Weekly journal-miner., 1908-12-30
ANCIENT AJo LAND
 AGAIN INCITEs ATTENTION
From Wednesdays Dally)

''"'' "''"b '~' mllto sOulHWeSt or tnlS city, is among the earliest worked properties in Arizona. At the time that Brabbe and his affiliated flibus. tcring companions were on their way to death, at Caborea, they went into Sonora by way of Ajo. At that time r. R. Brady, Colonel C. D. Poston and a few others were at the mine taking out ore and shipping it 10 Swansea, Wales, for reduction. Scarcely any. thing less than the pure metal could stand this transportation and pay. In the first place all supplies mad to be brought in from San Francisco by way of San Diego, and were excessively dear, the cost of transportation being 25 and 2 cents per pound. The ore was shipped to Wales by way of Quay mas, which neeessitated n bull team wagon haul of over 300 miles and at a probibitive rate.
 The Ajo property has always been considered good and in the course of human events no good property can al. ways lie idle. be it situated where is may, and now the Ajo copper comps. ny, under the superintendency of Mr. Lee, have taken over the property and a big camp is in the way of building For s year or more active and intslii. gent development has been going on and a railroad is in contemplation be. tween the camp and Gila Bend, dis tant about 50 miles to the north. Sur veys and estimates have already been made and construction has been delayed only because of the stringency of tho money market. With this contemplst cd road in operation the entire district will bound forward and properties now impossible to work proftably will then be on s paying basis and capital will find investment in that direction.
 Geo. Webb, ]. D. Milton and W. s sturges have a group of claims in that country and are now doing their an
 nuai assessment work. They are To cated about ee miles southwest of Gils Bend and 20 miles from the Ajo. The average orc taken out is said to TUT about n per cent copper and $s n | gold and silver to the ton. Like sl other properties in that remote see
 tion of the territory, lack of transpor
 tation facilities and distance 10 mar
 ket, makes even that class of orc m profitable to mine. At this time sii
 men are employed and the outlook fo
 developing a valuable mine is believed
 to be promising.
 The old Gunsight mine. upon whic'
 some s250.O00 was wasted in the mid de eighties, is within 20 miles of th Ajo, and there is possibility tha
 with cheap transportation it woul
 again come to the fore. At the tim
 it was opened it was n grating gam almost from start to finish. Machir
 cry and supplies used about the plac were hauled from Tucson, and with rake.off on everything handled, tn
 business was bound to go to the wal A new fangled but exceedingly exper , sive mill was erected at the mine. Tn stockholders were largely church pe' ] pie and with implicit faith in the gui' , ance or rather goodness of the A mighty, they sent out preacher , run 1t. The mill, notwithstanding thu l, it cost more than $l00,00o proved , failure. The ore was too lean to wor 9 and the process too expensive to pa !. anything working less than thousar { fine; the widows mite was gone, ar
 the good brothers and sisters had em |. tied their stockings and spoutless t' pots into something bigger than a ho !. in the ground. and having no more g [. gar bowls to draw on, could not stai
 another squeeze from the amen corn' k It was q ease of God save the mar d for it needed saving. It had pars' f for superintendent and deacons, dc t eonesses, and grave diggers were ke n busy digging up the cash. The prop' r. ty had been Aoated by one of the be !. handshaking brothers the city l. Cleveland could produce, and und
 such spiritual pressure the good bro' 'e CTS and sisters gave down easily. D 10 there is neither sentiment nor religi 1t in successful mining. Suppliestions D. the throne of grace may give eomf' q. and bring rain, but they are just
 kind of material to make a lean led
 sweat fat in the way of dividends, a
 so the great Gunsignt mine entered
 period of sleep from which 1t has
 yet awakened.
 k. With a railroad to Ajo the wh s country would spring into renewed cl and a district proverbially rich in n. cious metals would open its doors C. the world.
 Al MORE FUN FOR JACK