The Arizona copper camp., 1916-01-14
yAVAPA| JUB|LANT OVER REVIVAL
Of HASsAYAMPA PLACER MINING
(By William P. De Wolf.

(By William p. De Wolff.
PRESCOTT, Ariz.. Jan. 13.-Ari-
zonians assert that any man who
slakes his thirst by drinking from
the Hassayampa is, from that mo-
ment. without payment of initiation
fee or dues, a full -fledged member OF
apon wetting his lips with the water
of that deceptious stream, he is i'm
mediately transformed into a living
lie. and truth becomes stranger to
his tongue. Midas-lilze, his thought
and talk are of gold, and it would
appear as though the very gavel of
the creek was turned into nuggets
of gold at his touch. To write of
placer mining along the Hassayampa
is, therefore, to be done with caution
and circumspection, lest the writer
lay himself open to the imputation of
being what the Colonel has termed
a shorter and uglier word.'
The placer deposits in the Hassay-
ampa and other sections of Yavapai
county have been and are being
worked at profit. Along Lynx
o1 eek and other streams tributary
to Prescott, the auriferous gravels
yield as high as $1.25 in gold to the
yard, and maintain a general average
of about sixty cents per yard The
areas of enrichment are large and
there is as yet considerable ground
open to location or to purchase.
In a section gone dry" both by
the will Of the people and of nature,
there are seasons of the year when
wet" placer mining is an impossi-
bility. There is, however, no period
when the gold cannot be reclaimed
by the various dry washing processes.
The local field offers exceptional
financial opportunity to the inventive
genius of man like "DryWash' Will
son, who extracted approximately
100000 worth of gold from the arid
sands of the Round Mountain and
Manhattan districts of Nevada
The real prosperity of Yavapai's
placer mining industry has it's genesis,
in the impounding of water during
the snowy and rainy periods for use
during the dry period. One project
to that end is already an accom-
plished fact, and several others having
a like object in view are on tapis.
Prominent among the latter is the
plan to rebuild the Walnut Grove
dam, which was destroyed by a
freshet in February, 1S90-the i'm
pounded waters racing in torrent
down the Hassayampa Valley, with
attendant loss of life and property
Walnut Grove is located in Yavapai
county, about 100 miles north Of
Phoenix. In the late sos a water
storage dam was built there by a
Philadelphia syndicate, with the OBJ
draulic mining operations in the Rich
Hill section, near Stanton; and like
wise for the reclamation Of highly
alluvial lands bordering the banks of
the Hassayampa below Walnut Grove.
Almost at the outset of the enterprise,
however, the dam was destroyed in
the manner before described. 1t is
now proposed to construct a larger
and stronger dam at the same point
and for the same purposes.
The project has the financial back
ing of Mrs. Eleanor c. Whitman of
Philadelphia, daughter and heiress of
Mr.. Van Buren, who was prominently
Unidentified with the former enterprise.
Plans have been drawn for a concrete
arch dam similar to the Roosevelt
dam-but much smaller. The pre-
liminary surveys, ETC., are being made
by r. E. Foraker of New York city,
mining and civil engineer of wide
experience. Mr.. Foraker has estab-
l1shed his field headquarters at
Wagner. Construction work will be-
gin upon the completion of negotia-
tions now underway with the federal
and state governments and will rep
resent in the aggregate an outlay of
approximately $1,000,OO0.