Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1911-01-13
Queer Facts in Connection
With MOhaVe Co. Mine
ARIZONA ZINC PRODUCTS
Attention Again Drawn to
the Quijotoa Placers and
Company Plans to Work
Them by New Method.

One of the strange things connected
with the mining industry is that some
of the lodes which have developed into
the most prominent mines have been
discovered by accident and sometimes
by those who were not seeking veins,
says ]. G. Kennedy in the Mining and
Scientific Press. Probably still larg-
or number of bonanza, or dividend pay
ing veins has been discovered by ig-
norant. listless. often dissolute persons.
who in a desultory way were prospect
ing, while hundreds of intelligent, ear
nest, energetic prospectors have tOiled
through winters cold and summers
heat all their lives, suffering hardship
and pfivations and have finally passed
over the Great Divide" without making
their stake on the hither side. The
story Of the discovery of the Gold Road
mine northwest of Kingman, Arizona
which, so far as | know, has not been
published. is of interest.
The Gold Road quartz lode is a re-
markable one. 1t outcrops boldly and
nearly vertically in straight line for
5000 feet. being Is feet or more in
width, and in places standing above the
surface IS feet on one side and 40 feet
on the other. II is in plain view of the
old overland road from Santa Re. New
Mexico. to San BernardinO, California
which was opened by Lieut.. Beale as
early as 1850. Hundreds Of prospeGtors
and others passed by this prominent
reef in the fifty odd years subsequent
to the opening of the road. without dis
covering the auriferous character Of the
outcrop. Perhaps one reason why it
did not attract the attention of pros
pectors was its great size and the white
unstained. onyx-like appearance Of the
quartz. In 1892 or Whereabouts a local
character was known as Mexican joe"
whose family name is not recalled. The
family name was Jerez, and the man
died in Phoenix couple of years ago.
He had previously done a little pres
pecting i'm a vagrant sort of way When
in town so long as he could beg or Dor
row a peso he devoted most of his
time to drink and three-card monte
When away from town he spent most
of his time rolling cigarettes and
hunting his burros. He had been on
a spree in town ending i'm a fine case
of delirium tremens. Henry LOvin,
the sheriff of MOhave county, pun him
in Jail obtensibly on a charge of vag-
rancy but really to sober him. He was
a long time SOLDERING up. however. and
during most of the time he consumed
the county provisions with regularity
and alarming voracity. Mexicon Joe
finally yearned for freedom and pro-
60 oh 20 l., =
furnish him with a grub stake he
would leave town and find a mine for
the sheriff and himself. The sheriff.
of the cOunty's exchequer, or
Of his own political prospects. con-
sidered it cheaper to go down i'm his
pocket for the grub stake than to
board his prisoner any longer at the
county jail. Joe was accordingly pro-
vided with about SO worth of sup
plies and started with his burros for
Willow Spring, situated about three
miles from the present Gold Road
mine. Joe, however. was born tired
and was still sick or thought he was.
so he did no prospecting, but stayed
at the spring until his supplies were
nearly exhausted when it occurred to
lliiil Nildl II NOuiu bt WISE ~ ltluIll
TO own and work" the sheriff for
another grub stake. As usual in such
cases the burros were missing. He fl
nally found them in a saddle-like de-
preston on the apex of the huge
vein previously mentioned. Climbing
up to the animals he dislodged a piece
Of quartz which he noticed was plenti-
fully filled with native gold. A brief
search revealed more of the same eX-
citing material. He thereupon located
three claims for himself and Lovin, two
IF them being named respectively the
Gold Road and Billy Bryan. He then
FASTENED to Kingman, where he quick
~ became the center of interest. The
two partners shipped $4,000 worth of
ore from these 10-foot shafts on the
claims. and not long afterward sold the
claims to Mr. Burkhardt of Los An
yeles for $4,000. The Mexican de-
voted his share of the sale to mescal
and monte, and this ends his story.
Lovin's share made the basis of his for
tune.
Mr.. Burkhardt sold to Bailey & Po-
sey for 100000. Six months later Mr.
Posey sold a one-third interest to
Clarence Mccormick for 100000. a
was then organized and 81
per cent of the stock was sold to a
French syndicate for 100000. Finally
the mine came under the present con-
troll. 1t is now being worked by mod
ern methods. and has a large medium
grade ore body from which the COM
pany expects to derive substantial div
idends for many years to come.