Arizona republican., 1905-08-06
WEALTH OF SINALOA
Phoenix Hen Return From an In
spectiOn Of That Region.

Frank Kirkland and Ed Wiggils re
turned yesterday from a trip to Sma-
loa, Mexico, on mining business. They
spent about three weeks in that SONG
what remote mining region though
they believe it is richer even thar So
nora. though it has not coma under
such an invasion of American capital
as the latter state.
They Travelled by rail 70 Guaymas
and thence by water to Altata, the
seaport of CUliaca". the princioGl town
of the state. Mr.. Kirkland said he did
not desire at present to say a great
deal of the results of the trip beyond
the fact that he and Mr.. WigSius had
interested themselves in q gold prop
erty which had been in the possession
of a single family for more than half
a century. 1t had been worked the
most of that time but by the same
crude methods which have been rrac
ticed in the mines of that part 0f the
country. The present means of educ
ton is a Chilean mill which could he
used on a mine of that kind for a
thousand years without materially di-
diminishing the wealth of the properly.
The tailinps were found to have on
average v2lue of about SIS a ton. rs
in all other mines in that part OF the
country works stopped at the water lev
ell where the richest ore begins. The
lodges in all of the mines are vide and
deep and 1t is no uncommon tniI,G to
find values of $4,000 a ton. Every
thing is favorable to successful min
ing. Labcr is cheap and so is trans
portation by rail and water though the
movement of material from the rail-
road to the mines is naturally eXpcn-
sive on account of the difficulty which
attends It.
+ In illustration of the wealth of the
mines of that part of the country MI.
Kirkland mentioned the case of one of
them, Lluvia de ore. This fabulously
rich mine was discovered some years
ago by a Mexican. who worked it by
the crude methods in vogue there and
made more money than he knew what
to do with. The mine attracted the
attention of couple of Americans
who entered into prolonged negotia-
tions for the purchase Of it. At length
the price of $2,OOO.OOO was agreed up
on. The terms We're that the Ameri-
cans should put a mill on the mine
and should turn ovar to the Mexican
20 per cent of the proceeds, the bal
ance being retained by the purchasers
to meet running expenses. The low
grade ore ran from three to sixteen
ounces IN gold ana as muCn as SzUU
a ton in a kind of silver that readily
amalgamated. Some of the ore went
as high as 100 ounces in gold. 1t is
now year and a half since this ar
rangement was entered into and the
Mexican has already received more than
St,000.000 of the purchase price. The
Americans themselves have grown
rich out of the thirty per cent of the
proceeds retained by them, for very
inconsiderable part of it was needed to
meet the expenses of operation.
But mining is only one of the many
avenues to wealth in Sinaloa- Lend
on which anything can be raised is
offered for the proverbial song. There
is a tract of 10000 acres just outside
of Culiacan which can be had for one
dollar an acre and there is no richer
under the sun.
The climate of that part of Sinaloa
is not unpleasant. The heat is tenn
pered at all times by land or sea
breezes which makes existence easily
bearable.