Arizona republican., 1902-01-22

all rich in gold, but differing materially in the character Of the gravel. Orc Fino, in the center, has much slate: Middle Camp, the most northerly of the three. has granite gravel, and Ochoa, at the south, is mostly com posed of quartzite pebbles. These diff ferences are accompanied by equally marked distinctions in the character of the mining dO-:o. At Ochoa. near the mountain. there is a ei'icious ce- ment, very rich. but al-u very hard that requires to be 2rC.;en by hand be- fore going to the Cfy N-auas. In Oro Fino the shale bedrock is very rear the surface. In Middle Camp therc is cement. but of much softer kind. In extent this west body of gravel is about the same as at Plomosa. The Middle Camp placer occupies an elst and west valley. crossing the maun- tain range about a mile wide and four or five long. The length is greater than this, but the bedrock rises toward the west, and the gravel is thinner. This is the chosen locality of the Individual dry washer, who takes his machine to some point where the bedrock can be reached quickly. There the rich seams of gravel in the bedrock often yield from four to ten times the value of the thicker gravel, and in crevices he obtains nuggets worth $10 to s25. Three nuggets, worth altogether s47, were taken out by a placer miner one day just previous to the time the party reached the camp.
 Ochoa Camp, like PlomcSa, lies along the foot of the mountains. and is three or four miles in length. I is just south of Middle Camp, and these camps taken together. form about the same area of gold-bearing gravel as at Pio- mosa. It would require several months to open this ground sufficiently to as certain its actual depth and extent Assuming the shallowest known depth, sixteen yards. the block of gravel GOV cred by what sampling was done there. contains 3I.O00. 600 yards, and at the average values of all ,sampling, which was B cents, means s19, 100000 in gold. The depth of the gravel is irregular in passing from Middle Camp to Ochoa, through Orc Fina, but it is possible that the actual quantity of gravel is ten times that included in the area of the sampiing that was done, and may be much more.
 The locality of these placers is among the oldest known portions Of Arizona. Forty years ago the Colo rado river was the main gateway of the territory. Freight entered by that route for many years. and mills are still standing which were landed at Aubrey on that river. The value of these placers was known to the miners. who in the early days passed over all the region contiguous to the Colorado. but the almost total 2b- sence of water in the mountains com pelled the miners to pack their rich dirt to the river. to distant natural tanks to be washed. Orc Fino was the most celebrated camp of that time. There the soft shale bedrock rises to the surface. and when the art of dry washing was learned. this rich bed rock was the scene of active work. and much of it has been washed and re- washed a score of times.
 The gravel. which it is proposed to work. being of such immense volume. was passed over as ''low-g grade" It was taken for granted that such great accumula tinos must be too poor to work by the methods then at hand, ana it was not until a systemlos sanpling was inaugurated in the interest of pig syndicate, that the. eXperieroea dry washers employed fof the purpose, discovered that there pAPts of these great deposits where S10 0'day can be