Arizona republican., 1901-08-14


 ranches along It's banks. It's wateri
 can very easily be made available fol
 use upon the Montana Verdi by th'
 construction of ditch to tap ths
 stream short distance above the mine
 and the company is now negotiating
 with the owner of large water rights ir
 the river for the purchase of right tt
 divert sufficient water to supply the
 property in thls manner for all tini
 to come.
 The group as a whole is not especial
 ly rough, being rather undulatlng, but
 the surface over nearly the entire area is much broken by almost innumerab.e rock croppngs and prominences of all shapes and sizes. These cropplngs dc not appear to be in ledge formation but project in the form of great de- ltached masses and bouidsrs without any regularity whatever in the manner lof their empacement. EVerwhere they show vivid green in color, and examination shows them to be largely carbonates of copper. oxides of copper and oxides os iron, of all kinds ana grades. the carbonates predominating. In the depressions between these mass
 es of croppings, the surface is earth
 which evidently has been formed to a
 considerable extent from the decompo- sitlon of the rock croppings, judging
 from it's appearance. and is strewn
 over with small pieces of float Of the
 same general character as the rock.
 This earth or dirt. however, Is very
 superficial, and 1t is only necessary to dig a short distance before rock closely resembling the surface crcppings is en- ,ountered. Assays of this surface rock mads after returning to Jerome, snow | that 1t will run on an average six per cent in copper, and Mr. Mitchell is Of the opinion that there Is enough or 1t in sight to fully justify the installation at once of l0Q-,on blast furnace on the property and the commencement or smeltingl operations on a substantial scale. The cost of freighting to and from santa Ana would be more than overcome by the cheapness Of both labor and fuel. The established wages of drill men Is $2 per day In Mexican money. or $1 in gold. Outside men re- ceive sl.75 per day, S1s cents in eold' Hard wood for steam can be bought at s2.50 per cord in gold.
 The work already done upon the property is not extensive. vertical shaf, has been sunk to depth of 65 feet. An examination of the walls of this shaft shows an exceedingly gu lar formation and multiform characters of rock, varying from rich sulphides of cooper near the surface, to blue slate
 m quartz, streaksd with sulphides at the bottom. Assays of the ore taken from the upper part of the shaft run from to 10 per cent copper. It Is the in- tention of the company to continue the shaft att depth of 100 feet, and then drift through the ore body large force of men il now at work.
 It is impossible for any person to look over this group. to walk over and among the masses of mins ralized rock and note that characteristic greenish appearance everywhere in evidence, without forming the positive conviction that underneath his feet lies hidden an immense body of copper ore, greater perhaps, if the indications count Tor anything, than has ever yet been nn- covered. He cannot be brought to the belief that this copper ore came from any other source or dire ction than be- low. nor that the visible copper in the ore was deposited upon the crest of the hill where the ore occurs, by the action of any surface stream. But though he will conc.uCe his inspection of the Mon tana Verdi with the firm conviction that a little development work VII! q monstrate what appears now so evil dent it is not until the visitor reaches the San Jose group the other property of the company, and makes his exam ination, that he feels warranted in say ing that the company has mine the 1, character Of which as such Is assured. |
 The San Jose group lies northwestern | Iy of the Montana Verdi, distance Of | bout 55 miles, and is approximately | b5 miles from the Gulf of California. It is reached from Santa Ana, on the Sonora railway, by an excellent wagon road. Distance S5 miles. There IS also good hard road from Tucson. I25 miles. The regular cost of freight ng from Santa Ana to the mine is SEQ n Mexican money, or $l0 in gold, per on. The elevation of the property vas not ascertained exactly, but must jc from two to three hundred feet low IT than the Montana Verdi, or from 700 to 1860 feet above sea level. The group comprises 76 pertenencias, or bout 190 acres. Like at the Montana Verdi good tin5er is within convenient 'istaEce, and water for operating a ,lant and for domestic purposes is lvai'able. In fact water sufficient for purposes has been encounter d in working the property The sur ace formation is entirely different rom that of the Montana Verdi, being by well defined lodges aving general easterly and westerly rend. Across three of the largest of hese ledges lying parallel and appar- ntly constituting parts of single ormaton, 1t is probably 300 feet. Yearly all cf the work upon the group i as been done upon a ledge or vein thich may be readily traced for over , eco feet on the property, and crops oldly for a distance of 1.400 feet. Its I verage width at the surface is eight : eet, and it dips 69 or 70 degrees north, nd has every appearance both above , nd below the surface, of a true Assure f ein. Upon this shaft was sunk by he former owners of the property to , depth of 16l feet At the 5O-foot level ', station was cut on the northerly side