Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1907-04-14
COPPER
Mine LOCATION
NEGRO UNCOVERs FIRST PIECE
OF FLOAT IN THE STATE
OF NEW JERSEY.


If a dozen Western miners wer,
asked to name the location Of IN,
hrst copper mine to be operated il
thls country would not each one
claim the distinction for the countr,
west of the Missouri?
Westerners have taken unto tbam,
selves the belief that the only mines
In the land + those of the Rockies
and perhaps justifably So. but tbey
cannot claim to have had the first
copper mine. That honor belongs
to the state Of New Jersey.
About the middle of the eigh.
teenth century a darky slave plough
ing a field in the lowlands near the
present town of Arlington, N. j..
turned up a piece Of copper float.
Naturally he did not knoyy what II
was. To him 1t must have been
merely an ordinary stone with bright
specks In it, but his master han
pened to see ii and recognized II az
copper ore. He notified the home
government and good King George
added the property to his possessions.
for all mineral lands belonged to the
crown. The prospect was deyeloped
and furnished the first copper coins
ever struck off for this country and
the first copper coins ever issued
from the United States minis after
this land had a government OF its
own.
one cause or another work
upon the mine was abandoned. Prob
ably because the ore carried too low
a percentage of the mineral to make
u a paying proposition and the drifts
were allowed to ill with water. With
in the past decade a company was
organized to dewater and operate the
mine and an electrical treatment was
devised to separate the product and
to save the values.
Standing on the Battery in New
York and looking across the harbor
If a clear view might be had. If Jer-
sey City and Hoboken were not in
way, 1t would be possible to see
the site Of the first copper mine. 1t
lies on a low stretch of land. almost
a salt marsh, and the entrance to the
main inclined shaft is either below
level or at that level. Not 2
quarter of a mile away the waves
beat upon the beach and possibly
hose early-day workers may have
heard the rhythmic beat OF the surf
overhead as they labored in the
passages.
In the year 1901 the mine had
been dewatered and a vast tonnage
been blocked out and sampled;
ire that had been left by the last
operators. 1t was very low grade,
lot more than an average Of 2 per
'ent, with no gold or silver values.
I'D drill holes still were to be seen;
loles as large as a child's arm, and
he walls were marked by the last
EXPLOSIONS. There were several miles
# drifts and crosscuts; pillars of ore
TODD in place of timbers; no stopping
lad been attempted-possible be-
ause, being below the sea level such
.perations might be dangerous with
he primitive methods then in vogue.
10 blasting powder had been used,
ime Stacked served the purpose and
erved 1t well, 1t would seem, for a
zach and four might be driven
through any Of the drifts or tun-
els. /
II was interesting to go through F,
his early mine and to note the work
ccomplished by the hardy miners OF
hose colonial days. 1t would be in 2
aresting to a Western visitor in New q
.ork today to make an examination &
I the embryo of the industry that i
as developed the Western empire. a