El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-08-10


M sfbility of making future rich
mineral discoveries in the hills
and mountains of the southwest and Of
the latent mineral resources existing IN
the most unexpected localities, await
ing the lucky finding Of some pros
'pector, can be mentioned than that OF
the famous Commonwealth mine at
Pearce, Cochise county, arizona, or that
Of the Apache Box mine in the western
1art OF Grant county, New Mexico.
Overlooked by PrOspectOrs.
Hundreds Of prospectors had pros
1sected for years, all around both OF
4kSese places without deigning to care
fully inspect their outcrops as they
seemed too unlikely for mineral oe-
posts Both were accidentally dlscoN-
cred, and each illustrates ring SOLO
mons aphorism: Gold is where you
find it :" or literally translated, gold
is where it lies PreconcelVeo oplnIoIIs
and Dreiudices of proSpectors and min
ing biologists have generally preNel11II-
ed them from inspecting certain mis-
or mountains, because tLley say $50 - !" I'd I'd
rot the proper formation. AIterW ar
some inexperienced tenderIooI ILe e
from theories and preJuolceS, came
along and found bonanza The n-ora4
of il is that prospector shouIu 81
anime every hill he comes 10 1Or min
eraL o,,.. Dill
1i1S happened to accompany as Sulde
a photographer to take views OF the
scenic wonders Of Apache BOX cany on
While the photographer was sndgpInS
the Kodak. Ollie Phillips remained be-
hind near the team and wagon anu
baDDened to notice the glitter OF some
gold in a rhyOlite boulder men nc
$500 MANY other boulders showing I
cold This led to the discovery lAat
The western wall of the Box canyon
VIC cold bearing discovery Ihal DIuS J
fair 10 become one OF the most reIlaI n
able ever made in the southwest
Accidental Discovery of Comm en lH ear IN I
In 1894, John Pearce, an old cornish /
mine. who, turning Cowboy, nao 1aAeI 1
nm a ranch homestead near a 10" IdASS /
oT hills on account OF 1lnolnS wafer
there One day he chased wiz stSSSL
80 the hill when he noted metallc
Glitter in the dark quartz rocks ana,
5ismounting from his horse, plckeu -
showed it to his family remarklng tldt
Re believed it was rich. He laid II on the
ma1feI piece, where it lay several
months. Finally when some acqT Slt
-1ca came along on his way to IomD-
stone Pearce broke it IN Two ano !
o1Iested him TO take a piece TO a IoInD-
Iouslv rich in silver and gold LHen
he revisited the nil ana nOIeu Il-e11
there were tons of the same rock sea-
tered around and a large outcrOp o. d
- IJa had other assays made ana
found he had struck II rlch L1e 80
his bows gathered up a lot OF the IlcI I !
bsuIed it to the railroad and shipped d
carload of ore to the snelleI ~ - /
5ermine its value. The first c2rloau -
SID to have Welded about $3O,O0U. he
eo-SI- The shaft so feet deep, and then
ran out of ore at the bottom Dlscour-
aged over this he stopped work allo
sought q buyer It I nap P1i1eU \ NJ.
had seen some of the ore ana assays;
He visited the mine, now ldle' ana holeu
thar the Pearces had simply sunk YER
1icalIv through the ore shoot Whlcn
was dipping away from the peIPeH-
dicular and that all Inat was neCSS
sary was to follow the ore on the UP,
50 he took a bond and optlon on tAS
DroDertv. interested John BrockInan, an
Sxbanker of silver City, who had lalIeo,
and they began work. Ihey NO. o ny
shipped enough in the Ilrst SIX InOl tt
10 enable them to buy ana pay lOI ~
nine They paid Pearce in 1886 SzaO,OOO
for the mine This mine is the wonder
TuI Commonwealth, which Is sS10 70 !
have produced since then over S0u'OUo'-
600, and is the greatest SoIu Llilte e'S4
In Turquoise District
Tho commonwealth mine is situated
at Pearce, in the Turquoise nllH IS, UaS ]
frict on a branch line OF the sou IneIn
Pacific railway from Cochlse 10 1led-
son and is connected by TINS oIdliClt !
with the FL Paso and southwestern "a, a.
Courtland and thence with OouSlaS-
The distance of Pearce from COClii9e -
16 miles.
The property is now controlled pE
+l,1 Montana h-Tonapan Mining COM
nanv of Nevada, and consists OF ~
claims and one mill site location COW
erine- an area of about 23O acres
In 1896 a panama. gamatlon NH o.
200 tons daily capacity was lnst3IIeo
which ran continually till destroyed Dy
fire in 1900. a new so stamp mill was
erected and operated until December.
1904 and then closed down indefinitely
on account of caVeln at the NINE
Worked by Lessees.
The mine owners in 1908 leased the \
accumulated tailings to Messrs. Swath-
ing and Smith, who had been superln-
tending the mine and mill for BLOCK
man and associates since they pur-
chased il. A year later they also leased r
the mine It is stated that during
Swathing and Smiths operations the :,
first year they paid the owners $2OO,OOO =
In royalties. :
Destroyed by Fire. !
At the expiration of the term, the :
owners, in 1909 declined to grant
new lease. The lessees, Swathing and |
Smith than bought a controlling inter- i
est Soon after this the mill was de- i
stroyed for the second time by fire, t
caused by a defect in the electric wiz
ing. The owners having exhausted their
resources in purchasing control and
charging the mill, were not prepared 7
10 rebuild. During the period the prop r
srty, according to Llewellyn Hum ?