Bisbee daily review., 1916-05-07
Tip Top Mine, In Yavapai County, Again Coming h. to Its Own By Reason Of Large Bodies Woiframite
WAS RICH SILVER
 PRODUCER IN sos
Property Is Now Being Work ed For Steel Hardener And Improvements Are Being Rushed To Completion
(By Ernest DougIasl

PHOENlX. May 6-ArizOna'S min- ing history contains no chapter more unique than the story of the Tip Top mine, fifty miles northwest of Phoenix in the lower end of the Bradshaw range. which produced S5.OOO. .O00 worth Of silver in pioneer days and at the same time was developed into what is now believed to be the worlds biggest tungsten proposition.
 After being dead for years as a sil- yer mine. the Tip Top is coming back" for the black jack which was dreaded and avoided in those times is nothing more nor less than tungsten. the rare meatls for which steel man. ufacturers are eager to pay S75e a pound. There may be bigger deposits of tungsten ore than the pioneer op- orators all unknowinsly opened at Tip Top, but there are no bigger de veloped deposits.
 In 1876 John Corning. Jack Moore and two other prospectors found fab ulouSly rich silver ore among the bOulders of Cottonwood canyon. Tons of this float, some of which averaged as high as SlO.000 ton. were gather ed up. freighted to Yuma and shipped
 
 Francisco. The float was followed tO its source. which was at the point where the creek had broken through two parallel veins. and the Tip Top was discovered It was 500 nsold to Tevis X Hagen, of San Francisco. Many old timers say that Senator George Hearst, father Of William Ran dolph Hearst, was associated with them in it's ownership.
 A typical mining camp sprang up at Tip Top. Once the camp had as ma ny as zoo people. housed in adobe and stone cabins perched precarionsly on the sides of the canyon The ruins of those cabins are still noticeable. and the building that was used as a brewery is now the camps boarding house
 Ore that was worth $40O a ton and over was freighted to Yuma and Fl Paso, for the Southern Pacific had not then been built through Arizona. Great slabs of ruby silver were often encountered. Low grade material was not handled for the freighting charge was $200 ton Anything that apparently ran high in tungsten. then spoken of as black jack" and suppOs- ed to be zinc. was thrown over the dump. left as broken in the stopeS. or not broken at all. Black jack made all ores refractory and heavy penalties were imposed when it was present
 As the mine workings went down the average grade of the ore became lower in silver and higher ntungsten. In many places the silver was replac- fa6 ant fx f,x- n frra a concentrator was erected at Gillette. ten miles east of Tip Top on the Agua Fria River.
 After extracting some $i.000. .0o0 from the Tip Top mine. TeviS S flag en closed down the property At that time it was supposed that the shut down was only temporary but they became interested in the big silver mines of Virginia City and forgot all about the tungsten ridden Tip Top They did not even pay the watchman who was left in charge. He sued and was awarded the property.
 Leasers worked the Tip Top inter mittently for several years Eventu- ally the St. Louis Navapai company took hold and moved the mill from Gillette to the mine. In eighteen months tilS company recovered S--i9. 900 from dump ores. Internal dissen- sions arose over the division of the profits. The company leased the mine to it's superintendent. Cover. and a man named Tyrack. In ninety days Cover and Tyrsck took S4l.000 out Of 15O tons stopped between the fifth and sixth levels.
 Once more a watchman was left in charge. He failed Co perform the as seSsment work and on January 1. 1898. the Tip Top was jumped" by Frank and Ed Wager. old prospectOrs who fondly hoped that silver would once more come into it's own. lt was not until two years later that the first tungsten steel was manufactured and black jsck" was given market value.
 Last year 4. r. Muter. aL expert
 tCOntinued on Page TwOl