The border vidette. (Nogales, Ariz.) 1894-1934, 1925-06-06
ROMANCE AND MINING IN SANTA
CRUZ COUNTY.
(By Dean G.. M. Butler)

| to the west thereof. These de.
| posits were first worked by the
Papago Indians and fairly ex-
tensive mining operations we're
there carried on under the stim
ulation of the Jesuit Fathers be.
fore the Declaration of Indepen.
dencg was signed. Their at
! tempts to extract and reduce the
rich silver ores of the region
we're the first ones made by the
Europeans in Arizona. The rec.
ords of their work and produc
ton are very fragmentary, but
the many old shafts and tunnels
and the piles of Stag seen in. the
vicinity of the mission runs pro.
claim that their operations we're
quite. extensive. The altar of
the San Xavier Mission was
adorned with about $40, 900 worth
of solid silver articles taken
from the Santa Rita mountains.
The success of the priests
caused other people to search
for metals, and many rich dis.
coveries we're made with the re.
suit that great deal of bullion
was taken out of the country.
Vast masses of virgin silver was
taken out of the Arizuma noun.
tains about twenty miles south
west of Nogales not far from
the international boundary, and
the fame of the district reached
to remotest corners of civilization.
Such masses of pure metal had
never before been found. One
magnificent specimen, weighing
800 or 900 pounds, was confscats
ed by King Philip V of Spain
on the ground that it was a curl.
osity and, therefore, rightly be
longed to his majesty. Numer
Gus other chunks that weighed
from eco to 400 pounds we're.
found, but in general it may hel
said that the sizes of these plan.
chas de plata" have probably
/ ~
been exaggerated.
Under the Spanish regime
mining was vigorously conduct
ed in Sonora and Arizona; and a
vast amount of treasure was OBJ
tanned in spite of the crude and
imperfect systems of mining fol.
lowed, and the fact that water
was carried to the mines, and
ore or bullion shipped there
from, on the backs of poems or
| burros.
Tue war for Mexican indepen.
dence put a stop to nearly all
mining enterprises in Sonora
and Arizona, and in Arizona it
never again reached that degree
of prosperity under Mexican
rule that it had attained when
the country was governed by
Spain.
When the Gadsden purchase
was made, not single mine was
being operated in Arizona. Lack
of production from the depreda
tions of the Apaches was large.
ly responsible for this situation.
The first mining done by Am.
ericans in the newly acquired
territory was carried on in the
Santa Rita mountains by Hon.
G. D. Poston who organized the
Sonora Mining & Exploration
company and the Arizona Min
ing company in 1855. These
companies acquired many of the
old mines that had been opened
by the Jesuits and started work
upon them. The difficulties to
be overcome were great, how.
ever, since the country was. so
isolated that equipment was very
expensive, the cost of shipping
out ore bullion was great, and
the country was overruh by saw.
age Apaches. Nevertheless pros.
porous camps were established
and grew in the Patagonia, Cerro
Colorado and Santa Rita dis
tricts, and work there proved
profitable. This short period of
prosperity was brought to a
close by the withdrawal of the
United States troops at the out
break of the Civil War. Raids
by Apaches and Mexicans drove
all the white people out of the
hills, and practically no more
work was done until 1879 when
the Southern Pacific railroad
opened the country to emigra.
ton and the Apache menace dis.
appeared
Although some mining has
been done around Nogales since
| then, it is rarely conducted Oh a