The copper era., 1901-10-03

:; In the spring. of 1881. when fir 70 ,, mine in the sout west, with the poss
 ble exception ofs ne of the Tombstor
 mines, which had recently been di covered. Throughout the Wester 7, ,o Hemisphere there has only been or v other. nine in rec'sAs tiilies winch h; l.. l. rar-ttfhS ttfS ls the Batopilas mine, l' Boss Shepherd, in Chihuahua, Mexico a s At the time of~sxhich I write the Si a yer King mine gave employment, d
 rectly and indirectly, to thousands c
 people at the mine and mill, the latter
 of twenty stamps, being located a
 Pinal City. formerly known as Picke Post, five miles distant from the mine Here town of over fifteen hundred 1 population was built up in the earl,
 eighties. Big sixteen-mule teams
 with two immense wagons and trailer brought down, the heavy loads o beautiful gray ore from the mine. ir
 some of the chunks the bright native , silver could plainly be seen glistening
 It was so rich that. an assay of the
 dust at any point on the road between
 the mine and the mill would have giv-
 en handsome figures. Some of the
 teamsters got into the habit of tossing
 oil pieces of rich rock for their friends
 to pick up after the wagons had passed ! and nnifn do. f the unscrupulous among the miners in secreting and selling specimens. Aaron Mason, brother ot one of the To- catOrs of the mine, who was at that time superintendent-he died d few years ago in Los Angeles-would some times come down from the mine with hls big sombrero twisted all around with wire silver and on one occasion the company gave away new silver dollars which had been manufactured direct from the silver, without any re- lining. The mine was in many respects remarkable one, being in the shape of cone, only unfortunately the small point was at the bottom, so that at depth of about eight hundred feet the rich ore gave out. Since then 1t has either been abandoned or worked in a desultory manner, without any great results. The mill was pulled down dns sgears 3 fue ag3 spa from zona.
 The romatic discofery of the Silver . King mine has often been told, but it may be news to many readers of the . Mining Review. To tell it in full | would need more than page, so only ! make brief outline. In 1872, when l, Gen. Stoneman, who was later Govern i or of California, was endeavoring to check the murderous propensities of the bloodthirsty Apaches, he establish ed camp in the Pinal range, and built packtrail which is still known as the Stoneman grade. One of the soldiers, named Sullivan, who was engaged in cutting the trail, sat down to rest on d rock near camp, and picked up some loose fragments of rock, among which were some small, heavy, black, metallic looking Jumps, resembling lead. He gathered few of these, which he pre- served without realizing the import ance of his find or saying anything about it to his comrades. Shortly after wards, his term of service expiring, he sojourned for time at the ranch of Charles G. Mason, on Salt River, near the present location of Phoenix. He showed Mir. Mason the nuggets, but did not tell him where they came from. One day Sullivan disappeared and was not heard of for many years after. For several years prospecting parties were made up at frequent intervals to SCOUT the Piual Mountains in search of the "pure stuff," as the ranchers called the black nuggets. They even made a location only mile and half from the place, and called it the Silver Queen; also one known as the Globe mine, in
 In 1875. Mir. Mason and one of his neighbors, Benjamin w. Began, d train of animals to the Globe mine to take out some ore. On their way back, March 2I, 1875, they were attracked by tine Apaches, and one of the party was killed. His body was buried at the Stoneman grade. Copeland went to fetch d mule which had strayed, and found it standing on some croppings at one side of the trail, some of which he broke of. The party at once realized that they had struck the long-looked- for ''pure stuff" Hurrying back to the river, they returned on the follow | ing day with supplies, and, on March 9, 1875, located the Celebrated Silver King mine. which produced millions of dollars and for several years paid regu- lar monthly dividends, the stock selling at so per share or more. Years after the discovery an old man walked into the Silver King mill at Pinal and au- nounced himself as Sullivan. He
 proved his identity and was given
 work in the mill.
 The discovery Of this rich mine
 naturally led to a great rush of pros-
 pectors in that direction. The hills for several miles around the Silver King were thoroughly explored, hum