Weekly journal-miner., 1910-01-12
WIZARD" EDISON TO MAKE
 TRIP TO YAVAPAI

| IUCSON, ArlZ., Jan. 0.-IhomaS
 A. Edison, the worlds greatest in-
 ventOr, will next spring visit the
 only cobalt mine in the United
 States, which is located about eight
 miles east of Jerome, in the Black
 Hills, at the head of Grapevine Creek. Cobalt is the metal that is
 absolutely necessary in the manufae-
 ture of MT. Edison's new electric
 storage battery, therefore he is vii
 tally interested in this discovery.
 The owners of the mine, S. Nor
 rison,, and his son, R. E. Morrison, are now in Prescott. Their prop
 erty consists of four claims, known
 as the Red Bluff group. Up to a
 year ago they were developing the
 claims for copper, gold and silver.
 Some excellent copper ore has been
 uncovered, but they have lost inter-
 est in the red metal now.
 For four years the Morrisons
 worked on their claims before they
 learned there was cobalt there. The
 cobalt ledge was found in a spot
 where there was no more indiea-
 tions of mineral than on a ballroom
 floor
 The earth at that particular spot was black and they thought there might be a spring there. On dig ging down they encountered Tuge pieces of a peculiar black formation. About four feet beneath the surface they uncovered a five foot ledge of ! what ultimately proved to be cobalt. A year before, at another point a | little to the eastward, they had . thrown several hundred pounds of | this mineral out of a hole they | had dug for copper ore. At the time they thought it = was white iron. They now decided, however, that they would have it assayed.
 Assays were made in Prescott, Phoenix and other places. All the assayers declared that the stuff was cobalt ore running high in values.
 Cobalt is used for various pur- poses and the present market price for the pure metal is $2.5O per pound. Their ore runs about $500 to the ton, computed at that figure Should Edison begin the manufae- ture of his batteries the price would increase
 The vein, at the point where it was first uncovered, is five feet wide That is a kind of corner The vein rOns east and north, and it has ] been traced 600 feet each way. The average width except in the curve, is about two and half feet.
 A shaft IS now down twenty feet of the widest part of the vein. An expert has computed that there is , between $1O,OOO and s12,OOO worth of. ore on the dump. The cost of i mining was very light. :
 An associate of the Morrisons, a ' Major Jordan, became very enthus- astic over the cobalt discovery. He /, took samples east and had one hun fred pounds tested by the govern nent assayer at Washington. He pronounced the metal undoubtedly g cobalt. Major Jordan went to North | Craohna, where Thomas A. Edison < was at the time, to interview the 2 electrical wizard" {
 Edison listened very closely to { Major Jordan's story. He said that ' lis new storage battery, capable of i storing many times more electricity V han any now in use, could not be lsed commercially until an adequate | supply of cobalt was discovered. If ' he discovery of the Morrisons was l lalf what it was represented to he z z t would be a boon to mankind and I mark a great step forward in elee- ' rical science, he said.
 After perfeeting his storage bat ' cry Mir. Edison advertised to the world that he wanted cobalt. The ,nly mines on the American eonti- } lent are in Canada, and the supply e if the metal from that source is linn 2 ted. A two-inch vein of cobalt h vas discovered in Tennessee, and b ,reat excitement resulted, but the -ein pinehed out a few feet below he surface. i,
 MT. Edison told Major Jordan that is battery would never be a com 'lete success until a great supply d f cobalt was found, and that he S ad strong hopes the Morrison mine m 7Ould prove to be what was needed. Ie agreed to visit the property in