The copper era., 1904-09-08
ARIZONA WILL LEAD
 MICHIGAN IN TWO YEARS.
A Michieander Sizes up the Bisbee Dis
 trict Some Serious Mistakes.

Dwight F.. Woodbridge says thi, week in Engineering and Mining Journal of New York:
 Present conditions at the new cop per camp, in the immediate vicinity of Bisbcc. Arizona. are notably diff fcrent from those of any time in the past two or three years. The boom in possible copper prospects i, most decidedly over. To one who. like myself visited southern Arizona in March and again in August. the con trast i, most striking.
 After the initial success of talu- met and Arizona company in making II mine south of the Copper Queen workings. numerous companies were formed in Michigan and elsewhere, for the purpose of duplicating that success. The only group of men among all those who turned Bisbec- ward that seemed to have considered geological conditions and to consider and to study carefully the character of the country and it's possible min- cr;.Gzation. was the same group that had taken Calumet & Arizona. As fast as possible these men accumu- lated all lands that seeped to them probably mineral bearing, in what can properly be called the Bisbee belt. They did not haggle at price, but wisely secured their territory without delay. In all they took about i.J00 acres. Prospecting on this tract has proved what will doubtless be among the biggest cop per mines of the United States.
 From fifteen to twenty develop ncnt and mining companies were or ganizcd at that time to secure lands about Bisbee. All the country from the Copper Queen to the Mexican line and for Il width of two or three miles was taken up. much of it at high, indeed excessive prices. Ex- pcnSivc exploration was commenced and carried forward until the funds of many of the various companies had finally reached SO low an ebb that continuation seems impossible without reorganization and new Capi- tai. As nothing of an encouraging nature has been shown by many of these companies, the possibility of successful reorganization and now capital is doubtful. Some are aban- dunin" attempts to continue and will forfeit their lands to former owners. hC tions to this statement.
 In several cases, notably those of the Higgins and the Houghton devel- opment companies. the reports on which exploration and development work were based from the most scientific theorists who have studied the district. In spite of this fact neither of these properties can now he regarded aS success, though Houghton has found some rich seams of silver ore and iS now cutting cop per orc.
 However, this property. if success full in finding ore to make mine will he on formation distinct from that immediately at Bisbec, and local engineers were not anxious to get outside of the known mneralized area aS witness the conservatism of the Copper Queen company for the last twenty years. These instances simply emphasize q point applicable everywhere, but not sufficiently ap- prcciatcd, that the thcorist is not always the best guide, and that a knowledge of local geological condi- tions k of the utmost importance in the study of any mining field.
 Several of the companies that have been exploring Bi>bee have been "cXpertcd' from the front porch of the Copper Queen hotel. where there are good chairs, excel lent cigars and comfortable place to put ones feet. Largely from the fact that these properties lay more or less near the proved zone they have been able to secure large sums of money for costly exploration. Their shafts have been sunk on the opinion of some mining captain whose ability to handle Mexican labor and lay timber has been more conspicuous than his knowledge of where he might cut ore or get q rail- way track.
 At the time of the boom in outlay ing prospects at Bisbee the cost of exploration was underrated by a number of these companies. and large share of their capital stock was retained in their treasuries at a time when it might easily have been sold. This, while it has brought the end quicker than otherwise, has been d blessing to the investors who would readily have subscribed any amount of money the promoters called for.
 Aside from the Calumet & Ari- zona and associated companies abont S2,j00, 900 have been expended in and about BiSbec in the exploration of lands and in partial payments on the ground. The Calumet N Arizona group has expended on the Pitts burg & Duluth and Junction Devel- opment companies and vet there is no certainty that these will return any adequate reward. These two tracts were taken because of their