Arizona republican., 1901-08-15

ranches along It's banks. Its waters
 can very easily be made available for
 use upon the Montana Verdi by the
 construction of ditch to tap the stream a short distance above the mine.
 and the company is now negotiating with the owner of large water rights In the river, for the purchase of right to
 divert sufficient water to supply the
 property in this manner for all time 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 croppings and prominences of all
 shapes and sizes. These croppings do
 not appear to be in ledge formation,
 but project in the form of great de-
 tached masses and boulders without
 any regularity whatever In the manner
 of their emplacement. Evsrwhere
 they show a vivid greenin color and
 examination shows them to be largely
 carbonates of copper. oxides of copper
 and oxides of iron, of all kinds ana i 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- sition 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 it is only necessary to dig a short distance bsfore rock closeiy resembling the surface croppings IS en- oountered. Assays of this surface rock msds after returning to Jerome, snow that 1t will run on an average six per cent in copper. and Mir. Mitchell IS or inc opinion that there is enough or IL
 in sight to fully justify the installation at once of a 100-ton blast furnace on the property and the commencement or smeltng operations on a supstahuat scale. The cost of freighting to ana
 from Santa Ana would be more than overcome by the cheapness or po'h labor and fuel The established wages of drill men is $2 per day in Mexican money. or $1 in gold. Outside men re- ceive $1.75 per day, S7iA cents in gold. Hard wood for steam can be bought at $2.5O per cord in gold.
 The work already done upon the property is not extensive. A vertical shaft has bsen sunk to depth or oo feet. An examination of the walls of this shaft shows an exceedingly irrsgu- lar formation and multiform characters of rock, varying from rich sulphides or copper near the surface, to blue slate innre gnated to some extent with quartz, strealssd with sulphides at the bottom. Assays of the ore taken from the upper part of the shaft run rom to 10 per cent copper. It is the in tentton of the company to continue the shaft ata depth of 100 feet. and then drift through the ore body A large force of men 1t now at work.
 It Is impossible for any person to look over this group, to walk over ana among the masses of minsralized rock and note that characteristic greenlsn 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 TOT anything, than has ever yet been nn- covered. He cannot be brought to the b. lief that this copper ore came From any other source or direction than De- 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 conclude his inspection of the Mon tana Verdi with the firm convicton that a little development work wil! demonstrate what appears now SO eVl- dent. 1t 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 mire the character of which as such Is assured.
 The San Jose group lies northwestern ly of the Montana Verdi. q distance Of about 55 miles, and is approximateiy 65 miles from the Gulf of California. IL 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, ! 125 miles. The regular cost of freight ing from Santa Ana to the mine is $2o in Mexican money, or $l0 in gold, per ton. The elevation of the property | was not ascertained exactly, but must be from two to three hundred feet low er than the Montana Verdi, or from | l7O0 to 1900 feet above sea level. The | group comprises 76 pertenencias, or about 190 acres. Like at the Montana ! Verdi good timber Is within convenient distance. and water for operating a plant and for domestic purposes IS available. In fact water sufficient for | smelting purposes has been encounter ed in working the property. The sur face formation is entirely different from that of the Montana Verdi being char acterlzel by well defined lodges having a general easterly and westerly trend. Across three of the largest of these ledges lying parallel and appar- zntly constituting parts of single formation. 1t is probably 300 feet. Nearly all of the work upon the group nas been done upon ledge or vein which may be readily traced for over 1000 feet on the property, and crops boldly for distance of 1.40O feet. It's average width at the surface Is eight feet and it dips 69 or 70 degrees north, and has every appearance both aDoVe md below the surface, of true hssure vein. Upon this shaft was sunk by he former owners of the property to i depth of 161 feet. At ;he 50-foot level , station was cut on the northerly side
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