Arizona republican., 1897-09-25
HILL TOP MINE IS A WONDER
Ore Bodies Two Hundred Feet Long
 And Seventy Feet High.

Denver, Sept. 24.-The Hill Top is the name of the latest Colorado wonder in the way of a producing mine. It deserves it's name, for it is located at an altitude of between 12,- 900 and IS ,OO0 feet. It is about twelve miles from Fairplay, and from it a birdseye view of Leadville can be ob- tained. Nathaniel Robertson of the Robertson-Do1 company recently wis ited the property, and this is what he said of it yesterday:
 ''To me the Hill Top seems a won derful mine The owners invited me to go through the property, and l feel we'll repaid for having done so It is a silver and lead proposition, and if silver were new worth what it was some years ago, the owners would all be millionaires. As it is the lead values are such that a good profit is realized from taking out the ore. What the value of the ore is I cannot say, as I did not ask, but there are such immense bodies of it, and it is so easily handled that most any body would be satisfied with the net results.
 ''The shaft is 800 feet deep, and from it's bottom the workings extend in all directions.
 ''To give you an idea of the size of the ore bodies, I need only mention that 1 was taken into one chamber which was made by excavating the ore, and this chamber was twenty two feet wide, 200 feet long and sev- enty feet hiAhy Of course, all the ex- cavations we're not so large as this one. There are other bodies which I passed, but which we did not enter. probably because the manager did not wish me to see the amount of treasure available. They are prob ably the kind of miners who do not exhaust an ore body immediately it is discovered, but go on looking for something else, meanwhile using the ore held in reserve so that the prop eFty will pay dividends constantly.
 The works above ground are of course, in keeping with the value of the mine. The shaft house is good and roomy, the boilers and holster are of sufficient power to do all that they will be called upon for, and the men are very comfortably housed and cared for. It is three miles. about, from the mine to the railroad and the ore is conveyed that distance Dy means of tramway that works automatically. There is large. end less cable to which buckets are fast ened, and the weight of the ore is sufficient to keep the wire in motion and return the buckets to the mine after they have emptied their. con. tents below.
 When the buckets leave the mine they gradually descend to the cars where they are, by mechanical con. tr1vance, turned upside down and the ore is emptied into bin. The buck. cts remain in this inverted condition until they reach the pulley at the mine, around which they are throwr into their proper position. Then as each bucket gains a given point ar ore chute reaches over the top of th, bucket and travels along with it un til 1t has filled the bucket. Then tht chute returns to its original position and is ready for the next bucket.
 "The whole tram system is onerat ed by one man, who Is stationed i, such position that he can see th, entire length of the cable and instant \ ly note any irregularity in the work ing of the contrivance. For instance if the ore chute should fail to trave with one of the buckets, the operato, by touching a lever, can immediateI stop the machinery and mend the diff fculty. From the ore bin below tn ore is carried to Fairplay in freigt cars. The mine and the tramwav ar in constant operation, both night an day and seven days a week, and tn entire length of the tramway, tn shaft house and all the undergroun workings are lighte1 by means ( electricity.
 The mine gives employment to b. tween sixty and seventy men, and
 bigger, stronger, better looking set
 men l never saw. They do not wo, for wages, but all do piece wor Two or four men will work togethe and when they have filled a car wi ore 1t is wheeled to the shaft. plac, on the cage and drawn to the su face. There it is weighed, and u weight is registered and credited
 the men who excayated the ore al put 1t on the car. Each set 6f mt fastens a ticket to the car, and it by this means that the man on tt knows to whom to credit the or The men receive 90 cents a ton. Wh
 working by the piece this way tn
 do m,re work than when working the day When it is desirable
 drift, make an upraise sink the shs or do any kind of dead work, a co tract is made with the men to do t work at fixed price per foot. Maj of the men make as nt1oh as s4 a d; at the rate paid for taking out ore.
 NUGGETS FROM THE HILLS.
 The total copper production of Al zona for 1896 was 7,766,259 pound These figures do not Include the co