Mohave County miner., 1918-07-20
(By P. R. NIilnes)

eral districts, like men, occasionally ."come back" a notable instance being Crown King, famed in the days gone by as one of the richest ore-producing sections of Arizona. Back in the early 7O's, when roads were such only by being given the courtesy of the name, the old Tiger made the district famods by the high-grade silver it produced, over million dollars worth being taken out by a shaft that was sunk 200 feet by aid of a donkey shaft. The Tiger strike brought in hundreds of prospectors and before long Q real western boom was on, fol- lowed by the discovery of the Peck and the Tip Top and adding to the wealth and the fame of the district. Freight in those days came at 9 cents a pound, but the contractor who . .essayed the seemingly impossible task of bringing in a ten-ton mill with its equipment was not daunted by the lack oi roads. He brought the stuff but mad no wagon worthy of the name af- ter each trip, so took back the horses and bought a new vehicle. The boom tiattened out, the vein of rich silver in the Tiger began to pinch. Silver was Cemonluzed, accidents and law suits came and in 1880 the property was sold for taxes. The history of the Peck was very similar. Other pro- ducers of that era were the Ora Bella known as the Tiger, the Lincoln. the
 War Eagle, and the Gladiator. none ot which had record under a quarter ot million dollars. Even in those days there was a custom mill. bought primarily for the purpose of treating the ores of the Cretna. It was brought rom Omaha by OK team. The boiler alone weighed 12,OOO pounds. It did not save the values, however, for the ore of the district, although rich, is re- fractory.
 For many years, there was practi- cally no activity in the district worth mentioning aside from the work be- lng done by prospectors who nursed tner claims along in order to hold title, hoping with that optimism characteristic of the prospector for the old days to come again.
 Then came Frank NJ. Murphy. who was imbued with the faith that nov ed mountains, bought the Crown King. the Tiger, and the Wildfiower groups. 0Ull0 the crOokedest railroad in the world in those rocky fastnesses and injected new life into the district. Fj- nancial troubles in 1912 forced the shutting down of the properties and Crown King slumped again. It was not until 1915 after a period in which practically everyone had lost faith in the district with its record of failures that mining men began to perk up their ears and take notice. The awakening of interest was due to the advent of two young engineers, D. 3. Gemmlll and M. P. Randolph, who an- nounced that they had a process by which the values could be recovered from the refractory ores. They asked no financial assistance but quietly went about their business; leased the 1 Crown King mill and commenced treating the tailings dump, netting S4 per ton. They worked out a new oil Notation process to meet the metal lurgical problem they faced. Out of l2,OOO tons of tailings treated, they produced 1540 tons of zinc concen- 1 trates and about 1900 tons of iron concentrates containing gold and sil- . yer values. The latter were shipped : to the Humboldt shelter. Ample lends were arranged for. The old . mill was rebuilt along strictly modern lines. The Arizona Power company extended its lines so that the mill, the WildflOwer and the Tiger properties would all be worked to the greatest economic advantage as far as power vas concerned.
 Men were set to work on the Wild flower. The old ore bodies were open ed ID and new reserves developed. An aerial tram was installed by which the ore was brought to the mill at a mini mum of expense. At the present time, the mill handles about 60 tons of ore daily which runs about SIP in gold and silved and s in copper. The average extraction in 1917 was 91 per cent. This is a remarkably high recovery for complex ores of this character.
 The Tiger mill was overhauled and numerous changes made The com pany began treating the tailings of the old dump iu February of 1918. They are still working at it and the dump will not be exhausted until about September l. The tailings contain 12 ounces of silver to the ton and some gold. A concentrate of about 20 to l is made which contains approximate ly 200 ounces of silver and S8 in gold. The recovery is about 70 per cent.
 The big Tiger dump will be handled when the tailings are worked out. This 4sT- T..