Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1901-02-19
RICH MINERAL
DISTRICTS.
Hon. W. B. Walton Reviews the
Work in the Mining Camps Of
Grant County.
MUCH CAPITAL INVESTED.
The Mines of the Santa Rita. Hanover and
Adjacent Districts Are No Longer Mere
Prospects Prosperity for the
Future.

fuLure.
Hon. w. B. Walton, who represents
Grant county in the lower house of the
thirty-fourth legislative assembly, is 6
friend of the mining men of the terri
tory. Grant county especially has made
rapid strides forward is a mining coun-
ty, many of the best and most valuable
mines of New Mexico being located
within its boundaries. The following
interview with Mr.. Walton upon the
status of the mining industry in his
home county will, therefore, be of spe-
cial interest.
The mining industry in New Mexico
in general and the southwestern por-
ton of the territory in particular, is at
tracting a great deal Of merted atten-
ton at this time. The principal opera
tions in the southwestern part are N
Grant county, centering around the
town of Silver City, place of some
5000 inhabitants. For many years past
the vast mineral resources of this Sec
ton have been known to what might be
termed a comparatively few, and it has
not been so very long ago that the early
pioneers risked their lives at the hands
of the Apaches in attempting to dig up
the hidden wealth. But 1t has been only
recently that capital has sought invest
ment there, and made mines out Of
what have heretofore been prospects.
The variety Of minerals is great. AT
present gold and copper are the chief
products, but silver, iron, lead and zinc
in their various forms and combina-
tions are found in abundance.
PINOS ALTOS.
Pinos Altos, nine miles north of Silver
City, is the leading gold camp. The
principal operations are being conduct
ed by the estate of the late Senator
George Hearst, of California, under the
Company. Some three years ago this
estate purchased the Bell & Stephens
properties, and a once proceeded to de-
velop the same upon an extensive scale.
Not until a year ago was a pound of
ore shipped, all efforts being directed
toward development. The main work.
ing shaft has now reached a depth OF
over 1000 feet, levels being carried ev-
cry 100 feet, and air connections made
with the other shafts. A new concen-
trating mill, with capacity of 100 tons
per day. has been in successful opera
tion for several months. This mill has
been constructed with particular regard
to the saving of the gold, so that the
of loss Is very small. A
force of $50 men is employed in the
mines and mill. There are many other
good mines in this district, upon which
much development work is now being
done, with satisfactory results. Chief
Of those are the Deep Down, owned by
H. M. Gillig, of San Francisco; the
Golden Giant and Mammoth and the
Mountain Key.
CENTRAL.
Mine miles from Pinos Altos, in an
and an equal distance from
Silver City in a northeasterly direction,
s the camp of Central. While there are
many partially developed properties In
his immediate district, the Fort Bay
.rd Smelling and Refining Company, a
Philadelphia corporation, operating the
Texas mine, is the chief operator This
has just completed double
shaft to the depth of 500
'eet, as weM as remodeled it's mill and
increased it's capacity to seventy-f1ve
ons per day. The ore is concentrating
carrying much gold, and
he values have invariably increased
with depth. This property is only half
/ mile distant from the government
sanitarium at Fort Bayard
where tuberculosis patients are treated. |
SANTA RITA.
Six miles to the eastward is the camp
" Santa Rita in which are located the
;reatest bodies of copper ore in New |
Iexico. The formation is lime, and the |
re is oxide, glance sulphide, carbon |
ute and native. These mines have been
worked for hundreds of years, the |
earliest knowledge Of copper in the
southwest coming from natives who |
discovered these mines in the latter |
part of the last century. The native
copper was found by them cropping out
# the ground. Masses, a ton in weight,
we're extracted and shipped to the City
If Mexico to be coined into copper
money. The miners were driven out by
Apaches in 1888. and work was not re-
summed until 1873, and then under
American management. Work was
until the early S0s, when cop
Der dropped to cents, when the mines
we're closed down and lay dormant un-
IL the advance in copper little over
/ year ago. When the advance COM
nenced the Hearst estate management
secured an option on these mines from
heir owner, ]. Parker Whitney, of Bos-
.on, Mass. A few months later they
disposed of their option to the Amalga-
mated Copper Company for 81, 100000
.ash, making clean profit of 100000.
rhe new owners have confined their op-
.rations strictly to development work,
Ind experiments as to the best methods
# handling their properties. "A highly
successful teaching process has been
adopted, by which ore carrying as low
Is IL per cent copper can be concen-
rated into a product Of s6 per cent cop
Der. There are hundreds of thousands
II tons OF such low-grade ore lying on
he dumps about this camp-the refuse
II years. This camp Is not dependent
IN the erratic bodies of secondary ore
rear the surface. High-grade copper ore