El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-10-30
President of Pelican Mining
Company Tells Of Valuable
Ore Deposits Near Engle,


Pelican Mining, Milling and Power
company. sis one of the richest min
eral regions Of New Mexico, and my
company is doing a large amount OF
work
.Hermosa is situated on Palomas
creek, about Is miles south of Chlo-
ride, 80 miles north Of Kingston, and
about 90 miles west of Engle, on the
Santa Fe railway. The district is at
the foot of the Black range in Sierra
county, New Mexico. The stream and
its tributaries have here cut deep
channels in the sedimentary lorna
tiOns, which rise almost vertically to
height Of 1000 feet above the
stream bed Two centerS Of m1neraIl-
zation are situated near Hermosas
mining operations. One is just north
of the old town, and the other, Palo-
mas, on the left bank of the stream,
about a mile below.
Geology of PaIOmas Camp.
at Palomas camp the walls of the
stream are about 1000 feet IN height
and are composed in large part OF
massiTely bedded limestone. In the
lower half some shale and Quartzite
beds alternate with the lmestOnes-
Eat the base OF the escarpment IS
thick bedded fine grained grayIsh
blue limestone, Overlaid with dark
carbOnaceOuS ShaleS. The strata dips
20 to 80 degrees northeast At Ralo-
mas camp the general slope Of the
beds is interrupted by low arch
which pitches to the north. Here two
systems of faults occur, one OF these,
the kendall break contains one OF
the principal ore deposits of the dis
trict. Two miles above and west OF
PalOmss camp the limestone is cut of
by andesite tufL
ores Are silver Bearing.
1.-THE. ores OF this district are princi-
paly silver bearing sulphides Of lead,
copper and iron. Native silver is COM
mon, but the chief silver values, which
run from 500 to 700 ounces to the
ton. occur in galena and bOrnite-
The principal mines at PalOmas
camp" says Col Holgate, ARE com
prised in what is known as the Peli-
can group. In this group are included
the PalOmas Chief and the Ready
Cash, the Happy Annie, Columbia and
Mountain Chief, and others, making
eight claims in all All these claims
are located along the north side Of
the creek in the limestone at the base
of the low arch
Ore Deposits.
The ore deposits consist OF
pockets and pipes filled with ore IN
a talcOse gangue in beds of limestone
below the shale- Some Of the ore bodies
occur in flat lying lenses along the
contact with the everything shale;
others of irregular shape extend
downward to varying depths into the
limestone. They vary in cross section
from a few inches to 10 and 20 feet.
Mine Workings and Production.
In the early days this camp was
the center OF great mining activity
and the district produced about two
billion dollars / have the records OF
the smelter returns, which show a
production of S1,500,00O up to 1904
L have frequently seen ore run
ming 1900 ounces silver per ton, and
Oh Of
often occur Lots of ore was shipped
running $500 per ton. There are
over six miles Of tunnels and under
ground workings; and there are Slopes
| 100 feet high. There are 20 to 80
dumps Of lower grade ore amounting
1 to over 200, 600 tons assays Of which
run 10 ounces silver and 80 percent
lead
Recently an examination was made
by a prominent engineer from Fry
berg, Germany, who estimates that we
have SOS. 100000 worth of ore in sight.
A good deal of the Pelican Mining
company stock is held by German
bankers, but New York capital is
mostly interested.
AT present the work in progress is
in charge Of Charles Ross, who is
sinking down to the second contact,
which is from $50 to 200 feet below,
the ore below the second body OF
shale The original mineral deposits
worked occurred in the first shaIe
beds. Paul A Larsh, Of Silver City,
n. NJ. is our consulting engineer and
makes periodical visits to the mines.
We are working 16 men in day and
night shifts; two shifts in the shaft
and two shifts in the tunnels.
improvements.
There are Is houses and a steam
hoist and We are installing a gasoline
hoist on the mine. After awhile we
shall install large concentrating
plant to treat the ores on the dumps
and the lower grade ores extracted
from the mine, but the great bulk of
our ore is high grade and shipped di-
rect to the shelters.
Ocean Wave Plant Near.
Tn the same district is the Ocean
Wave, great producer on which is
concentrating plant. There are also
critics, which were large producers Of
lead sulphide ores.
The ore deposits at Palomas camp
have been formed by ascending wa
ters and occur below an impervious
stratum of shale and have direct
connection with systems of fractures
in the limestone which furnished
channels for the ascending solutions
The principal bodies Of ore occur
along the arch Of a low pitching fold
Of the strata There is a strong prob
ability that the source of the ore
bearing solutions was in a. mass Of in
truslVe rock lying at no great depth
Expects to Continue Work.
7 am only IS years old said Col.
HOlgate, and expect to put in at
least 10 more years in mining. I was
born in England, but came to this
country in 1854, and served in the
Civil war four years. I find the CHI
mate of the Black range is wonder
fully invigOrating. This, together
with two sea voyages TO England
each year accounts for my health and
VigOr. I can out climb and out walk
any young man I ever met. I eat
everything I want I hope to live to
see a railroad built from Ell Paso to
PalOmas or the Black range. The
canyon is wonderfully beautiful and
picturesque. The mountains are COW
cred with forests, Astounding in deer,
bear and other game, and there is
plenty of trout in the clear mountain
streams. 1t viii become one of the
most charming summer resorts in the
west, and a railroad will find an i'm
mense tonnage Of ores from hundreds
Of mines"