Bisbee daily review., 1908-05-03
THE HACHITA GOLD FIELD
 BY DOUGLAS MAN

(Contniued from Page Mae,
 ing highly metamorphosed. having
 been converted into crystallized
 lines, serpentines and quartzites
 The veins and ore deposits, which oc
 cur in these formerly stratified rocks
 are badly faulted, owing to the exten
 sive shearing on the bedding planes
 The dip of the formation is to the
 southwest, and varies from twenty l degrees from the horizontal, near the
 summit of the Little Hachita noun
 tain, to perpendicular, at the foot oi
 the same. This mountain is also
 crossed, from northeast to southwest
 by large, intrusive felzite porphyry dikes, and at various angles with phonelite intrusions; in connection
 with these dikes, the ore bodies now
 attracting attention, are found Among those worthy of special men ton is the property being developed | by Nihart and Martin, who are ship l ping a carload of high grade ore {; 1 also good showings are being made on properties owned by Clark Broth | CTS, Birchfield, Woods, Corbett, Hap py Jack and others.
 The placer fields, so far as have been developed, show the richest gravel to exist in the small canyons | down at the foot of the mountain, where the general contour of the l country assumes a gradual slope to the great basin below. The placer fields can best be considered by di- yiding them into two belts, the north and the south belt.
 North Belt.
 Gold was first discovered in the form of placer by one of the Clark ! brothers, while doing assessment work on a copper property in this vi | cinity, about three months ago. The l gravels, up to the present time which have been prospected and prov en, are those of the smaller canyons. where the depth of the same ranges 1 from six, inches to two feet, these being most accessible for dry wash ] ing, the only process now being used l for the extraction of gold in the camp | at present Five or six machines are | now working on this belt, among | whom are the Clark Brothers, Siv, | erly and Kelsoe, Hall, Reese and oth- | CTS. The yield of gold being from s5 to s15 per day per machine. when l dirt is sufficiently dry to handle. On l one or two occasions S25 to s30 a day has been extracted with one ma | chine. All the gold saved is of a coarse quality, the largest nuggets
 obtained in the north belt weighing
 from s4 to $7.
 South Belt.
 In the~south belt we have what ap l pears to be an auriferous conglomer i ate. varying in depth from few inches to possibly forty feet in thick ness. This conglomerate is composed If layers of sand and bOulGers alter hating with layers of cement gravel sufficiently hard to require blasting | forming in places what is known aS ! a false bedrock. Where these con
 gIomerates feather out on the noun
 tain side, exposing the original bed
 rock, we find very rich gravel, car
 rying coarse gold, which is being re
 deposited on the false bedrock, to
 several hundred feet down the can
 yon, from the contact of the cemen
 and original bedrock. A MT. Zurl
 and a couple of other gentlemen whose names are unknown, working
 in these gravels are able to extrac from S3 to S7 a day with the ordl nary hand dry washer. Up to the present time no shaft
 have been sunk to the original Deo rock in this conglomerate, for tn purpose of ascertaining whether th 1 conglomerate as a whole, carries pa . values in gold, or whether there is l pav streak of bedrock gravel Ih } gold which is now being extracte from this placer is the genuine place | gold. and of an unusually coarse qua } itv. it not being uncommon to o0tal. 1 niaces weighing six bits to Sl.Z; l Fine gold can be obtained upon tn ? surface over a considerable extent Q : territory, but the two belts herel s described constitute, so far as 7 known, what may be considered th ? pay gravel
 g The only facilities for workln l these graveIs at the present time ar 7 confined to the dry process and du + ing the rainy season with sma e eynendfture, water may be obtalne a sufficient for rocking purposes. > In case of hydraulic or slulce mli - ing it would be necessary to Srou
 inc nroperties, and make thoroug s Investigation of all the larger gulche s which cut through the gold belt AIS
 to sink to bedrock, at several ol
 fereut points on the conglomerate { and ascertain their true value, as u ] on their value and extent, the 1us' fable expenditure for pumping plai and nine line must be based.
 The basin which lies to the we of the placers, a distance of abo' { two miles, contains a large lake, al { from all indications an ample wat supply can be obtained rom tn source and possibly arteslan "ao deyeloned in the same basin.
 y The source of this placer gold h' Is not as yet been determined to aI e degree of certainty. However,
 must be confined to one Of " l, sources: First, to an old channel l. marine deposit, all traces ot Whi' of are now covered by the late wash to the south side, and which has be- Id erroded and carried away into u s valley below, on the north belt Sc s ond, or the gold may arise rom
 precipitation on and through 5. eleayages of the psEphyrys al r, slates.
 n Owing to the large amount of pla !. CT gold which has been discovere T. for the small amount of deVelopnne n work done, together with the le' O mines, especially those in connectiC
 fak A1aT q,