The Arizona sentinel., 1903-02-04

mia. lS4S. when the news reached the gold miners of sonora, there was general exodus of the dble-bcdied men who were able to get away northwest 10 the new Fl Dorado in California. and the state of Sonora contributed many men to the mining population. They took the od road. which was known as the ''caminO real. " from EStancia and Altar nOrthweStwaId. 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 sui
 icient value to merit any attention. That hum
 ble and insignificant quartz CutcrCp iS today the OUtcrCp of the great Fortuna mine.
 It k situated on the westward slope and nearly al the base of the range of mountains called on some of the old maps tEe Gila range. This trends EorthTeSterly and reaches nearly to the Gia river at the point now known BlaiSdeil
 The railway in it's course to Yuma passes around the northwest point Of this range
 hc.e the rocks are exposed at that point they are mostly of homogeneous granite. of gray cOlCr and weatheTed out at the surfaces. which. how:ver, are much pitted GS if by decOmpoSi- ton of some soft substance. But beyond these lOw-lying hills of granite there arc big OutcrOpS of rock which to the experienced eye indicate stratitied formations. They are indeed strait fed, for the bulk of the range SOuthWard and SOutheaStward is composed Of regular StratiGed. laminated. hard SneiSsic rock use the word ''gnciSSic' ill a very general and comprehensive sense. for you can describe these rocks with much more accuracy if you localZe them as ulica states and hOrnblendic states, with inter poldtiCnS 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 arc, al though there are pecUliaritieS of color. and some yellow cOlOrS. which indicate to me the pr' SenCc or some other mineral. possibly. tel lu. ldm. which by it's decomposition has given these colcrS The fact remains. however. that the bullion from the upper part of the vein con taipS more copper than it now contains in he lower levels of the mine. The workings wL oh have been carried on here have developed q condition of things which could not be forctOld from inspection of the outcrop The vein or ICdo appears to be a chimney not a contin0- 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 TO very great longitudinal extension of this ore body.
 The vein is remarkable first in this limited out crop; second in it's continuity in depth. its con tlnUed satisfactory rich z cSS. and the promise gives of enrichment by further veins dipping
 ntO Ii on the fCOt-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 so tons per day. which k sent to the 20-StEmp mill. each stamp Of which crCSheS about 1 tons in every twenty-fOur hours. The extraction iS chiefly and largely by power drills. A force or so men lS employed by this mine ard mill. he greater part of the labor underground and mining k done by compressed air. The lode I was told, was to l5 feet wide. This large space permits the use of power drills to great advantage. Tn the material hOSted 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 1t does to mill it. and there is chance of some of it containing gold. From these 80 tons of rock crushed daily the average product is perhaps SIS eco worth of gold per month. Some months they have produced as high as &90,GO0.
 In the region of the Fortuna mine the forma- tionS appear 10 be wholly of mica slate and hornDlcnde slate. with some arenaceouS layers Ike old micaccOuS Sandatones and quartZiteS The mine is 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 laminated ridge after ridge.