The Arizona sentinel., 1902-07-23
LA FoRTUNA NINE.

In the early days of gold discovery of Caifor- mia. lsiS, when the news reached the gold miners Of Sonora. there waS@a general exodus of the Able-bOdied 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 northwcstward 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 q e. went within a few feet or yards of very modest outcrOp of l quartz which no one seemed to consider Of sui tcient value to merit-any attention That hum be and insignificant quartz outcrop k today the outcrop of the great Fortuna mine.
 It k 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 BlaSdell. The railway Tn it's 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 weathered out at the surfaces which however. are much pitted if by decompoSi- tiOn of some soft substance. But beyond these low-lying hills of granite there are big OutcroDS 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 Stratifed laminated hard gneiSsic rock. use the word 'gneiSSic' in a very general and comprehensive sense. for you can describe these rocks with much more accuracy if you localiZe them a> mica slates and honblendic states, with inter poldtiOnS of quartZite beds. especially in the upper part of the series. with green stains SUD- posed to be stains of copper and decomposition 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 tel lurium. which by its decomposition has given these colOrS The fact remains however. that the bullion from the upper part of the vein con tainS more copper than it now contains in the lower levels of the mine The workings which hzl mfsnE condition of things which could not be fOretold from an inspection of the OutcrOp. The vein or lode appears to be 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 its 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 she time has been about so tons per day. which k sent to the 20Stamp mill each stamp of which cruSheS about 1 tons in every twenty-four hours. The extraction iS chiefly and largely by power drills. A force of 80 men k employed by this mine and mill The greater part of the labor underground and mining k done by compressed air The lode. I was told, 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 which are thrown out, but many pieces pass through the mill. They would prefer to reject most of this wall rock. but 1t would take more time and ex- penSe than it does to mill it. and there x a chance Of some of it containing gold. From these SO tons of rock crushed daily the average product k perhaps S4sO worth of gold per month. Some months they have produced as high as S90O00
 In the region of the Fortuna mine the forma- tions appear to be wholly of mica slate and nornDIende slate, with some arenaceou> layers The mine k surrounded by black hOrnblendic states and mica states, dipping SOuthward and southweStward at an angle of about 45 degrees. and these states are very evenly laminaCed ridge after ridge