El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-15
MINIEG NEWS

san Francisco in 1858. From there he
went to the frontier town OF Kansas
City, where he engaged passage in a
strap hung overland stage OF the But
terrified route which took him to Las
Cruces, n. NJ. This was Mexican town
of 1900 in 1864. and Mr.. Lesinsky en-
ness, selling to the government for the
troops stationed near there.
Meets RO0ert MetcaIf.
In 1872 Mr.. Lesinsky went to Arizona
and took up his residence on the south
bank Of the ella, near what is now the
city Of Clifton. There he met a young
officer of the southern army who had
lost his all in the war between the
and to him belongs the discovery OF
copper in the Clifton district One day
while ne was out hunting for deer
along the ella, and being hunted in
turn by the ApacheS, Metcalf discoY-
cred a number Of strangely cOlOred
bOulders which suggested to him that
they might contain valuable mineral.
Taking one back to the town he in
tereSted Mr.. LeSinSl1y and they sent the
ore to New York to be assayed, as
there was no asSayer nearer than that
city. This ore was taken from what
afterwards was named the Longfellow
mine, one of the richest producers in
the district
First ore Shipped to Baltimore.
There was a brisk demand for the
then rare metal and Mr.. Lesinsky
started a plan to give Arizona an eX-
DOrL business WHICH ldu previously
been confined to small shipments of
wool and few hides. First the ore
was sacked and sent to Baltimore by
way of Kansas city To do this It was
necessary to pack it from the mine to
the town of Clifton, five miles away,
where it was loaded into mule wagons
and hauled 1900 miles overland through
an Apache country to Kansas City by
way of Albuquerque and the Butter
field trail. This venture did not pay,
although the ore ran 80 percent cop
-lfra 60 hot
they could make money If the ore
could be smelted on the ground From
the Mexicans they learned of the crude
though effective methods used IN Mex
leo for smelling ores. This was done
by building adobe furnaces. no bigger
than Dutch ovens, and when they had
burned out to bulIq another- Inc ore
was broken into chunks OF matt cop
per and sent to Baltimore Tor refining.
Gradually this crude system was i'm
proved upon until the copper could De
better handled. Wagon roads and fin
alIv a narrow gage road was built and
the Coronado mine opened five miles
from the LongfelIoW.
Coke was bought IN San Francisco
and hauled overland from Kansas City
at a cost of $40 ton. Previous to
this charcoal was burned in the woods
near the mine and hauled on burrO
back to the smelter, which was located
IN the town. Copper at that time was
selling for "A or % cents, Mr. Leslnsky
says, and he and MS Two partners
were making money out of their ven
ture. No effort was made to refine the
copper, as the methods were too crude
for that. The black or matt copper
was sent to Baltimore and refined. In
1894 the members of the Arizona Cop
per company offered the three pioneers
9LgOO,O00 and the LOngfelow and CorO-
n2oo mines were sold to them.
Had Adventures With ADaehes.
Runnings through Mr.. Lesinsky's
narrative of the history of Arizona's
1lrst copper camp Is a story of ad-
ventures with the dreaded Apaches.
VINO were everywhere in that part