The copper era. (Clifton, Graham County, Ariz.) 1899-1911, 1906-07-12
WALKERS WEEKLY LETTER.
What the Arizona Copper Company
Has Done.
Form the Boston Commercial.

1
Arizona Copper company, the
original and most successful mining
; enterprise in the Clifton Morenci
district, is Scotch corporation, hav-
ing headquarters in Edinburgh. 1t
was organized in the year 1884, and
did not begin paying dividends until
about IA years later. The company S
early career was characterized by
frequent and unproductive changes
in management; repeated examina-
tions by experts, reconstruction OF
plants, etc. Successful operations
are said to have dated from the ele-
walton of Mr.. James Colquhoun to
the general management of the com.
pany's affairs.
Mr.. Colquhoun had been the com
pany's chemist and smelter superin.
tendent for several years and had
watched the frantic efforts of the
financial interests behind the com.
pany to put in on a paying basis.
| Upon assuming charge ne i'm.
mediately introduced the teaching
system of treatment to save the large
amount of copper that was being lost
in the tailings from the ores of the
Metcalf mine. This move gave the
company it's first net earnings, and
the work of expanding the enter
prise was thus made possible.
1t was d little later that the Hum
boldt mine was opened, and the story
of that undertaking, as told around
Clifton, is a most interesting one.
The local management undertook to
run a tunnel into Humboldt mountain
with the hope of getting a supply
of ore for the concentrator. When
the tunnel had been extended a
hundred feet or SO, an eminent
English mining engineer, who after
wards made an enviable reputation
in South Africa, and whose name is
now known everywhere that mining
is done, came to the mines to make
an examination. His report was "a
FROST" of the coolest kind, and he
was especially positive that no ore
would be found in the Humboldt, his
recommendation being that work on
the tunnel be stopped Immediately.
The mining management, however,
had much faith in the mountains
around Morenci and very little in
foreign experts. The next day there
was a change in the tunnel, three
oil hf Of hai 1Ict i
tuted for two ten-hour shifts. A
body of concentrating ore about
l, 200 feet long, $50 feet deep and
400 to 600 feet wide was opened which
concentrates perfectly and yields
between 40 and so pounds of fine
copper to the ton.
If | have the measurements right,
there are about $1,000, 900 tons of ore
in this body. 1t has been putting out
a large tonnage for many years, and
a new concentrating mill, of $50 tons
daily capacity, is now nearly COM
pleted which is designed to treat the
ores from this body and from the
Clay and other mines that have been
opened by extending the tunnel on
through the mountains beyond. 1t is
declared that the management has
never, since the Humbold ore body
was opened, employed an expert to
examine it mines.
1t seems that there was a time
when the local management had a
great deal more confidence in the
company than the Scotch investors
the mines. When the stock was sell
ing from 60 cents to 81 or So per
share nearly all of the American
officials were buyers. Some one has
figured it out that those who bought
the stock referred to have since re-
ceived in stock dividends total of
II shares for l. and that each of the
II now has a market value of about
Sl7, giving the original purchases a
value of something over 5000 per
share AS a result of this, there are
now several very rich Americans who
are interested in this Scotch corpora
tion.
The Arizona Copper company
operates four large mines and several
smaller ones. The Metcalf, Coro-
nado, Humboldt and Longfellow are
all important producers. The ores
from the first two are treated at
Clifton where the company has its
smelter, concentrator and teaching
plant. It's advance development
work is extensive and 20,0O0,000 tons
are its estimated ore reserves. The
ores from the Metcalf are the only
ores that are leached and these go
through the concentration previous to
the teaching treatment.
1t operates six blast furnaces and
has four stands of cOnverters. 1t
manufactures bluestone, Copperas
and sulphuric acid, and sells these
products largely in the Southwest.
In addition to its copper mining and
smelling business, it owns and oper-
ates about 120 miles of railroad, a
foundry, machine and car shops, a
large department store at Morenci
and numerous other stores in the dis
trict. 1t also makes gas. electricity,
ice, etc, for its own use and for
general consumption. The company
GUMS and diraCtS the affairs of a