Mohave County miner., 1898-06-11
WoBAvE
 COUNTY.
BRIEF SRETcB OF ITS HISTORY
 END RESOURCE.

M0have county is one or tne fouf orikihb political divisions into which Arizona was di. yided afte, It's segregation from New Mexico fin 1884 It Is bounded on the west by the ol orado river; on the south by Yuma eouuty, Bill Williams Fork of the Colorado being the dividing line; on the east by Yayapai and Co eonino cou 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 aud fertile valleys.
 Prom the earliest discovery of the precious metals until the advent of the railroad in 1882 the county progress was handicapped by its isolation. All machinery and supplies had to be hauled across the desert from Los Angeles or San Bernardino or shipped from San Fran cisco down through the Pacific and into the Gull of California At Port Isabell the cargo was transferred to fiat bot,nmed boats which nayis ated the Colorado to q distance of i've hundred miles from its mouth Owing to low water Ia the river boats would be compelled to await a rise before they could start for the ca rps and mining villages on its upper waters. ca many occasions six and eight mouths elsps ed between trips and on these occasions the inhabitants were sometimes reduced to a diet of beans. seasoned with tallow candle or an ilIfayored jack rabbit In these early years the Indians eyinced . decided partiality to keep the white ,pulation from increasing too rapidly. aud many prospector met : horrible death at their hands in the lonely mountain fsstnesses. Hsrassed by the Iaaisns, with poor food and poorer shelter. and hundreds of miles of waterlsss desert between them and civilization the lot of the Mohsye county pio- neer was not an enyiabie one Now all Is .A. yaAf ta .e ..utet. sI. white and his copper colored offspring Is be- ing educated at three government institutions of iearniny with n the county, while . great trsnscontinentsl railway traverses the county from east to west.
 The area of Mohave county Is 1s.0oo square miles.
 The population of the county at the present time Is estimated to be 2.6Oo and increasing at the rate of about 800 per year.
 Klngman. 6 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 fo' thills of the Cerbat aud the towering peaks of the wsllapai mountain ranges. Al the present. time Kinymsn Is the supply point for the greater portion of the county. The town has many residences that would do credit 10 villages ID the eastern states Flow CTS of every variety are grown In profusion. Here we have handsome brick schoolhouse, capable of seating 300 pupils; one church (M E.); ;two newspapers: three wholesale and re. tail mercantile houses; lodging houses, restau- rants and hotels sufficient to acrommod odate the requirements of the people, and the compile meut of saloons usually found in western lining village. Two meat markets supply the iShsbitanis with the juicie of stallfed beef One drug,tore supplies all the drugs. medicines and druggists snDdries to the peo- pie Of the whole county. Two physicians look after the physical welfare of the populace. There are four practicing attorneys resident of the town Prices of all staples are very req sonable. Two sampllng works. operated by L. J. Lassell. sample and purchase all ores from the neighboring mining camps offered for sale in Kiugman. Surrounding the town in every direction are the mines and mining camps of the county which in the past twenty five years have produced fully forty million dollars in gold and silver. Besides this pro- duct of the precious metals the baser metals such as lead and copper have been produced to the extent of thousands of tons. At oae time the production of lead amounted to two
 
 to the low price of pig lead in later years its production has oaly beea to connection with the richer ores of gold aud silver
 Mohsve county is essentially mining coun. try. From north to s,uth three distinct noun tain ranges traverse the country and the rocky sides of all Of them are ribbed an1 seam ,d with ledye3 carrying mineral of every descrip- tion. Nowhere ou earth can 6 gre ster variety II .NN .l.k ka ft.. L.. 'Twa, here that aiu.b boldt expressed his belief ths. the great tes-ure vault of the world ex- isted aud to cbta,n this treasure, thousands of men sacrificed their lives ID those early days of Americas clviliz ition No savage Indians, no burning desert sands could keep the hardy prosp sct ,r away from the land of treasure. He blaze1 the way for new civilizatioa--he gave to the world untold wealth We are today reApIng the fruits of his labors, and will con tinue to reap until the end Of time.
 The earliest settlers of Mohave claim that the first mineral found in the county was in the San Francisco mining district east of camp M. have. great deal of gold was taken from these first 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 Wallapai mountain ranges. In these raoges the production of the precious metals was chiefly conhned 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 ores were rich enough to return to the pro ducer big wsds of money. few mills were finally erected in the county and the chloride ores were worked ct home, although the mill