Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1902-06-01
Matchless Mining State Of Tomorrow

all their profits in dividends. Negotia-
lions Tor consolidation of all the prop
critics were had from time to time but
nothing came of it, and the years went
by.
The failure to reach an agreement
on handling the water fixed the
limit of Tombstone's prosperity I'M
der the old regime. During the six
years of most active work the mines
produced $16OOO,OOO and yielded a net
profit of about $4,000, 600. After the
events recited above. mining was
continued OH a steadily diminish
ing scale, but was never wholly dis
continued. The gross production from
the mines mentioned has aggregated at
least So, 900, and this by no means
exhausted the ore bodies above the
water level. But the deep shafts were
| ruined by the fires, caving completed
the work of "buttoning up the ores
which otherwise could have been
| worked above the water, and Tomb
stone became thing of the past,
practically, until the new work began
under the auspices of the Development
company.
INTERESTING GEOLOGY.
For a very clear description of he
| Tombstone mines from the standpoint
of a trained and expert geologist, 1 am
! indebted to Mr.. w. F. Staunton, now
and for several years past, superin-
tendent of the Congress mine, the ex-
pert adviser of the Development Com
pany of America, and personally super
vising and directing the work at Tomb
stone. Mr. Staunton's intimate knowl-
edge of that district was gained from
practical experience throughout the
period of the camps greatest activity
this practical experience being guild
ed by the highest degree of technical
training and native intelligence. l
avail myself of his description of the
district, because it is not possible 10
improve upon it, and because it has the
rare merit Of a technical description
which is plain to the lay reader.
The rocks Of the Tombstone dis
trict,'' says Mr.. Stanton, consist
mainly of stra titled sedimentary beds.
| To the west of the camp is a
| large area OF intrusive granite, and
lying against this granite, and tilted
so as to dip strongly to the east, are
| the sedimentary beds, consisting Of
quantities, limestone, ShaleS and fine
| grained sandstones. The region is one
! OF profound disturbance, whose geo
| logical history embraces, besides the
fitting of the strata to the east, their
| corrugation into series of strongly
marked anticlinal folds, and the fault
ing and assuring inseparable from the
| operation OF the gigantic forces which
have produced these effects. Igneous
bikes of trap and porphyry have brok-
en- through the stratified rocks in paral-
lei lines, running approximately north
and south, and at some period there
have been floods of siiicious waters,
as is evidenced by the silicification of
the rocks along the lines of many of
the faults and fractures, masses of
limestone in some places having been
converted into quartz, but preserving
the color, appearance and even the fos-
sill markings of the original rock The
easterly dipping strata corrugated into
anticlinal and synclinaI folds, with
axes striking northwesterly and south
easterly, producing a multitude of de-
ceptive outcrops and dips, which, to-
gether with the fracturinS and fault
ing and their penetration by the igne-
Gus d1kes, with the resultant shatter-
ing OF the softer members, gave at
first to really simple situation, The
| OF 100, nf
both as to geological structure and The
disposition and trend of the ore de-
posits. So true is this, that it is 1e-
ported that the original loca tors of one
of the most important claims deliberat-
, ed for two weeks as to the proper way
to make their location and then placed
it crosswise to the strike, at least as
held afterwards by the courts.
The Gre deposits of the Tombstone
District are of two types: those occu-
plying nearly vertical parallel fissure
veins and having a general northeast
, erly and southwesterly strike, and
those occupying the crests of the anti
cllnaI folds, crossing the first described
, at nearly right angles and dipping tC
the southeast. The Grand Central an6
= Contention groups of mines We're in the
: sandstones and shale, and the Tough.
/ nut group of mines in the underlying
shales. limestones and quantities. TIL,
more friable rocks of the Grand Cen
trail and Contention were shattered an;
D distorted by folding and faulting, ant
D by the injection of a huge porphyr.
+ dixie, so that the geological structur,
was more obscure than in the Tough
i nut ground, where the frnler rock
, made the situation plain, when ex
e plored by underground workings. I'll,
c dip of the limestones and quartzite.
carries them, with their ore bodies, be
low the water level before reaching tn,
=, line OF the Grand Central and Conten
= ton fissure veins, but ultimately, ant
: within easy reach of mining works, III,
| two systems will intersect, bringin:
. about a situation which all preceden
has shown to accompany the great DO