Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-10-13
BLACK RANGE
and HILLSBORO
A Number of Wonderfully Rich
Mines in Silver and Gold Are
Being Developed.
ORE WORTH $4,000 A CAR
The Middle Percha District That Has Pro-
duced S8,000,000-0re Worth S40,-
600 Picked Up on the Surface
Other Mine Notes.

The Black Range district is west of
the terminus of the Magdalena branch
Of the railroad, and is in the foothills on
| the east side and near the north end Of
| the Black Range. The formation is por-
phyritic, principally andesite, and occa-
si3nally belts of trachyte show them
selves running parallel with the veins
| Limestone occurs in isolated places.
Every foot of the lode from Wild
Horse creek to Dry creek, eight miles,
| is marked by groupings. The vein is To-
Gated the entire distance. The mineral
belt is from four to eight miles wide.
| New discoveries in the Black Range
are attracting attention, and the coun-
| try is full of prospectors. F. l.. Bu-
chanan, superintendent of the Ell Dora
do mine, Hillsboro, thinks that the ore
is principally Of a concentra ting char
acter, and that deep mining will be nee
essary to bring them into profitable op-
Grafton. II can show claims in the
Black Range that are literally cut up
with shallow shafts and open cuts from
one end to the other. All of these open
ings and cuts show the vein plainly,
and it is a wonder that the prospectors
did not go down when the vein was once
found, for the time and money scattered
in useless surface work would have de-
veloped the vein and made a mine Of
the property. No man can hope to sell
mine for fair price until he has
shown what it contains at depth of
100 feet from the surface. Every foot
less decreases the price that can be OBJ
tanned for the property, even if it is a
proposition Of more than ordinary mer-
it. There are two lessons to be learned
in the Black Range: One is that deep
mining will seldom fail to find the val
ues of very high grade, and the other is
that nine -tenths of all the ores are con-
centrating ores. One can mine and con-
centrate three tons of ore for what 1t
will cost to hand-sort one ton to make
it high-grade shipping ore. Hand sort
ing is an imperfect slow and expensive
method of concentration, which, with
the improved machines now in use, can
be done better, quicker and at from
one third to one-fourth the cost"
SIERRA COUNTY.
Southern New Mexico is developing
number of wonderfully rich mines, in
both silver and gold, and the present
activity in many of the districts indi-
Gates that before long this section of
the territory will make long strides in
the direction of production.
John H. Hartwig, of Denver, who has
interests in several of these camps, has
recently returned from an inspection
of his property, and says that the pro-
duction of the mines from comparative
ly shallow depths and the extraordinary
values of the ores are attracting the at
tention of a large number of mining
men, and there is a fair prospect for
something like a boom. A lot Of ore Is
being taken out of the Hillsboro dis
trict that is averaging $l00 per sack in
silver and gold. On the Sierra Blanco,
Kinney Bros. and Lew Sly are mining
in rich ore in a small way They are
making shipments to Ell Paso, which
average from $1,000 to $4,000 per car.
The Middle Percha district, six miles
| north of Kingston, is a rich silver camp,
and quite a number of claims would
pay big money now More than 5000 900
has been produced in this district, most
of it in 1882 Senator Tabor, of Colora-
do, formerly owned some good property
| in this district, which is now owned by
jefferson Reynolds. In 1892 more than
| $40 900 worth of ore was picked up on
the surface, most of it almost pure sill
yer.
| j. M. Webster and Colonel Parker are
mining at the head of Trujillo creek in
the foothills at the south end of the
Black Rane. There are number of
IIeasers at work on their property who
are taking out ore that stands the wag-
| on haul to Lake Valley and leaves a
| handsome profit Assays of more than
$50, 900 to the ton have been made. The
| last shipment was a selected lot of ore
| that gave a return of 451 .13 ounces of
gold per ton, little less than $4,000 to
the ton.
| About eight miles north of Kingston
are number of large and strong fissure
veins, none of which have been devel-
oped to any great depth. No hole in the
| district is deeper than $50 feet and yet
| the district has produced about $5,000,-
900. Rich ore was shipped from the
grass roots. These ores could all be con-
centrated and made to pay heavy prof
it's.
In Hillsboro district the Opportunity
and Bobtail, comprising ten claims and
owned by Henry Porter, of Denver, are
under bond, and if the trade goes
through 125-ton smelter will be erect
ed at once to treat custom ores besides
their own ores. More than S1,500,o00 has
been taken from these properties.
F. l.. Buchanan. an experienced mill
man from Colorado, has gone to St.
Louis with c. A. Neil, of the Ell Dorado
group, to buy machinery for their con-
centrating plant, which will have ca
pacity of 100 tons per day and will be up
to date in every respect.
| 0so IA uo~aS ~, ~ "a. g.