The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-02-13
THE CROWNED KING.
Big Gold Strike Reported In Am
Arizona Mine.

A special. from Prescott. Ariz., says:
This portion of the southwest is thrill
ed with mining excitement more than
equaling that known when the great
silver discoveries were made in Peck
district twenty-five years ago.
The cause for agitation is the strike
of gold ore lately made on the 500-foot
level of the Crowned King mine, in
Bradshaw Basin, thirty-five miles
south of Prescott. A few days ago its
miners dug into an ore chute that is
producing mineral never before known
in Arizona. Samples of the ore brought
TO Prescott are, practically, all gold,
and the ten-inch pay streak" as far
as developed is declared worth fully
800 GOO a ton.
Many of the specimens are very
snowy, the free gold having for COM
pany the clearest of quartz, lead
crystals and sulphuret crystals. The
miners have been feverishly digging
into the ten-inch Golconda, but it is
reported to be holding out with shrink
age of neither width or value. The ore
is being sacked for shipment direct to
the gold refinery being far too valu-
able to handle in the ten-Stamp mill
attached to the property.
The Crowned King mine has been
known for many years as one of the
best in Arizona, though not till five
years ago did the owners succeed in
securing a process for economically
reducing the ores. The ore dyke is a
strong one, well defined in its course
up a steep hill. From the grass roots
it has carried nothing but the most
basic Of Sulphurets, averaging more
than $50 per ton in gold. The values
have steadily increased as depth has
been secured. All but the richest ore
? ..
mill and then concentrated, the tail
ings being treated in cyanide tanks.
Under this system the company has
been paying a regular monthly divi-
dend of $l2 a, share. Last year a few
extra dividends were declared.
Along with this a steady policy Of
development has been pursued, till
now the mine is called by experts one
Of the best "opened-up properties in
the west. The location of the vein is
favorable for the miner who desires
to work on theoretical lines. Tunnels
have been driven into the hill, in ledge
matter, every 100 feet of vertical depth,
the series of tunnels opening above the
mill. From the top Of the hill has been
sunk a shaft that connects all the
tunnels and establishes excellent venti-
lation and communication. Thus much
of the ore is lowered to the mill and
the expense of working is reduced to
a minimum.
a curious feature of the strike is the
abrupt change of the ore from the
most basic of iron pyrites to free gold.
In this region nearly all mines are
free-milling on the surface, where
oxidation has occurred, but below this
is almost invariably encountered sui
phides in quantity that forbids re-
duction by the old-fashioned stamp
mill.
Till the opening Of the Crowned King
Bradshaw district had been notable
only for its silver, which, especially in
the mines at Tip-Top and Peck, had
been produced in almost incredible
quantity. The whole region is highly
mineralized, a fact that was known to
many who braved the Apaches thirty
years ago, to prospect within it, and
deserted shafts and tunnels are to be
found on almost every hill. These old
workings now have added interest,
and preparations are being made in
Prescott for the further development of
scores of them.