The copper era., 1901-05-02
Clifton -Morenci District, Arizona.

. Clifton -Morenci District, Arizona. Stan correspondent Mining and Scientific Pres The Arizona & New Mexico railroad whose line extends from Lordsburg, \
 Nj. to Clifton. Arizona distance ( 7I miles, is being widened to standar gauge. aud in the mountainous sectio
 is being strengthened by several tuu
 nels and open cuts. For distance O
 about fifty miles this line stretche
 along the Gila valley, leaving it a
 Coronado. about fifteen miles southeas
 of Clifton. Near Coronado the Sal
 Francisco flows into the Gila; fev
 miles further west the Eagle rive empties into the Gila. Clifton is sit
 uate on the San Francisco, whict flows a good body Of water the yea
 round. Eagle river furnishes thu
 water supply for Morenci, it being { about half way between the San Fran cisco and Eagle, six miles west O Clifton and about 1900 feet higher il altitude. There is a pumping plant on Eagle, which forces water through six miles of pipe ts Worenci, raising l it I5OO feet. A water tunnel Is being cut to the Eagle river so as to get 6 9O-foot fall. Here water wheels will be put in to operate pumps and cleo tric generators.
 Between the Eagle on the west and the san Francisco on the east is the well explored mineral belt of the Clifton Morenci district, which is ap. proximately ten miles north and south by five miles east and west. On the west this belt is bounded by granite, it being noted that we'll defined north-sOuth shoot of ore is next to a granite foot-wall. The country rocks that bound the belt on the east are syenite, lime and quartzite. The min- eral belt itself is largely porphyritic in character, there being great dike ot that material trending north and south through the district, but the for nation has been much broken and dis placed near the surface. The ores, which occur in great masses in some localities and in extensive shoots in others, are sulphides and carbonates. The workings on the various groups get into the sulphides at from 300 to $50 feet depth, though on one group they were not struck until the depth of 800 feet was reached. The major part of development and production has been confined to the central zone of the great belt, extending from a point south of Morenci to point north of Metcalf.
 As is generally known, the great operators of the district thus far have been the Arizona Copper Co.,, with offices, shelter and concentrators at Clifton, and the Detroit Copper Co.,, whose offices, smelteT and coaeantrat- ing plant are at M6renci. Near the latter place the mineral holdings of the two companies adjoin and inter- lock, their underground workings coming together at various points.
 At Clifton is the outlet of Chase creek into the Frisco river. That creek marks the course of great erosion which cuts through the min- eral belt from northwest to southeast. On both sides of the creek are ex- posed the lodges of oxidized ores and shoots of green copper carbonates, showing more ore in sight than miners are accustomed to seeing. The Ari- zona Copper company operate a nar- row gauge railroad in this gulch from Clifton to Metcalf, distance of nine miles, by which supplies are hauled up to the mines and the ore transported to the shelter and mill at Clifton. At a point five miles above Clifton 2200- foot incline tram car line connects the railroad with the mines of the company near Morenci. The incline stands at an angle of 28 degrees, the cars being operated by gravity. Near Metcalf the same company operates two other mines-one on each side of Chase gulch-the tunnels and open cuts through which they are worked being several hundred feet above the bottom of the gulch. They are reached by incline tram lines. It is under- stood that the Arizona Copper Co. controls large part of the holdings on both sides of Chase gulch from Metcalf down.
 The present smelting equipment of the Arizona Copper Co. will soon be supplanted by new, modern plant. George Fraser. superin-=sssnt of the plant, states that the removal of the old plant and installation of the new one will require only about five weeks time. The new plant will comprise five 200-ton furnaces, built in sections, 4x21 feet in dimensions, the idea be- ing that any section may be removed and repaired and replaced without long interfering with the work. It will include three stands of conv erters, each with capacity to turn out thirty five tons of copper per day. The aue chamber, for arresting the dust from the furnaces, will be 60 feet long 30 feet wide and 20 feet high, and will have an outlet through 4S0 feet of in- cline tunnel and 2S0-foot stack. The ore bins are being rebuilt, with ca- pacity for storage of one months sup ply of coke. Besides the large con- centrating plant adjacent to the