Mohave County miner., 1898-06-25
WoBAVE
 COUNTY.
BRIEF SKETCB OF ITS HISTORY
 END RESOURCE.

Mohave county 1, one of the four original political divisions into which Arizona wal di. yided aite Its segregation from New Mexico in 1884 It Is bounded on the west by the ol- orado river; on the south by Yuma county. Bill Williams Fork of the Colorado being the dividing line; On the east by Yavapai and Co. conino con Ities. and On the north by Utah and Nevada. It is traversed from north to south by high ranges Of mountain, between which are broad and fertile valleys.
 From the earliest discovery of the precious metals until the adYeat of the railroad in 1Ss2 the county progress was handicapped by Is isolation. All machinery and supplies had to be hauled across the desert from Los Angeles or Saa Bernariino or shipped from San Fran cisco down through the Pacific and into the Cult of California. At Port Isabell the cargo was transferred to flat botsomed boats whietl nayieat the Colorado to distance of i've hundred miles from Its mouth. Owing to low water ia the river boats would be compelled to await rise before they could start for the ca ps and mining villages on its upper waters. ca many occasions six aud eight mouths elsp cd between trips anI on these occasions the inhabitants were sometimes reduced to a diet 
 iIl-aavorei jack rabbit In these early years the Indians eyiacei decided psrtiality to keep the white population from increasing too rapidly. aud many prospector met q horrible death at their hands In the lonely mountain fastnesses. Harassed by the Indians. with poor food and poorer shelter. and hundreds Of miles of waterlsss desert between them and civilization the lot of the Mohaye county pio- neer was not an envlable one Now all Is changed. The Indian is tt peace with the white and his copper colored offspring Is be- ing educated ct three government institutions ot learning with the county, while a great transeontinental railway trsverses the county from east to vest
 The area of Mohave county Is l6oOo square miles.
 The population of the county at the present time Is estimated to be 2,5oo and increasing at the rate Of about 5o) per year.
 Klngmaa, village situated on the line of the Santa Fe Pacific railroad, is the county seat. It's population is about 700 The town nestles in little valley between the low roll ing foothills of the Cerbat aad the towering peaks of the Wsllapai mountain ranges. AZ the present time Kin srnan is the supply point for the greater portion of the county. The town ha' many residences that would do credit to villages in the eastern states. Flow ers of every variety are grown In profusion. Here we have handsome brick schooihouse, capable of seating 30 pupils; one church (M. E.) two newspapers; three wholesale and re- tail mercantile houses lodging houses, restau- rants and hotels sufficient to accommodate the reqnkement' of the people; and the compile mensof saloons usually fouad fin a western mining village. Two meat markets supply the iUhabitants with the juicie of stali-fed beef One drugstore supplies all the drugs. medicines and druggists sundries 10 .he peo- pie Of the whole county. Two physicians look after the physical welfare of the populace. There are four practiclng attorneys resident of the town. Prices of all staples are very req. sonabie. Two sampling works. operated by L. J. Lassell. sample and purchase all ores from the nelghborlng mining camps offered for sale iu Kingman. Surrounding the town fin every direction are the mines and mining camps of the couuty which in the past twenty. Ave years have produced fully forty million dollars in gold aud silver. Besides this pro- duo. of the precious metals the baser metals such as lead and copper have be n produced 
 time the production of lead amo1nted to two huldred sad fifty tons per month, but owing to the low price of pig lead in later years its production has only bee1 iu coanection with the richer ores of god aId silver.
 Mohaye county Is essentially mining coun. try. From north to south three distinct moun- tain ranges traverse the country and-the rocky sides of all of them are ribbed aai seam d with ledyeI carrying mlleril of every descrip- tion. Nowhere on earth can a gre .ter variety of the worlds minerals be found than here. Twas here that Humboldt expressed his belief that the gre3t treasurs vault Of the world ex- istei and to ob.aIn this treasure, thousands of men sacrificed their lives Tn those early days of Americas civlliz ition No savage Indians, no burning dsscrt sands could keep the hardy prospsct)r away from the land of treasure. He blazei the way for new civilization-he gave to the world untoid weIlsh We are today reaping the fruits of his labors, and will con tinue to reap until the end of time.
 The ca Hest settlers of Mohaye claim that the first miaersl found in the county was in the San Francisco mining district east ot camp M. have. great deal of gold was taken from these frst locations and today they are ac couated valuable property. The confines of the district were too limited and the prospec tor soon found his way across the valley into the Cerbat and waIlspli mountain ranges In these ranges the production of the precious metals was chiefly confined to that of silver. The surface ores was wonderfully rich. Thou. sands of tons of ore was shipped by the river route to San Francisco. thence to Swansea. England. for reduction. It took good ore to stand the great expense of shipment but the