The Arizona sentinel., 1901-08-07
LA FORTCN.. l. MINE.

In the early days Of gold discovery of Califor- mia, lSiS, when the newSreached the gold miners CT SonorI9 there was general exodus of the able-bodled men who were able to get away northwest to the new El 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 :" from Estanc;a and Altar northwestward nearly parallel to the gulf, following the mountain ndge known as the Gila range. just north of our present boundary. The road led to Yuma and in passing the Gila range they went within few feet or yards of q very modest outcrop of quartz which no one seemed to consider of sui heient value to merit any attention. That hum ble and insignificant quartz outcrop is today the eutcrop of the great Fortuna mine.
 It is situated on the westward slope and nearly at the base of the range of mountains called on some of usp old maEE the Gila range. This trends northweSterly and reaches nearly to the Gila river at the point now known as BlaiSdell The railway in it's 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 the surfaces which however, are much pitted as if by decompoSi- tion of some soft substance. But beyond these lOw-lylng hills of granite there are big outcrops of rock which to the experienced eve indicate stratlheG Formations. They are ineseed strait lied. for the bulk of the range Southward and SoutheaStward is composed of regular Stratifcd laminated. hard gne7Nsic rock. use the word 'gnelSSlc" in very general and comprehensive sense Tor you can describe these rocks with Eluch more accuracy if you localize them as Hica states and hornblendic states with inter- Polattons of quartzfte beds, especially in the upper part of the series. with green stains Srln- posed to be stains of copper and Accommodation of 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 possihIv tel lurium which by its decomposition has given these col9ESS~ Tke fact remains however that the buIllor from the upper pars of the vein con t=E1ns more copper than it now coutains in the lower levels of the mine. The workings which frave been carried on here have developed a condition of things which could not be foretoltf from an inspection of the outcrop The vein CT lode appears to be chimney not a contino- GUS ore body, nor a continuous vein with an ore body or chimney or chute upon it. As re- marked the outcropping points indicate that rhere is no very great longitudinal extension of this ore body.
 The vein is remarkable first fn this limited out crop; second. in itseontinuity in depth it's con- finued satisfactory richness, and the promise it gives Of enrichment by further veins dipping into it onthe foot-wall sides.
 Some factS in regard to the product or yield The ore paid from the surface. The product or ere extracted up to the time has been about SO tons per day, which is sent to the 20-Stamp mill. each stamp of which cruSheS about Atoms in every twenty-four hours. Tfe. extraction is chiefly and largely by power drills. A force of go men is employees by tEiS mine and mill. The greater part of tae'labor underground and mining is done by compressed air The lode I was told was 6 tes Ia feet wide This large space permits the use Of power drills tG,gTeat SuNdnIsl3e- III leE HSterlai nOlSJf,u thfsfC strC fragments of the wall rocks. some of which arc thrown out, but many pieces pass thremgh the mill. They would prefer to reject most Of this wall rock. but it would take more tIine and ex- pense than lt does to mill it. 5nd there iS a chance of some of it containing gold. From these 80 tons of rock crushed daily the average product k perhaps S4S. 00S worth of gold per month. Some months thcy have produced as High as Sa00O0.
 In the region of the Fortuna mine the forma- UonS appear to be wholly of mica slate and hOrnblende slate. with some arenaceouS layers Ike old mieaceous SandstOneS and quartziteS The mine is surrounded by black hornblendiC slateS and mica states, dipping Southward and SouthwoStward at an angle of about 45 degrees and these slates are very evenly larnfuated ridge after ridge