Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-10-06
NORTH NEW MEXICO
A Review Of Some Mining Districts
by a Correspondent Of an East
ern Journal.
MINERALS OF TUERTO MTS.
Placer Fields Of Red River-Oopper Canon
Of Rio Arriba Oounty-The Mines at
Bland-Edison's Plans for
Ortiz Grant.
New York Engineering and Mining
Journal.)

JOufnal.)
While recently examining a number
of mining properties in the northern
part of New Mexico, I found many dis
tricts where work has been started
again, and which are bound to come to
the front, and some notes about them
may be of interest.
Canon del Cobra Copper Canon), sit
uated in Rio Arriba county, twenty
five miles from the nearest railroad OF
shipping point. Malachite, azurite and
copper glance are found in this canon,
but SO far no c~halcopyrites nor copper
pyrites. The copper occurs in a quartz
old Of a decomposed sandy nature, a
stratum of black slate running horizon
tally crosses the quartzoid, and the ore
is in the form of nuggets, or kidneys,
pure, without amy matrix, and in the
shape of arms, branches, nodules, ETC.,
measuring from 8 inches up to 30 feet in
length, and! as high as 2 feet in width.
Assays at Scranton show nuggets 521s
per cent copper and petrified trees "A
per cent.
Near Red River, in Taos county, a
good deal of work is done on placer
mines. the bars running rs cents per
cubic yard; it is claimed that the chan
mel of the river and the bottom Of the
basin run as high as SIPS per cubic
yard. The Red River mining district in
Taos and Colfax counties abounds in
lodes from 7 to 30 feet wide, containing
gold, copper, lead and silver; low grade
in copper, but rich in by-products. For
thirty miles along the Red river, and in
the beds of the nearby streams, is a
great gold placer proposition. Some
work has been done in this copper belt
lear the Bitter creek. east and west. /
may name the Ester, the A~nacondas
Nos. l, 2 and 8, the Ajax, the Copper
Queen and Mineral King, the Carlow
claim, the Copper Belle and Others. The
veins are rather small. but the rock in
which these blanket veins are embedded
is m~ineralized throughout. Assays vary
from 2 to Is per cent copper, with an
average of 81 in gold to the ton.
Lately the Crown Point mines at
Bland, which are claimed to be at least
just as good and valuable as the adj
Joining Cochiti company's mines, were
sold for $50, 900 to a New York party,
who Is going to put up an adequate mill.
At Cerrillos, in Santa Fe county, a
new lead smelter has been bought, and
Is to be changed into a copper smelter
by Mr.. Tenant, who proposes to ship
the ore from the Bragaw-Potter cop
per mines at Hanover, Grant county, up
Cerrillos and smelt them there.
The Ortiz grant, in the southern part
of Santa Fee county, situated north Of
the Tuerto mountains, referred to be-
low, was sold to Thomas A. Edison, the
well-known electrician, for $4,000, 900.
The grant contains large bodies Of low
grade gold ores and gold placer beds.
There are. however, excluded from the
sale fifteen leases of mines on the grant,
the richest among them being the Cum
ningham mine and gulch, the Ortiz
mine, the Benton and the Live Oak. The
yield of the placer beds is said to aver
age about 20 to rs cents per cubic yard;
the yield Of the mines about 50 to $3.50
gold per ton. If Mr.. Edisonis new proc
ess to treat the bodies of low-grade gold
ores is a success, then undoubtedly the
whole adjoining country would be bene-
flied. Especially the low-grade placer
claims near Golden, San Pedro and the
mountains could be worked to
great advantage. They are as a rule
than those on the Ortiz grant.
The Tuerto range of mountains Is sit
uated south of and adjoining the Ortiz
and Grant, and consists of
irregular ridge extending northeast
and southwest for a distance of three
and a half miles, and thanked by nu-
merous lateral lodges and spurs. The
gravel beds of the new placer district
lie at the foot of these mountains on the
western slopes, embracing about 1900
acres. On the northern and southern
slopes of the Tuerto q number of cop
per prospects and copper mines are To-
Gated, among which those owned by the
Santa Fe Copper and Gold Company
been described fully in the Engin-
and Mining journal. Adjoining
the Santa Fe company to the north are
the San Francisco & Crown Point COM
pany, the Tuerto Copper and Gold Com
pany, the Livingston, the Julia, the
Hazleton, the Copper Belle, the Copper
Queen and many others, equally rich in
and gold, and only waiting for
development. Some of these claims have
since passed into good hands, and may
be developed soon.
On the eastern slope of the Tuerto a
number Of gold claims are located, but
with the exception Of the Gold Standard
mine not much work has been done. The
latter is exceptionally rich. They have
all been bonded recently by an eastern
concern. Northwest Of the Tuerto, near
the town Of Golden. considerable placer
mining is done by several companies,
and to all appearances It 10 profitable.
The placer claims owned BY the Santa
Re Copper Company are not worked at
present, neither are those Of the San
Pedro Placer Mining Company, in
which the Santa Fe company Is inter
ested. II seems they are awaiting the
results Of the Edison treatment before
starting. Further east, about seven
miles from Golden and San Pedro, at
the so-called east end, are q few rich
gold mines, the foremost being the r.
T. G. mine. Assays Of several car loads
show SIS per ton. This mine will be
worked after United States patent has
been obtained.
VOLCANIC NRUPTIONs
Are grand, but Skin Hruptions rob life
~ 4ov Rnrk1nnsa ArniMa Ga1vA NfarAa