El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-11-08
MINING NEWS
SURROUNDED BY SCENIC BEAUTY
CLIFTON IS 4 CENTER OF MINING

non company also operates a store .
here. The A @. company has five stores
two at Clifton, one at Morenci Called .
by the A Q. company LOngfellOW, be-
cause its LOngfellOw mine was the first
mine operated at MOrenci), one at Cor
OnadO, and one at Metcalf-
Unusual incline Railways.
The biggest mine Of the Arizona COM
pany is the Humboldt at MOrenCi, but
1t has mines at Coronado and Metcalf
also, and at Metcalf It operates the
longest mining incline railway in the
world, while the Shannon at the same
place operates the steepest The Shan +
non has one incline and the A. Q. com .
pany three at Metcalf The LOngfellOW /
incline, midway between Clifton and .
Metcalf, is also operated by the A. c.
company. 1t brings down the ores from D
the cOmpany's LOngfellOW mine at Mo- Z
rencl to the Coronado railway, which (
delivers them to the A. c. smelter at /
Clifton However, the company is now I
constructing an underground and sur I
face electric tramWay through the I
mOunta1nS-lb,OO 600 feet long, 5000 IN
foreground and 1000 surface-frOm the I!
foot of this incline, on which to haul I
Its ores back to the big MOrenci con- /
centratOr, where they are lifted from (
the interior Of the earth to the con-
contractor. a big new shaft is being
constructed at the concentration for this I
purpose. When this is completed, {
part Of the concentrating work now
done at Clifton viii be transferred to
the MOrenci concentrate which is be-
ing enlarged. This is because Of a
controversy the company mas had with
the farmers on the San Francisco river
below Clifton on account Of the dis
charge Of its concentration tailings into
the stream. 1t is easy to take care OF
the tailings at MOrenci by impOunding
them in arrOyOs. At Clifton it is neces- D
! sary to haul many Of the tailings away
! on cars.
The shannon Copper company is a
Boston concern, with J. W. Bonnie as
] general animal OTrD1rE
/ Of blister copper is between 100000
| and 5000, 900 pounds. Tt was organized
| and put into operation in 1901
Some EARLY History.
/ The Arizona Copper company is
! Scotch corporation and general mana
! ger Normal Carmichael talks with that
/ musical burr so characteristic of the
| Scotch people, many Of the officials OF
1 the company are also from the old
/ country. This company began Operat-
/ ing in 1888, from which time dates the
I rise Of Clifton. Prior to that time tho
J Lesinskys OF New York operated q cop
I per mine here on small scale, but they
/ owned all the claims which the Arizona
/ company took over. In those days 70
/ percent copper was the poorest ore that
I could be treated with profit Now
/ percent ore is handled prOfitably. The
J Lesinskys had the first smelter in Ari-
/ IONA, and made black copper in an
/ adobe furnace at Clifton for many
! years Charcoal for the furnace was
{ burned in SOlOmonville, by the man for
I whom. the place was named, distant
/ relative of the Lesinskys, and was
hauled by wagon to Clifton for the
/ smelter- The copper was hauled out to
I La Junta, Colo, for shipment to New
/ York and all Supplies were hauled into
! the camp from La Junta.
ArIzOna's First Railroad.
The first piece of railroad laid in
/ Arizona was laid bv the IesinsIlvs be-
| tween Clifton and Metcalf. up Chase
/ creek, to bring the ores down to the
| little charcoal smelter- 1t was 20
] 1Dcn gage and the locomotive, lin Der,
/ rails and equipment all came overland
in wagons in pieces. When the Ari-
/ IONA company took charge, its first act
! was to build railroad to Lordsburg,
! n ~. to connect with the s. p. This
! was first a narrow gage property. and
for many years after IL was built. the
I company had much trouble with the
I indians tearing up the track. Many
times the Apaches attacked and killed
the section hands working between
I Clifton and LOrdsburg. Later this road
I was standardized and extended from
! Lordsburg to Hachita, when the FL
I Paso & Southwestern built from Doug
las and Bisbee to EI PasO. This little
| road, before fl was standardized. was
/ used to haul in all the machinery and
1 supplies for the Arizona cOmpany's
! operations at Clifton
New Mining System Developed.
| For many years the company lost
money, as the treatment Of low grade
D or porphyry ores, was then entirely
I new and the matter of their treatment
[ was worked out at Clifton The first
/ concentration for such treatment was
I erected in Clifton and the Clifton and
{ Morenci district with its 8 percent
! ores, became the pioneer in the matter
/ OF extracting copper from low grade
[ rock and making 1t pay. To Scotch
engineers belongs much If not all the
| credit for this work. The production
in copper last year by this company
I totaled 34,510,00O pounds Of blister
! Bessemer copper, all Of which is
| shipped to New York.
The Scotch concern became interested
Z in this proposition through failure OF
I another American investment Scotch
| capitalists had invested their money
! heavily in the Prairie Land and Cattle
! company of Kansas through an Ameri-
can solicitor and lost heavily. The
/ solicitor was anxious that they should
recOup and when he learned that the
l LeSlnSkys were ready to sell, he in
| spected the property and urged its uur-
Z chase Again the company lost money,
and after a time the stockholders were
| ready to give up, but luckily the sys-
TEN OF IreaLlng the pOrpnyry low grade
ores with success was worked out and
the company is now making good re-
/ turns on its Investment.
| Public Convenience.
/ When ii first began business here,
the Arizona company had to install all
| public cOnveniences. 1t owned the rail-
| road, the telephone company, the light
pant N--e 1LG- ~ SLet-A anu pAdCLLCe-44l
| everything 1t has now sold off all
| its public utilities properties except
/ the railroad. One of its big sources Of
| revenue is its stores, from which the
] general public as well as the employees
I IS accommodated
Clifton has many other substantial
/ stores, however, and its more than 5000
Z population spends its big earnings free
/ ~ and makes Clifton one of the most
/ prosperous camps in the territory. Cliff
/ ton has many miles of good sidewalks,
I and the town is properly protected from
/ floods by rock retaining walls along
] the creek and river; the town is also
J connected with a substantial steel
/ bridge over the san Francisco river.
/ Being the county seat Of Greenlee coun-