The copper era and Morenci leader., 1912-02-23
APACHE BOX CANYON MAY BE ANOTHER
 HOMESTAKE
Immense Deposits of Free Milling Gold Ore Found on the Site of Ancient Cliff Dwellings
 the Ore Values We'll
TONNAGE OPEN
Ollie Phillips of Bisbee the Fortunate
 Locator Has Good Backing
(El PaSo TimeS)

What bids fair to be one of tn
 most stupendous gold mines not onl,
 in the Southwest, but in the Unite,
 States has been discovered in the ex
 treme western border of New Mexi co. It is in what is called Apach,
 Box, box canyon in the Clear Lak, camp, Steeple Rock mining district il
 western Grant County, only two mile:
 from the property of the. American
 Exploration and Mining company
 owners of the famous Hinckley mines
 and about five miles from the great
 Carlisle gold mine, formerly owned by
 N. K. Fairbanks of Chicago, and about three miles from the Twin Peaks
 mine.
 Through the canyon flows Apache
 creek, a perennial stream. In the bed | of the canyon are numerous boulders
 weighing thousands of tons, that have fallen from the high cliffs above. In
 the center of the canyon is a natural park clothed with verdure, grass and
 abundance of sycamore trees; and
 within the past few years this scenic
 wonder has attracted tourists who
 have come miles to see it and take
 views of it.
 It was while on one of these trips
 by T. Ollie Phillips of Bisbee, Ariz, that the gold discovery was made
 Phillips had banned gold down the creek, several miles below the Box, near what is now the farming town of Sheldon, Ariz. At every available op- portunity he prospecred up the stream trying to find whence the gold came from but, had never been able to came a friend, photographer, who wished to visit the Box and get photo graphic views and Philiips volunteer ed to drive out there with him from Duncan, Ariz. During this trip Phil lips eye caught sight of free milling gold in one of the huge boulders and he called the photographers attention to it. They clipped off pieces from numerous boulders and all of them showed free gold. They then agreed to locate the discovery. Phillips re- mained on the ground while his com panion left for civilization to get To- cation blanks raise funds and return But he never returned and so Phil lips had to return to his home in Bis bee, Ariz., to raise grub stake to re- turn and locate his rich find. This he did with considerable difficulty, as hardly any one credited his marvel ous story of this mountain of gold. Fin ally he returned, located claims, and spent year in exploring and pros pecting and found as his reward some wonderful specimens of free gold. But he never realized that he had found what was of far greater value, viz: that he had found one of the vastest deposits of low grade ores ev of which point to another Treadwell mine, only with the advantage of hay ing millions of tons of ore in sight that can be quarried above the sur face and mined perhaps by steam shovel methods and ground up in cy- clopean mills and treated in vast cy- anide tanks. If this prediction comes true the picturesque solitudes will teem with busy miners and the caver- | nous canyon will be filled with the l roaring thunder of thousand stamps. |
 Last August reliable mining engin- l aers from Douglas examined the pro- | Derty, but on account of it's magni- [ Jude were only able to sample it | breast high, as they had no equipment | o scale the cliffs. However from heir sampling of every alternate ten 'eet they found gold everywhere, the owest samples running twenty cents md the highest running $1,310 in gold. While these engineers were necessarily unable to sample the en- ire property they made careful es- innate of the visible tonnage as being ,ver twenty million tons which will Lverage over four dollars per ton. In ,ne place breccia clippings from a ace of 250 feet in width gave val le of six dollars per ton; another face en feet wide gave assay results of ,99.00 per ton, another face of ten eet gave $5.S0; another ten feet vid gave $14 and another ten feet ace gave $26 per ton in gold. All his exposed ore is shown up by na- ure without a stroke of labor, that would have required hundreds of min ITS and thousands of dollars to have ,qualled.
 The formation is rhyolite intrusion nto anesite, the rhyolite being brec- dated and enriched by a series of aults. This dyke is 2,000 feet wide ,y 1000 feet long and is cut by Ap- Lche canyon or creek so that huge liffs rise vertically on either side of he creek 400 to 500 feet. There are ix mineralized zones, all of which hows values in gold and silver from fifty cents to one hundred dollars in ;amples taken ten feet wide, every alternate ten feet across the ends or widths of these mineralized zones. These zones average 100 feet wide, 100 feet high, and from 200 to 300 eet long, estimating from the crop pings and exposures by erosion. Some rich streaks were en- gold. Out of 100 pannings that were made, all except five showed colors ,f gold, in varying quantities.
 MT. John A. Rice, mining engineer ,f Fl Paso, who recently spent a day n Apache Box canyon, says While
 merely gave it curSory examina- ion vet my imDreSSiOnS from all I