Arizona republican., 1898-09-09
MINING NEWS
PLACERING IN ARIZONA.
A Resident Of Prescott Writes Enter-
 tainingly of the Territory.

tdlnluSty OI luc IefTlIOfy.
 The following article, which was published in an Iowa paper and repro duced in the Journal-Miner, was writ ten by man who has lived in Arizona for a few years and who writes from his personal observations. It gives a very fair and impartial description of conditions which exist here:
 Arizona has so many advantages which appeal to the poor man, be he mechanic, farmer or miner, which can not be found anywhere in the east, that it is impossible to enumerate them all in a short letter, but 1 will try to picture this section in as few words as possible. In general the entire terri tory is devoted to three pursuits, viz: stock raising, agriculture, and min ing. Cattle, sheep and horses range almost all over the territory, finding feed the year round anywhere near wa ter. The mountain districts, of course, are better supplied than the deserts, so called, which, during the rainy season blossom forth with a luXuriant vege- tation, showing exclusively that in a few years the judicious investment of capital in irrigation projects, storage systems, and artesian wells will entire ly change the face of mother earth and the deserts of Arizona will be spok- en of as the garden spot of the west.
 In the immediate vicinity of Pres cote, beautifully situated among the mountains, is a vast mineral country hardly opened as yet, but having suffi- cient working ninss and partially de- velcped prospects to give us an idea of the future possibilities of the mining g districts about us. Twenty-Five miles north is the third largest copper pro- ducing mine in the world, the United Verde, owned by w. A. Clark. To the south is the famous Congress Gold company's mine, one of the greatest producers in the west The Hassay- ampa and Weaver districts to the southeast have some good working mines, and thousands of undeveioped prospects are located in every direc- tion.
 The mountain canyons are especial ly rich in placer deposits, the poor mans mine" Hundreds of placer claims are being worked in the sur rounding hills and even with crude methods are giving good returns. Two men ars working an old creek bed within four miles of Prescott and av- craze $4 to S6 per day with g. rocker Others ar'e making wages washing with a pan. The placer ground where there is water in the spring, have un- doubtedly been worked before, but not thoroughly, and it is by working over the old dumps that much gold is SsakeI out
 4 man Of my acquaintance, novice e,ix <i dirt from 8 dry creek to his ranch, and when he found no work to do he washed a few panfuls. He soon Saw that it would pay him to hire his work done and stick to mining. He riggee sluice boxes and out of six loads Ol dirt he got s2S.40, and was out just one days labor with team and wager and two days labor for himself. He now keeps two teams busy hauling dirt is piping a larger supply and increas- ing the capacity of his sluice boxes, ant he has also rigged contrivance Of hi: own invention for a wind mill. If tht dirt he is now handling has half the gold in it that the first six loads hat he will clean up $40 to $50 per day This is by no means an isolated in stance, for the same thing can be done
 
 by any man who will risk a little mon ey, enough to get started, and vii keep steadily at it. The best place, ground known is, of course, all takel up, and some incorporated companie! have spent thousands of dollars in try ing to get enough water supply tt work thlrty-five CT fifty claims, only t fail and inevitably wind up under tn l., I0,,+ l,ar 1,4nv a flat failure on a large scale can mos always be made to pay on a small scale, provided the miner is content t, make double the ordinary wages ant does not desert fair paying ground t, search for Klondyke. I said abov' that all the known" placer ground was taken up, but there are probabl. better mines to be found in the dr. districts that have not been thorough ly prcspected, and possibly never ever visited by the fortune hunter. Min, times out of ten the ordinary wester1 prospector will leave fair paying pla cer the moment he hears Of ricl strike anywhere within 400 or 50' miles, and the mine will lie idle ant deserted until some eastern tender foot" takes possession, or possibly { ''heathen celestial" and the ground i. worked for all it is worth, the China man being a successful placer miner duo to his stick-to-itiveness-h neve, leaving a claim so long as he can maki wages.
 The new Big Bug district, tributar. to Prescott, which has some ricl quartz mines opened up, simply wait ing for the opening of the Prescott { Eastern railway this fall to becom steady shipping properties, has a grea deal of placer ground. as y5It unpTos pected, which awaits the knight of tn pick and pan. The scarcity of wate will deter many from going to thi district, but many a good man will ge start there as the indications ar very promising.
 NUGGETS FROM THE HILLS.
 Wall street brokers predict that sil yer will go up to 75 cents within tw