The Arizona sentinel., 1901-09-11
La FORTUNA MINE.

In the early days of gold discovery of Califor- nla, lSi6, when the news reached tae gold miners O1 sonora, there was a general exodus Of the able-bOdied men who were able to get away northwest to the new Fl Dorado in California and the state of Sonora contributed many men tothe mlnlngs population. They took the old road, which was known as the ''camno real from EStancia and Altar nGrthweStward nearly parallel to the gulf, following the mountain ridge known as the Gila range. just north Of our present boundary. The road Jed to Yuma and in passing the Gila range they went within a few rector yards oI a very modest outcrop of quartz which no one seemed to consider of Suf- ftcient value to merit any attention. That hum ble and insignificant quartz outcrop is today the outcrop of the great Fortuna mine
 It IS situated on the westward slope and nearly at the base of the range of mountains called on some Of the old maps the Gila range This trends northWeSterly and reaches nearly to inc Glla rlVer at the point now known as Blaisdell The railway Tn its course to Yuma passes around the northwest point of this range Where the rocks are exposed at that point they are mostly Of homogeneous granite, of gray color ana Weathered out at the surfaces which however, are much pitted as if by dccomnosi. tFon of some soft substance But beyond these loW-lylng hills of granite there are big outcrops or rock Whlch to the experienced eye indicate stratihed formations. They are indeed strait ned, for the bulk of the range SouthWard and Southeastward IS composed of regular Stratified IaInlnated- hard gnelSSic rock. I use the word 'gneiSSic'' in very general and coYnDrebenSivc sense. for you can describe these rocks with much more accuracy if you localiZe them as ~, poiatlonS of quartZite beds especially in the upper part of the series, with green stains sun posed to be stains of copper and Accommodation Of copper ore, which they probably arc al- though there are peculiaritieS of color and some yellow colorS, which indicate to me thn presence of some other mineral. possibly tel luriu1n, which by its decompositi0n has given these colOrS. The fact remains however that the bullion from the upper part of the vein cen talnS more copper than 1t now contains in the lower levels Of the mine The workings which hgs-p bot-a condition of things which could not be forCtold from an inspection of the outcrop. The vein or loue appears 10 be a chimney, not a cOntinO- OuS ore DOdE. nor a continuous vein wish an ore hodl or chimney or chute upon it. AS re marked the outcrOpping points indicate that e there k no very great longitudinal extension of
 The vein is remarkable first iu this limited out crop; second in it's continuity in depth it's con tinued satisfactory richness. and the promise it gives or enrichment by further veins dipping into if on the foot-wall sides
 some facts in regard to the product or yield: The ore paid from the surface. The p~oduct or ore extracted up to the time has been about SB tons per day, which is sent to the 2O-Stanp mill each stamp of which cruSheS about tons in every twenty-four hours. The extraction is Cnleny ana largely by power drills. I force of 80 men is employed by this mine and mill The greater part of the labor underground and Inlnlng IS done by compressed air. The lode I was told, was 6 to 15 feet wide This large space permits the use of power drills to great advantage. In the material hoistcd there arc fragments of the wall rocks, some of which are thrown out, but many pfeceS pass througb inc mll They would prefer to reject most of this wall rock. but it would take more time and cx- panSe than It does to mil 1t. and there is chance of some of it containing gold From these 30 tons of rock crushed daily the average product is perhaps S4S.OOO worth of gold per high as S90000.
 In the region ef the Fortuna mine the forma- tonS appear to be wholly Of mica slate and bornblende slate. with some arena.eous Ia7~erS Ike old micaceous sandstones and quartzites The mine k surrounded by black hornble1dic states and mica slateS, dipping southward and Southwestward at an angle of about SJ degrees and these states are very evenly laminated ridge after ridge.