Arizona weekly citizen., 1895-05-11
ORC BLANCO DISTRICT.
The Famous Montana Mine With
 @ Ledge as Big as a Hi'l'
Average Grade of Ore Low But o' Vast Proportions. Gold, Silver
 and Lead Divide Honors.

The first impression on entering that the Montana is an old mine-fo the Gro Blsnco district. The timber that hold the world apart therein ar parked and worn, but sturdy as the da, they were put there.
 IN THE DEPTHS. BIG PROPERTY.
 Another fact at once apparent is tha it is big property. Work near the en trance had only been done along tht hanging wall. Never but once did WI see the fGot wall. Where it would us ually be seen in a mine We only saw ore. There seemed no limit to it. IT stupendous proportions it lay, and look ed as though the whole interior of tho earth was quartz. A crosscut nearly forty feet long was all in ore. It was al the end of that cut that We had our first view of the foot wall of the Montana ledge.
 Seldom has so much ore been permit ted to lie in ons deposit as here. LOW GRADE BUT GOOD ENOUGH TO PAY
 WELL.
 The Montana is low grade proposi- ton. So large bodies could hardly pos sibly have an average of high grade ore though the Montana has her samples that run into the thousands of dollars @ ton. The grade, however, is high enough to work profitably. Much of the ore is good enough to ship. The his tory of the mine includes an era of days when 1t was a chloriding proposition It carries lead in abundance. The lead alone pays the cost of mining and mill ing of the ore. This feature of lead is a marked exception in Arizona. In the territory lead mines are not plentiful. The Wilson bill made an important change on lead ores, reducing the duty thereon one half. This was done so that the United States smelters might avail themselves of the lead mines of Mexico, our own country being def cient in the metal.
 The lead is not the big item of value, however. The gold it carries is prob ably of more value than the lead. Mr. George Chsyney, the manager, would hardly be induced to say that he had gold property in the mine. Yet the yellow metal Is there, in welcome quantities.
 It is to the silver, however, that the main revenue is due. Even now, with silver despised as though it was vile, and not allowed to take it's place ID the worlds commerce, with it a mere thing of commodity, like so many bushels oi potatoes, and not bringing by half what the government, its greatest consumer, gets for it, it is yet a source of profit at the Montana. This, too, IS feature not common in Dines nowadays. With silver quoted somewhere about 60, few mines can be run. Many need the normal or com value to pay. So be It to the credit of Mir. CheyneY's mine that it pays to work for silver these days.
 A PRACTICAL TEST OF THE MONTANA.
 A year ago the mine was carefully tested to learn how good it actually was Samples-these were actual samples fol 8 business test-were taken, and show. ed that an average of the mine as il would be worked for years to come was SIP ton. This was a mill test, and above all practicable. On this basis the present operations were instituted. In different parts the mine varies greatly The material recognized as "ore," ir the paying sense, cTries:-
 Lead, 5 to 70 per cent.
 Gold, S2 to S2O per ton.
 Silver, to 75 ounces per ton.
 Besides these metals, many more are known. Zinc is found in goodly quan titles, V hich we will get to presently One specimen we picked up contained the following:
 Lead sulphide, carbonate and oxide copper sulphide, malachite, azurite, iror sulphide and oxide, quartz, and traces of zinc.
 Leaving the crosscut we went back tc the tunnel. Everywhere was the same sense of magnitude in the workings The way became rough, and ran into ar old stope. Not a quarter of the orc there had been removed; yet $500 tons were gone. This was taken out on 2 lease. The ore was left irregularly, tho work following where it appeared t. contain the most lead. That taken from there is supposed to have given returns about az follows:
 Lead, 10 per cent.
 Silver. 27 to g ounces.
 Gold. S4 ton.
 At the bottom of a shaft within wa. fine sight. It was a cham Der of leaC and zinc eulphurets that gleamed like diamonds. The reflections from oul candies glittered most beautifully. Il was free from props or pillars, l5 fec wide and feet high, and 200 feet long Mir. Cheney pointed out two features il the wall over us Part, apparently most but not really so, glittered and present ed smooth, even surfaces. That wat lead in the ore. The other was of tho same hue, but dulier tone, and hsC less luster and uneven surfaces. Thil was zinc. The lead average was 12 pel cent, the zinc 15 per cent. In addition there was a clay formation. All three carry silver and gold.
 PROBLEM FOR THE FUTURE.
 This cham Der is a problem for the flu ture. The formation is different iron the upper levels, the ore being an inti mate mixture of lead and zinc sulphur OIc, iOW III bhO piOOlOus uioldlcs Out, d a natural mixture, we'll adapted to som, of the late methods for use in tte arts When it is worked, other processes vii be required. In view of lead and gin, being Tn com bination, 1t is possible tn, two in one will be used in paint manu facture-the making of zinc white. Tbi may be done at the mill, thus givinl Gro Blanco paint mill. The proposi tion has been worked in Colorado sue cessfully. The lead and zinc would first be separated so far as practicable with jig. The silver would then be ex tracted from the clay, the lead and th zinc separately. Then the residue of tn lead-zinc combination would be utilized for paint. The problem is entirely prac ticable. But that is all matter for th future.
 The ore body in the lower leads is O as great extent, apparently, as above There is a shaft down from the lead zinc chamber 40 feet, ln ore. This give at least body of 15x40x200 feet-proh