Arizona republican., 1904-06-26
The Ore Depos t, at Bisbee.


 The geology and ore deposits of the Bisbee quadrangle, this territory, have
 been described by Mir. Frederick Les
 lie Ransome in 9 recent publication of
 the United States geological survey
 listed as Professional Paper No. 21
 This quadrangle lies in Cochise
 county. in the southeastern part of the | territory. It covers about 17O square
 miles and includes the southeastern half of the Mule mountains, one Of the smaller of the isolated ranges that characterize the southeastern half of Arizona. The town of Bisbee. which has an estimated population of about 6.CO0, is crowded into few narrow con- fluent ravines near the heart of the range, seven and one-half miles north of the Mexican border. The history of ] tSe district to the year 1900 is practi- 1 cally that of the Copper Queen mine, which was discovered there in 1877 and first opened in 1880. The impor- tance of the district to the copper in dustry of the country is indicated by the fact that the total recorded output for the Bisbee quadrangle from 1880 to 1902, inclusive. is SO,11S.S57 pounds Of copper.
 Very little work was required to re- veal the existence of a large body Of | rich ore in the Copper Queen mine. | This was at first quarried from an open cut, and afterwards worked by an in cline that extended down to the 0O- foot level. Two 36-inch water jacket | furnaces were erected in 1881, and. with wood as fuel the operators were able to turn out half a million pounds of cop per a month from ore averaging 23 per cent. There were no sulphides, and the smelling was Girect.
 The first wonderful ore body cf the Copper Queen suddenly gave out in 1 1884. when a second large body was fortunately encountered. The average tenor of the ore at this time was about 12 per cent, copper being then worth about IS cents q pound.
 The original smelling plant became inadequate in 1886 and was replaced by three 36-inch furnaces, to which an SO- inch furnace was soon added. The small furnaces were gradually aban- Goned during succeeding years and re- placed by larger ones. In the early nineties it became evident that the sul- phide ores would soon be an important factor in the development of the mine, and as the working of such ores was commonly supposed at that time to be mpracticable in Arizona, the situation looked grave. The Bessemer process had. however, already bsen successful ly applied to copper at Butte, Montana, and the matte process fer the reduction of mixed sulphide and oxide ores was accordingly tried at Bisbee and has since been used there down to the pres ent day.
 Up to about 1900 the Copper Queen. which maintained ! steadily increasing output, continued to be the only impor- tant mine in the Bisbee quadrangle l Within the last four years, however. | the Calumet & Arizona company has | opened extensive workings in neigh ] boring claims. and has shown that | large bodies of high grade copper ore | are by no means confined to the ground | quietly developed fer over twenty | years by the Copper Queen company ! The opening of a second large mine has increased the activity of an already | Aourishing district, and. hundreds of | thousands of dollars are being expend- l ed in prospecting and development.
 What Mir. Ransome has to say about | the value of the ores and the future of the district is especially interesting. As | development progresses, it has been | found economical to reduce ores of | lower grade. The ore first worked in the Copper Queen mine averaged 23 per cent of copper, but the presents. average is about per cent the range | being from to 20 per cent. MT. Ran | some believes that important ore bod ies probably await discovery in the faulted limestone syncline about Sac l ramento hill, an extensive area of unknown but promising ground. He | points out. that Bisbee is less likely to | suffer from lack of ore than from 1 too rapid exhaustion of those high | grade cxidzed ores which are neces- | sary for the economical smelting, by | present processes. of low-grade sul- ! phides.
 In view of the facts that there are | very few publications treating of the | geology and ore deposits of the Bisbee | district and that many people are in terested in the mines and prospects of | the region MT. Ransonle's report should | find a large number of readers. It fills | over 160 pages and contains 29 illustra- | tions, including two geological maps. | The report may be obtained on appli ]