Arizona weekly citizen., 1895-07-20
HALF A TON OF SILVER.
Two Arizona Prospectors Find the
 Largest Nugget Known.


 From Peach Springs Mohsve Count, Arizona, comes the story of the fin6ins Of nugget, or powder rather, of pur, silver, such as there has been no record of Tn the history of mining in the N est The powder weighed about half ton and its value is anything from sS,OOO t, olO,OO0. It was found by William Tuck CT and John Doyle both old prospecton and they have kept the facts to them selves heretofore because of the chanc, that there was more silver where thil lump came from and they desired to gel the best location for themselves befort letting the rest of the world into the secret.
 The ind was made on the 10th of June The men had been prospecting in the Death Valley mining region and had started across the country to the Grand Canyon of the the Colorado to get into little pleasanter region for their sum- mer work.
 They were camped on the Beach en- migrant road just where the cut of comes down over the low rolling hills to the railroad track, about four miles from Peach Springs end the nugget was lying within 300 feet of the railroad track and not more then 100 feet from the main wagon road, l. projected from the hill- side in plain view of the road, and stood in such position that more than one man had probably sat upon it to gaze up or down the railroad track. Being exactly similar Id appearance to nun- dreds Of other loose rocks in that region 1t had escaped particular notice unti Mr. Tucker came along and rested hii hand upon it. Both Doyle and Tucker are old miners, and Tucker especially was struck with the peculiar feel" Oi this powder. He is familiar with the form of silver known as "blsck metal, found in the dolomite limestone in the Mescal mine in California, and almost intuitvely it struck him that here was 8 piece of the same black metal.
 He had gone out to bring his horses into camp wheL the rock attracted hls attention, and trying to break of 6 fragment he discovered that the rock was solid metal. He tried to lift it, but could not, and then r e went and brought Doyle out to help him. A little digging disclosed powder in the shape of an oblong oval, something like the back of turtle, about two and half feet long of the same width, and one foot thick, The top was smooth and lustrous, and the under surface was coated with scales of the black metal.
 Ar. Tucker says the nugget has all the appearance of having been thrown up from 8 great vein and smelted by the flow of ths lava which abounds in that region, cooling in the form in which it was found; and this theory is borne out by the find of at least 8 dozen similar pieces, though much smaller in the ssue vicinity. These pieces of pure silver weighed from five to fifty pounds each.
 Tucker and Doyle have located a nin- ing claim where the powder was found and intend to sink a shaft and drift in search of the main vein.
 MT. Tucker says that in 1883 piece of snelted silver weighing four pounds was found by William Hooker two miles west of Peach Springs but attracted DO attention, the supposition being that it had been stolen from a Mexican smelter and subsequently, lost by the thief.