Weekly journal-miner., 1911-10-25

WICKENBURG, Ariz., Oct. r. - George w. Bannister is shipping $50 concentrates to the Fl Paso shelter from the old Lavelle mine, which he took over on bond and lease 60 days ago. It is silver-lead property, with a vein four feet wide, the ma terial averaging S2O as it comes from the mine. MT. Bannister has install ed three hand jigs, of the Missouri zine field type, and is bringing the concentrates up to $50 regularly. His first carload will go forward tomor- TOW. He will be able to ship three to five ears a month hereafter.
 Work on the first dam of the Loto- wana Placer company is progressing as rapidly as possible. This dam will save 50,O00,000 gallons of water and with this the first placering opera tions will begin with teams, serapers and regular sluices. Another dam is to be started as soon as the first is completed, the latter to hold 100000 900 gallons. These dams will easily be filled by the winter and the sum mer rains. This is the old San Do mingo placer fields which boomed in 1882, and where fortunes were made by the dry plaeering process. This, however, was too slow for operations in any but the richest ground, and for the past thirty years little has been done excepting by Mexieans. These men have dry washed the small washes running into the main washes and have made good mOney-for them Where the ground is not more than a foot deep they have made big money. One man is now dry washing a guleh where last year he made $l0 a day, and is having about as good results now. This whole country is placer ground. Yesterday went over some benches high up in the range north of the Hassayampa river. and about three miles from that stream, and I found an old river bed it was traceable for three miles as clear as could be by the big iron boulders on the top of the ground. This river bed preceded the present Hassayampa and when the "bOx" twelve miles above Wickenburg burst the new channel was made, leaving the other high and dry-and of course leaving the gold and other materials. Since then the old river bed has been in places washed out by water flows, and this accounts for some of the very rich ground on these benches the bench of today is the old river bed of a century ago. Whether the dams being built will save water suf- ficient to hydraulic these benches is a mooted question.
 The Jacobs people have started their testing work on a good scale. It is the intention to test all the ground thoroughly and then put in several dams. These people have ex- cellent dam sites, one a very large one, and with them all they will be able to operate over a large scope of country with plenty of water.
 Just below the south line of the ,5lg Dam placer I found a "relic" the other day-a boulder weighing probably two tons on which are many curious and interesting carvings made by the Indians. There is on the out er side of the face of this boulder the regulation swasticka-like border that one finds in many Navajo blankets; the balance of the rock is covered with the typical Apache s'picture writing" There is a fly ing horse on which is a man with outstretched arms. There are several other men in different attitudes, two of them kneeling. There is a tepee, 1t is the most varied writing I have seen for a long time, and what it means is problematical. have an idea that these Indians found gold at this point and stopped a bit to gather some of the shining material. The tepee and the men kneeling would signify this, possibly. It's all