler or tourist. Besides the Clifton hotel there are other smaller houses and numbe of fair restaurants.
 At Morenci Hon. A. D. Brewer, mem- Der of the Seventeenth legislature from Graham county, but now in the big store of the Detroit company, as well as L. L. Sweeney, the superintendent of the Detroit mines and smelters, extend every possible courtesy to strangers in the camp and have an exceedingly warm grasp of the hand for travelling newspaper man. The courtesy of a seat on the brake of the engine, too, is extended by the venerable engineer who has for fifteen years made six runs a day on the little road between Clifton and Morenci, and during that time has never been out of the camp. The first little engine weighed four and one-half tons and was hauled several hundred miles to the camp by ox-team. The next one used weighed 13,5OO pounds, and the present one weighs 25,OO0 pounds. The cars run are open and carry but two tons. These cars are all iron, there not being enough wood about them to make a match. This little line IS one of the wonders of the railroad world, and taken as a system has no duplicate. Above the inclines a network of track is run over and the very mountain tops are threaded by them. Every few minutes train pulls to the summit, where it's cargo is trans- ferred to the lower road by the four in-