Arizona republican., 1899-11-18
PROGRESS AT PEARCE.
Activity at the Banner Gold Camp o.
the Southwest.

The following review of events al
Pearce is interesting and comes rom
the pen Of a WILCOX Range News cor
respondent:
''One in . thousand is an cpl -het
frequently applied to the Common
wealth cornpany's mine at Pearce, and
the phrase. far from being an hyper
bole. falls vvofuily short of the truth.
a mine whose ores so much resemble
country rock that men stumbled over
them for years without suspec5ing
their value; a mine that yielded Givi-
dends from the grass roots down; that.
after having been sold for $2750)O, pad
for itself in three months, with no out
lay for machinery except a one-horse
whim; that has since made its several
owners millionaires, and that gives
promise of being a veritab!e bonanza
for years to come-such a mine is not
simply "one in a thousand it would
be hard to duplicate anywhere.
The work of charging the reduction
plant of the Commonwealth Mining
and Milling company is rapidly pro-
crossing. Part of the machinery is al
ready in place and only one or two
cars OF the heavy pieces are yet to ar
rive It is expected that the new
stamps will begin dropping some time
during December. when the capacity OF
the mill will be increased to 10 or 200
tons per day. At present the company
is running twenty STAMPS and two
German pulverizers. The addition 10
the plant consists of thirty stamps. to-
gether with a corresponding increase
in power generating machinery, van
ners, settlers. etc. Six large boilers
will furnish steam to turn the massive
machinery of the enlarged plant The5e
and the other machinery are from the
great works Of Fraser & Chalmers and
the best obtainable. Everything in the
entire plant is OF the first quality no
expense having been spared to make
She new mill model plant. General
Manager Brockman has given mis- per
sonal supervision to the work, and
with the aid of such an experienced
mill man as Superintendent Swatling,
it is not surprising that the result has
been highly satisfactory.
Two new departures have recently
been decided on by Mr.. Brockman
One is The discontinuance of ore ship
ments. No ore has been shipped from
the mine since early in the summer,
but the entire product of the mine viii
hereafter be miIIed in the company
plant. Another change now to be in
stituted is the substitution of coal for
wood as fuel for the plant. This i1no-
walton is rendered necessary by the in
creasing difficulty OF obtaining suiii-
Gent supplies of wood.
The addition to the mill will natur-
ally require an increased force of min
crs to supply the daily tale Of ore anc
the town of Pearce therefore antici-
pates an improvement in business.
Pearce is not strictly a one-mine town,
several promising camps being directly
tributary to the place. The Black Dia-
mond company. composed Of New York
people, is working about fifteen men
and a good showing is reported. John
Graham is manager there.
The Great Western Copper company /
is shipping from Cochise about two /
cars a week of peacock copper ore;
this is from O. B. Hardy's mine. and /
w. J. Young is in charge of the camp, |
which is situated in the Turquoise dis !
trict. One Of the most promising mines !
in this district is the Gleason mine. /
now owned by company in which NJ I
II. Twomey and John Gleason are
prominent. They have bean shipping
ore regularly but are now contemplate
ing the erection of a smelter
The Middlemarch property, we I'M
derstand. was recently purchased by /
the Rockefeller interests and their pol