El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-04-24
MINING NEWS
GREAT MINING Revival IS
SHOWN At L0RDSBURG. n. N.


Russian Bill" sank the first shaft IS
feet on the Miser's Chest in 1850 for
Gen Pope, Of Tennessee. In the early
days a paper Of RalstOn Of Shakespeare
published a picture showing steam
boats running on an imaginary river
and stock was sold throughout the
country.
CAROLS Build smeIter.
A smelter was also built by Carroll
and Carroll tn do custom smelling and
the charges we're $50 per ton
sam Ransome located fer himself and
Matt Boyle in 1885 the Eighty-tly q
mine. Doyle bought Raosome's nan
interest for $4,000 and the latter leIt
for California Doyle also located the
Emerald, sold it for $4,000, got II back
sold ii again to John Leachman, OF san
Francisco. who ran it in debt Inc
mines were finally bought In BY koo-
erts & Leahy who afkerward sold them
to W B. Black about four years ago
for SIS, 900. The latter sold IL TO the
present Eighty-Five company for Dig
sum. Fl PasO people once were offered
says Reckhart- The owners lately re-
fused an offer Of $l,0OO,OOO for the
same properties.
The Miners Chest was sold by Ben
Titus, who had taken il TO satisfy
debt about u years agO, to L. &.
Blakslee and Johnny James for $1,000
They sold il soon afterward TO judge
MOsheimer and associates, OF Texas. Tor
$4,000. Professor Carrera managed II,
did a great deal Of deYelOpm ent and
erected a concentrating plant at Lords
burg TO treat the ores, and installed
traction engines to haul them The
Eagle Drug Mercantile company, OF
Lordsburg. then acquired il under fore
closure sale for $4,000 and finally sold
il to James G Berryhill, of DeE Moines.
Iowa, the present owner The latter
has just leased ana bonded the Min
eTs Chest and the other seven claims
Of the Lena group 10 Col s w. Nal
THE, John Moffitt and John Ward on
five years time, the purchase price
being $4,000.
Superior Patented in 1879.
The Superior mine was owned by
Rslston and patented in 1879. and &C
-quired in the early SOS by the HumbOlt
company, OF Tennessee. Along IN 1900
Jere NJ Wines. OF FL PasO, took a bond
ana lease on II for $4,000. turned Z
over TO some FL PasO people. who or
ganized the Superior Mining company,
organized under the laws OF New Alex
leo. The officers Of this company were
ID. w. Reckhart. president; j. j. Brucks
secretary, and the directors were 4. 7.
White, J. P. OConnor, D. n. Payne,
j. NJ. Dean and Randorf Laurance- At
the time of the purchase there was
shaft 200 feet deep, and the new own
ers sank il 200 feet deeper They TOok
out 900 worth Of ore, taking $4,000
Of IL out of one pocket and paid the
$4,000. the purchase price Of TIE mine.
A little later the price of copper fell
and as the profits had been divided
among stockholders and there were in
sufficient funds 10 meet the large
amount of Development work required,
the company lost the mine through in
debtedness.
1t was next sold under sheriffs sale
TO satisfy those debts. and bought in
Hn# NrMn
Mite, j. P. O'ConnOr. Peter Wehner,
D. W Reckhart, Floyd Payne, J. J.
BruCk, RandOlf Laurance and McCutch-
con 6, Payne The last named four
have sold out to the other five, who are
the present sole owners j. 3. Leahy,
Of Lordsburg, is at present working Il
under lease, having c ". Marsalis in
charge as manager. The property IS now
under bond and option TO the Eighty
Five Mining company. This mine has
yielded altogether over $3.50, 600 The
surface ore was so rich that IT was
hauled to Kansas City in wagons over
the old Santa Fe Trail
FL PasO Company Bought Dundee.
In 1900 another FL Paso company.
called the Orion Mining company, head
ed by A. W. Clifford, purchased the
Dundee mine, also one Of the old Raj
stOn properties. and operated il for sew
eral years pro1ltaoly. until the price
of copper fell. They have recently
leased II to J. W. Writer. the well
known mining engineer, who is active
~ operating It
The foregoing is only brief history
of some of the leading mines Of the
camp to illustrate the successive rises
and falls leading up to the present
prosperity OF the camp.
Geology of the Shakespeare Camp.
The hills Of Shakespeare rise like
Islands from the surrounding plains.
which are part Of a great plateau near
the continental divide"
The general elevation Of the country
is from 1900 TO $500 feet above sea
level and the mountains rise from 500
to 1000 feet above the plains
These .u7ountains are almost entirely
of igneous origin The prevailing cOun-
try rocks are diOrites. andesites. rhyo-
lites. GRANTEES, etc. These are traversed
by fissure veins and dikes, having a
general strike or course northeast
and southwest, although some veins
run nearly east and west. The veins
dip slightly to the southeast. The
great dykes at Shakespeare are promi-
nent landmarks and are brecciated and
silicified zones in the porphyries
Harder than the. enclosing country
rock. they run like great walls or cres-,
tons through the hills. These are often
well -mineralized- Some OF the most
productive veins. however, have very
incOnspicuous outcrops, put these gen
erallv widen as depth IS attained Some
of these veins have Widened from two
or three feet at the surface to seven
and even 20 and 80 feet az depth. The
multiBIie8 ty 81 these veins in such a
limited area is ren3a rlzable e. This is one
Of tie features OF the caInp that ap-
peals- 10 the pfospectors. Only the more
conspicuous veins have been opened up.
There is a large number OF promising
veins to be developed yet
Character Of Ares in Shakespeare Camp
Most of these veins, so far-as 4deyel-
oped. contain q quartz gangue, with
occasional punches Of calcite. The
prevailing eores are highly siiciOus,
and are Ideally called "converteF-iin-
ing ores. for their desirability in that
respect = The most important mineral
content is copper Of various kinds,
such as oxides, carbonates- sllicates,
and. deeper down as the water level is
approached sulphides, both chalcopy-
rites and chaIcocites and occasional
bornites.--@VNith the coppers are asso-
ciated gold and silver III varying guam
titles generally. in commercial value.
According to 0ne-of the large opera
tors. the general average OF the ores
mined and shipped in thetSh Shakespeare
cansp.- counting the b4g and small
hlires,55s about SI0~Per ton some Of
the pr0perties are 'pFoduelng. however,
ores running frora SO TO $50 per ton.
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