Arizona republican., 1910-06-04
FOUR PEAKS
 FORMATION Recent Observation of J.
 |. Goodwin HOW THE PEAKS HAPPENED Writer Predicts That There Will Be Great Mining De- velopment in That Section of the Country in a Very Short Time
HOW THE PEAKS HAPPENED

ollOt U 1l11O
 The following article is from the pen of James C. Goodwin and is the result of Mir GoOdwin's observations made during a recent trip to the Peaks in it he presents several inter esting theories:
 ne Four Peaks.
 The Four Peaks are the highest points on the southern extremity of the Mazatzal range of mountains through which passes the dividing line of Co., chise. Gila and Maricopa counties. This mountain range is located almost in the center of Arizona, east to west, north to south. The water sheds from the west into the Rio Verde, and from the east into Tonto creek. The distance from Phoenix to the top of the Four Peaks is perhaps about y-fiVe miles eastwardly
 One can travel from Phoenix by the way of Mesa City and over the ROOse- welt road to point where it crosses the eastern canal, thence in a north eastern direction through a lOv, pass in the mountains east of the Granite Reef range. crossing Salt river at what is known as the old Doc Jones ranch. thence in a northeastern direction some six or eight miles. At this point. the read turns southeast and continues in that direction until you arrive at the Jones and Stewart ranch. distance of about seven miles west of the Four Peaks. This seven miles can be trav- eled over by horseback to point within two miles of the summit of the peaks. The rest of the journey must be made afOOt
 Structural.
 A schistose structure is character istic of these peaks. From what might be termed the base to the apex. The base on which the schist rests is a coarse red granite. This granite ex- tends westward to and across the Rio Verde, including the mountains east of the Granite Reef dam, and still westward to the McDOwell and Camp Creek mountains. where schists again appear. The country over which these granites extend is a low basin. sloping gently westward from the edge of the schist at the base of these peaks to the Rio Verde river. some twenty miles distant This granite basin IS erod- ed into long low ridges, in the most parts composed of debris carried down from the higher elevations. These ridges to the east and near the base of the peaks, are barren granite dis regarding scant vegetation. The only exceptions to the above are few small isolated patches of volcanic flow that time has not yet erOded away. About three miles to the south of these peaks decetic rhyOite and esite flows cover the country many miles to the south ward, as we'll as eastward and west ward Through these flows deep canonS have been cut, which in places are from one to two thousand feet deep. Through one of these canons, the Salt river finds a passage for its waters to- ward the west This great volcanic flow is similar in character to the rhyolite dacite and esite that covers and composes the formation around GoldfieId and Tonapah, Nevada. This formation has never been prospecteu for gold and silver, vet in Salt River canon about six miles north Of the Fish Creek station on the Roosevelt road. a promising prospect has been worked for a number of years. ana predict that some great gold mines in this unirviting formation, still remain undiscovered
 To the north of the peaks long high ridges, with an eastern and western trend. cover a large area ot>the coun try. Neither in these graniteS nor the other granites to the south, has any mineral been found worth speaking or. The Mazatzal mountains are long high range of mountains with north ern trend. The four Peaks are the highest point found on the southern .ov,rar,,i+,, of this range. The granite to the west IS oyerlaid by sehist. This schist west is overlaid by schist. This schist from a point where it is overlald oS quartzite to the granite below has depth of some two thousand feet. rms schist is Overlaid by highly chrystal- ized quartZite, having vertical thlck- ness from the schist to the apex of the peaks, of perhaps one thousand rect. the quartzite forming the peaks.
 This great mass of quartzite. nearly one thousand feet thick, seems |" De an inclusion in a great body of schlst' it having the same strike and dip as the schist, strike north, dip about forty five degrees east. as it Is over laid slea underlaid by schist. If 1t was not for this inclusion of quartZlte' there would be no peaks, but contin- uating normal elevation of the moun- tain range. This mass of quartZite al most indestPuctible. has weathered time and defied the ages. The genesis of the mass of quartzite would be in- teresting reading if interpreted by an geOlogist. As general