Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1913-04-13


teresting not only because of the 10
sight Il gives to the early history Of
copper mining in Arizona and Bisbee
and its Development rSarticularly in
the Copper Queen mine. tut also from
the broader viewpoints embr ICED in
tie clear and keen insight IL gives
TO the business side OF mining as we'll
as TO the technical side. The extract
follows:
A large mine of the baser metals
cannot be opened without cheap trans
portation. Before annexation OF the
Southwest. il is true. some copper
was extracted from the Ajo mines
which IRE within easy distance of me
Gulf OF Caiifornia-and some native
copper from the Santa Rita noun
tains in New Mexico. After annexa-
ton, the first copper mined was from
the Planet mines, al the mouth of Big
Williams Fork. on the banks OF the
Colorado river This ore went by
water all the way 10 England The
next m ne opened, about 1870, before
the a4yent Of the railroad. was the
Longfellow. AT Clifton, Ariz. The first
attempt to smelt its very rich ores
was made in reverberatory furnaces,
with firebrick costing a dollar apiece.
This proving Improbable, the old
fashioned Mexican a5oge furnace,
with charcoal as fuel was adopted.
BY an interesting series OF expsdients,
commencing with a metal plate spray
ed with water, the owners, the l.sz-
insky Brothers, developed a furnace
built of copper trou gls cast from
the crude copper they we're producing.
Though zee miles, from the nearest
railwLy station they made copper,
proAtably, simply because, they being
merchants in that section of the
country, the teams which came west
with their merchandise, returned
loaded with their copper bars.
II was not until the Southern Paoi-
hc trayersed the territories OF AriZ-
ona and New Mexico that active cop
per operations We're undertaken on
geposits, all of which had been dis
covered prior to the building of the
road. AS soon. however, as econofni-
cal access to the worlds markets was
afforded, active mining and smelling
were commenced. But il was only
when the railroad systems OF the ter
ritory expanded and the copper dis
tricts were brought into close contact
with one another, that ores could be
cheaply exchanged and the full bene-
it of railroad transportation expert
enced by the mines ana smelteTs, to
the mutual advantage OF both the car
riers and their clients. One is there
fore feed By the paradox that without
cheap transportation few mines can
lie made 10 pay and conservative
methods adopted ana yet-until these
mines are developed often at a loss
to the shareholders. and with newt
able waste. and thus freight assured
10 the railroad capitalist-money 10
build the railroad is not forth coming.
Cheap local transportation was not
as Indispensable TO the Warren dis
trict as it was to the Globe and Chr
ton districts. inasmUch as the Biscee
ores were of high uniform richness.
am were self-haxing. Moreover, N
the early days, it was assumes that
Arizon had the advantage over Butte
OF possessing in abundance oxidized
ores that could he converted by a
single fusion into black copper. Be
fore long. however, when the convert
or was adapted 10 copper smelling
il came 10 he recognized that the N
termediate production OF matte was
essential. to clean and economical
work. Bisbee alone. almost from Tie
arsu opening OF ills mines, possessed
su!phides of copper in sGch quaAtl-
ties as 10 interfere with the qdaAly
of It's bars made in 3 single smeil-
ing operation, and, in fact. IN sucn
quantity that until today the mines
Of the district yield naturally oNldlzeo
as well as sulphide ores in such pro
portions as to yield suitable furnace
nixtgre without roasting.
Globe after more than 30 years OF
active mining. exchanges its oXldlzed
siliceous ores for basic sulphides from
Bishee. Until this was done copper
smelling at Globe, notwithstanding
tbe richness Of its siiiceous ore, was
unproftable. And at least TO look
abroad for pyrites.
Rnt Notwithstanding its subsequent
prominence. the Warren district haa
not attracted as much notlce as
some other districts before its active
deveIopment. One reason was thal
the concentrating iimestones NncH
din south from the core OF the mule
pass mountains exhibit very lew eA-
posures OF ore. 1t IS not known thae
the whole series of limestone, eAtehu-
ing from the Cambrain to the Upper
Carboniferous, an carry some copper
hui the beds which contained, SO Tar
AZ exposed, the largest masses o. ~
rites under conditions favorable Iol
the decAy, and during which copper
va concentrated as oxidized and SCI
on5ary sulphide ores-are found "a
Carbonfferous. and to lesser extent
N the Upper Devonian, liinestones !,
AZ these are overIsid by hundreds u
teet Of comparatively barren TocA'
and as the beds which contain the on
bodies din more steeply to the sousA
than the inclination OF the suii -,
me surface ore bodies in these pr
dnctiye Iimestones were exposed oals
49, the outcrop Of their beas. 4hs
tbe deeper ore bodies Of the cham l -l'.
70 be sought for at steadily greater
depths. -, which
nade the district famous cropped ous
- the Copper Queen claim, on sne
- ~ exposure Of what was suD.