The copper era and Morenci leader., 1915-11-12
OATMAN DISTRICT IS CENTER IF
 INTEREST
Center of Tom Reed-Gold Road Min ing District is Rapidly Acquiring the HabiIiments of Modern Min ing City
OATMAN NOW NUMBERS
 NEAR TWO THOUSAND
Town Has Great Prospects in Every Way; Furnished. With. Electric Lights, Water and Other Conven- fences of the City
(By B. x. Dawson)

| (By B. X. Dawson)
 1 Oatman, the civic center of the gold
 district known as the Tom Reed-Gold Road district, is aasily accessible from has all the appearance of a live, up-to- date mining camp.
 | The town, in common with most mining camps, is built on rolling hills surround it on three sides. The build. IFS particularly the original strtlcs- ure+. ere mostly oae-sio,y cottages. hut with the boom" now in progress the citizens are banking more and more on the growth of the town, and accordingly are building better and more substantial buildings.
 The town lies approximately half way between the Tom Reed mine and t.lr. United Easter minc and IS in easy reach of the BigJim, United Eastern Extension, Oatman Mining & Milling Company, Boundary Cone, Ori- on and number of other mines. Con- sidering the distance from the rail- road, the citizens of the town enjoy unusual advantages. There is a news paTrer, running water, electricity, tete- phone service and in a. commercial way the town has enough stores to supply all the needs of the inhabitants in merchandise, drugs, deIicacies, ice etc.
 The camp is ideally situated, giving view of the mountains and valley, the n,urky Colorado river flowing far afield to the west and the cragged ridges picturesquely surrounding the town on three sides. The purple hils are now dotted daily with new cabins and tents where only a short time ago there was only the varying landscape.
 While the Oatman camp is new, it is still old. In the early sixties sol- diers of the First California Volun- teers ventured into that country and located a number of the now promi- nent mining properties. One of the first was the Moss, on Silver creek, and the Leland and Mitchell, west of the present town of. Oatman. The Moss was famous for it's immensely rich gold ore. It's quartz was of that beautiful rose color that was so much sought after by the jewellers in the early days for the making of fobs and watch chains, the quartz being heavy with virgin gold.
 But in those days it was impossible to work low grade ores and one by one rthe big veins were allowed to revert to the government. ,
 In the year 1901, Eli Hilty and oth- CTS went into the district and discov- erec the Tom Reed and Ben Harrison claims, which now form the nucleus for one of the greatest gold mining districts in the world. In the scram- ble for new properties the old claims have been forgotten, but it is evident that these old projerties are to make good when the miner comes to fully understand the nature of the ore de- posfts of the camp.
 The district while being at first or ganized to take in only ten miles in length of the range, has been extend ed to run from Franconia on the south to the neighborhood of the Burns ranch on the north, a distance of ap- proximately twenty miles. In that area there are many large veins of good grade milling ore, as well as a variety of small ones that carry very high values in gold. In and around tie Oatman country is the greatest network of veins, the whole country being interlocked with veins, all of which carry valuable minerals.
 Oatman is the center of activity for this rich gold mining district, the rich est in Arizona, if not in the entire world, and the prosperity of the town is interlinked absolutely with the de Ivelopment of the mines around it, and happily the influx of new capital which is turning to the Bonanza of the West insures continued and perma- nent prosperity.