The Arizona sentinel., 1902-01-29
LA FORTUNA NINE.

In the early days Of gold discovery of Ca:iic, mia. lSiS when ahc news reached he gol tlins..- or sonora there was general cxUd IS of tb %ble-oodled me1 who were abe to g's aw.. northwest to the new Ei Dorado in Ca iIor;ii and the state of Sonora conCriol.cd ln ly m. to the mining pJpa-a.icn. hey took l:2" C road. Wlis.A --sr -~0-- q ra .-i-,,ip .-t--. from 5->d.-! Rad ... .l.t- a ..-,-. .-t m . parallel to taa gulf. lDi ,,i44;g che r,l ...,.,,. ridge known aS the Gila range. jlot north o; o.i present boundary. The road led to rum an in passing the GiIa range they went wi hin . few feet or yards of very modest outc-up o quartz which no one seemed to consider of sui hcient value to merit any attention. That hum ble and insignificant quartz outcrCp is today ths OutcTop of the great Fortuna mlne
 IL k Sitdated Ol the westward slope and ne lrl at the base of the range of mountains cl.ied O some of the old maps the Giia rdnge. Thi trends nortnweSterly and reaches nearly to th, Gila river at the point now known as BlaiSCoIi The railway 1n it's course to Yuma pasSn around the northwest point of this range Where the rocks are exposed at that Doias tho are mostly of homogeneous granite of ayro colcr and yeathered out at the surfaces whicf however. are much pitted as if by dnco7nDoSi ton of some soft substance. But beyond thaes, 1sw-lying hills of granite there are big outcron of rock which to the experienced eye indicaf, Str2tlned formations. They are indeed strait ned. for the bulk of the range Sou;hward an. SouthnaStward Is cOGpOSad C. .eg tl;il' Stratifed laminated. hard ga"iSSic rock. Use the iyor,
 gnelSSlc Fl very general and co conD~ehausiv. sense, Tor yO0 can d scribe these rocks wif} much more accuracy if you locaiZn thn-n n mica states and hOrnblen1ic states with inter polatlonS Of QuartZite beds especially in in. upper part Of the series. with grnnn stains sun. posed to be stains of copper and decomposition Of copper ore, which they probably are al. though there are pncHliaritiaS of color aud some yellow coIorS' which indicate to me tho presence of some other mineral. poSSiblv tel lurium. which bv its dncomDoSition has s,iycf. these colorS. The fact remains however tb;. the ollllon rom the upper part of the vein con talnS more copper than it now contains il the lower levels of the mine. The workings which have been carried on hern have deyelooed q condition of things which could not be foretold from an inspection of the Outcrop. The vein GIT lode appears to be chimney. not a contino- o'lS ore body. nor a continuous vein with an ore tody or chimney or chute upon it. As re- marked the outeroppng points indicate that there lS no very great longitudinal extension of this ore body.
 The vein is remarkable first in this limited out crop; second. in its continuity in depth it's con tlnued satisfactory richness and the promise it gives Of enrichment by further veins dipping into it 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 21stamp mill, each stamp of which cruSheS about tons in every twenty-four hours. The extraction is chiefly and largely by power drills. force Of so mon 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 l5 feet wide. This large space permits the use of power drills to great advantage. In the material hoiSted there are Fragments of the wall rocks. some of wlich are thrown out. bat many pieces pass thro ,gh the Iaill. They G0u.d prefer to reject 'aoSt of this wall rock Olt f v0a.d take more time and ex- pense than it does to mil it. and tn re k a chance of some of it containing gold From f csc 80 tons of rock crashed daily the average product k perhaps SiS.00J worth of gold per month. Some months they have p-odu,ei as high as S9O010.
 In the region of the Fortuna mine the forma- tionS appear to be wholly of mica slate and bornblende slate. with some arclacnouS laverS Ike old miclceoIS Sa1dStoneS and quartziteS The mine k surrounded by black hornhlendic states and mica slateS, dipping Southward and SouthweStward at an angle of about l5 degrees. and these states are very evenly laminated. ridge after ridge.