Arizona republican., 1903-05-20
TOMBSTONE
The Resurrection of the
 Greatest Mining Camp
IN EARLY ARIZONA
Return of Mir F M Murphy and Party From Visit to the Operations of the Consolidated Company - The Old Boot in the Silver Belt District

MT F. M. Murphy and a party, of friends and business associates return ed yesterday morning in MT. Murphy's private car from a weeks trip to Tomb stone. Tucson, the Silver Bell mines and other points in the southern and southeastern portions of the territory. At 2 o'clock Mr. Murphy and most of the party left for Prescott, via the Con gross mine. This morning MT. Murphy by appointment will meet United States Senator Clark at Jerome Junction, and the two will proceed to Ash Fork for q conference with Mir. E. P. Ripley, presi- dent of the Santa Fe system.
 During the stop of three days at Tombstone the visitors saw the historic mines which have made that town fla nous throughout the world, and close ly inspected the wonderful work of re- habilitating these mines which is being carried forward under the personal di- rection of President Gage and General Manager Staunton. The great four compartment shaft has been excavated to a depth of 76O feet or nearly POO feet below the water level and the work Of sinking goes steadily on. day and night. At the 6OO-foot level the giant pumps are in operation, and are lifting to the surface more than 100000 gal Ions of water daily. All of the visiting party went down the shaft to the lower workings. and were escorted by MT. Gage and MT. Staunton through a num- Der of the levels.
 The mining of ore will not begin until,
 ft h, iaA tf, a depth of 1000 feet, but the visitors saw the actual work of opening anew the Tombstone treasure vaults. and the descent into the shaft-the second larg- est in the United States-and a view of the various operations of the Tomb stone Consolidated Mines company were exceedingly interesting for all and novel experience for the gentlemen from the east. Mr.. John Hertzler and MT. Selwyn Eddy, each of whom win weigh perhaps POO pounds, found them selves riding down the shaft as com fortably as in a parlor car, and after they had walked long distances in the levels they returned from the cavernous' depths without spot of dirt on hands or clothing. The explorations covered but a small section of the underground territory, of course, for there are full twenty miles of workings above the water level as a result of the operations in the bonanza days-before the period of disastrous fires which brought a def mite end to Tombstone's glory.
 How the failure of the dozens of own CTS to cooperate in handling the water, and how the fires which destroyed the shafts and pumping plants of the two companies which did handle the water, all operated to throw Tombstone into a decades sleep, was familiar story to all the visitors, but it was difficult to realize that the mines which had produced thirty millions of dollars from ground above the water level had been shut down for more than ten years. The clements in that region are kind to things out of doors. The enormous dumps of waste which now mark the location of a dozen great mines are as bright and clean as if the broken rock had been torn but yesterday from the bowels of the earth. It is still more diff ficult to realize that so long time has passed when one goes through the buildings which cover the different shafts. To be sure, the machinery has all been put in repair by the Consoli- dated company. the enterprising octo- pus which now has the whole district of two square miles in its embrace, but the hoists look as if they had been in operation by cleanly engineers up to the very moments they are seen. The illusion is further strengthened by closer inspection of the buildings. For example, The Republican representa- tive noticed hanging on the wall of one of the more remote shaft-nouses, an en- gineer's cap and jumper. To ascertain if possible how long the jumper had been on that nail look was taken at the pockets and in them were found state ments and memoranda written in 1893. At present all the operations are at the great new shaft, and visit to some o. the outlying mines and their solemn, silent buildings, leads one into an at mosphere that>seems almost uncanny.
 From a practical standpoint, look at Tombstone gives the visitor two dis tinct impressions without delay. The first impression is that the camp is unique in having so many mines group ed so closely together. The second i'm pression is that the Consolidated com pany has carefully prepared to develop these mines to a depth not exceeded elsewhere in the world. And the longer one examines the surroundings minute ly the more strongly does he become convinced that nobody now living will ever again see the Tombstone mines shut down. Nearly everywhere else in Arizona, and, indeed, throughout the mining regions of the west with the exception of Colorado, it is extremely rare to see two big mines close neigh bors 'One mine to the camp is the OSTRTCH F ARM