The Arizona sentinel., 1901-12-25
LA FORTUNA MINE.

In the carly days of gold discovery of Caifor nia ;S4S. when the ness gt.dcnnd the gold miners of Sonora, there vas general eEUd IS UI the dbie-bOdind men who were a1Ie uO g:aU away northwest to the new Fl Dorado in faiifOri.ia and the state of Sonora contributed T1aiiy mel 10 the mining popui2l;cn. hey look the oI:l road. which was klOTa a. the -c3miao rcal,' from EStancia and Altar nOrthwcStward. nearIy Darallel to the gu !. following tEe i4.Uuii -ail ridge known a> the Sila rangf. Jls5 north of oar present boundary. The road ed to una. a.l.l in passing the Gi-a range theT ven Tlahtl a few feet or yard, Cf very modest Ou,crop of quartz which no one seemed to consider of suf- Icient value to merit any attention. That hum bic and insignificant quartz outcrop is today the outcrcp of the great Fortuna :'llne.
 It is si5uated on the westward slope and nearly at the oa se of the range of mountains called on some of the old maps the Gila range. This trends nOrJhweSterlY and reaches nearly to the Gila river at the point now known as BaSGnl l. The railway in it's course to Yuma passes around the northwest poiat of this range Where the rocks are exposed at that point they are mostly of homogeneous granite, of gray color and weaJhercd out at the surfaces. which, however. are much pittcd as if by daco'nDo>i- tion of some soft substance. But beyond these iow-lying hills of granite there are big outcrOpS of rock which to the experienced eye indicate Stratified formations. They are indeed Strall- fled. for the bulk of the range Southward and southeaStward is composed of regular SJratiic1. iaminatcd hard gneiSSic rock. use the word ''gneisSic'' in a very general and comprehensive sense, for you can describe these rocks with much more accuracy if you localize them as mica states and hornbendic states. with inter polationS of quartZite beds especially in the upper part of the series. with green stains, Slp- posed to be stains of copper and decomposition of copper ore, which they probably are, al- though there arc peculiaritinS Of color, and some yellow colorS. which indicate to me the presence of some other mineral possibly, tel lurium. which bv its decomposition has given these colorS. The fact remains. however, that ihe bullion from the upper part of the vein con- rains Tlore copper than it now contains in the lower levels of the mine. The workings which have been carried on here have developed a condition of things which could not be foreooid from an inspection of the outecop The Veln or lode appears to bo a chimney. not contino- GUS ore body. nor a continuous Nnfn with an ore body or chimney chute upon it. As re- marked the outcropping points indicate that lhere k no very great longitudinal exscnsion of this ore body.
 The vein is remark Jble first in this limited out crop: second, in its continuity in depth. its con tinued satisfactory richness. and the promise I gives Of enrichment by further veins dipping into it on the foot-wau sides.
 Some facts in regard to tho product or yield The ore paid from the surface. The product o ore extracted up to the time has been about s tons per day. which k sent to the 2JStaFnp mill each stamp of which crushes about tons l every twentyfour hours. The extraction l chiefly and largely by power drills. A fore Of S0 men k employed by this mine and mill The greater part of the labor underground an mining is done by compressed air. The lode. was told to I5 feet wide This larg space permits the Use of power drills to gr';: advantage. In the material hOiSted th-aTe ar fragments Of the wall rocks. some of which ar thrown out, but many pieces pass through th mill. They would prefer to reject most of thl wall rock but It would taIH more time and eI penSe than 1t does to mill it. aEd th"re lS chance of some of it containing gold. F'rOl th csc 50 tons Of rock cruShod daily the avfrag product iS perhaps S4s0O0 worth of gold p' month. Some months they have produced . high d. SG9G90.
 Iu the region of the Fortuna mine the forms tonS appear to be wholly Of mica slat" ar bornbende slate. with some arenaceouS laye Ike old micace0lS SandStoneS and quartZltfe The mine is surrounded by black hornolend SlateS and mica SlateS. dipping southwark al SouthweStwarJf at an angie of about 45 degree and these states are very evenly lanoinate ridge after ridge