Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1913-01-26
CLIFTON EARLY
DAYS RECALLED
Story of H. Lesinsky, First TO
Ship Copper from Arizona.
Later Selling Mine for
One Million.
1900 MILE ORE HAUL

~. Lesinsky. the first man 70 shin
pound OF copper out OF Arizona,
tbt greatest copper producing state
IN the union, is the real pioneer OF
Arizona mining
From the then unnamed town
that Is new Clifton. MIR. Issirsky
shipped sack OF copper ore TO New
J ork 10 be ASA yed in 1872 II Wa
native copper and the report received
from the New York assayers made
nim and his partners in the pioaee,
copper venture believe they had dis.
covered the long dreamed of Midas
mine. Their dream came true when
the Arizona Copper company, com
Posed of Scotch capitalists. drew a
check in their favor for an even
Sl9O0.000. but 12 years after they
had found the strange looking houI
ders along the ella river.
Born IN Australia. where the nre
OF gold is always strong. Mr.. Les.
lnsky came TO America when a young
man. landing in San Francisco in
1898. From there he went TO the
frontier town of Kansas City. whers
ne engaged passage in n strap hung
overland stage of the ButterReld
route. which took him to Las Cruces
y. NJ. This was a Mexican town of
l"0o Ia 1864. and MIR. Iesinsky en-.
gagged in the general merchandise
business, selling to the government
Tor the troops stationed there
Meets Robert Metcaf.
In 1872 Mr.. Lesinsky went to
Arizona and took up his residence on
the south bank of the ella. nea~
what is now the city Of Clifton. /
There he met young officer OF. the
southern army who had lost his all
In the war between the states. His
name was Robert Metcalf and to him
belongs the discovery of copper In the
Clifton district. One day. while he
was out hunting for deer along the
ella. and being hunted in turn by
The Apaches. Metcalf discovered "a
number OF strangely colored bou..
ders. which suggested to him thai
hey might contain valuable mineral.
Taking one back to town, he inter
ested Mr.. Lesinsky. and they sent
he ore to New York to be assayed.
As there was no assayer nearer than
hat city. This ore was taken from
what afterwards was named the
-ongfellow mine. one of the richest
prod ucers in the district.
First Ore Shipped 70 Baltimore.
There was brisk demand for the
hen rare metal and MIR Lesinsky
started a plan TO give Arizona an
Export business which had previously
'een confined to small shipments OF
WOOL and few hides First the ore
was sacked and sent to Baltimore
~ way Of Kansas City. To do this
was necessary to pack il from the
nine TO the town OF Clifton. five
niles away. where IL was loaded INTO
mule wagons and hauled l-50O miles
'yerland through the Apache coun- J
ry 20 Kansas City by way % Albn-
iuerque and the Butterfield trail. :
This venture did not nay. although
he ore nan 81 per cent copper, ana !
be pioneer producers saw that they |
o'tld make money If the ore could '
'e smelted on tae ground From the 9
iexicans they learned OF the crude {
hough effective methods used in {
lexico for smelling ores. This was c
one by building adobe furnaces, no
Tiger than Dutch ovens. and when n
ley had burned out, 10 build snoth
r. The ore was broken into chunks
{ Matte copper and sent TO Balti- J
lore for refining Gradually this l
rude system was improved upon IN {
I the copper could be better handled. e
Wagon roads and finally a marrow b
auge railroad was built. and the .
mine opened five miles Z
rom the Longfeilow. n
Coke was bought In San Francisco
nd hauled overland from Kansas e
ity at a cost OF $40 ton. Previous n
, this charcoal was burned in the a
'oods near the mine and hauled on &
arro back to the smelter. which was b
)cated in the town. Copper at thai a
me was selling for "a or % cents a
lr. Lesinsky says and he and his q
Eo partners were making money our Il
their venture No effort was made a
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