Cochise review and Arizona daily orb., 1900-05-14
4 RICH STRIKE.
An Abundance of Good Ore DlS..
 covered Near Charleston.

rich ore near Charleston, Arizona, bids fair to bring that long dead camp into equal or greater prominente than that which it enjoyed in the palmy days of the eighties period. The Pittsburg- Arizona Gold and Copper Co. has deve- loped a group of claims three-quarters of mile from the one-time prosperous smelling town with the result of an un- earthing of mineral that has astonished all those who have lived or travelled in that vicinity. The first of the claims, the Porto Rico, is situated three quar- ters of mile in an easterly direction from Charleston; beyond the Porto Rico in the following named order lie the "San Juan," 'The Manila" "The Resurrection, 'The Giant" "Santi- ago" and "Havana." The first named, ''The Porto Rico," contains ore, sam ples of which, showing free gold in a porphyritic and quartz formation, are so rich as to cause surprise among all ex- perienced mining men who have seen them. The "San Juan," which has re- ceived the most development of any of the claims, has yielded an ore pile of no mean dimensions, running high in gold silver and lead. The lead occnrs both in sand and solid carbonates. A recent shipment of 62O pounds of this ore caused quite sensation among the mining men who examined it.
 The eastern line of the San Juan de Boquillos grant, runs from north to, south through the San Juan. The. claims have quite a romantic history. In the early ffties, Professor Bronca, 8 graduate of Freiburg University, Ger many, noted mineralogist and vet eran of the Mexican war, in the wander ings peculiar to his geological ilk hap pened upon the outcroppings of the present Arizona-Pittsburg group. At tracted by the apparent value of the claims, he endeavored to develop them, but on account pf their remoteness from civilization and the crude methods at the command of miners in those days, the professor had. made but small head way in his work, when the Apaches, sitter several bloody attempts, sue ceeded finally in.wiping out Of existence the German. pioneer and his little force of miners. Several mounds show where the dead were buried after the several battles that were waged between the fierce aboriginees and the courageous little band of palefaces. The Mexican inhabitants of that neighborhood long ago rumored that ghostly visitants had been seen about the adobe ruin in which Professor Bronca formerly had dwelt, and succeeding generations have enlarged upon the vague stories until at the present day there is firmly fixed in the sensorium of every Mexican in Charleston an un- swerving belief that every night dur ing the dark of the moon weird band |of spooks arrayed in ,phosphorescent glow csper about in mad revel on the crumbling walls of the mouldering edi- flee. This belief in the visitation of supernatural beings has played no small part in keeping prospectors naturally superstitious through their lives of sol itude-from the site of what really seems about to become one of the rich mining properties of the southwest.
 Many years after Professor Broncas death Captain Jsffords- Indian. agent at Apache Pass, now Fort Bowie..and Mir. Delong made an attempt to, work the group, but they were forced to abandon the project because of the hos tile Apaches. From then on, the prop erty was lost in the thin haze, of rumor, although it is known that a couple of "chloriders" took several thousand dollars worth of ore from the claims, and disappeared without returning to the property or describing it's situation. From the departure of the chloriders the claims were abandoned and un- known until Mir. Fisher and Ben Bart lett, old and competent prospectors, camped during their wanderings on the ground in question, and with true pros pector's instinct at once decided they had discovered rich mine. They saw that the ground had been worked to a small extent, but after thorough in vestigation they decided that the claims practically were virgin mines. On account of the lack of knowledge among prospectors concerning the sit uation of the property, the impossibil- ity of it's being thoroughly exploited by it's original workers, and the cOmpuf sorry end of all former development when the waterlevel had been reached, the present locators concluded there was every probability of the existence of an extensive ore body beneath the superficial workings. By careful pros pecting they have brought to the sur face a few tons of the ore from the Ia