The Coconino sun., 1927-11-25
DEVELOPMENT OF YAVAPAI
C0UNTY'S GREAT MINERAL
RESOURCES Is ONLY BEGUN

nee between real mining by efficient
miners and the scheming imitators
Who sell spurious stocks but never saw
/ mine.
To show the diversity of metals
.ound in Yavapai county, there were
arranged upon shelf samples of ore
If gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc,
manganese, antimony, molybdenum,
tungsten, vanadium, nickel, cobalt,
mercury and arsenic.
Up TO date, copper of course forms
the bulk of Yavapai county's mineral
production. But there is also abund-
ance of zinc to alloy with copper,
making brass and manganese, molyb-
denum, tungsten, vanadium to tougher
harden, strengthen iron in the manu-
facture Of the many kinds of steel
now in common use. This diversity
of mineral products strengthens Yava-
pals financial backbone also; each of
the many metals found in her hills is
an added string to her financial bow
Also upon the shelf there were
shown small scraps of non-metallics.
These scraps represent millions, per-
haps billions of tons in some cases.
Immense deposits also Of building
as pure as it ever occurs in nature;
stone of excellent quality; limestone
gypsum by the square mile, also of
the highest grade.
Man has just begun to scratch
little upon these great deposits, not
ably at Mayer onyx quarries, at Camp
Verde sodium sulphate deposits, at
Puntenney lime quarries, at the
granite quarries two miles west of
Prescott, at the tufa quarries near
Skull Valley, and elsewhere.
We have Won Humboldt's assertion
that the Bradshaw mountains (in
Yavapai county, is the treasure
vault of the Southwest" Here has
been placed for civilized mans use a
vast store of the commoner minerals
to be used down through the coming
ages, together with what we now call
rare minerals and elements, to be
utilized by man as he learns: more
and more.
From the beds of sodium sulphate
at Camp Verde came exhibits which
were at the same time curious and
gruesome. The deposit now gives en-
ployment to a considerable number Of
men in the employ of Sodium Sulphate
corporation, who mine the rock by
modern methods and ship the product
of their mill to distant markets. Dur
ing recent mining operations many
relics and remains of former workers
have been uncovered. Skeletons of a
primitive race are found, literally
picked in the salt and sodium sui
phate. There is difference of opinion
as to who and what these people
were. Many stone edge implements
are found, some shaped like hammers,
others with cutting edge similar to
a heavy hatchet. Two hammers ex-
hibited at the fair are so perfectly
preserved that even the wooden ham
dies are still intact and quite strong.
A human skull was found with a ham
mer imbedded in it. The bone struc-
ture of a hand and forearm was found
at depth of seventy feet. AS COM
mon rock salt, SO per cent pure, oc-
ours with the sodium sulphate, it is
thought by many that Cliff Dwellers
got their salt from this deposit. At
The fair this exhibit attracted more
attention than any other. From the
stone tools of the first workers in this
salt mine to the refining by machin-
cry and the final making of the prod
uct into paper, also done by machin-
cry, is indeed long cry. Yet, to the
observant, this display, upon three
small shelves, was an object lesson,
showing mans progress.