The Arizona sentinel., 1901-12-11
LA FORTUNA MINE.

In the early days Of gold discovery of C2iifor- nia, 1SiS, when the news reached the gold miners of sonora. there Was a general exodus of the dble-bodied nIen who werc able to get away northwest to the new Fl Dorado in California, and the state of Sonora contributed many men 10 the mining population. They took the old road, which Was k;iOWn as the "c2mlno real. from Estancla ana Altar nOr;hwcSt%arti. nearly parallel 10 the gulf. following the mountain ridge known a. the Gila range, jGSt north of oac present boundary. The road led 1o l una, and in passing the GiId range they wen. within d few feet yards of very modest outcrOp of quartz which no one seemed to consider Of sui ficient value to merit any attention. That hum be and insignificant quartz outcTOp is today the Outcrop of the great Fortuna minC
 Ii is situated on the westward slope and nearly at the base of the range of mountains called on some of the old maps the Gila range. This trends northweSterly and reaches nearly to the Gila river at the point now known as Blaisdell. The railway n its course tO Yuma passes around the northwest point of this range Where the rocks arc exposed at that point they are mostly of homogeneous granite. of gray color and weathered out at tho surfaces. which however. are much pitted II by deoOmpuSi- tion of some soft slbStGnce. But beyond these luW-iying hills of granite there are big outcroDS of rock which to the experienced eye indicate StraUfied formations They are indeed strait fled for the bulk of the rangn Southward and SoutheaStward is composed of regular Stratified laminsted. hard gneiSSic rock. I use the word ''gneisSic" m very general and comprehensive sense, for you can describe these rocks with much mere accuracy if you lOcGliZc them as mica states and hornhienSic states with inter polationS of quartZte beds especially in the upper part Of the series. with gre-n stains Stlj- posed to be stains of copper and decomposition of copper ore which they probably are al though there are peculiarT-inS of color. and some yellow cOlOfS. which indicate to me the presence Of some other mineral possibly. tel> iuri0m. which by it's dncO1n0osi jon has given these colorS- The fact remains. however. that the bullion from the upper part of the vein con tainS more copper than it now contains in the lower levels of the mine. Inc workings which have beel carried cn here haze developed a condition of thlsSES which could net be fore, old from an inspection of the outc-op. The vein or lpde appears to be q chimney. net g cOntnO- ouS orc body. nor a continuous vein with an ore body or chimney or chute CDCn it. As re- marked the outcroppilg pointS indicate that there IS 10 very great Longitudinal extension oi this ore body.
 The rciE iS rcmariia 3e first in thiS limited out- crop; second. in it's ltiaGi-y i dop;h it's con tinued satisfactory richa-oS. lGa ,Ar promise it gives of enrichment by further veins dipping into it OE the fOCt-wall sides.
 Some facts in regard to the product or yield: The ore paid from the surface. The product or ore cxtrarted up to the time has been about S] tons per day, which is sent to the 2JSJamp mill, each stamp Of which cruSheS about tons in every twenty-fOur hours. The extraction is chiefly and largely by power drills A force of 80 men is employed by this mine and mil. The greater part of the labor U2dcTCcOund ard mining Is done by compressed :tis. Inc lode. 1 told. was 6 to l5 feet wide. This large space permits the use of power driilS t0 great advantage. In the material hoS5ej there are fragments of the wall rocks. some Of which are thrown ont but many pieces pass tGro -Th th' mill. They would prefer tO rs lnct mos, UI this wall rock but it would take more time and ex penSe than it does to mil it. and th"rc is q rhance of some Of it containing gold. From these 30 tClS or rock crashed daily the average product k perhaps S46 0JJ wor,h of gold per month. Some months they have produced d, hish 5 Sa0.ug0
 In the region Of the Fortuna mi8e the forma tionS appear to be wholly of mica slate ap( hUrnDende slate. with some arenacnous layer! Ike old lnicaceOuS SandS5OneS and qu;ITtZitcs The mine k surrounded by black hOrnbicadi states aud mica states, dipping southward aE' soujhN eStYaTd GJ Gn angie of about i5 degree. and these states are very evenly l&mlnatcd ridge after ridge.