Arizona republican., 1902-02-09
MoHAvE's GOLDEN FUTURE
Prefaced by Some Interesting Mining
 History of the Early eos.

KinEnan. Ariz. Feb. 6.-(Special cor lespondance of The Repubhcanl- l- th the year 1857 q company of the nited States army under Major Orsnby es- tablished a fort on the east bank of the Colorado river and called il Fort Mo have. There was at that time q dis position on the part of the governihen. to explore. if possible. practicabli route for d railroad on or near the thirty-fifth parallel.
 In 1860 the civil war broke out and all the troops of the regular army were called east to take part in the desperate struggle then already begun Fort MohaVe was abandoned for near)J three years, but finally an order was is sued to enlist several volunteer regi- Tnents in California to man the frontier forts and a company was enlisted in Placer county under Captain J. l.
 Fitch, which re-established that fort early in March. 1S63-
 These young men were nearly all practical miners and used to q frontier life and roughing it was right in their line. Moreover, like the famous Rough Riders. they were spelling for a fight.
 Soon after landing at Fort Mohave Captain Fitch issued general orders that his soldiers could form themselves into squads of five and draw on the first e each month the thirty days ratiors and go where they pleased. The boys soon got some ponies. mules and burros and went to the mountains to prospect for gold. They first estGb- Iished a camp about twenty miles east of Fort Mohave in what was called the 6laCk range of mountains. Here they could find gold in numerous veins. but none rich enough to pay They fixed up several Mexican arastras but ore that would not pay at least one hun dred dollars per ton was no good.
 In July. 1863. three venturesoma young men from San Francisco Johnny Moss. Howard Colt and Wil- liam 'ranoe-Made a short stop a the Tort and then continued their journey to LynX~creelz, near where the city of - Prescott has since been built. The mines at Lynx creek did not suit them. They remembered the large mineral bearing veins of gold which they had seen in the Black range of mountains, so they at once concluded to retraca their steps and reached the Black range in July, 1S63. Here they estGb- lished q camp and fixed the bounds of q mining district which they called the san Francisco district. and elected
 \ there were TO federal mining laws and q man could build monument of rock. post notice and record the same. and it was considered that all legislatures and courts were forever bound to re- spect and protect his title.
 In this district there were many hun dI'cd claims staked off. but it was soon found out by assay and horn-spcoE tests that the ore was too low grade tc pay. The Moss party found and To- cated the Moss mine. It was reported that one ton of ore from this mine yielded fifteen thousand dollars. but it was soon learned that tho deposit was cnly q pocket.
 But the soldier boys kept at work and during the years of 1863 and 1S6 | they explored and slightly prospected the country for over one hundred miles around Fort Mohave U-p to this date but little was known about the north ei'n part of Arizona. as the government maps put it down as unexplored. but the soldiers were daring and adven-
 turous and wanted gold. They found and fixed bounds to what they called the Sacramento district. since called
 Wallapai district. in the Cerbat range of mountains. lying about sixty miles east of Fort MohaVe.. Here they found different minerals. silver predominating
 and they found croppings that assayed ! from one to five thousand ounces il silver. with some gold and lead
 The San Francisco district was for many years abandoned. as there was no suel and water was very scarce. Ore
 that would not pay one hundred dollars per ton was considered worthless. About the first of last May an old
 AIr.x-f
 IIingnlan and said he knew where thera was good gold mine and placer dig . Sings. Sheriff Loven finally put up a grub stake and old Jose started out for the Black range on the Sth of May. He ; crossed the Black range Of mountains via the old Beal road that was built in . lS5f- About half mile from the sum- init of the mountains he came to 2 small spring of water surrounded with patch of grass. Here he made camp early in the day. He noticed a vein of black looking quartz and began break ing it with his pick. He found it con tained free gold. and with few pounds Of the rock returned to Kinslnan. Sheriff Loven liked the looks of the ore and at once went out and located sev- eral claims, one of which ha called the Gold Road.
 ne 'teilllollal mining law provides that. miner before recording mining notice must sink d ten-foot shaft on each claim. MT. Loyen at once set men to work sinking two shafts When they were completed he had about two tons ot the ore sacked and hauled 10 the kingman sampler so that he could ind out what his find was worth. To ms surprise he received fourteen hun dred and seventy dollars in gold This fact was soon noised around and nearly one hundred miners and pros pectors started for the Black range to 1 prospect Up to this date there has
 been neariy one thousand claims To- cated in that XicinitN