The Arizona sentinel., 1901-09-18
LA FORTTNA MINE.

In the early days of gold discovery Of Califor- nia lS4S when the news reached the gold miners ot sonora, there was a general exodus of the aDIe-Dodleu men who were able to get away northwest to the new Fl Dorado il California and the state of Sonora contributed many men 10 the mining population. They tcok the old road, which was known as the 'cSmino real e from EStancia and Altar nUrthweStward nearly parallel to the gulf, following the Taon,irain ridge known as the Gia range inst aortf of onr present boundary. The road ied to Yuma and Tn passing the Ifila range they went within q few feet or yards of a very modest outcron of quartz which no one seemed to consider of suf hclent value to merit any attention That hum. ble and insignificant quartz outcrop is today inc outcrop of the great Fortuna mine
 It Is situated on the westward slope and nearly at Une Dase or the range Of mountains called on some or the old maps the Gila range. This trends norShWeStery and reaches nearly to the Glla river at the point now known as BlaiSdaIl The railway m 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 crrav color and wcathered out at the surfaces. which however, are much pitted as if by decompoSi- ton Of some soft substance. But bevOnd theSn low-ying hills of granite there are biz ofcror,S of rock which to the experienced eve indi ieate stratlned formations. They are indeed strait .L neo, TOT tne b9ik of the range sopthward and SoutheaStWard IS composed Of regular Str9tified lanllnaJed. hard gneiSSic rock. I use the word SnelSSlc m very general and cOnpreheYiSiyc sense Tor you can describe these rocks with
 
 mica states and hoTn5lendic SlateS with inter polationS Of quartZite beds especially in tba upper part of the series, with green stains sup posed to be stains of copper and Accommodation or copper ore, which they probabIv are al though there are peculiaritieS Of color. and some yellow colorS, which indicate to me the presence of some other mineral. possibly fcl- lurium. which by it's decomposition has given these colOrS. The fact remains however that the bullion from the upper part of the vein con iilhS more copper than 1t now contains in the stf hn nr1nir, -r-. -, have been carried on here have Geye:oUed n condition Of things which could not bo fare.old rom an Inspection Of the Outc~Op The vein or lode appears to be a chimney not q contino- ouS ere body. nor a continuous vein with an ore body or chimney or chute upon it. As re- mark"d the outcrOpping points indicate that this ore body.
 The vein is remarkable first ia this limited out crop: second in its continuity in depth is con tinued satisfactory richness, and the promise it gives or enrichment by further veins dipping into it on the fOot-wall sides.
 some facts Tn regard 10 the product or yield: The ore paid from the surface. Tine product or ore extracted up to the time has been about SO tons per day. which fS sent to the S)-starnprnill each stamp of which crusheS about tons in every twcnty-four hours. Tho extraction is chiefly and largely by power drills. 4 fopce of 80 mon iS employed by this mine and mill. The greater part Of the labor underground and mining iS done by compressed air. The lode was told was 6 to 15 feet wide This large space permits the use Of power drills to great advantage. In the material hoisted there are fragments of the wall rocks, some of which are thrown out, but many pieces pass through the mlu- They would prefer to reject most of this wall rock but it would take more time sald ex penSe than 1t does to mill it. and there iS a chance Of some of 1t containing gold. From these 80 tens of rock crushed daily the average product K perhaps S3s,G0J worth Of gold per month. Some months they have produced as high as 500. .009.
 In the reg5on of the Fortuna mine the forma- tiOnS appear to be wholly of mica slate and bOrnblende slate, with some arenaccouS layers Ike old micaceOuS SandStOneS and quar:ZiteS. The mine k surrounded by black hornblendC states and mica states, dipping Southward and SouthweStward at an angle of about t5 degrees and these states are very evenly laminated, ridge after ridge.