Arizona republican., 1901-06-22
OLD "ANTIGOS '"
Con O'Kesfe's Valuable Properties in
 the Altar District.

Mir. Con O'Keefe, the wei known mining man of Arizona and Sonora, ar rived in the city yesterday morning from Hermos!llo. and mt on las. night to Jerome. MT. O'Keefes friends will hear with pleasure that he has lately acquired some ve.y valuable mining properties in ths district of Altar. They lie in the municipality Of Tubutama. fifty mf,es sou.h of the line and seventy mics from Noga,es The original property consisted of three "Antigos." the working of the ol3est of which was commenced some timS In the latter part of the sixteenth century, They had been held before they passed in.o the possession of Mir O'Kesfe by Chnaman, though a nat uralized citizen. He never operated them and held only three pertenenc'as, since the annual tax is BIO for ca h pertenencia, The first of the antigos wa,s the Sernena. Adjoining th's Mir, O'kesfe has acquir,d thirty fou. par tenencias. The adjoining property is now known as La Esperanza; the sec oni of the old mines -s the Ptnazco inemado to which s5venty-threa per. Jvnenclas have been aided, the eXten- sion being known as the Scro Nueva. The last Of tn "antigOs" is La For tuna, since extended by the addition of thirty-one pertsnencfas, The eXten- sion Is known as La For;unl.a.
 Mir. OK ksCfe has had eighte men at work on these properties for the last seven months. and the work has shown beyon "a doubt that h. has one of the ',reaitst things in Sonora. A plant wilObe put in as soon as 1t can TO gsibly bc done.
 It is only recently that s within twt O. three years that the property was first seen by white man. Its eXis- tencc was mad known to Mir O'keCfe by reason of his ext nsive acquain- taace throughout the state, and the general knowledge of him by Amer- cans and MeXicans alike as one of tla principal prom -te's Cf the famous Cobre Grands.
 The property was visited by H. K. Stevens. mining eNper. of Nogales some months ago. and he ten rm,d the opinion that it was one of the ccT- ing great mines of M xico. He iearne that tArec years ago ore w.s taken out of one of ths mines that was worth sSo buro-load, that is a ''cargo" of 900 p5unis
 The prelominating values at pc5san. are silver. The ors is similar in char acter to that of the flmcus Minas PriCta tas.
 As nearly as can oe estlTatod from ths extent of the old workings about 10000 tons of ore have been talk n out of tfe mine. The character of 1t may be judged from the circums ance that at no time within the last 200 years could silver aIe of l5ss than l00 Cunc have been handled by the priTitive methods which have always prevailed in Mexico. The nearest wate- availa5lt for US under the old sygtr.n we3 twelve miles distant. Tho or'y way to extract the silver was by the use O. quicksilver, a most c-stly pro,es-.
 The old way of worK:ng mines Is ot interest to the modern miner. Tn early miners want down until they struck water At that point operations always ceased, for the ore was always then SD has and refractory that 1t could h handed by no known method. Therefore the workings in the Anti gOs," which could then be worked no longer with profit. prove at this time, with present facilities. to have been mer' ly an uncoverlng of great wealth which might otherwise not have been discovered. ...