The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-16
CHL0RIDE'S RICH ORES.
RAPID GRoWTH or THE VIEW MINING
CANP IN THE sOUTHWEsT.

IN in the mouth az nearly every gold and silver
minor in the Southwest nowadays. and rush
which promises to exceed that to RandsburR
IN 1890. and even that TO Tombstone tvonty
years ago. hns act In toward Chloride. Tho
veteran gold and silver nina seekers In tho
West, who have an abiding faith Tint every
year with tho figure Mt tho end will be a
famous ono In tho finding Of new nelds for
mining precious ores in the West. are con-
Vinced that Chloride " 10 be the scene OF the
great gold and silver rush for 1880. They ar
que that tho great rush OF Eod-hunEry men to
California was in 1S40: the Fraser River and
the f1rst Comstoek rushes occurred In 1880;
tho Montana gold field was discovered and tho
stampede thereto began in 1862 the Tomb
stone and I.cadvio silver excitement started
in 1919: tho San Juan and Utah gold ru'hcs
were In 1899. and that now the Chlorids field
IA going to furnish the richest diGginEs found
in the West In 1899.
Notwithstanding the boom in copper mining
throughout Arizona and the unprecedented
energy In every copper camp In the Southwest
this season. ono cannot 20 anywhere in the
Territory without hearing OF Chloride. The
latest strike Of silver ore In Chloride Ia dis
cussed in this region before any other topic.
Sample chunks OF ore from the Chloride min
ing district are exhibited IN store windows.
behind saloon bars and In hotel offices. Stories
Chloride that sells to tho FL Paso smelters for
g.. 200 a carload: how Bill Somebody has sold
a half interest in his prospect At Chloride for
$4,000 or more. and how old Jim What'sHi
Name has n ledge twenty feet wide with
enough gold in 1t to pay the working expenses
OF ore that runs 100 ounces OF silver to the
ton, are heard on every aide. The brakeman on
the train has a bit OF sllver and gold ore from
Chloride in his pocket; the conductor ycarns
70 get away from his job for few days To 60
over to Chloride and try his luck. The waitress
in the hotel asks while she awaits your ordor
whether you have been to Chloride yet. and the
porter fingers after he has set your baggage in
your room to ask what's the latest news from
the rush to Chloride. The dullest schoolboy in
Arizona can locate Chloride. near Kingman. In
Mojave county.
The rush to Chloride started in last March.
Four new mines were opened. and. as the
miners say. paid big from grass roots down.
So the fame OF Chloride went abroad. At first
nifty or sixty miners and prospectors went that
way in a week. Their glowing reports OF the
promises OF the camp started hundreds OF
other miners. ono OF tho wonders Of the gold
and silver mining world is the rapidity with
which the fever takes hold OF tho miners. BY
April the new mines were opened far enough
for development and tho quantity and charac-
ter OF the orc in the bowels OF the earth were
not then matters OF conjecture. Thareupon
tho boom at Chloride grew and miners, pros
pectors and men who hoped to strike it rich
by some sort Of fatality began to flock into tho
camp 10y hundreds.
The new mining camp OF Chloride like
Randsburg on the MoJave desert i'll California.
II another town that has grown wonderfully
amid a frightful climate and on sandy waste
simply because of tho precious minerals stored
T., mi. hnag
from Kingman. which is station on the main
line Of the Atchison. Topeka and Santa rs
system through northern Arizona. on the way
to Los Angeles. Cal. The county is HoJave and
KinRman is the county scat. Until dozen
years ago the lluallipi Indians. fierce
branch Of the lazy DigRcrs. were masters
OF this arid region. and murders Of miners
and prospcctors by them retarded the nat
urnl mineral development of the locality.
Tho White Hills silver mines. which
have been so rich that in spite Of tho
decrease in value Of tho white metal during
the last half dozen years. they have paid good
dividends right along. are some forty miles
Away to the east. A more bald. desolute.
parcheG and hlistersd region could scarcely 10
imagined. Nothing grows there during ten
months in the year but dry sagebruSh. q
peculiar desert species OF cactus and grease
wool chaparral. 1t is II region OF the bloatrd
rattlesnake and tho deadly chahwala. The
coyote is not common in that arid waste and
under that burning sun. for even it cannot
find enough to eat thore. Standing on any OF
the ranges OF low mountains. In which out
groupings Of mineralized rocks may be
seen on every hand. ono may look away
of to tho north across the shimmerlng
hot valleys. whore not living thing may be
seen. to the purple mountains in southern
Utah and to the west In California. The Grand
Canon OF the Colorado River Is forty miles to
the north. In winter there are patches OF
green in the Sacramento Valley. where Chlo-
ride Is leapng into cltyhood. but in summer
everything there in nature IS dry aid brown
and yellow. 1t is a region Of mirages. and at
times the winds and blowing sand come into
ones face as If from u hot blast. The noun
tains nre known among miners rs calico for
nations. that is. tho stains OF cnnabar. iron.
gaenn copper and other metals give the rocks
variegated hueS similar to calico prints.
While agriculture might be at probably
conducted on the Desert of Sahara as round
about Chloride. md while the Sacramento VAL
ley will never be n popular resort at any Jason
OF the year. tn" mineral wealth there Is almost
incalculnbe. II IS indeed strange that the
gold and silver in tho mountain sides to the
north and south OF the Sacramento Valley were
not found by prospcctors long ago. Several OF
the larger mines such as the Tennessee. the
Merrimac the Eikhart. the Diana and the Wis
consin. are on ledge Of base ore composed
OF silver. gold lead and some copper which
varies from eight to thirty feet in width and
extends moro than two miles along tho noun
tain side The mincrall2ed markings OF this
ledge are very perceptihle. Here and there are
outcroppings OF oxidzod orc that assay at
even $40 a ton. Hundreds Of mining claims
have been posted IN and about Chloride on
every piece OF ground whore there is the least
evidence OF ore beneath. and in thirty days
hundreds moro will be made
Il have known for years" said Col, Lewis
Rogers, who has prosrectcd far and wide for
fourteen years and at last has found a ledge
where he is taking out ore running AS high as
aeventy-one ounces to the ton. that there
was some mineral In this chloride ore. but
never had an idea It was so easily had and so
nicely smelted Here Two heen living a terri
bly, hard life on the deserts and among the
mountains for years while those lodges have
been lying here for some ono like mo to come
along and dig the riches out OF them Yes sir