El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-11
MINING NEWS
IS FOUND
NEAR ABILENE, TEX.
Old Beds Which Were Once
Worked by Ell PasOan
Are to Be Reopened.

There is considerable activity in the
copper district in Jones county. north
of Abilene, Tex. A tract of several
thousand acres of land has been leased
by eastern people who believe that
recent discoveries of copper in that
section will prove by development to
exist in commercial grade and guam
tity. The copper was found at a depth
of 20 feet below the surface in a stra-
tum of clay. Several people Of Abb
lene are also interested in the same
copper field and viii proceed to do de-
velopment work
These copper beds belong to the
same deposits that have been known
for many years, occurring in the Per-
milan deposits, similar to those in Ger
many, and which were worked during
the Civil war, the copper being used
for manufacture of cannon and cart
ridges by the cOnfederates- This belt
extends for over 100 miles from south
west to northeast, through Jones,
Shakelford, Haskell, Baylor and Ar
cher counties in the Panhandle of
Texas, between the lines Of the Kan
SaS CITY, Mexico and Orient. and the
Wichita Valley railroads, as wei as
the Denver & Fort Worth railroad
which crosses the zone on the northeast.
About IS years ago Maj. Noyes Rand,
of FL PaSO, mined a considerable guam
he had hauled in wagons all the way to
Fort Worth, and thence shipped to the
copper smelter at Baltimore, Nd. At
that time the surface for miles was
covered with nuggets of high grade
copper, which reSembled in form Irish
potatoes and shells. These nuggets
were high grade in copper, and were
Of a lead color, soft and not crystal
lied, and assayed about 65 percent cop
per. Maj Rand employed hundreds of
farm hands and boys to gather up the
copper from the surface. Finally the
rich surface nuggets became too scarce
to pay to gather by hand and opera
tons ceased. These deposits were
known to the COmanche and Kiowa in
dams and the buffalo hunters among
whom were W. 7. Stewart and Bob
Robinson, formerly of FL Paso.
subsequently, Col. Jones, of Fort
Worth, and associates, expended a
large sum in trying to extract the low
grade copper from the clays Of that
region, but were unsuccessful
Gold Deposits in Texas.
According to Prof. E. 7. Dumble,
formerly state geologist of Texas, gold
specimens were once sent him, al
legged to have been concentrated by
rocker from the sands of Galley creek,
a stream which empties into the Colo
RADIO river just north of SmithTille,
Tex. On personal investigation he
found no samples giving over a trace
of gold by fire assays, ana obtained
Near HarwOod, Tex, on the Gonzales
branch Of the Galveston, Houston &
San Antonio railroad, various wells
disclosed a stratum of sand which
well in which samples were taken
every foot for 3S feet, gave 80 sam
pies, carrying 16 cents to IS gold per
ton. The geological conditions here
are the same as at Gazeley creek The
composition of the beds suggests the
granite area of the Llano region as the
origin. Gold and silver are known TO
occur in the L1anO region, and gold is
found in the sands Of the creeks flow
ing over or through these rocks. |
Placer gold has been found in the Big
Sandy, and in the sands of the Colo
RADIO rivers, as far north as Austin, |
Tex. The nature Of the occurrence IS |
judged by Dumble to warrant further
Placer Gold in FL PasO County.
In the eastern part of FL Paso |
county, south Of the Diablo mountains, |
near Bounds ranch, some placer gold |
years ago which he claimed averaged !
Is cents gold per cubic yard. But dis
tance from water prevented profitable |
working. It was believed this placer
was an ancient river bed extending
from New Mexico to the north.
Large Force at Hazel AIfII.
The new concentrating mill at the
Hazel mine in the northeastern part OF |
FL PaSo county, IS a 100 ton SuIIOn'
Steele & Steele dry concentration mill. |
Walter /. Steele who is now in charge |
Of the plant at the mine, states that !
the plant has been temporarily stopped |
to make some minor adjustments
and that soon it Will be running fuil /
capacity of 100 tons every "a hours !
According to county surveyor Eubank, /
who recently was in that district there /
is quite a large force Of men at Work !
at the mill and mine
The new shaft that is being sunk on
the Bonanza mine, in the Quitman /
FL PasO county, which IS
500 feet west of the old shaft, has
a depth of 100 feet and viii
reach the depth Of the low
est old workings in the Wine, when
is 200 feet Drifts will be run to con
meet the new and old workings, which
viii give good ventilation. The mine
has been shipping its zinc ores to the
smelteries of Kansas, and its lead sll-
Yer ores to FL Paso ]. H. tombstone
Is general manager.