The copper era. (Clifton, Graham County, Ariz.) 1899-1911, 1909-12-09
INJUNCTION MEANS SHuT down.


The last issue of the Stafford Guard.
ian contained an article relating to
the famous tailings question, which
has occupied the time of the courts
of this territory for several years,
and in its advice to the farmers to
organize and investigate the situa-
tion, it incidentally does the Arizona
Copper company a great injustice
when it says that this company has
had two years in which to-arrange
for the exclusion of the tailings
from the river, but the tailings still
make their appearance in the lower
valley. We do not doubt the fact
that tailings make their appearance
in the lower valley and agree with
the Guardian that the farmers
should appoint a responsible com
mittee to investigate the matter,
but before going to the supreme
court they should make a trip to
Clifton and ascertain from which
source the shines are now coming.
During the past two years the Ari-
IONA Copper company has expended
nearly 100000 in its efforts to com
ply with the wishes of the farmers of
the valley and the demands of the
supreme court injunction. In the
first place during the great trial it
was shown that the injurious matter
to the land was the fine white shines
which settled on the surface of the
land and caked. The first step taken
by the Arizona Copper company was
he Il g &C. :
near Longfellow caused by the great
expense of properly impounding the
tailings in that canyon from which
they we're run into Chase Creek, and
this plant has not been running for
the past two years.
The next move was the establishing
of dams along the big Morenci can
yon, in which the tailings and shines
from Concentrator No. were
emptied. During the past two years
the company has spent thousands of
dollars in constructing various dams
and maintaining them, by the use of
teams and men, to such heighth
and in such a manner that the water
running into the river below is al
most as clear as when it first entered
the concentration. This work is open
for public inspection at all times.
The greatest obstacle that con-
fronted the compan was the taking
care of the shines from the concen- |
traitor at Clifton. In order TO do |
this it was necessary to build five |
separating tanks and FIVE elevators, |
install an extensive pipe line and |
powerful three plunger pump of 1000 |
gallons per minute capacity, besides |
building and maintaining large stor- |
age reservoirs or settling ponds be |
low Clifton, covering 81 acres of land |
purchased tor the purpose. All of |
the white shines, the matter that is |
injurious to the lands, is separated |
from the coarse tailings and is |
pumped through the pipe line |
to the settling reservoir below town, |
and the overflow water from the
researchers is perfectly clear. The |
mentioning of these facts, which |
will stand the inspection of any COM
dence to the court and to the COM
mittee that the Arizona Copper |
company has exercised great effort |
to comply with the wishes of the far
mers, and as far as we can see this |
company has succeeded in accom-
plishing what at first seemed an i'm |
possibility. In fact if the company |
is called upon to refrain from empty |
ing coarse gravel in the
river, to further extent than at pres
ent, it means that the concentration
at Clifton must be closed, throwing |
out of employment d number of Cliff
ton people and closing down some of
the biggest mines of the company at
Metcalf; in all amounting to great |
reduction in the output of the com
pany and the throwing out of en-
ployment of nearly 1000 men.
AS is known the Shannon Copper
is extremely well situated
with its concentration and has storage
room for years and years for its tail
in gs and shines, and the water run
ming into the river from it's reservoir
is perfectly clear. This company
has long been excluded from the
case.
Now that we haye covered this
question in detail and yet have not
denied that shines are running into
the river, we will acknowledge that
shines are continually running down
Chase creek, as well as the MorenCi
canyon; and it must be these shines
that are making their appearance
in the valley-it would not require
much time for the farmers or the ed
itor of the Guardian to trace their
origin if they would come up here
and see for themselves. Is it right
that the Clifton company should be
blamed for the action of others
J. A. Billingsley, the South Clifton
general merchandise merchant, is
sporting a brand new homemade de-
livery wagon, which, judging from APP
pearance is second to none in Cliff
ton. The wagon is the product of
the Clifton carriage works, and was
exclusively by this
concern with the exception of the
spokes and hubs. a wagon of this
class will give double the service of
similar wagons which are shipped in
from the outside,