The Arizona sentinel., 1901-09-04
sA FORTUNA NINE.

Tn the early days of gold discovery of Califor- nla, lS4o, when the news reached the gold miners of sonora, there was general exodus of the able-bodied men who were able to get away northwest to the new Fl Dorado in California and the state Of Sonora contributed many men tO the mining population. They took the old road, which was known as the ''camino real g from ES5ancia and Altar northweStward nearly parallel to the gulf following the mountain ridge known as the Gila range, J3St north Of our present boundary. The road led to Yuma and tn passing the Gila range they went within q few feet or yards of very modest outcrop of quartz which no one seemed to consider of Sl1f nclent value to merit any attention That hum bic and insignificant quartz outcrop is today the 0utcrop Of the great Fortuna mine.
 IL is situated on the westward slope and nearly at the base of the range of mountains called or some Of the old maps the Gila range. This trends northweSterly and reaches nearly to inc Gila river at the point now known as BlaisdeIl The railway in it's course to Yuma passes around the northwest point of this range Where the rocks are exposed at that point thnr are mostly or homogeneous granite, of gray coi0F ana Weathered out at the surfaces. which however are much pitted as if by decomposi- ton or some soft substance. But beyond these loW-lylng hills of granite there are big outcropS or rock which to the experienced eye indicate Stratlhed forInationS. They are indeed strait ned, for the bulk of the range sorthV-ard and Southeastward is composed of regular Stratifed lamlnated. hard gneiSSic rock. use the word gnelSSic" in a very general and cornprebensive sense, for you can describe these rocks with much more accuracy if you localize them as
 
 polatonS Of quartZte beds especially in fine upper part of the series, with green stains S11n- posed to De stains of copper and decomposition or copper ore which they probably are al though there are peculiaritieS of color and some yellow colorS, which indicate to me the presence of some other mineral. possibly tel lurlum' which by its decomposition has given these colorS. The fact remains however, t}flt the bullion from the upper part of the vein con Salns more copper than 1t now contains in the lower levels Of the mine. The workings which have been carried on here have dcy-cloped q condition Of things which could not be foretoid from an inspection Of the outcrop. The vein or lode appears to be a chimney not a contino- ouS ore body, nor a continuous vein with m ore hody or chimney or chute upon it. As re naTkeo the o1tcropping points indicate that this ore body.
 The vein is remarkable first in this limited out crop; second Tn it's continuity in depth, it's con unued satisfactory richness, and the promise it gives of enrichment by further veins dipping into it on the foot-wall sides
 some facts in regard to the pFodJICt or yield: The ore paid from the surface. The product or ore extracted up to the time has been about 80 Sons per day which is sent to the 20-Stalup mill, each stamp of which cruSheS about tons in every twenty-four hours. The extraction is cnleiiy and largely by power drills A force or o0 men iS employed by this mine and mill. The greater part of the labor underground and mining Is done by compressed air. The iode l was told. was 6 to 15 feet wide This large space permits the Of power drills. 6o great adVantaSe. In the material hoiSted there are Ol lIC V dlA some or WllcD are thrown out, but many pieces pass through the nlll- They would prefer to reject most of this wall rock but it would take more time and ex- penSe than 1t does to mill it. and there iS q chance of some of it containing gold. From these 50 tons of rock crushed daily the average product k perhaps S48.000 worth of gold per month. Some months they have produced as high as 390000.
 In the region of the Fortuna mine the lorna. tions appear to be wholly of mica slate and hornblende slate, with some arCnaceous layers Ike old micaceous SandStoneS and auartZiteS The mine is surrounded by black hornblendiC SOUthweStward at an angle of about 45 degrees and these states are very evenly laminated ridge after ridge.