Weekly Arizona journal-miner. [volume] (Prescott, Ariz.) 1903-1908, 1903-04-29
CHERRY CREEK
MINING DISTRICT
Coming to the Front
Very Rapidly.
Promises to Be One of the Liveliest
Sections in the County-Needs
a Railroad.


One of the oldest mining districts
in Yavspai county, an yet one of
which least is known or has been said.
is that of Cherry Creek district
For over a quarter Of century that
section has been worked spasmodically
but very little genuine mining has
been done, the work that has been
done being more of the hen scratch
ing kind than anything else. But of
late there has been spirit of genuine
development come over that commun-
ity and as consequence the section is
fast coming to the front and the indi-
cations are that in a short time it will
be one of the liveliest parts of the
county.
Having heard so much of the dis
trict the past few months a Journal
Miner man decided to pay the section
a visit and see what the indications
were and determine if possible if the
reports were we'll founded As re-
suit of this trip one thing was we'll
settled in the mind of the reporter,
and that was that the principal reason
this section had not gone ahead faster
was the need of better transportation
facilities, being about fifteen miles
from the railroad, which makes the
cost of getting in supplies and getting
out ore much greater than would be
the case if railroad penetrated the
district. In this connection the |
Journal-miner would call attention |
again to the great opportunity that
seems to be open for the S. F. P. & |
p. to extend its business and build |
up large and very rich mining dis
trict and also agricultural section,
the former being the Cherry Creek |
mining district and the latter the
Verde valley country. The distance
from Dewey to the Verde valley would |
not exceed twenty five to thirty miles
and the grade would not be a hard |
one-in fact the greater part of the |
distance the grade would be very
fine one. The Journal Miner was in
formed by a railroad man who had
been over the route several times that
the grade would not be over two per
cent at any place. Should a branch
road be built from Dewey to Camp
Verde it is almost positive fact that
the road would be paying PROPOSE .
ton from the time the first train was
run over the road and the country
would double its present production
in fruits and farm products, which
even at the present time are much
larger than is generally known. There
are tons and tons of hay hauled out
of the valley on freight wagons every
week. All this business would be
largely increased if it was possible to
market the products in a cheaper and
more convenient manner. The same
condition applies to the mining dis
trict. The section was found to con-
tain dozens and scores of splendid
looking prospects on which only
few feet of development work had
been done, the amount running from
% to 300 feet. Nearly all of these
prospects show up fine for the amount
of work that has been done, and if a
railroad over goes through that dis
trict there will be many splendid
properties opened up.
But the railroad is matter of the
future. The Journal Miner started
out to see how things are at present
and will endeavOr to give few facts
as it found them.
..As an indication of the growth of
the community the business that is
done over the stage line owned and
operated by ]. B. Hooker, jr.. is bet
ter than it has ever been before. and
is steadily increasing. The business
is under the personal supervision of
Grant Eads, who is always genial and
accommodating and attends to the
wants of this patrons in a very salts
factory manner. He says if the bust
ness keeps on increasing like it has
for the past few weeks he will have to
increase his facilities as he is loaded
down on every trip between Dewey
and Camp Verde. He makes three
round trips each week, leaving Dewey
for Camp Verde every Tuesday, Thurs
day and Saturday, returning from
Camp Verde to Dewey every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday.
Arriving at Cherry Creek the Jour-
nal-Miner man found everybody in
good spirits over the bright prospects
Of the camp. The hills are full of
men opening up their prospects, and
while no fuss nor bluster is being |
made lots of good looking PROPOSE !
tions are to be found in that neigh
borhood. As stated before, for many /
years the people in that part of the
county have been content to simply |
hold on to their prospects and do just /
about enough work to keep up their
assessments. On that account very |
little has been said of the possibilities |
of the district. Many of the residents |
of Cherry have lived there for twenty |
or thirty years, fully believing that |
some day the place would come to the |
front as indications are that it will |
now at no distant day. As result of
those old residences there are some
comfortable and pretty homes. sur
rounded by small orchards and garden
patches which produce most of the
fruits and vegetables that they con-
sumo At this time of year the orch
ards are in full bloom and the hum of
bees and the perfume of the blossoms
tends to make all nature seem bright
and all people happy.
The most important mining opera
lions going on at present in this sec
ton is the work going on at the Lion
Mining company's property. about
two miles east of Cherry postotfice.
A splendid little camp has been built
here and a twenty five ton Huntington
mill is running continuously on ore
which runs from Sl8 to $40 per ton.
This ore is mostly free milling gold.
The ore body at the present depth OF