Bisbee daily review., 1904-07-13
Tombstone Mines THEIR DEVELOPMENT
 and Operations
INTERESTING BITS OF HISTORY OF THESE WoNDGRFU.
 PRODUCERS.
Big Pump Throwing Out Millions of Gallons of the Water That Retar jed Work for So Long.

The work of re-opening the Tcmo- stone mines is progressing rapidly The new shaft which is the pumping station for the entire group. has been carried down 760 feet, or a little more than 200 feet below the former water level at that point, and sinking con tinues at the rate of about five feet per month. For some time the ore shipments have averaged two car loads daily. This production, how. ever is regarded rather as an incident to preparation to future operations than the result of serious explolta- tion.
 The present enterprise. the Tomb stone Consolidated Mines company, has undertaken a task of unusual mag nitude. but its plans were approved by engineers of high standing and long experience in the district, and it is carrying them out with tue persistent energy that should bring success. So far there have been no difficulties or discouragements encoun a.eI which reflect adversely upon the judgement Of its projectors.
 The events leading up to the re- vival Of mining at Tombstone have been noted from time 10 t,me in tni, Journal. During the first period ol actiyity-that is from 1879 Q 1SS6- the camp was one Of the most prosper ous in the country and made an out put estimated at S16,0O0, 600 of which s6.000,0 ,000 was paid in dividends. At this time the nearest railroad print was hundreds of miles away. there was no water at the mines anl the methods of ore-trea.Ileat fstamp mill ing and pan am1lgamationJ wee both expensive and wastefG1 The ores. however, were found in large bodies and carried values that would stand the high costs and still leave a liberal margin for profits. According 10 MT W. F. Staunton, the superin- tendent at Tombstone. the value of the ore treated at the Gird mill whicl was the first erected in the district, averaged s100 per ton. while the tail ings carried about s25. Records o:i-
 tained from one of the representative companies operating a. that point showed a gross working cost. incl;:d- ing mining milling and ali general eA- penses. of s24.42 per ton.
 The period of rapid development
 was cut short when apparently Inc mines still had long and prosperous career ahead. The first check 5o operations came from the presence oi
 underground water. This was en- countered in 1883, at practically the same level throughout the district, be tween 800 and 600 feet from the sur : face. Pumps of 800, 900 gallon ca
 pacity were installed by one of the } largest companies, the Grand Central but they made no impression on the , flow The company then put in a plant capable of handling 1,500 ,000 gal Ions per day. when the Contention company added one of 100000 gal lon capacity. The two plants work ing together proved equal to the task. The water level was gradually lowered . and exploration had been carried
 down another 100 feet when the plants were destroyed by fire.
 : The fact that the companies had al
 ready become involved in disputes
 over the adjustment of the pumping
 costs. and the prospects of litigation concerning territorial rights in adjoin ing claims prevented any concerted
 action at the time for the resumption of mining activity. Production con- tinued, meanwhile, from the deposits above the water-level, and ore to the value of several million dollars was
 taken out during the 15 years subse- quent to 1885. A final reorganization of the mining interests was effected in
 1902 under a plan that provided for the consolidation of all the important
 holdings into a single concern. The
 new company thus came into posses sion of the properties owned by the contention Grand Central and Tomb stone companies, besides many small Ter mines, the combined production of which in the past represents nearly the entire output of the district.
 The nature and occurrence of the ore-bodies at Tombstone have been well established; in fact there are probably few districts where the geo logical conditions have been so care fully studies by private enterprise. With this investigation Messrs. w F. Staunton, John A. Church and w. P. Blake have been connected at va
 rious times.
 The ores are found in an interesting combination of Assure veins and bed ded deposits. The latter occupy the crests of anticlines, resembling in this respect saddle reefs. They are known also to Tecur in vertical succession, but do not show the regularity of form usually associated with typical saddle reefs, such as those of Bendigo. The country consists of series of lime stones. shales and Guartzites which have been fractured and folded to such an extent that their original re- lations are greatly obscured. On the west the strata has been cut off by a grano-diorite intrusion, the contact apparently being a fault-face By compression against this mass the sedimentary rocks have been crum- pied into a series of low anticlines and synclines. locally known as rolls" with an amplitude varying from a few feet to many yards Besides this ch a f.to c4r