Bisbee daily review., 1915-11-21


 part of Arizona of which any record lis available was done before the Span. ish conquest Of Mexico in the six. lteenth century. according To P. C. 1 Schrader of the United States geologi cal survey. This mining was done by the semiciviized ancestors of the ! Papago Indians. who inhabited the Santa Rita mountains and the region adjoining on the west, once known as i the Papagueria. Here are the oldest mines on the Pacific slope north of Mexico
 i This silver mining region in Ari- zona is the northwest continuation of the great silver mining region of Mex. ico, which, notably in the states of Chihuahua, Durango and Sonora pro duced millions of dollars worth of sii. yer for centuries.
 1 From central Mexico, search for the precious metals was pushed north westward by the Mexicans in the ] northern part of Mexico in the early | part of the seventeenth century or before. In the northern part of So nora, about twenty miles southwest ] of Nogales, is the Planchas de Plata district. one of the oldest and richest mineral regions in North America | celebrated for it's great production and large nuggests or masses, of native silver The largest mass, said to have weighed 270O pounds, was discovered in 1736 and caused great excitement and a stampede to the region.
 Missionaries Come First.
 The first civilized men to visit the
 Arizona region were the Spanish Jesuit missionaries. who from Sonora in 1887 explored the valley of the Santa Cruz river and considerable DOT tions of the Gila and San Pedro val leys Their reports of the fertile val ! leys and the mineral wealth of this new country led to the establishment on the Santa Cruz of the missions of ! San Xavier del Bac, Tumacacori. san | tiago and San Cayetano the town of | Tubac. and further north that ofTuc | son The first mission in Arizona was established at Guevavi or Gucbabi about thirty miles south of Tucson in 1887, and those of San Xavier and | iTumacacor soon followed.
 These missions have an important bearing on the mining history of this region in that their founders and keep CTS, the Jesuit fathers, were in a sense the pioneer miners of the country and conducted mining operations with a considerable force of men. mostly inn. | pressed Indians, in connection with their missionary work That they must have operated on a considerable scale is indicated by the extent of the workings and the slag dumps still seen near the mission ruins They named the old Salero and the other mines in the Santa Rita region
 The San Xavier mission, nine miles south of Tucson, founded prior 10 1894 and still standing, an object of visit 10 tourists, is described as a large church with imposing architecture, in which S4O,OOO in solid silver, taken from the mines in the Santa Rita mountains nearby, was used 10 adon the altar.
 Real Conquest Begins.
 Further explorations and discov- cries were made about 1910 and after that date conquest and settlement of the country were prosecuted with vigor both by the Jesuits and by the l Spanish government The missions and settlements were repeatedly de stroyed by the Apaches and the priests and settlers massacred or driven out, but they were as often re- established. and up to 1920 the Span l iards and Mexicans continued 10 work many valuable mines The best kwnon mine about this time, or a little later, was the Santa Rita del Cobre, which was worked probably about the mid de of the thrties and produced ore yielding 75 per cent of copper
 After the Gadsden purchase, made | in 1855, Americans, including POston NowTy and others, began to enter the region eastern capital was enlisted, and more prominent mining settle ! iltillN MNAN lAuNt All Allf DahiN AAllA and Patagonia mountains as early as 1855. about which time the historic Mowry mine was located In 1857 the country between the boundary and Calabazas was reported by the Emory boundary survey to be full of pros pestors from California.
 First Companies Form.
 In 1856 an exploring party, outftted at San Antonio Texas, arrived at Tubac and proceeded to examine the silver mines in the Santa Rita and ad- joining mountains, and in 1857 the Sonora Mining and Exploring company and the Arizona Mining Company were formed for the purchase and delop- ment Of these mines. About the same time an association formed in Cincin- nad, Ohio, with offices also in Tubac, which by this time had a popluation