The Arizona sentinel., 1901-01-23
LA FORTUNA MINE.

In the early days of gold discovery Of Califo~- mia 194e when the news reached +'oo ~~'a r7iners e. tso.-ora. +~~-o T-3S 6 general exodus of the ablc-Eo3ied men who were able to get away northwest to the new Fl Dorado in California. and the state of Sonora contributed many men to the mining population They took the old road, which was known as tho "ca;nino real, '' frcrn Estaccia and Altar northweStward, nearly parallel to the gulf foilOTing ti>e mountain ridge Esowa as the Gila range, just noTtb Of our present boundary. The read jed to Yuma. and in passing the Cila range they went within q few feet or yards ot a very modest outcrop of quartz which 10 one seemed t0 consider of sui ficicnt vaiDc to .EeTi, az at,ca5iCa That hum bio aad insignificant quartz outcrop is today the outcrop oE the great Fortuna IIfne.
 Itis situated on the westward slope and nearly at the base of the range Of mountains called On some of tue old maps the Gna range This trends norJhF7eSterly and reaches nearly to the Ciia river at tEo D. ilt now z1Own 2S BlGiSGell Tie railway in irs course Q Yuma passes aT "-15 the rorths~est ro.at of this range. Hlcre i'lo 5r- --- arc -vr.,-ei at taao point they are mostly Of h0mCr -1-oas graniJa. of G~ar e. Ur al.d va2th,.r,; ct at the surface, 5?hica however, are much rit;ed as if by decomposi- tion of some soft substance. But beyond these loH-'.iGg hills O. granite thnra are biz OataGors c rCciz which io the exporiercc'3 -r .r'- '-.- stra.i.ied formations. r--- . lncnci s.rari- fed. fer ti-c l--. - vne range sou,h5vard and southeas1wdrd is composed of regular st~a5iEcd lani,.atcd. hard gneissic rock. use the word ''gneis,ic'' in a very general and comprehensive sense, for you can describe these rocks with much more accuracy if you localize them as n'ica siases Grd horn5londic slases wi.h inter- pcia5ions Of Guartzioe Ucds, csIeciall. in the up-er part C. ,Ee series. nion green stains. sup posed to cc stdius Of copper and decomposition o1 copper ore which they probably are, al thongh there are pecuIiarities of color and some yellow colors, which indicate to rle the prA.ence of some other mineral possibly. tel lurir'u. which 0y is decomposition has given these e0l0rs. The fact remains, however that the bullion from tho ulr5ec par Of She vein con t>inS rcorc copper th2o 1t now contains in the lC'-a- -asfa- y- sl..-. he workings 5,hich h.i-o ''-a-- c.r .eH here hoe developed a a..- ... ,4-a-s ol5iCa cUG.d not 5o foro-old m .E~T.e.icu oi lAc oCt@gOp. The vein ca 4a,se ..atsl.s u b. 2, -'i;---o 10: C ce..t-5- Cr:.,1l Uodv. 7o~ a cont47~ors veir 7-i.h a1 ore body c. chi.nueE CT Chute upon it. As re- marked the outcropping points indicate that there is no very great longit udinal extension of this ere body.
 The vein is remarkable first in this limited out crop; second, tn it's continuity ia depth. it's con- tin1cd satisfactory richness, and the promise it gives of enrichment by further veins dipping into it ol the foot-EgaI. sides.
 Some fAe.s in regard to the product CT yield: The Gre paid ITola the surf1ce. Tlc 1.r5,j, .. Q, ore extracted up to Jhe tiEae has been about SU tens per G0y. which iS sent Co ine "9-stamp mill ea-h stamp of which crushcs about f tons ir every tge.-ty-four hours. Tho extraction is chiefly and largely by power drills ! force of So meI k employed by yllis mine and miii. The greater part of the latGr underground and mining iS GOnc s;y coiup pressed air. The lode, l Wa, told, RGs to f5 feet wide. This larca space permits the use CT p0Her driiIs to g-eal advantage In the material hoiSted there are fragments Of the wall rocks, some of which arc thrown out, but many pieces pas through the mill. They ,~5uld prefer to -~jest most of this wall roc:s. bat it would take more tisao and e4- pense than it does to nil it. and there is q chance of some of it containing gold. From these 80 tons of roclz.c~rshed daily the average product is perhaps 8ts090 worth of gold per month. Some months they have produced as high as Sg0 OG0.
 In the region of the Fortuna mine the forrna- tionS appear to be wholly oi mica slate and hornblende slate. with some arenaceouS layers Ike old micace1uS Saudstones and quar1zites. The mine is surrounded by black hornbleadic states and mica states, dipping southward and southwe~twa~d ct an angle of about D degrees and these slates are very evenly laminated. idge after ridge This is apparently con