The Arizona sentinel., 1902-02-26
LA FORTUNA MINE.

In the early days Of gold discovery of Califor- uia, iS48, when the news reached the gold miners of Sonora, there was q general exodus of the dblc-bodicd 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 GS the ''can2inO real '' from EStaucia and Altar northweStwaTd. nearly parallel to the gulf. following the mountain ridge 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 a few feet or yards of a very modest oGtcrop of
 quartz which no one seemed to consider of sui hcient value to merit any attention. That hum bic and insignificant quartz outcrOp is today the Qutcrop 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 the old maps the Gila range. This trends northTcSterly and reaches nearly to the Gila river at the point now known as BlaSdcll The railway in it's, course to Yuma passes around the northwest point of this range. Where the rocks are exposed at that point they are mostly of homogeneous granite, Of gray color and Wcathered out at the surfaces, which, how, Tcr are much pittcd as if by dccOnpoSi-
 tion of some soft substance. But beyond these lowlying hills of granite there are big oUtcropS of rock which to the experienced eve indicate Stratified formations. They are indeed strait lied. for the bulk of the range SOuthward and SoutheaStward is composed of regular Stratified 1 laminated. hard gneiSSic rock. I use the word l ''gnciSsic' in a very general and comprehensive sense, for you can describe these rocks with much more accuracy if you localiZe them as mica states and hornblendic states, with inter polatonS of quartZite beds, especially in the upper part of the series. with green stains sup posed to be stains of copper and dccomDoSition l of copper ore, which they probably are al | though there are peculiaritieS of color. and ] some yellow cOIOrS. which indicate to me the ! presence oI some other mineral. possibly tel | luriGm. which by its decomposition has given l these colorS Tho fact remains. however. that the bullion from the upper part of the vein con | tainS mere copper than it now containSin the l lower levels Of the mine. The workings which | have been carried on here have developed a | condition of things which could not be forctcld | from an inspection of the outcrop. The vein | or lode appears to be a chimney. not contino- | ous ore body. nor a continuous vein with an ore | body or chimney or chute upon it. As re- | marked the outcrOpping points indicate that there k no very great longitudinal extension of | this ore body.
 The vein is remarkable first in this limited out
 crop: second. in it's continuity in depth it's con- tinucd satisfactory richness, and the promise it gives of enrichment by further veins dipping
 into it on the foot-wan sides.
 Some facts in regard to the product or yield: | The ore paid from the surface. The product or | ore extracted up to the time has been about SU
 tons per day winch k sent to the 20-Stamp mill
 each stamp of which cruSheS about tons in every tWcnty-fOur hours. The extraction is chiefly and largely by power drills A force of 80 men is employed by this mine and mill. The greater part Of the labor underground and | mining is done by compressed air. The lode, | was told. was to 15 feet wide. This large space permits the use of power drills to great advantage. In the material =hOiStCd there are
 fragments of the wall rocks, some of which are
 thrown out. but many pieces pass through the
 mill. They would prefer to reject most of this
 wall rock. but it would take more time and ex
 panSe than it does to mill it. and there is a
 chance of some of il containing gold From
 these 80 tons of rock crushed daily the average
 product k perhaps &4S.0J0 worth oi gold pel
 month. Some months they have produced ;.s
 high aS 9900)0.
 In the region of the Fortuna mine tho forma
 lan11
 hOrHbicnde slate, with some arenGceOuS iayers
 Ike old mcacc0JS SanlS5OncS and qUGrtZiteS The mine is surrounded by black hornblendi,
 states and mica states, dipping SouthwaTd GnC
 SOuthwe>tTard at an angle Of about I3 degrees
 and these states are very evenly laminated
 ridge after ridge.