Arizona republican., 1916-11-23
and shipped by the owners.
 HARD STRUGGLE

discovery, three of the men owed the store of the Fish Company, at Florence. the sum of $3,00O apiece Long, Reagen and Mason being heav- fly in deht to the store for supplies purchased in the past. Copeland at the time was free of debt. It is told that the men offered % square their accounts at he store by turning over their interest in the mine for the amount of their indebtedness. whlC the fourth partner. Copeland was to receive $3.000 cash for his interest a total of SIP. 900 for the mine.
 This the store refused to do, owing tp the consciousness of the principal owner, a san Francisco capitalist. who preferred 10 take a chance on secur- ing the money from the men late, rather than take a long shot on the unknown possibilities of an undevelop- ed pIosrect. The men therefore went ahead with the development of their mine, at one lime owing the store for supplies and machinery purchased, the large sum of $50, 1000.
 MEATH IN KING
 Nothing daunted by the strenuous task ahead of them and firm in theh belief that they mad discovered real mine the four men continued their
 VI returns it was necessary at that time to haul the ore from the mine across the desert sands as far ag Yuma. distance of several hundred miles. So rich was the ore, that even with the large expense enfailed in thls haul the ore brought great returns. IL Is said that the cost of hauling from the mine to Yuma alone amount cd to Sl20 q ton.
 
 At Yuma the ore was loaded on cars and shipped to San Francisco 10 the smelters in that city. The total cost of mining and hauling the ore is said to have been over S200 a ton PesiGes this. in those early days. the smeltcrs paid only about two-thirds on the assay value of the ores shlp- ped, so that the owners received, after fedrctirs z mining and hauling costs added 10 shelter depreciation, about nne-thric Of the value of the ore in profits Still on the Silver King. so high vas the ore in silver. immense profits were made on the tonnage shipped
 on the 3Oth of Tune. 1876 Isaac Copeland sold his interest in the mine to Charles Mason. and William Long sold his quarter 10 Der jam,n Reagen on the 3;k of January. 1877. Charles Mason solc his interest to Colonel James NJ. Barney. Of New York City and on the 9th day Of May 1877. the Silver King Mining Company was in- corporated under the laws of the state of California. On the 9th of May. ls'7. Colonel Barney and James Reagen deeded their entire interests in the mine to the corporation.
 Up to the time the Silver King Min ing Company was incorporated. it is said that ore to the amount of about S2.0Op.0o0 had been shipped from the mine. With the formation of the new comhny, active and steady progress was made upon the development of the mine. The main ore body was found in the King shaft, which waA sunk at 9 distance Of about 100 feet from the old Glory Hole. or little brown hill where the original sur ' face discovery was made. The or, occurred in the shaft in the shape O. chimney as though blown upwards towards the surface of tte earth dur ing long past unheaval Of nature.
 TOWN OF FINAL
 At old Picket Post. five miles from the mire in the falt bottoms of Queer Creek, the company erected a mill lround which there sprang up q heavily populated little town called Pihal The ore was hauled from the mine down an easy grade to the mill where 1t was milled and sacked, after which Il was hauled across the desert to Yuma. Later in 1880 the railroad was built as far as Casa Grande. greatly shortening the haul and re- ducing the cost of production.
 RETURN OF SULLIVAN One day, in 1881. an aged man came slowly into the settlement at Picket Post and with great interest wander cd about the Silver King mill. where twenty stamps were night and day merrily turning out silver from the rock.
 Tho man was evidently in need of help. and soon went to the office of the company where he applied for work. which was given him. When asked his name. he replied 1t was. Sullivan. and that he had been in the country before. This was Sullivan, the original discoverer of the mine. who had disappeared after that Joy. ous night at Jim Sam's place on the river bank at Florence. and had never been seen since. Sullivan told of wandering here and there over the west and in California Hearing of the mining excitement at the scenes of his old stamping grounds, he had returned to find his little brown hin' the center of great mine and the- once desolate region a scene of mad activity and great prosperity. There are many and varied tales told of the days when the old mine was producing it's greatest riches, and Of the mad excitement which filled | everyone in the district with hopes of forune and visions of riches as great as those of the King" itself. Pros- pectors poured into the district from all over the west. From the camps or Colorado and Nevada. from the gold fields of California, tenderfeet rom the east and drawling adven- | turers from the south
 THEY CELEBRATE
 Old timers tell how, on the 700-foot I level when a great strike of native silver was made, the superintendent 1 of the mine declared a holiday for all employees. and loading up the wagons with a carload of the ore, all | hands proceeded to Florence. where a | joyous and festive occasion. accom- panied with loud pops from many a bottle of real gold seal. fittingly cele- brated the great event.
 The mine continued it's heavy and rich production until the year 1888, when 1t was finally closed down, the ore values having considerably de- creased and the price of silver hav- 1 Ing suffered q heavy drop. It had | paid well for it's owners. however. Exact records of the production and dividends have been destroyed, but 1t