The Arizona sentinel., 1902-03-12
LA FORTUNA MIKE.

| In the early days of gold discovery of Califor- mia. lS48. when the news reached the gold miners 1 Of sonora. there was a general exodus of the dbIe-bodled 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 as the .'camino real '" from Estancia and Altar northweStward 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 very modest outcrop of quartz which no one seemed to consider of Suf- hcfent value to merit any attention. That hum ble and insignificant quartz outcrop is today the outcrop 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 northwesterly and reaches nearly to the Gila river at the point now known as BlaiSdell The railway in its 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 wcathCrcd out at the surfaces which how yer, are much pftted as if by decompoSi- tlon of some soft substance. But beyond these low-lylng hills of granite there are big outcrops of rock which to the experienced eye indicate Stratlhed formations They are indeed strait fled, for the bulk of the range Southward and SoutheaStward is composed of regular Stratified laminatod. hard gnciSSic rock. I use the word
 gnelsslc in very general and comprehensive sense. TOT you can describe these rocks with much more accuracy if you localiZe them as mica states and hornblendic states with inter p0lationS of quartZitc beds, especially in the upper part Of the series. with green stains SUD- 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 possibly teI- lurium, which by it's decompoSition has given these colorS The fact remains however that the bullion from the upper part of the vein con- tilnS more copper than it now contains in the lower levels of the mine. The workings which have been carried on here have developed n condition of things which could not be foretold from an inspection of the outcrop The vein or lode appears to be chimney not a contino- ous ore body nor a continuous vein with an ore body CT chimney or chute upon it. As re- marked the outcropping points indicate that there k no very great longitudinal extension of this orc body.
 The vein is remarkable first in this limited out crop; second in it's continuity in depth it's con- tinUed satisfactory richness, and the promise it gives of enrichment by further veins dipping into 1t on the foot-wall 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 80 tons per day, which is sent to the 2O-Stamp mill each stamp Of which cruSheS about tons in every twenty-four hours. The extraction is chiefly and largely by power drills A force oI SO men k employed by this mine and mill. Ihe greater part of the labor underground and mln1ng 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 adVantagc In the material hOiSted 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- penSe than it does to mill it. and there is a chance Of some Of it containing gold. From these S1 tons of rock crushed daily the avcr;Ige product I perhaps S4S.0O0 worth of goA per month. Some months they have produced as high as 3A0.000.
 In the region of the Fortuna mine the forna- tions appear to be wholly of mica slate and hornblende slate with some arenaceouS layers Ike old micaceouS SandStoneS and quartZiteS. The mine iS surrounded by black hOrnblendic SouthweStward at an angle of about 45 degrees. and these states are very evenly laIninated, ridge after ridge.