Weekly journal-miner. [volume] (Prescott, Ariz.) 1908-1929, 1909-03-10
LAWYER FRANK COX
PRAISES ARIZONA
MINING
Reads Paper Treating
Of Development Of
Mine Methods

the mineral resources of Arizona was
written by Frank Cox of Phoenix at
the request of an official of the Amer
lean mining congress ana read at the
last meeting of that body held in
Pittsburg in December:
To every bar of precious metal pro
dueed, not only in Arizona but in any
mining region, there is a personal his
tory attached. From the ambitions
and hopes of the sturdy prospectOr,
down to the calculations of the larg-
est mining operator, is the story WOW
en-. Interesting as these stories are,
however, and much as we owe to the
men who broke the ground, individual
mention of them must be here omit
ted. But, though even the names of
the men have been forgotten, we do
not forget the fact that it was the
brave, the stout-hearted pioneers, that
made possible such mines as the De
troit and the Arizona, the United Yer
de and the Copper Queen-mines
known all over the civilized world
mines without which we could not
make our proud boast that. with her
yearly output Of something like 253,-
100000 pounds of copper, Arizona
leads today the United States in pro
duction Of this r0val metal
The manufacture of copper is the
most important industry in tne terri
tory. Mining was substantially com
meneed here long before Arizona was
known as a political subdivision of the
United States. in the early part of
the eighteenth century. it was carried
on in a crude way, and there vet re
main, in the southern part of the ter
ritory, many evidences that silver
mines were worked there hundreds of
wears ago. When I first came to Ari-
IONA, mining on the improved and
modern plan had just begun, although
years before that, stamps had been
yer King. The Vulture was gold
the King a silver, producer. Both
have records of many millions of pro
duction, and both, on account Of ex-
pensive transportation, were shut
down long ago. Now railroads have
made possible their working at a prof
it, and they are to be re-opened, com
panies for the purpose having been
already organized. At tne Vulture
and other mines the original houses
were built of gold ore, so rich that af-
forwards they were torn down and
milled at a large profit.
1t was shortly after the Gadsden
purchase that the first smelter-an
adobe plant at the old Tajo mine
was operated by Peter Brady, a well
known pioneer. In 1873 similar
shelter was at work in Pinal county,
and this plant it WAS that made the
first assay of the ore Of the famous
Silver King. In the early sixties mills
were at work in Arizona but among !
the first Of the modern ones construct |
ed here was the twenty-stamp mill on
the San Pedro River, near Tombstone, !
erected in 1879. This mill worked ores |
from the famous Tombstone mines.
Now, great roaring furnaces have
supplanted the crude rooster; stamp |
mills, the arrastras of the aborigines,
and magnificent COrliss engines, the
One-horse within of the prospector. And !
nowhere can there be found today
more complete and perfect machinery
thar that operating on the hills and
in the canyons of Arizona. If the
men VINO worked on the VeliOl twenty
years ago could see the Imperial smelt
er on the plain at Sasco, he would
think that truly Aladdin had come to
life and rubbed his lamp again; so
with the old miner Of the Lucky Cuss,
could he travel now the northern Gus !
toms smelter, or through Douglas,
where two great smelters are in oper-
alton night and day; or through Jer-
ONE, from where, by night, the Stag
dumped from the mighty furnaces
sends out glow so vivid and far
reaching as to be seen-a magnificent
painting-in the Coconino forest. fifty |
miles away.
Among the gold mines of the Arizo-
ma of today is the Congress, probably |
the deepest in its workings of any in
the territory, and its richness holds
with depth, nor shows signs of giving |
ont. The King of Arizona and the
North Star, two comparatively recent
discoveries in the western part of the
territory, are developing into gold pro-
ducers, and every day brings news of
additional discoveries. Notable among
the gold mines of Yavapai county, the