Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1895-12-19
GREAT PLACER PROPOSITION
Manager NettletOn, of the Santa Fe
Placer Company, a Visitor in
the City.
MILLIONS In GALISTE0 PLACER FIELDS
Headquarters of Company at Cerrillos
Preparing to Patent Claims
Plans of Company-s'atisfac-
tory Tests.

Mr.. F. E. Nettleton, general manager
the Santa Fe Placer Mining compan
with headq quarters at Los Cerrillos and a
Office in Kansas City, arrived in Santa 1
yesterday morning from the east. Hi
business here was to arrange with Surveyc
General Easley for the survey of tn
placer grounds of his company on th
Galisteo river with view of patentin
the twenty claims located and bein
worked by him and his associates. H
left for Cerrillos last night aud will be
gin surveying in few days. Abou
600 acres are included in the twent
claims.
SIDING WILL BE PUT IN.
Besides starting work on the survey
Mr.. Nettleton will meet Supt. Hurley an
an engineer of the A., T. & s. F. railroad
at Cerrillos tomorrow for the purpose O
laying out side-track to the place
fields. This is needed at an early date il
order that the machinery may b
quickly and cheaply transferred to tn
ground.
Mr.. Nettleton says that the investiga
tion and tests he has made during tht
past year prove beyond doubt that th'
greatest gold placer proposition in thu
world is presented on the Galisteo al
the outlet of the gulches and arroyo'
leading down from the gold-rlbbed ORTIZ;
mountains.
TESTS so FAR MADE.
The tests so far made show that thu
sand and gravel on the claims located
run from $4.49 to $6.42, or general
average of $4.O9h per cubic yard in gold
and these results have been obtained
from surface rather than bedrock work
ings.
Mr.. Nettleton is sanguine that the posk
cts and crevices in the irregular sand
stone bedrock, which he describes al
gigantic rifles In gigantic sluice,
will prove very rich.
THE GROUNDS WILL PAY.
But, even if the grounds do not yleld
more than 81 per cubic yard, the propo
sition will pay well, as the Nettleto1
placer mibing machine will handle 1000
cubic yards of the deposit every twenty
four hours. Details regarding the plans
of the company and the method Of pro
cedure adopted are given below
APPLIANCES ADOPTED.
The Santa Fe Placer Mining company
operating at Los Cerrillos, under tn,
management of F. E. Nettleton, expects
to begin the erection of its plant, which
will cost about $l2,5oo, in the early
spring, or as soon as the weather vii
permit of economical work. The plar
of operation is to raise the material fill
ing the bed of the river by steam
bucket dredge of great capacity, and
which will be capable of digging to {
depth of forty feet below water-line. II
is calculated that the depth of the deposit
will average about thirty feet, witt
possibly depressions of greater depth
and the ladder of the dredge will be con
structed to reach the bottom of any OF
these not exceeding forty feet in depth.
As the material is penetrated by the
sub flow of water to bedrock, the suction
pipe of six-inch centrifugal pump will
be extended down the dredge ladder to
within twelve inches of the lowest point
reached by the buckets. The action OF
this pump will not only bring up the
necessary water for sluicing, but it will
also, in measure, bring up such ma.
terial as the buckets may have left on
the bedrock, and very likely will clean
small pockets in the rock that the
buckets are unable to reach. This idea
Of running the suction pipe to that
depth, and for this purpose, is believed
to be new.
THE BLACK BAND WILL BE SAVED.
For cleaning the gold the plant will be
provided with sluice boxes, grizzly and
screens, burlap sluices, magnet for e1-
tracting the black sand, and amalgam
plates for catching the -four gold. The
material will have been screened to one
sixteenth-inch mesh before being put on
the plates. All coarse tailings will be
dropped by gravity behind the dredge,
and fine tailings will be conveyed con-
siderable distance further aft by the use
Of an eighth-inch centrifugal pump.
When it is taken into consideration
that the average assay of the material is
over 81 per cubic yard, 1t is thought that
by the use of the amnlgsmating devices,
as outlined above, large percentage of
the assay value will be saved. 1t is also
thought that by saving the black sand,
or so-called magnetic iron, quite profit
will be derived from that source, ne it
undoubtedly carries with it much gold.
The accepted theory has been that the
gold lie carried by this black sand simply
BY abrasion. The manager has received
Information that by new treatment this
magnetic iron has given result of $4,000
per ton, after all the free gold that could
be discerned by magnifyiDg glasses was
removed, this sand coming from New
Mexico. Should this information be &C.
curate it will upset the theories hereto
fore beld. Mr.. Nettleton is investigating
the matter and will have some Of the
black sand from the property treated by
the new process.
This black sand or magnetic iron is
found in great abundance on the prop
erty of this company on the Rio Galisteo
If this sand should prove to be anything
like rs valuable as above stated, there
certainly are "millions" in this property
by the saving of this gold-bearing sand
in addition to the free gold which the
material contains in surprising quantity.