Prospectus and reports of the Bushell and of the Saint Louis Gold and Silver Mining Companies, of the Toltec Syndicate of Mines, of Aztec and Tyndall Districts, Arizona, with endorsements, reports, map, assays and newspaper extracts relative to the same
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Public-domain full text preserved in the Mountain Man Mining Library. Original source: archive.org.
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Prospectus And Reports
Bushell And Of The Saint Louis
Gold and Silver Mining Companies,
)Toltec Syndicate Of Mines,
Of Aztec And Tyndall Districts, Arizona,
Ents, Reports, Map, Assays And Newspaper Kxtr.U Relative To The Same.
Office of ihe Companies, Rooms 14 & 15, 302 Montgomery Sf,
San Francisco, Cal.
, 1S78.
SAN FRANCISCO: GORDON, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, 320 SANSOME STKKBT, HALI.KCK BI.<H K.
Officers And Directors
C. S. Benedict, Esq
.President]
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John Haynes, Esq President
Col. Jno. D. Graham Managing Director
C. S. Benedict, Esq Director
E. S. Irvin, Esq "
W. G. Graham, Esq "
Chas. Cranz, Jr S Cretary
John E. Magee, Esq Superintendent At Mines
W. T. Rickard, F. C. S... ...Assayer
Prospectus
Of The
Mn
Situated In The Santa Rita Mountains,
Pima County, Arizona.
Both Companies Incorporated Under the Laws of the State of California,
June 1st, 1878.
In presenting to the notice of capitalists the claims of the aforesaid com- panies, we propose to call the attention of the INVESTOR to only such facts as, upon a more extended examination, can be fully and satisfactorily substantiated.
The Santa Rita Mining Region.
The territory in which this mining property is situated is yet in its in- fancy, though the mines in the Santa Rita's have been worked, at intervals, by the Jesuit Fathers, by adventurous Spaniards, and by more adventurous Americans, for over one hundred and fifty years. But since the disastrous ending of the Santa Rita Company, in 1860-61, no work has been begun which was not speedily ended in the same fashion — by the murder of the miners by the Apaches — until the owners of the present Toltec Syndicate organized its predecessor, the Aztec Syndicate. The reports herein printed will give the reader a fair outline of their enterprise, and need not be further alluded to in this place. In the outset of our organization of the Aztec Syndicate, we labored under all the disadvantages of working in and exploring an almost savage country. The great mineral richness demon- strated by our labors almost immediately attracted other enterprising visit- ors and prospectors, and within a year resulted in an immigration which has now culminated in the working of numberless mines, the building of excellent reads, the founding of permanent mining camps, a large influx of
capital, and the establishment of numerous mining enterprises upon a solid and certain basis.
The sudden and marvelous growth of this section can only be accounted for by the ascertained extraordinary wealth of its acres of mountains, containing gold, silver, lead, copper, etc., enough, in the general estima- tion, to enrich the present generation.
Its Great Mineral Wealth.
Pumpelly, Ross Browne, Ward, Kustel, Ehrenberg, Wrighton, Professor Davis, Professor Rickard and scores of others say, " The silver mines of the Santa Rita's — the Aztec and Tyndall mining districts — give undisputed evidence of great natural wealth. The ores are true Silver ores, and the mines are identical with those of Mexico, of which they are a continuance."
The many late travelers through this country, consisting of engineers surveyors, assayers and others, all agree as to the main points, viz: — the value of the ores.
Professor Thomas Davis says : "Of the mineral richness of the mines in this section, and especially of those belonging to what is known as the Toltec Syndicate of San Francisco, there can be no doubt whatever."
It is only a question of time and the expenditure of capital and labor, when there will be silver enough dug out of these mountains to pay the national debt. To] parties not conversant with the mines of this and other countries, this assertion of Prof. Davis might be considered 'one of great ex- aggeration, but when we look at the product of other mining countries the business mind will at once grasp at the proposition as being nearer the truth than it is to the fabulous. We propose to cite what has been done.
The registered coinage of the Mint of Mexico, for the last 135 years, end- ing January 1st, 1874, amounted to $1,942,932,107. The following is the registered total yield of a few Mexican mines, which belong to the same great chain of mineral deposits so recently developed in the Santa Rita's. The Rio Grande, $650,000,000; the Sierra Madra, $800,000,000; the Potosi over $1,000,000,000. One mine, the Panillon, produced for five years $20,000 per day, when interrupted by a flood of water. Opened again in ten years, it produced $50,000,000. It subsequently lay idle until 1871, since which time it has regularly produced an annual yield of $13,400,000. The Comstock Lode, in Nevada, furnishes another signal evidence of productive- ness. Yearly over $20,000,000 is being paid in dividends to its stockholders. All these statistics are taken from official reports, and can at any time be verified.
Had we space at disposal to extend this prospectus, much might be added as to the peculiar and exceptional richness of the Santa Rita mountains in which our mines are situated. Thousands of assays have placed the surface ores alone, at the head of any other mining region heretofore known and discovered. It is enough to say that, a great number of mines have al-
ready been located, and that distant capital is daily pouring in for the pur- chase and location of others. Under this reviving influence it is no won- der that this productive section is rapidly emerging from obscurity into the importance and prosperity it so richly merits.
Roads and railroads are being pushed forward. Reduction works for the treatment of ores are being plentifully erected, and the filial result is only a simple matter of calculation as to when its hidden treasures will be pour- ing into every country upon the face of the earth.
The Directors of the Bushell Co., and of the Saint Louis Co., claim, in the course of an early future, as great results as are exhibited above,but the suc- cess of every silver mining region can only be attained by the requisite ex- penditure of capital and labor, and the Aztec and Tyndall districts have heretofore lacked both. It is our object to introduce to the notice of capi- talists and others the advantage to be derived by participants in the rapid and quick development of what is to-day a region of almost incredible wealth.
The Capital Stock.
The Capital Stock of the companies is fixed at $10,000,000, each divided into 100,000 shares of a par value of $100 each.
As it is the intention of the directors of these companies to work with prudence and economy, it is not deemed necessary to place upon the market more of its stock than is sufficient to actually develop the paying value of each company, it being fair to infer from all previous experience in this character of mining, that as the work progresses, sufficient ores will be obtained, to not only prosecute its labors, but also, in a very short period, to justify each of the companies in declaring a first dividend.
Twenty thousand shares of stock has been set aside in each company, as WORKING CAPITAL STOCK. This is the stock we now offer for sale. FIVE THOUSAND SHARES ONLY are offered at the present figures. The next five thousand shares will be sold at double the present rate, and the remainder, if it be necessary to sell it, will be at the least quadruple the present price. This has been our experience with the mines we organized previously, in the old Syndicate.
Further information may be obtained by addressing the Managing Director, or any other officer of the companies, or by addressing the editor of the Tucson (Arizona) Star, or Col. R. J. Hinton, editor of the San Francisco Post, or of any businessman at Tucson, Arizona, or of Superintendent John B. Magee, at Tucson. As these stocks are FULLY PAID UP AND UNASSESSABLE, they offer to the modest INVESTOR or the CAPITALIST the best investment known in this country.
The map accompanying this shows the location of the mines owned by us, as well as of many others upon which work is now being vigorously pressed. Every INVESTOR will receive the monthly reports from the mines, and be kept
fully and thoroughly advised of every matter of importance, as it is to the hearty co-operation of shareholders that every mining company should look to produce the most favorable results for their enterprise.
(Signed) C. L. BENEDICT,
John Haynes,
$ Jno. D. Graham,
E. S. IRVIN, W. G. GRAHAM, Directors of the Bushell G. & S. M'g Co., and St. Louis G. & S. M'g Co.
Report Of Managing Director Graham.
Office Of The Toltec Syndicate Of Mines,
SAN FRANCISCO, June 17th, 1878.
the Directors of the Bushell Gold and Silver Mining Company, and of the Saint Louis Gold and Silver Mining Company :
GENTLEMEN: The accompanying reports from the Superintendent, John E. Magee, and Professor Thomas Davis, at the mines, deserve your earnest consideration. These mines, incorporated under the laws of this State, June 1, 1878, are now to be developed and brought to a paying basis, and to do this will require your most energetic action and hearty co-operation in every respect. It may not be out of place to call your attention to the history of the present great movement in mining developments in the Santa Rita mountains, where the Bushell and the Saint Louis are situated.
On the 24th of April, 1877, I drew and offered to many of you, an agree- ment forming the " Aztec Syndicate of Mines," and your modest invest- ments in that enterprise realized, by the 7th of January, 1878, the sum of forty thousand dollars for every thousand invested. Of the history of the Aztec Syndicate, up to the date of the purchase of the controlling interest from myself and associates, by eastern parties, it is needless here to speak further than above. Some extracts from the press of various places, bear- ing on the matter, are herein enclosed, and, if advisable, can be used, that others may see in what manner the great mining interests of Southern Arizona have been builded up, and by whom. You are aware of the severe struggle had by the Aztec and Inca companies, under our manage- ment, before people could be induced to even listen to any description of the property, its merits and capacities. Few people heard of Arizona, fewer still cared about Arizona — and a still less number could be found who would invest a dollar in that terra incognito — Arizona.
I need not tell you nor others, how all this has been changed. Millions of dollars are now pouring into the section — a year ago almost unknown and totally unworked. The Apache Indians outnumbered the whites ! There were no mines being worked! There was no labor in the country,
because there was no demand for labor and no money to pay labor. From our small beginning, when ground was broken by Superintendent Thomas Davis and Manager John E. Magee, for the Aztec Company, on June 25th, 1877, we have seen something unparalleled in the history of mining.
The Aztec and Tyndall districts, in which lie the ten mines comprising the Toltec Syndicate, have been overrun with prospectors, and our first lo- cations made have been followed by over one thousand more locations in these two districts. Capital is now flooding both districts ; eastern capital- ists were the first to lay hold, and to-day it is a contest between eastern currency ;md San Francisco gold as to the possession of the mines of that section. Our great mining capitalists, grown weary of the Comstocks and the Black Hills, are piling up money in the Santa Rita's. The whole face of the country is changed in a year's time. Mines are being opened, mills being built, and thousands of hardy miners from the failing lodes of Nevada and the thin surfaced claims of the Black Hills are finding remunerative labor in the mines of southern Arizona. I feel a pardonable pride in being able to say that I have contributed somewhat to this state of things, and can say that from making the first movement for the actual development of a mine in the Santa Rita's, I have day by day grown firmer in my belief that we possess in that section the future hope of silver mining in America.
The mines of the Toltec Syndicate, ten in number, are as follows :
TheBushell Tyndall District.
The Eagle
The Forsythe
The Knoxville Aztec District.
The Webster
The Velasco
The Saint Louis
TheOjero
TheRickard
The La Purissima
The accompanying map shows the locations of the above, as also some of the mines of the Aztec Syndicate and others.
Of these mines the Bushell and Saint Louis are now incorporated, and other incorporations will follow as rapidly as may be considered best for the interests of the Syndicate. I regard the Bushell and the Saint Louis mines as not only two of our best mines, but as two of the best mines in Arizona, and my opinion is amply sustained by all who have examined these proper- ties. For the purpose of speedy development, I would recommend that a few thousand shares of the working capital stock of each company be sold at such low figures as will produce immediate means for this development, as I am certain that, as in the case of the Aztec stock, which, starting at $2.50 per share on May 26th, 1877, sold at $10.00 per share on the 1st of October, 1877, no better investment can be found than in the stock of the Bushell or of the Saint Louis mines ; and viewed even as a speculation,
nothing known to me offers so great an inducement. The men who organ- ized and pioneered the Aztec Syndicate are the owners of the Toltec Syndi- cate of mines, arid with their added experience are now able to produce even better results than were obtained. in the Aztec. Prompt and speedy action looking to a thorough development of these mines is all that is needec to insure success. I have every reason to believe that within ninety days from this date a mill will be in operation upon the ores of the Bushell anc of the Saint Louis mines, and shipments of bullion of sufficient importance be made to gladden the hearts of every holder of shares in either company The position of these companies is very gratifying ; not a penny of indebt- edness lies against either company ; their titles are perfect, their advantages very great, and their possibilities quite as immense as even the most san- guine shareholder could desire. By our plan of concentrating the contro of the various departments of labor, etc., the saving in the running expen- ditures of the mines is a feature ; with one set of officers and one set o: offices and attaches the expense is reduced to a minimum, and the system guarantees the best and largest results at the least possible expenditure Every person connected with the Syndicate as well as with the mining com- panies referred to, is well and favorably known. Our course of action in the past is a guarantee for the future, and with the splendid properties we are now seeking to develop there can be no obstruction to hinder us from bringing, at a very early day, both of these companies to a dividend paying basis.
To lay the facts relative to these mines before the public, allow me to suggest that the reports of Superintendent J. E. Magee and of Professor Thomas Davis, as well as those of Professor Raphael Pumpelly and Hon. J Ross Browne, with such reference as may be made by the press of Arizona to the enterprise and the mines, be compiled and published. Although the incorporations have been made only at the first of this month, and work on the mines but just begun, the above mentioned reports are of themselves amply sufficient to justify capital in seeking an investment in these shares, and to give to investors an opportunity of obtai ning full and correct infor- mation in reference to these properties, it would, be well to so publish these facts. In Tucson, where our Territorial office Is located, every business man is a reference as to our property, its value and merit, as well as to our integrity and energy in promoting our mining interests by steady work and untiring development.
Hundreds of persons in the east and south, as well as in the western States, are now writing to the editor of the Tucson Star, A. E. Fay, Esq., and to Col. R. J. Hinton, editor of the San Francisco Post, and author of " Hinton' s Hand-Book to Arizona," for information relative to Southern Arizona — its mineral, agricultural and other resources, and the influx of immigrants and capital into Southern Arizona, since the beginning of my
labors to that end has been unprecedented. In reference to the other prop- erties of the Syndicate, I do not deem it necessary at this time to say more than that they are quite equal, so far as can be seen, to the Bushell and the Saint Louis. Full reports, based upon the actual examination of these properties by prospecting them thoroughly, will be made to the Syndicate from time to time. The matter in hand now is to push the interests of the Bushell and Saint Louis companies by every means, in order that returns may be made at an early day. I am of the opinion, so confidently expressed by Professor Davis, that "within ninety days from the day that the first stamp is struck on the Bushell and Saint Louis ores, both of these com- panies can pay a small dividend, which, with the facilities which six months time will bring, can be increased to a large one."
Monthly reports from the mines will be published, and sent to every shareholder or other person who sends an address to me, to the end that the progress of the work may be fully and thoroughly known from its inception.
The enclosed certificates of assays of ores of the Bushell and of the Saint Louis mine in Professor Davis' letter, speak for themselves, and I have every reason to believe that we shall be able to show even greater results as a little depth is attained in these mines ; and upon this point I am sus- tained by the facts in relation to every mine in that section, upon which shafts have been sunk. The richness of the ore increases with the depth in every case. Upon my next visit to the mines, I shall make all necessary arrangements relative to Reduction Works.
Very respectfully,
John D. Graham,
Managing Director.
Report On The Bushell Mine.
Superintendent'S Office, Bushell Gold And Silver Mining Company,
TUCSON, Arizona, June 8th, 1878. COL. JNO. D. GRAHAM,
Managing Director Toltee Syndicate,
San Francisco, Cal.
DEAR SIR : — The Bushel! mine belonging to the Toltee Syndicate, lies about half a mile north of Salero Hill, in the Tyndall Mining District, and on the Hamilton lode.
It is easy of access ; with a few days work on the road we have made it so a wagon can be driven on to the mine ; considerable work has been done on this property many years ago; the trails can still be traced over the mesas, on which the burros travelled, packing the ores down to the old
Tumacacori Mission Church, some 12 miles distant, where they were worked by the Jesuit Fathers.
. There are two parallel veins about forty feet apart running a little south of west and north of east; commencing at the west end of the mine and travelling easterly about 780 feet you gain an ascent of 165 feet; at this point you strike huge sandstone cappings, looming up in an irregular pre- cipitous shape, some 200 feet, and covering nearly the whole eastern portion of the mine. The granite and porphyry formation of the country show on either side of sandstone cappings, and can be traced right up to where it commences to overlap the older formation.
On the northerly one of these two veins is where the ancient workings are; on this space of 780 feet, on the west end of the mine, are four old shafts or holes from 18 to 25 feet deep, some of which are partly filled up, while the vein for a space of 235 to 240 feet has been stripped or dug off" from two to three feet deep. Walk from the west end to the sandstone cappings and you will find a vein of pure mineral, from thirty inches on the surface to four feet wide in the bottoms of shafts, for 610 consecutive feet. These old holes or shafts are irregularly shaped, some of them over thirty feet in length, from which large amounts of mineral have been ex- tracted in the most crude manner, while the old dumps still contain suf- ficient of good ore to pay for sorting them under an economical working of the mine.
The country rock, walls and casings of the vein are all a miner could wish. That the vein is a true fissure, there is no doubt whatever; every ex- pert and miner who has seen it agree on this point, and the fame of the mine has led every visitor to the Santa Rita's to make a close and critical examination of the property. At different periods within the last three years I have had some twenty assays made from the vein, giving all the way from $30 up to $480 per ton silver, with now and then a few dollars per ton in gold. I have taken twenty pounds of ore from the old dumps, bottoms of the shafts, along the surface of the ledge; each pound from a different place, and made an average assay, with the result of $92.40 per ton silver, and $6.12 per ton gold.
On the southerly vein no shafts have been sunk, only here and there some prospect cuttings ; it is a great massive, black, manganese,iron capped vein; some750.feet west from the west end of the mine, on the adjoining claim, there is an old shaft on this vein some fourteen feet deep; here a vein of metal i8 shown over twelve feet wide. By sinking through the iron cap on the Bushell mine this same body of ore will be found; the vein is more promi- nent and shows better here than at any othr point, while the trend of both ledges indicate that at a depth of two to three hundred feet thei will be one massive vein. I have no hesitation in stating it as a fact, th{ with judicious working?, and at a very small expense, this mine will
furnish ore enough to keep a ten stamp mill pounding right along from the first thirty days, and pay fair dividends, and this on what we have in sight on the north vein, not counting the south vein at all, while under those huge sandstone cappings lie inexhaustible supplies of ore. This Bushell mine to-day is equal to any property in Southern Arizona, while its actual value> as yet, no one can tell.
The usual facilities for cheap mining, working of ores, climate, etc., in this country are well known facts abroad, and need no comment. I have already engaged a force of men, and work will be commenced before this reaches you, and will be pushed with the utmost vigor.
Let me earnestly recommend that you urge upon the board of directors the imperative necessity of at once arranging for reduction works; we have nothing to wait for ; in this respect the Bushell, as it stands at this hour, can overrun with ore a ten stamp mill, and in sixty days will be more than able to crowd a mill of double that capacity. Immediate steps should be taken to this end, so that dividends, the life of all mining enterprises, can be made ; some sacrifices may justly be made to obtain milling facilities at an early day, and this opinion is shared with Prof. Davis, the former Superin- tendent of the Aztec Mines, and by Prof. Rickard, the eminent metallur- gist now here. The ores will probably be best treated through the Rickard furnace, and by the Hunt & Douglass process of lixiviation, being the cheapest and most satisfactory process known for the working of these ores.
Very respectfully,
John E. Magee,
Superintendent.
Report On The Saint Louis Mine.
Superintendent'S Office,
SAINT Louis GOLD AND SILVERJMINING COMPANY,
TUCSON, Arizona, June 8th, 1878. )
Col. Jno. D. Graham,
Managing Director Toltec Syndicate, San Francisco, Cal.
DEAR SIR: — The Saint Louis Mine, belonging to the Toltec Syndicate, lies about one mile northeasterly from Camp Toltec, on the eastern end of the Empress of India lode. This wonderful lode, on its eastern end, forks out into three distinct branches, while other lodes intersect it at various places. The Saint Louis Mine, though on the main fork of the Empress of India, is located as on the General Craig lode.
The western end of the mine lies on rather even ground, cut in a few places by arroyps, while its eastern end runs up over high hills; the course of the vein is north of east and south of west, and shows the whole length of the mine from eight to twenty feet of metal in width, though the crop- pings are small above ground. No work has ever been done on the mine except the prospecting done under ytmr direction.
N ear the western end of the mine an arroyo cuts the vein, in the bottom of which the ore or mineral shows a solid body of eight feet in width, im- bdded in porphyry and granite, while two other threads run parallel with this laie body of ore of twelve and fifteen inches in width; here the mine is shown in perfect formation, the vein dipping north, quartz, quartzite and gangue all impregnated with copper blende and copper silver glance min- eral.
From this arroyo, for a distance of 150 feet east, nature has done a work that would cost many thousands of dollars to perform; the wash down through the gap between the hills at this point, through centuries of time, has uncovered the vein for 180 feet, including the arroyo, and there now lies exposed to view a body of mineral from eight to twelve feet in width, which assays from $25 to $250 right on the surface ; with a common pick and shovel wagons could be here loaded with first class ore. I have exam- ined this mine very carefully and find it one of the best, if not the very best undeveloped property in the Santa Rita mountains. The formation is per- fect ; a true fissue vein. The ores are of the same class as those of its sister mines, the Montezuma, the Inca, and the Empress of India, situated on the western end of this great lode; easy of access, cheap in development, lying only six miles from a water power to grind its ores ; to me it seems one of the most if not the most valuable property in the Aztec min- ing district. Before this reaches you I shall have a force of men at work sinking on the mine.
My remarks in the report on the Bushell mine relative to reduction works need not be repeated, but with the magnificent water power of the Sonoita it seems a crime to delay by one day the erection of works, to convert our inexhaustible ore bodies into silver and gold bullion. I trust that you will press this matter upon the .Board, and upon our friends in the east who de- sire to see a successful realization of their hopes. Our eastern visitors are astonished and delighted with the outlook, and promise most vigorous ac- tion upon their return to the east, while the San Francisco and Virginia City experts, who have been examining the property, are compelled to ad- mit that they have seen nothing to equal these mines in this section, certainly the richest in mineral that has yet been discovered in the United States.
Very respectfully,
JOHN E. MAGEE, Superintendent.
The*following letter from Prof. Thos. Davis, the first Superintendent for the Aztec Syndicate, will be of interest. Col. R. J. Hinton in his " Hand Book to Arizona/' thus speaks of the Professor:
" Professor Thomas Davis is one of the best known and most respected miners and practical mineralogists in Arizona. Thomas Davis has spent over a quarter of a century in the working of mines, and possesses also a more than fair theoretical knowledge of the sciences which are connected with his pursuits. " The Professor," as he is usually called, is one of those characters usually marked only, it would seem, in mining and frontier re- gions. He is a man of over seventy years of age, who looks "like sixty," and a hale and hearty three-score at that. He is a Philadelphian by birth; his father was for many years connected with the United States Mint, as as- sayer. Professor Davis was in Texas in 1839, participated in all movements connected with the Lone Star Republic, was in the various battles, and, be- ing captured, remained a prisoner in Mexican hands for two years. He served as guide to the American army, and participated in the Taylor cam-
paigns. He went to Africa, and being shipwrecked, with others, made a long journey across the southern extremity of the continent, thence sailed to India, and thence home by way of Central America. He has been in Cuba, mined in Brazil, Peru, Australia, several years in California, at quicksilver, placer, gravel and quartz, and for twenty years past has been engaged in Mexico, having charge of large operations. The old gentleman is hardy, studious, observant, self-opinionated, but wise in his specialties, honest and temperate in character and habits, and always as open and sim- ple as a child in his ways. Of the character of these mines, his opinion is worthy of consideration."
Letter From Thos. Davis.
TUCSON, ARIZONA, June 10th, 1878. COL. JNO. D. GRAHAM,
Managing Director,- etc.
MY DEAR SIR : — At the request of Supt. Magee, I send you enclosed a list of various assays which have been made from ores of the Bushell, Saint Louis and other mines, now the property of the Toltec Syndicate. Let me very earnestly congratulate you upon your possession of these mag- nificent mining claims, and also as to your great success in the Aztec Syndi- cate. The change in the Aztec and Tyndall mining districts, since the 25th day of June, 1877, on which date Mr. Magee and myself began work on the Aztec, is entirely unparalelled in my experience, and I have seen the upsand downs of mining for half a century, and in almost all sections of the country. Then we were entirely alone, creeping to our work with rifles ready, leaving men on the lookout for Apaches ; and trembling in our huts at Camp Toltec at night ; no roads but the old roads or trails made by the Jesuit Fathers, and by the men afterwards murdered here by the Apache In- dians, while endeavoring to work these mines, Wrightson, Grosvenor, Slack, Poston and others. Now splendid roads, beautiful Camp Toltec with all the requisite buildings and works of a successful mining camp, with a thousand locations made, the country overrun with prospectors, speculators, capital- ists and miners j no end of mines being developed, mills being rapidly built, you can scarcely conceive the magnitude of the change; rely upon it the people of this section remember how much they owe to your efforts in placing before the people at large, the facts in relation to the mineral resources of southern Arizona. Every one in this section heartily rejoices in your great success.
The following assays are from the Bushell and from the Saint Louis mines; these assays have been made from time to time during the past three years, chiefly for myself, as I originally located the Bushell mine. The Bushell is the " Boustillo," or old Tumacacori mine, to which reference is made in the following histories of Arizona; the works of Pumpelly, Cozzens, Conklin, Ehrenburg, J. Ross Browne, Wrightson and others, and especially in " Hinton's Hand Book to Arizona." Having been recorded as it sounded, not as it was originally spelled, the record had to stand, so it is to-day " Bushell," instead of " Boustillo." The ores of these two mines will run nearly the same in value, and if they only average $100 per ton, you will have ample reason to be content. I am satisfied, and would agree to so contract, that within ninety days, from the day that the first stamp is struck on the Bushell and Saint Louis ores, both of these companies can pay a small div-
idend, which, with the facilities which six months time will bring, can be increased to a large one.
Assay No.
Ore From
Silver
Gold
Value per ton of 2,000 Ibs.
Old Shaft Bushell
23 %
Traces Traces Traces Traces Traces Traces Traces Traces Traces
$191 89 105 n8
OM Shaft Bu hell
i
ii
Croppir "'s Saint Louis
" " from arroyo
Croppings Bushel!
it it
ti 11
Croppings Saint Louis
ii it it
Assays irom the La Purissima croppings, lowest, $18.61 silver, $6.43 gold; highest, $271.09 silver, $27.21 gold. The Knoxville, Webster, Ve- lasco and Ojero run from $20 to $800 per ton, in common with the mines on that lode. The Forsythe runs from $25 to $275 per ton. The Rickard from $20 to $200, and the Eagle from $25.75 silver, and $3.48 gold, to $478.92 silver, and $12 gold.
The metal on the Bushell is very even in appearance and assay value at corresponding depths along the vein, and the ore on the Saint Louis is re- markably well denned and even in value for a long distance on the vein. There is nowhere in Arizona a better property than these mines, and I sim- ply state with my twenty odd years of experience, in this section and in Mexieo, that I have never seen a location offering more prospects of success than those of the Buehell and of the Saint Louis mines. You know how enthusiastic my views are upon the La Purissima, the Ojero, the Eagle, the Forsythe, and the others, but I am satisfied that you will attain a greater development in the two now incorporated, for a given sum expended, than in any of the others. These are mines which are ready to pay you back money from the first stroke of the pick, for there is ore from the very grass roots, and of magnificent quality, and in immense quantities.
By all means get a mill at work at the earliest possible day upon these ores. The stamps will speak for the value of the mines better than the reports of all the experts who ever saw them. I would like to give a bond to furnish a twenty stamp mill with ores from these mines, and only start at work extracting ores 30 days before the mill began to work ; the mill would never catch up, even if but a small force were judiciously worked. No one realizes better than myself, who have watched this section for so many years, what a debt of gratitude Southern Arizona, and especially the Aztec and Tyndall mining districts owe to your labors, since you originated the old Aztec Syndicate, and I am confident your efforts hare been and are ap-
predated in this section by every business man, miner and farmer; I am quite certain, that your success in the Toltec Syndicate will be as great or greater even than in the first enterprise, for the basis is a most magnificent property, and being under the present control and management, there can be one but result — success.
Very respectfully your friend,
Thos. Davis.
[From the Tucson (Arizona) Star, June 13th; 1878.] TOLTEC SYNDICATE OF MINES.
Old Pioneers Again To The Front — Organization Of A New Syndicate
Aztec And Tyndall Districts Again In The Field.
We are pleased to learn from John E. Magee, who has just returned from San Francisco, that more of the mines in the Aztec and Tyndall dis- tricts are to be put into an organization, which is to be known as the "Toltec Syndicate of Mines/' The formation of this company was per- fected during Mr. Magee's stay in San Francisco, and the officers are as follows :
Managing Director — Col. John D. Graham.
Treasurer — C. S. Benedict.
Superintendent — John E. Magee.
Secretary — Charles Cranz, Jr.
The office-} of the company are at rooms 14 and 15, 302 Montgomery street, San Francisco. In the districts named the company has a group of ten selected mines, which are well known among miners as containing the precious metals in great quantities, and all that is required is capital for development. The Syndicate is composed of twenty shares, all of which that is to be so!4 have already been taken by leading capitalists. As we said before, the mines are located in the Aztec and Tyndall districts, and some of them have a history which at once stamps them among the most important and desirable in the country. Some of theui have been worked by the Jesuit Fathers, by an ancient process, the evidences of which still linger about the mines. The properties have been held by the present owners for the past three years, under all the dangers and difficulties inci- dent to the country from hostile Indians, and now place them in the Syn- dicate. In December last the editor of the Star paid a visit to the Aztec property, passing over some of the mines now included in the new Syndi- cate, which attracted the attention of our party iu a great degree, the croppings and general indications being of that character to attract upon the surface. There is all the evidence necessary for a practical miner to be convinced of the large quantities of ore deposited in the selected section composing the Syndicate, and its development, we undjrs'.a/.id, will be speedy and thorough.
We are glad to know that the old pioneers, Messrs. Graham and Magee who brought ou& uhe Aztec district, and Introduced it so successfully to eastern capitalists, are again in the field to aid in the further development of southern Arizona, and knowing the districts in which they are operating, and the energy, sagacity and foresight of the gentlemen managing the Syndicate, we are confident success will attend them. From Mr. Magee's notes and reports of the mines composing the Syndicate, we extract the following :
"The names of the mines composing the Syndicate are the Bushell, Eagle and Forsythe, in the Tyndall district, and the Saint Louis, La Puris-
sima, Rickard, Knoxville, Ojero, Velasco and Webster in the Aztec district. The Webster, Velasco and Knoxville mines are situated on the eastern end of the famous Empress of India lode. The indications and croppings on this mine are of the same character as that of the now famous Montezuma mine, while the Velasco and Knoxville mines are superior in many respects. Assays have been made which show all the way from $40 to $500 per ton of silver. The Saint Louis mine lies about one mile in a southeasterly direction from Camp Toltec, on the main eastern spur of the Empress of India lode, parallel and adjoining the Velasco mine on the south. It shows on the west end a large body of mineral, one hundred and fifty feet in length and from ten to fifteen in width, while the vein the whole length of the mine shows mineral at various points. An arroyo cuts the vein near the west end of the mine, in the bottom of whieh, embedded in granite and porphyry, it shows a width of from twelve to fourteen feet. I con- sider this mine a very valuable property. The Ojero, Rickard and La- Purissima mines all show mineral on their surface, assaying from $25 to $410 per tori, of silver. The Purissima is situated on the eastern end of the Jefferson lode. Its ores are galena, being the only one of the ten that contains any amount of this metal. The Bushell, or old Tumacacori Mis- sion Mine, lies near Salero Hill, on the Hamilton lode. There are some very old crude workings on this mine. The Jesuit Fathers, who founded the old Tumacacori Mission, on the Santa Cruz river, worked this mine somewhat extensively. The ores are copper blend, copper, silver glance, carbonates, and some chlorides. The beautiful blue and green colors attracted the attention of the Indians, who were under the guidance of the Church, who brought samples to the Fathers, who soon ascertained their value. Some four old shafts or irregular shaped holes, from eighteen to twenty-six feet in depth, are now to be seen on the mine, while the vein shows a stripping of some three hundred feet. For six hundred and eighty feet there is plainly visible a body of mineral thirty inches to four feet wide. The vein is a true fissure. The walls — its casings, and the country rock, are all a miner could wish. With a small outlay this mine will be put upon a paying basis, as there is no more promising prop- erty in southern Arizona.
[Extracts from Hinton's Hand-Book of Arizona.] THE SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS.
The bold sweep of the Santa Rita mountain range, with its massive and serrated peaks, is the one commanding object on which the observing eye rests, in whichever direction the traveler approaches. Passing southward from Tucson down the valley of the Santa Cruz, as the American would be most likely to do, the outlines of the great peaks rise hazy but bold in the distance, against the wondrously clear sky, while growing more majestic and imposing as the day's declining journey brings him almost under the sweeping shadows of Mount Wrightson. It was in sight of this superb range that the old Aztecs and Toltecs journeyed, and along its base, in the beautiful valley of Santa Cruz, passed the Spanish explorer and conqueror, priest or soldier, it mattered but little to the primitive people living in the Primera Alta. From its once secure and savage fastness, old Cachise and his warrior Apaches have swept down on settler, miner aad traveler, until the region was desolated by his forays. The mastering Spaniard — soldier or priest — never seems to have lifted those they mastered, but on the con- trary, were in their turn mastered by the Apache. The Santa Cruz river
rises in Arizona, on the east side of the Patagonia mountains, flowing southward a short distance into Sonora, where it makes a considerable bena, and sweeps northward through the Potrero, and flowing along the eastern base of the Sierras Pajarito and Atascoso, till above Tubac the valley broadens into a great plain, in which the little river meanders until it strikes again the Sierra Tucson, near the town of that name, and along be- yond the base of which it flows northward for miles, when it sinks and is lost permanently. It is supposed to enter the Gila by some subterranean channel near Florence, about 130 miles from the potrero or gateway by which it enters Arizona. The valley of the Santa Cruz, south from Tnc- son, comprises that portion of Arizona of which the most is known, and in which the Spaniards and Anglo-Saxons have struggled the hardest to maintain themselves against the sullen and desperate onslaughts of the destroying savage, until at last the latter has dashed himself to fragments. Tucson marks the termination of the Spanish effort. Below it may be found the evidence of its most steadfast endeavor in the section under consideration. The best Spanish map handed down to us is that of El. P. E. Pedro (a copy of which is found elsewhere), bearing date 1775. This shows quite a number of missions, pueblos, as well as two presidios, between the present frontier line of Mexico and the town of Tucson. Among these is the Mission of Tumacacori, the Presidio of Tubac and the Mission of San Xavierdel Bac, the church and building of which latter are still standing. According to Bishop Sapienta of Tucson, the first mission church of San Xavier was erected in 1670— the one now in existence, nearly a century later. The Mission of San D,)minick, at Tuqueson, or Tucson, was located in 1650, about a csntury after Coronado's expedition for the conquest of the seven cities of Cibola, passed up this valley. A military post had however exis- ted there for three-quarters of a century, The Tumacacori mission is quite a modern affair by the side of those named. The first church building was constructed in 1752, and the one whose ruins are shown in the accomp-.iumg engraving was built in 1802. It was destroyed by the Apaches in 18A).
The valley of the Santa Cruz at Tubac is at least 2,000 feet above sea level, while the Atasco range to the west, that brown, bald and bare, looks down upon the old and dilapidated town and the lovely valley, in which, like some huge daub on a fair picture,it sets a very rugged specimen of an Ari- zona range, has an altitude of about 6,000 feet. The Santa Rita rises, not pre- ciptiously, like the western wall of the valley,but with a bold, grand, regular swell, until the serrated ridge attains an altitude of 8,000 feet.
To the north and west is a bold but lesser cone, which it is pro- pjsel to call Hopkins' Peak, in honor of Gilbert Hopkins, a fa- mous mining engineer slain within the shadows of these mountains by the murderous Apaches. To the east aad south of Mount Wright- son rises another and smaller peai, which, has b3en called Grrosvenor, in honor of another bold pioneer, who, in 1831, wa* slain near the old hacienda at Santa Rita, shortly before Mr. Wrightson, the manager of the Salero Company, lost his life. Prof. Raphael Pumpelly, who was then engineer of the works and mines, the ruins and shafts of which are plainly seen from the Santa Cruz valley by the aid of a g)od glass, gives a spirited account of what life in southern Arizona and with the Apaches on the war-path was at that time, in his valuable bjok, " Across America and Asia," which sh>uld be read by all who desire the testimony of an accomplished savant and min- eralogist as to the vast mineral wealth imbedded in this range.
The Santa Oruz flows very near tne Sierra AUsco, at whose base this evidence of Jesuit endeavor and sacrifice is seen — a strange spec-
tacle indeed in so wild a land. Looking eastwardly, the eye takes in for some miles a bold reach of rising mesa, whose rugged lines are made pictur- esque by the abundant oaks and mesquits,and are softened by a greyish-brown gramma grass, which is here so abundant. During the rainy seasons the Santa Rita is verdant to the summit of the ridge, and the scene is altogether striking and beautiful. The narrow valley, at this point two miles wide, has an abundant fringe of ash, mesquit and cottonwood trees, the laUer being of the largest size. There is a sufficiency of water for all purposes, and, with careful engineering, irrigation will always find ample supply. The ruins of St. Joseph Mission, Tumacacori, are located on the west side of the Santa Cruz, about a quarter of a mile from the dwelling of Mr. King. There is abundant evidence of long continued cultivation in the vicinity, and still with the rather shiftless farming of the present, rancherias in the vicinity bring good returns. The mission buildings, of which sufficient remains to show their character, were of large extent, and yet cover a considerable area.
Prof. Thomas Davis, Superintendent of the Aztec Syndicate Mines, who has spent the last thirty years in the mineral fields of Mexico and the United Stateg, states that when he first passed down the Santa Cruz Valley in 1849, the church roof was nearly intact, and much of the interior was in good preservation. There were many fruit trees, pomegranates, peaches, etc., bearing profusely, and the walls that once enclosed the home orchard and garden were still to be traced by the eye. They are now almost obliterated. The church ruins stand square with the compass, the principal front facing the south. At the rear or north end, there is a high wall in good preservation, enclosing a circular mortuary, still perfect. Within this enclosure, evidently the ground for meditation, the wall contains niches, still perfectly defined and evidently once used as shrines. It is notable that the place of sepulchre should be the one best preserved. To the west of the church is a large enclosure, the walls of which are readily traced. It is evident that this was the work-yard of the mission, as there are the remains of arastas, rude smelting vassos or furnaces, a few heaps of debris, etc., to show that the good Jesuits were actively engaged in the mining and working of ores. On the east of the church can be traced soms buildings, which appear to have been the mission residence.
This mission has an eventful history. At the time of our war of independ- ence it was in the full tide of its activity. The sagacious padres looked after not only the salvation of their Indian peons and converts, but even more strenuously sought the temporal results to be obtained for their church and the Society of Jesus, by working the wonderful mineral lodes located in the mountains that overshadow these ruins, or are outlined in front of them at a few miles distance.
The earlier and more positive information of settlements in the Santa Cruz valley, from the Sonora line to Tucson, show that the Missions of San Xavier del Bac, St. Gertrude, at Tubac, St. Joseph, at Tumacacori, San Miguel, of Sonoita, those of Guevavi, Calabasas, Arinaca and Santa Anna, existed in 1751. In that year, one Luis, from the town of Saric, who passed himself off as a sorcerer, instigated the Indians of Poimaria Alta to a rebellion against the Spanish government and its missions, and these Indians, together with the Series, caused the priests great suffering and loss, killing three of their num- ber and hindering all the missionaries in their religious duties until 1754, when peace came. They were undisturbed again at Tumacacori until an Indian ris- ing in 1802, by which the first church was destroyed. It was replaced by the structure whose ruins are now seen. Then came the revolution in Mexico. The republic was established, the Jesuits banished, and their church property
confiscated. The Tumacacori mission was abandoned, and naught remains of their history and doings, as known to the world, but tales handed down from generation to generation, and one or two books, which speak of the Salero, Tumacacori (the Bushell), and Plancha de la Plata mines. The Salero is in the Tyndall district, the Tumacacori has never been found, and the Plancha de la Plata, or Placers of Silver, are located some twenty miles southwest of here, stretching across the boundary line.
This region, like the balance of Arizona, is perhaps less known to the coun- try at large than any other portion of our continental area, and yet no portion of our frontier territory has ever been so extensively written about, or more thoroughly examined in years gone by, as well as more recently. A talented group of men, many of them widely known in the] public events of the past two decades, have been connected with the Santa Cruz valley and the mineral ex- ploration of the Santa Rita, Tioajalta and Patagonia sierras. From 1858 to 1861, the town of Tubac was headquarters for the Salero Mining Company, and also for the Cerro Colorado and other organizations. The first named was a Cincinnati Company, formed to work the Solero and other mines to the east of the Tumacacori mission, already described. Mr. Wrightson, formerly of the Cincinnati Enquirer, was its organizer and earliest manager. H. C. Grosvenor, an English engineer, was also superintendent ; Gilbert Hopkins, a well-known mineralogist and engineer, Professor Raphael Pumpelly, geologist, engineer and author, now professor at Harvard, were the earliest American explorers and workers connected with this company. Colonel C. C. Poston, formerly dele- gate in Congress and now Register of the United States Land Office; Gen.Heint- zleman, a veteran of the old army, Gen. C. P. Stone (now Chief of Staff in the Egyptian army), Lieut. Sylvester Mowry, Sam Butterworth, Colonel Talcott, Herman Ehrenberg, Gustavus Kustel, Frederick Brunkow, mining engineers of repute, were among the daring men who sought for treasure here, and while find- ing it, were found by the Apaches and compelled to leave. Some of them, nota- bly Wrightson, Hopkins and Grosvenor, and also a brother of Col. Poston, lost their lives, and were buried under the shadow of these everlasting hills." The records and reports left by these daring explorers are in evidence of the vast wealth barely touched in the Santa Rita, though native Aztec, Jesuit priest and Spanish explorer have worked in them for centuries past. The im- portance of this region can be seen when it is stated that seventy-five years ago the Spanish records shows that there were 150 silver mines in operation within fifteen miles circuit of the Presidio of Tubac. J. Ross Browne, in his decidedly interesting work, the "Apache Country," as also in his reply to the general government, on the mines and minerals of the United States, Colonel Cretnony in a work on the Apaches, Bartlett's Personal Narrative of the United States Boundary Survey, Dr. Rothrock of the Wheeler Expeditions, Professor Raymond, Whipple, Emory, Cooke and other officers of the United States Ar.-ny, all refer to both the mineral wealth and the natural beauty and attractiveness of this region.
Starting from the ruins of Tumacacori into the heart of the former Apache fastness, whose mountain sides are yet fed with the blood Cachise has shed, the footsteps of later adventurers maybe easily and more pleasurably traced. The activity produced by the success already beginning to crown the tenacious exer- tions and courage of men like Colonel John D. Graham, the able Secretary ot the Aztec Syndicate, of Professor Davis, its Superintendent, who twenty-eight years since, prospected this region at the risk of his life ; of ex-Governor Saf- ford, the ablest Executive Arizona has had, and John B. Magee, the active and talented resident manager of the Aztec property, of Charles Brown, Tom Rod- dick, Captain Smitli (now dead), and others, men who have never lost courage and have steadily pressed on to their work amid privations, danger and arduous exertions — this success is in remarkable contrast with defeats and losses that preceded the present situation. It has not been all plain sailing, how-
ever, nor are all the obstacles overcome. None remain, however, which capi- tal, courage and industry will not surmount.
According to the reports handed down, the Tumacacori mine was distant as the crow flies, but a short morning's walk from the Mission in the valley below. The Hamilton lode, upon which are the Hamilton and Bushell mines, lies exactly east, and less than ten miles off. There is still an old trail plainly discernible, which strikes the present wagon-road some distance below the old hacienda. Mr. Wrightson, the first American superintendent, reported on these mines in 1859, that:
"The ores are suited to both smelting and amalgamation The smelting ores are those in which there is a very large admixture of lead or a very rich sulphuret of silver and copper. The amalgamation ores are those where the culls of silver and copper predominate. The Crystal and the Encarnacion mines yield smelting ores. The Bustillo, the Cazader, the Ojero and the Juller mines yield ores which by assortment can be treated by both processes. The Salero yields amalgamation ore."
Extracts From The Press.
[From the Los Angeles Evening Express, December 3d, 1877.] ARIZONA MINES.
Three days ago, Col. J. D. Graham, Secretary of the Aztec Syndicate, arrived here with a large party of gentlemen of financial standing in several of the eastern cities, on their way to Arizona, to inspect a number of mines in the Aztec District. They had made their arrangements to spend a few days in our city, visiting our orange groves and vineyards, and will start on the train to-morrow for Yuma. The party consists of Col. John D. Graham of San Francisco, Col. Wm. G. Boyle, of Arizona, H. R. Allen, of Indian- apolis, John K. Wallace, of Philadelphia, F. H. Steel, of Oil City, Pa., Alex. Whildin, of Philadelphia, Col. Chas. W. Tozer, San Francisco, E. Conklin, of Frank Leslie's Illustrated News, and Col. R. J. Hinton, editor of the San Francisco Post. The particular mines which these gentlemen are on their way to examine, are the Aztec, the Inca, the Iturbide, the Almoner, and others belonging to the Aztec Syndicate. They are not new mines ; the vein was worked one hundred years ago by the Jesuits, with great success. The Apaches, however, have, up to a very recent period, held possession of the Territory, excepting during a short interval about twenty years ago, when the mines were reopened, and paid handsomely; such authorities in mines as Professor Pumpelly, now of Harvard University, J. Ross Browne and Pro- fessors Ehrenberg, Hopkins, "Wrightson and Grosvenor have, at different times, examined these mines, and reported very favorably upon them. Professor Wm. T. Rickard, F. C. S., is now there in charge of the metallur- gical department of the Company, who propose to put up mills and smelting works immediately. The company have one of the best water power ease- ments on the coast, near the mines on the Sonoita river, and turbine wheels and other machinery is now on its way there, to ba put to utiliza tha water power to run their mills.
The party will proceed from Yuma to Tucson, and thence to the mines in their own conveyances, Col. Graham having sent forward by yesterday's train eight fine Kentucky mules and two large travelling wagons. We look upon this as the most important party from abroad which has yet taken an interest in the development of mining property in Arizona. They represent a large amount of capital, and will report for parties who are able and will- ing to make very extensive investments in the mines of that Territory, if the facts come up to their expectations. A variety of circumstances are in pro- gress, which induce us to believe that we are on the eve of witnessing a
great mining revival in Arizona Eastern capitalists are beginning to take a lively interest in the mines of that Territory, and the splendid developments made recently at various points in Arizona, have attracted an attention to its metal resouces, which must necessarily, in our opinion, result in testing thoroughly the capacity of the leads already opened. If we should greatly discount our present anticipations, and realize but a very small proportion of the hopes we now have in reference to that Territory, it would still become a very prosperous mining country. We are aware that the men who pioneer the way to new settlements are always sanguine, but we have had proofs in reference to the rich mineral character of Arizona which we cannot brush aside. When the mines of that Territory are properly developed by capital and energy, we feel assured that a new El Dorado will be opened that will eclipse Nevada.
[From the Yuma, (Arizona,) Sentinel, December 8th, 1877.]
On Monday came Col. John D. Graham of the Aztec Syndicate, with eight fine large Kentucky mules, a good saddle horse, two ambulances, and the most complete travelling outfit ever brought into Arizona; one of the wagons was an ambulance built expressly for Dr. Dio Lewis' famous Yosemite trip, and the other was just as good. A couple of days were passed here in shoeing the animals and putting the outfits into thorough good con- dition.
On Wednesday morning came Col. W. G. Boyle, well known in mining circles, and Col. R. J. Hinton, of the San Francisco Post; with them came a party of eastern capitalists, travelling for pleasure, health and information. They are guests of Col. Graham, and will be shown everything of interest in Southern Arizona; whether they make any investments among us depends entirely on whether they see anything that suits them, and is a secondary consideration. Their party consists of Col. Chas. W. Tozer, an old Arizo- nian, who has made one of his periodical "big raises," who knows the Santa Rita's, and wants some; Dr. H. R. Allen, who is known as an able business man of ample fortune, and has been very successful in mining en- terprises in Nevada and Montana ; Mr. Alexander Whildin, a wealthy retired merchant of Philadelphia; Mr. John K. Wallace, one of the great oil men of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania oil country; Mr. F . H. Steel, a wealthy banker of the oil country, who has been looking up mining properties in Montana, and taken an interest in such enterprises, though he is here chiefly in search of health; Mr. E. Conklin, an artist connected with Frank Leslie, and agent of the American Press Association, is also a guest of Col. Graham, and will take photographic views and sketches of the Santa Rita mountains, mines and other objects of interest. He has been out here be- fore, and is well and favorably known.
Col. Graham is a pusher, and is now trying to wake eastern people up to a realizing sense of the extent and richness of Arizona's resources; Boyle is an old Arizona pioneer, and an old Nevada miner. To advance the interests of this Territory he has labored unceasingly, both in the United States and abroad; he has interested English capitalists here, and they are doing work here now. The party will take its time in reaching Tucson; they propose to camp one night at the Casa Grande, and sleep in the old ruins — revel in the halls of the most ancient of the Montezumas.
These Eastern men are prepared to overlook the newness and difficulties of the country; thanks to Graham's thoughtful care, they can look leisurely up- on its good points, and have no incentive to carp upon its bad ones. They are men who move at home in circles where Arizona most wants to be known and talked about. They will go back with clearer and better ideas of the resources of the country than can be had by men travelling here with fewer
facilities than theirs for obtaining information. They will go back, and be living, eloquent advertisements of Arizona, and do much to influence capital to seek us. We are satisfied that if these gentlemen will look with impar- tial eyes, they can form but one conclusion, favorable to us. Arizona has the resources, and only wants just such chances for showing them; the dust and dreariness of the Gila road will be forgotten in the beauty and wealth of the Santa Bita mountains. The course being pursued by Col. Graham is one that should be followed by others interested in the development of Arizona. Instead of grumbling because capitalists will not come here on the strength of rich specimens and big assays, they invite influential parties to come and see what we have here, and provide every means for securing their guests' comfort and pleasure ; the best proof of the merits of their min - ing property may be found in their anxiety to have people examine it .
[From the Tucson Star, December 13th, 1877.] COL. GKAHAM'S PAETY.
Col. John D. Graham, Secretary of the Aztec Syndicate, is now en route to Tucson, with a large party of eastern capitalists, who are on a prospecting tour in Arizona, looking after mining interests, and if developments are sat- isfactory, they intend to invest largely in mining speculations. They arrived in Yuma on Monday last, where their own outfit awaited them, composed of eight Kentucky mules, two ambulances and a saddle horse, with which they started over the country. We have heard of this party at different stations along the route, the last time at Maricopa, and they are expected to arrive here on Friday or Saturday next. The party numbers about twenty, among whom are Col. Boyle, well known in Arizona, Col. K. J. Hinton, of the San Francisco Post, Col. Charles W. Tozer, also an old Arizonian, Dr. H. K.. Allen, founder of the National Surgical Institute at Indianapolis, who has branch establishments at Atlanta, Philadelphia and San Francisco. The latter has mining interests in Nevada and Montana; Alex. Whildin, a wealthy retired merchant of Philadelphia; John K. Wallace of Philadelphia, whose heavy oil operations in Pennsylvania, during the past ten years, are well known to the writer, who formerly resided in the oil regions. He is a gentle- man who means business. We know it from personal observation. F. H. Steele, banker, from the Pennsylvania oil regions, we have known for many years. Of the last two gentlemen we can speak from personal knowledge, and, indeed, we are glad to see them turning their attention Arizonaward, and we hope may strike a " third sander," the pebble rock of which is good for a thousand barrels a day. Just think of it, fellow oil searchers: refined oil retails in Tucson at $2.00 a gallon. If you put down a shaft for silver and gold, just put down a 3-inch driving pipe, with a sand pump, and who knows but your gold and silver rock will throw up the same crude oil that has made you all rich in years gone by. Gold, silver, copper, lead and crude oil, all in one hole — pretty strong, but how we would like to scent it once. The editor of the Star received a letter on Monday last from C. D. Angell, Esq., dated at Florence, which stated he was going to Globe City, and would come around this way during his prospecting tour. Mr. Angell is one of the foremost oil men of Pennsylvania ; the discoverer of the " oil belt theory," which traces the oil in the rock thousands of feet below the surface. He, too, is one of the successful men of the Pennsylvania oil regions. If he bores for oil he will go to the " sixth sand " (shamburg), but he will strike a lead. We hope to shake his hand within a few days. Mr. E. Conklin, an artist for Frank Leslie's newspaper, is with the Aztec party. Look out for illustrations of our country. There are many others with the party. Col. Graham is the instigator of this excursion of capitalists, and their visit to Arizona may be laid at his door. If we had a few more Col.
Grahams, to take some active part in introducing eastern men, or any other men with capital, and 'developing our Territory, Arizona would soon step to the front.
[From the Tucson Weekly Star, December 20th, 1877.] THE AZTEC MINING DISTEICT.
As was announced in our last issue, a large party of gentlemen arrived in this city on Friday last, bound for the Aztec mining district, in the Santa Eita mountains. This party was invited by Col. John D. Graham, through Col. Boyle, during his late trip to the East, to visit the property of the Aztec Syndicate, and, after a very pleasant trip from Yuma, lasting ten days, the party found themselves in the comfortable quarters of ,Gov. Safford, with a prospect of a few days' rest before them, previous to leaving for the mines.
The following gentlemen comprise the party who will visit the mines: Dr. H.E.Allen, of Indianapolis, Ind.; Alex. Whildin, Esq., of Philadelphia, Pa.; John K. Wallace, Esq., of Philadelphia, Pa.; Frank H. Steel, Esq., of Oil City, Pa., Col. Chas. W. Tozer, of San Francisco; Col. E. J. Hinton, of San Francisco; E. Conklin, Esq., of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, and agent of the American Press Association; and Col. J. D. Graham, of San Francisco, under whose care the party have travelled since leaving San Fran- cisco.
The party were warmly received by our leading citizens, and every facility shown them to guage our resources in Tucson and its surrounding and tribu- tary country. The prospects 6f our various mining districts have been laid before them, and much good may be looked for in this section, from the scrutiny and investigation of our mining resources which these gentlemen will give them. Dr. Allen and Col. Tozer are both thoroughly competent to report upon such subjects, and we feel well assured it only requires an inves- tigation on the part of competent men to place Southern Arizona in its true light ; to this end Colonel Graham has labored unceasingly in this country and in Europe for many years, and through good and ill report he has been steadfast in his opinions that the Santa Eita Mountains offered the finest field to mining men known in the world. All of the concomitants of successful mining are here — ores, wood, water, grass, the most equable and delightful climate known; all going to make up a mining district whose advantages have rarely been equalled— never surpassed. The party left on Monday last with their own teams, and will be absent probably ten days or more, if the weather permits and circumstances require it; during this time they will be kept busy in the mountains and in the valleys which encircle the Santa Eita's. During the trip Mr. Conklin took a large number of photographs of prominent beauties and curiosities in the Territory, and he will, in addition to this, photograph all notable objects in the Santa Cruz Valley and in the Santa Eita's, including the mines of the Aztec Syndicate. A number of mines belonging to Colonel Graham individually, if it is possible to make the time, and various lodes and old workings, and the old Hacienda de Santa Eita, the scene of Prof. Eaphael Pumpelly's labors many years since — scenes made famous by Hon. J. Eoss Browne, Cozzens, Hodge, Wrightson, Kustel, Ehren- berg and others will be visited also, and, from this the people of the United States may be enabled to learn something of the country so long terra incog- nita— the land of the Apaches — the Santa Eita mountains. We availed our- self of an invitation kindly extended by Col. Graham to make one of the ex- ploring party, and in our next issue we shall try to give our readers a full, true and particular account of where we went and what we saw with the Aztec party in the Santa Eita's. (This visit is referred to in the News Letter article of Jan. 19th, 1878.)
22
[From the San Francisco News Letter, January 6th, 1878.] LATEST FROM ARIZONA.
Some weeks since we alluded to the arrival in this city of a party of eastern capitalists en route to visit the property, mines, etc., of the Aztec Syndicate, in the Santa Rita mountains of southern Arizona. Since the publication alluded to, the party has made the trip to Arizona and returned therefrom. From Yuma the journey to Toltec Camp (15 miles from the Sonora line) was made in private conveyances, purchased for the trip by Col. Graham, secre- tary of the Aztec Syndicate. The return trip was made in part by stage. We understand that the eastern visitors are entirely satisfied, not only with Arizona's general capacities as a mining region, and the Territory's capacity to sustain a large population and return remunerative results for bold outlays of capital, but that they are especially pleased with the property they went to visit, finding it as they did, a mineral region with unparalleled natural advantages of accessibility, climate, poil, grass, wood and water, and possess- ing almost unlimited mineralogical facilities. The Aztec mines are, so far as developed (the work was only begun last June), quite as promising as ex- pected, while the mountain spurs are permeated in every direction with mineral bodies and veins. Col. Graham, of the Syndicate, possesses the only available water power of the region, situated in the Sonoita Valley; at the mill site the measurement showed a present capacity of 250 miners' inches. The stream is permanent, being fed from a mountain spring, and in general the capacity equals 400 miners' inches. Active work is being done on the mill site, and one of Professor Rickards' new patent Oxidizing and Chloridizing Furnaces is now in process of construction, under the personal direction of the Professor, who has been engaged as Metallurgist, etc., by the Syndicate. Other works are projected and the machinery ordered. Dr. H. R. Allen of the eastern party, is experienced in mining operations, being largely interested in Montana and elsewhere. He brought to the examination of this property both scientific knowledge and practical experience, and ex- presses himself entirely satisfied with its capacities. Southern Arizona may be congratulated on the fact that a large amount of eastern capital is sure to be invested. The visitors passed over the proposed route of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and expressed themselves as more than satisfied with the prospects and purposes of the railroad managers. They will use their influ- ence eastward at the national capital to aid the completion through Arizona of the enterprise which has already constructed 800 miles of railroad with no subsidy other than a moderate land grant.
[From the San Francisco News Letter, Jan. 19th, 1878.] THE AZTEC SYNDICATE.
We are persuaded" that those who at this moment are engaged in opening up the marvelous wealth of Arizona, will, in the near future, occupy as con- spicuous and as enviable a position, before the whole nation, as do the early Californian pioneers of '49. Arizona is undoubtedly going to do grea things for the country. It has been aptly termed by Col. Graham, th< father of the great Aztec Syndicate — " THE TREASTJBE HOME OF THE CONTINENT. ' Heretofore it has had that treasure house locked up by the difficulties which time has now well nigh conquered. The Apaches overran the Terri- tory, and rendered it practically inaccessible to civilized enterprise; then th6 absence of the ordinary means of transit made it impossible to develope its mountains and valleys pregnant with the precious metals. The rapid pro- gress made by the Southern Pacific Railroad, has, in a large degree, removed that difficulty; for now one may leave San Francisco in the morning by rail,
and within three days and a half be landed in the very heart of Arizona; other means of transit will rapidly increase, and soon the Territory, in most of its more promising parts, will be as open to industry and capital, as is California itself. Thus the road to the treasure house being made compara- tively easy and absolutely safe, it only remains that capital should apply the necessary key, that will reveal to view the vast stores of wealth that nature has concentrated in that region. We have intimated an opinion, that those now engaged in developing Arizona, will, at a day not far distant be classed with the Calif ornian pioneers of '49; when that day arrives, as it assuredly will ere long, we are persuaded that the members of the Aztec Syndicate will be looked upon with gratitude, and be esteemed among the foremost benefactors of Arizona. This we say with no present intent to flatter any one, but with a feeling strong upon us as to the great future that is in store for the enterprise now being pushed forward in Arizona. The Aztec Syndi- cate was formed on April 24th, 1877, by five gentlemen residents in San Francisco, the leading spirit of the enterprise being Col. Graham. Work was begun in June following, on shaft No. 1 of the Aztec Mine; since that time there have been successfully incorporated, the Inca, Iturbide and Almoner mines, and operations are being carried on with energy and econ- omy upon each. Since the inauguration of the Syndicate, Eastern capital has joined in the enterprise; and last month a party of gentlemen inter- ested, invited by Col. Graham, visited the district, examined the Syndicate property and operations, and came away delighted with one, and satisfied with the other.
The Arizona Weekly Star of December the 27th, last, is at hand, with a highly interesting account, four columns long, of the visit of the gentlemen alluded to, with a very minute and circumstantial description of the Syndi- cate's works, operations, etc. We regret that it is too lengthy for reproduc- tion in these columns. Among the party we notice the names of gentlemen well and favorably known; there were present, Col. John D. Graham, Col- onel Boyle, Dr. H. E. Allen, Alex. Whildin, Esq., John K. Wallace, Esq., F. H. Steele, Esq., Col. Chas. W. Tozer, Col. E. J. Hinton, E. Conklin, Esq., of Frank Leslie's Newspaper, Manager Magee and Mr. Holt. The report of the local paper describes the various locations of the Aztec Syndicate, and says: " A large dump has been formed at Camp Toltec, and ores are packed in from each of the mines now being worked upon. The Iturbide and Almoner mines lay nearer to Camp Toltec than do the others, and both show evidences of great promise; a tunnel is being run into the Iturbide on the central ledge. There are five large and distinct ledges on the mine, running east and west; the ore is a yellow and green chloride, with a little galena, and is uncommonly beautiful and abundant; when the tunnel reaches 100 feet into the hill, it is proposed to cross-cut all the ledges. To Us, the Itur- bide looks very promising, and can be mined very easily. We are informed by Col. Graham that he will, at an early day, organize another syndicate, and place on the market some mines yet more valuable than any ever in the Aztec Syndicate; we heartily trust that he may do so as his success is cer- tain." An expert, reading the very minute report given, cannot fail to see on the face of it good faith and an accurate knowledge of the subject treated of.
On Wednesday last, among the departures for Arizona, were Col. Chas. W. Tozer and Geo. E. Gibson of this city. They are, we understand, to be . joined at Los Angeles by Mr. J. C. Waterman, of St. Joseph, Missouri, a gentleman of influence and means, who is about to make an examination of the Santa Rita mountains for mining purposes, and also the valleys adjacent, with a view of locating a small agricultural colony. Mr. Gibson, whose abil- ity as an investigator and financial writer is well known to all the readers of the News Letter, goes to examine the Aztec Syndicate property in order to
report thereon for eastern capitalists, while Colonel Tozer, whose ability as a mining superintendent is everywhere recognized on this coast, goes to take charge as resident manager of the important enterprises inaugurated by the Syndicate. That body and southern Arizona is to be congratulated on Col. Tozer's accession to the management of these mines, and a steady develop- ment of undoubted mineral wealth of the Santa Rita's may now be looked for "We have given as much space as we can afford to this subject ; many in- teresting particulars remain in our possession, and may be dwelt upon here- after. The News Letter, strongly impressed with the great promise of Ari- zona, continues, as it early began, to lend its best influence to the develop- ment of that marvelously rich region of country.
Pumpelly'S Eepoet.
The Santa Eita mines, which include those spoken of herein, lie in an ele- vated valley, between the Santa Eita mountains on the north, and a group of low and rugged hills on the south.
They are are from fifteen to twenty miles north of the Mexican boundary, and ten miles east of the town of Tubac.
The three nearest shipping ports are :
Fort Yuma, on the Colorado Eiver, - 370 miles.
Guaymas, on Gulf of California - - - - 260 " Port Lobos, or Libertad, Gulf of California - 180 "
They are near the line proposed for the Texas Pacific Eailroad (and as shown by the accompanying map, on the line of the Southern Pacific Eail- road), which offers the fewest engineering difficulties of any possible route across the continent. Arizona, south of the Gila, extends over both slopes of the Eocky mountains, which here lose their continuous character, giving rise to almost unconnected mountain groups. It is traversed from north- west to south-east, by mountain ranges of granite and metamorphic rocks, seldom more than from sixty to seventy miles in length, and distant from each other from twenty to forty miles. This configuration gives rise to a most remarkable parallelism in the topographical features. The intervals between these ranges are plains, which descend gently from the sierras on either side. In the western part of the territory, where little rain falls, water courses are very rare, and the surface of the tracts is almost un- broken; but in the central portion, near the large mountains, it is cut out in- to broad valleys, with frequent tributary canyons. These plains are all con- nected, sweeping around the ends of the ranges which rise from them; and they form members of the immense quarternary marine deposits, which ex- tends, with a gentle ascent, from the Gulf of California eastward.
At the base of the gigantic ranges there are generally outcroppings of gneiss, micaceous talcose and slate clay, which underlie the quarternary, Towards the Gulf of California, these slates are accompanied by metamorphic limestone, and often appear in independent ridges or inclined against the higher granite hills.
These are the source of the gold of Sonora. Further east there is a great variety of porphyries, both quartziferous and free from quartz; these are the rocks which, for the most part, stand in the closest connection with the sil- ver and silver-gold veins of the country. Climate influences have given the country a marked and peculiar vegetation. Towards the coast the plains are barren and arid deserts, bearing over hundreds of square miles nothing but cacti and other desert plants, but few points where water can be found. But east of the Babaquiveri range the character of the country changes. Here the rainy season is regular in its occurrence, and both the quartenary terraces and the bottom lands oi the streams are clothed with nutritive
grasses and scattered acacia trees and bushes; and in the neighborhood of hidden or running water there are large cotton- wood trees, and in places fine ash timber.
On the hillsides, above the level of the terraces, are scattered the live-oaks of the country. Still higher up on the mountain sides, the oaks are min- gled with cedars, and, at an elevation of about 6,000 feet above the sea, the pine region begins. The great abundance of nutritious grasses which covers the whole Central Arizona, together with the mild climate, make it one of finest grazing countries in the world. The extent of agricultural land is limited to those points where irrigation can be practiced. Among these the valleys of the Santa Kita and Santa Cruz, which sweeps in a semi-circle half around the Santa Rita Mountains, are the most important.
The Santa Eita Mountains rise about 12,000 feet above the level of the sea, and nearly 8,000 feet above the Hacienda of the Santa Rita. The southern foot-hills have rounded forms, and sink gently to the Santa Rita Valley, where they have a height of 300 to 400 feet. The higher spur of the foot-hills, the Salero ridge, which shuts in the valley on the east, consists of a crystal- line feldspar rock, containing more or less hornblende. The lower hills to the west consist of a metamorphic porphyric, having a compact grey base, impregnated with carbonate of lime, and bearing numerous crystals of opaque, white, triclinic feldspar, grains of quaitz, and dark grey mica in hex- agonal plates. It also contains specks of magnetic iron. This rock, in places, shows signs of bedding. Both of these rocks, the feldspar horn- blende variety, and the metamorphic porphyry contain argentiferous veins. The south wall of the valley is formed by high and castellated bluffs of por- phyry, conglomerate, and white trifacious strata.
Towards the west, these are replaced by a feldspathic porphyry, having a compact, light grey base, bearing numerous crystals of white trictinic feld- spar, and small prisms of hornblende, but entirely free from quartz. In these rocks no veins have been discovered.
The veins of the Santa Rita are very numerous, and have, with few excap tions, a nearly east and west course. They have in general a nearly vertical dip, and a thickness from ten inches to two feet, except in local instances, where they are enlarged to several feet. Tho gangue is almost entirely quartz. They differ but little in character of their outcrops, which are gen- erally of more or less comby quartz, blackened with the oxide of manganese, or reddened with of that iron; or, in some instance, thoy consist entirely of more or less argentiferous susquioxide of iron, the product of the decompo- sition of the ores. In other in .Dances, the predominating colors in these out- crops are green, blue and yellow, resulting from the alte/.iation of argenti- ferous fahl-ores, (tetraheddte). All these characteristics are common to the veins in bofch varieties of rock. They are unquestionably true fissure veins. Too little work has been done upon any of these deposits to enable me to pronounce a decided opinion as to their character in iepth; but tha explora- tion which has never been carried below the zone of altered ore has suovvn that, while the veins are narrow, they are also rich, and that whan the acome enlarged, the increasa of width is due to an increase in metallic subjtancjj , and not to an increase of the gangua only. The veins in the feldspar horn blende rock contain argentiferous gray copper (tetrahedrite and galeni,. When the latter mineral is not accompanied by the gray copper, its yield is rarely over 0.1 per cent, of silver; but when associated with that mineral, it contains from 0.5 to 0.75 per -cent.
Metallurgical.
The ores of Santa Riti Mines, considered from a metallurgical point of view, can be divided into three classes.
1. Smelting ores, or those containing much galena mixed with tetrahedrite.
2. Refractory amalgamation ores, containing a smaller percentage of lead, and requiring to be roasted before treatment, either by the patio amalgama- tion, the barrel amalgamation, the salt extraction, or any other of the older moist processes.
3. Ores containing rich tetrahedrite, native silver, sulphuret of silver, and other simple or complex salts of this metal, and needing neither roasting nor magistral for their amalgamation by the patio process.
Under the first two heads comes the products of all veins, so far as known, in the feldspar hornblende rock. While the products, so far as known, of the veins in the metamorphic porphyry, fall entirely into the third class. The facility with which these ores yield their silver in the simple American amalgamation process, shows that they could also be reduced with equal ease in the pan process, used at the mines of Nevada. But the warm climate and rarely failing sunshine of Arizona would scarcely make it necessary to resort to this last means, which requires a more expensive machinery. The live- oaks of the hills, the acacia trees of the valley, offer the fuel necessary for smelting the less docile ores. The variety in the character of the different veins offers a means for mixing advantageously the ores for smelting. The products of the galena veins, and the massive caps of oxide of iron, both of which contain considerable amounts of silver, will supply the fluxes for the more quartziferous ores of other deposits.
Plan* Of Exploitation.
To lead to any satisfactory results, the development of the Santa Rita Mines must be undertaken upon a large scale, and with abundant resources. A careful examination should first be made of the property, and a sufficient examination of the veins, by pits and trenches, to determine which ores of the many veins invite most to more extended underground exploration. This point decided, expense should not be spared in sinking and drifting upon several veins, and in such a manner that these subterranean works of explor- ations will contribute to the economical workings of such deposits as may prove worthy of exploration.
An extensive subterranean exploration might be made upon all or nearly all of the veins without the need of pumping machinery. To carry out an ex- ploitation of this kind, in such a way as to prove the value of the property, without the loss of years of time, it would be necessary to attack each vein at several points, with exploring shafts and adits, a process which would de- mand a continually increasing number of miners.
The most economical way to accomplish this would be to employ a force sufficiently large to complete the entire testing of the property, within, say, one year. Could 1,000 laborers be placed as fast as needed, the end of the first years' work would not only find a large number of veins, opened to the extent of many thousand feet, and the value of the property thoroughly tested; but those deposits, show themselves worthy of exploitation would be already in a condition to deliver ores from stopes, and a large sur- face would be ready to be attacked with a minimum outlay, by regular min- ing. Besides this, the exploration having been conducted in the vein, a large amount of ore would be on hand for reduction, and would pay no in- considerable part of the cost of the preliminary work. It is my opinion that the Santa Rita veins are deserving of such an examination, and warrant the risking of sums necessary to carry it out, and that if properly executed, it would lead to the establishment of a highly profitable mining industry, Respectfully submitted,
(Signed) RAPHAEL PUMPELLY.
For a very interesting and graphic account of Prof. Pumpelly's experiences while mining in the Santa Rita's twenty years since, read his book, " Across
America and Asia." To any person desirous of becoming interested in the present enterprise, and who wishes full and accurate data upon which to base his action, I would most earnestly invite their attention to Pumpelly's work, to Hodge's book, to Conklin's "Picturesque Arizona," (now in course of publication), and especially to Hinton's Hand Book of Arizona, which may be obtained from the American News Co., N. Y. City, or from Payot, Upham & Co., Publishers, San Francisco, Cal. See notice in this Pamphlet.
J. Eoss Beowne'S Eepoet.
LONDON, May 1, 1871.
MY DEAK SIB: — In the performance of my public duties on the Pacific Coast, during the past twenty-two years, it has been necessary to visit all the States and Territories west of the Eocky Mountains, and I may therefore assume to have some personal knowledge of their resources. I made two visits to Arizona, and, in my official capacity as Commissioner of Mining Statistics for the Government of the United States, gave special attention to the mineral and agricultural resources of that territory. There are certain features in its history which gave it a peculiar interest. It was the first territory in the United States in which extensive veins of silver had been discovered; and it was known to the Spaniards for upward of three hundred years as a region of inexhaustible wealth.
In the course of a tour of inspection through southern Arizona and Sonora, I visited in person the Santa Bita district, and made a careful examination of its mines and its agricultural and grazing lands. I am therefore fortunately enabled to answer your inquiries from personal knowledge of the property about which you solicit information. For convenience of reference, I divide my subject, so as to give you a clear and comprehensive view of the most prominent features of that section of country,
Southern Arizona.
Prior to the cession of this territory to the United States by the Government of Mexico, in 1846, the State of Sonora comprised a large extent of country lying north of the Gila River. That portion lying south of the Gila, known as the Gadsden Purchase, was the earliest occupied by the Americans, and is still the best known. As stated in my Official Report, published by Con- gress in 1868, (Section II., p. 443,) " Its mountains are nearly all mineral bearing, and its silver lodes have been to some extent worked. "
Within the narrow strip of country lying between the northern boundary of Mexico and the Gila river the rich domain of the Santa Rita occupies a prominent position. Situated within fifteen miles of the Mexican border, it lies directly in the center of the richest mineral belt discovered by the Spanish explorers, who for three centuries prosecuted their researches through this remote region. The learned Jesuit, Father Kino, reported to the Viceroy of Spain, in 1767, that a scientific exploration of Sonora " would lead to the discovery of gold and silver so marvelous that the discovery would be such as never yet had been seen in the world." The proofs of this wealth were found in many places, but chiefly at Arizona, within fifteen miles of Santa Rita, where a piece of virgin silver was extracted from the earth weighing 275 pounds, upon which Don Diego Asmendi paid duties ; and it is recorded that the King's Attorney brought suit for the duties on several other pieces which weighed 4033 pounds; also for the recovery, as a curiosity, and there- fore belonging to the King, of a certain piece of silver of the weight of 2,700 pounds. Professor Blake, formerly State Geologist of California, Commis- sioner to the Paris Exposition, Geological Chief to the San Domingo Commis- sion, &c., &o., says of this region that the extreme richness of the mines of
silver in the south-eastern prolongation of the mountains of Arizona has been well attested by Humboldt, Ward, and others, (page 9, " Mining Magazine, 1859.") Ward contends (vol. I., pp. 127-160) that the great mineral treasures of Mexico commence north of the 24th degree of latitude, and that Sonora, which then included Arizona, " promised riches superior to anything yet dis- covered." Duport (p. 380) expresses himself with equal enthusiasm : — After having visited only Tasco, Eeal del Monte, and Guanajute, Humboldt said, 40 years ago, that there was enough of silver in the Mexican mines to flood the world; what would he not have said if he had pushed his researches further north? Wilson, in his "History of Mexico," says of Northern Sonora, now Arizona, that "it is a region of country which combines the rare attractions of the richest silver mines in the world, laying in the midst of the finest agricultural districts, and where the climate is as attractive as the min- eral riches." Mr. Cummings Cherry, a geologist and mining engineer of establisLed reputation, says that the mines of southern Arizona are among the richest in the world, and dwells especially upon the facilities for working them, the extent and nature of the agricultural lands, and the wonderful salubrity of the climate. Governor McCormick says, in one of his annual messages, that "those of the silver mines below the Gila, and on the Col- orado, that are judiciously worked, with scarcely an exception, show great wealth, and fully maintain the traditional reports of the metallic opulence of the country.
The report of Professor Pumpelly on the Santa Eita Mines, which I have carefully read, give a most faithful and interesting exposition of the mineral wealth of this region. Having personally visited nearly every lode described by him, I can bear testimony to the perfect accuracy and fairness of his state- ments. Nothing is exaggerated ; nor is anything withheld the omission of which could possibly give an erroneous idea of the value of the property.
Before giving you in detail my views in relation to the Santa Eita property, I think you will be interested in a brief summary of the mineral productions of the states and territories west of the Eocky Mountains during the past twenty years. The total product of California, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, since 1849 has been ($1,300,000,000) thirteen hundred millions of dollars. The annual production about this time averages about ($70,000,000) seventy millions. Within the brief space of twenty years, a larger area of country has been opened up to settlement by the developement of our mines, than has ever before in the world's history been brought within the limits of civilization within so short a period. So far from being a pursuit injurious in its tendency, as theorists sometimes contend, it has resulted in the building of numerons cities, the cultivation of vast tracts of land, the construction of railroads and telegraphs from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and the increase of commerce with the various nations of the earth. While the business of mining has been attended by more than ordinary hazards in our new territories, owing to co stly transportation and inexperience in the working of ores, the rewards of legitimate enterprise and judicious management have generally been so brilliant as to compensate for all the losses ; and in every point of view the world has gained in the general accession of wealth. "That which," in the language of Sir Archibald Alison, " f or five-and-twenty years had been await- ing a currency commensurate to the increased numbers and transactions of the civilized world, was now supplied by the beneficent hand of nature. The era of a contracted currency and consequent low prices and general misery, interrupted by passing gleams of prosperity, was at an end. Prices rapidly rose, wages advanced in a similar proportion, exports and imports enormously increased, while crime and misery as rapidly diminished." Who can say, then, that mining is not a legitimate pursuit, and one that deserves the strongest possible encouragement?
I have referred to the aggregate product of our mineral possessions. I now invite your attention to a few of our leading districts and mines, to show you that no branch of human industry is more profitable, when conducted with care and industry.
The single district of Grass Valley, Nevada County, California, comprising an area of only a few miles, has produced, since 1849, upwards of $30,000,- 000. The Eureka Mine in the same district, has produced, since 1859, about $3,000,000. The Gold Hill Mine has yielded $7,000,000 in the brief period of fourteen years ; the Allison Kanch Lode has yielded $2,300,000 ; and other mines in the same vicinity have furnished from a million to two millions. All these have enriched the owners. Money has not been lost here as else- where in wild speculations, but rarely in the business of mining properly conducted. The Hayward Mine, in Amador County, has produced $5,000,000. The Sierra Butte Mine, in Sierra County, has netted the owners upwards of a million of dollars. These are all gold quartz mines. The gravel deposits of California have yielded over $11,000,000 per annum for the last twenty years, and supported a laboring population of 50,000 souls. A single placer or sur- face deposit in Montana, yielded, in three years, $30,000,000 in gold. I refer to Alder gulch. Some extraordinary results have also been obtained in Idaho, but my space forbids even an enumeration of the principal districts in either of these two territories.
In Nevada, a single lode, the Comstock, has produced since 1860, about $120,000,000 in silver and gold. There is nothing like this in the history of the world. The duration of gold and silver bearing lodes is well attested by the history of the principle mines of South America and Mexico. The cele- brated Potosi Mines averaged about $4,000,000 for 300 years ; those on the Veta Madre (Mother Vein) of Guanjuata about $3,000,000 for an equal period, and the mines of the Keal del Monte Company on the Biscanya Vein, in Mex- ico, over $40,000,000 for the last 110 years, or a total of $45,000,000— a less amount than has been obtained from Comstock in the last three years. (See " Mineral Resources of the United States," sec. xix. p. 387.)
Owing to the late rebellion in the United States, which interrupted all industry in the southern parts of our country, the progress of the mining interest in Arizona was arrested; many promising enterprises were abandoned, and with all the mineral wealth and agricultural advantages, the settlement of this country has not kept pace with that of the central territories, through which, by favor of the General Government, railroad lines have been extended. The recent action of Congress, in passing the Southern Pacific Kailroad Bill, will secure to Arizona what has long been needed — direct and speedy commu- nication with the commercial marts of the world. When the trans-continental railway of the south shall have extended from the Gulf of Mexico to San Diego — and Iiave a letter from General Rosekrans, of the U. S. Army, late American Minister to Mexico, assuring me that its speedy construction has been reduced to a certainty — the prosperity of Arizona will be assured ; and there can be no reason why its mineral developements should not surpass those of any of the states or territories named, judging by the unanimous testimony of the ablest geologists and explorers who have investigated the subject.
Advantages Of Location.
The lodes of the Santa Rita Mountains are admirably located for all practi- cal purposes of mining, and for the various operations of the Hacienda. By reference to my Official Report, as Commissioner of Mining Statistics, it will be seen (see II., Arizona, p. 443,) that "the principal towns of Southern Arizona are Tucson, on the line of the Overland Mail Route, and Tubacf 52 miles south. Both have long been in existence, and are situated on the Santa Cruz River, which, rising in Sonora, runs nearly directly north, until it ;eachee the Gila Elver near Maricopa Wells. The distance from Tubao,
which maybe considered the heart of the mineral regions of Arizona, are, by the usual traveling roads, as follows: — San Francisco, 1074 miles; San Diego, 510 miles; Fort Yuma, 300 miles ; El Paso, 389 miles ; St. Louis, 1770 miles. Towns in Sonora, Mexico: Santa Cruz, 54 miles; Magdalena, 51 miles; Altar, 95 miles ; Hermosillo, capital of Sonora, 229 miles ; Guyamas, port of entry of Sonora, 260 miles; Libertad, on the Gulf of California, 180 miles." It will thus be seen that there cannot be a more advantageous location for the establishment of a large mining interest than that spoken of above. It will at once become a great mining and trading center.
Reduction Of The Ores.
The average of the Comstock ores, as stated in my official report, is $45 per ton. The average cost of mining and treating these ores is $30 per ton, leaving $15 as the profit per ton. The average cost of unskilled labor at Virginia is $4 per day ; skilled labor from $5 to $7. The labor of 4,000 men per day is employed; and that amount of labor produces about 330,000 tons of ore per annum. The gross yield of the Comstock Lode for several years past has been from $14,000,000 to $16,000,000 per annum; the net yield from $4,000,000 to $6,000,000. This enormous cost of production is due to several causes; mainly the multiplication of superintendences and unnecessary repetition of expenses, growing out of the division of one lode into some twenty parts, each part being owned and worked by an independ- ent company. Each of these companies has its separate organization ; its president and directory in San Francisco, or elsewhere; its mills, offices, sta- bles and outbuildings at Virginia or the vicinity. On every few hundred feet of the lode the enormous expenses of a gigantic mining establishment are repeated ; while the productions of the mines are constantly decreasing both in extent and value. The mines of Potosi Guanajuato and Central Mexico would never have paid enormous profits for three centuries under such an exhaustive and irrational system as this. The consequence of such reckless competition for wealth is, that there are constant failures, and great and sudden losses, when, in reality, the mines are among the richest in the world. Under the most favorable circumstances, however, a single gold or silver-bearing lode must always be a source of anxiety to those whose capi- tal is invested in it. Should it continue, they may draw unlimited wealth from it; but it is subject to become poor or give out at any time, and then follows pecuniary disaster. The security is much greater in the case of a company, whose risks are divided among fifty or one hundred lodes, no two of which are likely to give out together, and each one of which may prove as rich as the Comstock. When one ceases to pay, operations can be com- menced upon another ; and, under the Partido system, the company incurs no risk beyond the month's supply of provisions advanced to support the operatives who have contracted to furnish the ores; and who, if they obtain nothing of value, receive nothing beyond this trifling advance. A compari- son of the relative values of the ores and cost of mining and reduction at Santa Rita and at Virginia, on the Comstock Lode, would show some remarkable results. The Santa Rita ores, according to the reports of Pum- pelly, Blake, Ehrenburg, Garett, and others, average in value not le.s than $200 the ton, while those of the Comstock rate at $45. The Comstock is a single lode, ranging from 20 to 40 feet in width; but the rich mineral is found in pockets, and the pay ore is not thoroughly diffused. The Santa Rita mine comprises upwards of fifty well defined lodes, each from three to eight feet in thickness, the pay ore running generally from wall to wall, and thoroughly diffused through the body of the lode. Common labor at the Comstock is $4 per day, in cash ; at the Santa Rita, $1, and that in mer-
chandise, at a profit of 100 per cent, making in reality but $12 to $15 per month. There is also to be taken into consideration the difference in the cost of supplies, where crops are grown upon the ground with scarcely any cost to the cultivator, and where such supplies have to be obtained from costly markets. With the labor of 4,000 men on the Santa Rita mines, each one of them working for himself, and therefore doing all he can to make his labor profitable, it is not unreasonable to estimate that the same value of metal per man can be obtained from the smaller lodes, and without risk, that is now obtained from the larger lode of the Comstock, with all the hazards of depreciation in value or entire exhaustion. One-half the product in the quantity of ore would be 165,000 tons per annum. Even at an average of $100 per ton, instead of $200, which is estimated to be the actual value, the result in gross would show the following camparison :
330,000 tons of Cemstock ore, at $45 per ton $14,850,000.
Cost of reduction, $30 per ton 9,900,000
Net yield, $15 per ton $4,950,000
165,000 tons of Santa Rita ore, at $100 per ton $16,500,900
Cost of labor and treatment, at least one-quarter of $30,
or $7.50 per ton 1,237,500
Net yield, $92.50 per ton $15,273,500
This makes a strong showing, but I cannot see that the comparison is at all unreasonable, or that the estimated results are improbable. All sup- plies for man and beast are produced at the Santa Rita upon the ground of the company, with labor at a minimum price, and from soil as prolific and a climate as genial as that of the Nile ; while in Virginia the supplies are
with all the professions represented — artisans, preachers, lawyers, doctors — all gaining a subsistence directly or indirectly from the mines. It surely is not hazarding too much to say that a similar spectacle and results of equal magnitude are within the bounds of possibility at Santa Rita.
The Santa Rita Mines.
I visited the Santa Rita mines for the special purpose of examining and reporting upon them ; but as Professor Pumpelly resided on the spot, and had a much better opportunity of studying their characteristics than I had, it would be presumptions in me to undertake a derailed description of them, after the elaborate report made by that gentleman. Suffice it to say, Jjiat I made a careful examination of the principal mines, and found them true fissure veins of great promise. So far as the excavations expose the veins, they have the appearance of being exceedingly rich ; the ore is thoroughly diffused, and the walls are in every instance clearly defined and regular. Most of them average from three to five feet in thickness ; ranging from two to eight feet. The Buenaventura appears to be a fractional division of an immense lode or body of ore, the outcrop of which is visible from the old Hacienda, not less than sixty or seventy feet in thickness — probably much more. Professor Pumpelly refers to this extraordinary lode, and con- siders the Buenaventura a mere branch of it. Should this be the case, and I have great confidence in Professor Pumpelly' s judgment, the Veta Madre (or Mother Vein) may, upon development, prove to be equally as rich as these branch veins. In that case there would be nothing to equal it in the
history of mines and mining. I counted in the Solero Hill, in the course of an afternoon's ramble, not less than twenty silver-bearing veins, of great apparent richness. There must be at least one hundred of these in the entire hill, averaging from two to three feet in thickness. I distinctly remember my remark to Mr. Poston, at the time, that, after having traveled ver most of our mineral territory, I had never seen such indications of inexhaustible mineral wealth within so small a superficial area. The pros- pect may have dazzled me, and, to some extent, perverted my judgment ; but I then believed it was the richest group of mines I had ever visited, and I have seen no cause since then to change my opinion. The facilities for working these mines are unsurpassed. Most of them are so situated as to be susceptible of drainage by the tunnels; and the rock, chiefly feldspathic, porphyry, and hornblende, is easily blasted. Timber is found in abundant supplies, in the adjacent Santa Rita mountains, where there is now a saw mill," which furnishes timber for Tucson and the military posts. The climate is unsurpassed for healthfulness, and is probably the most delightful, in point of temperature, to be found in the North American continent, scarcely varying 20 deg. throughout the year from 70 deg. Fahrenheit.
Summary.
In conclusion, therefore, I can safely assert that an enterprise more promising than this has not been brought to my attention during a resi- dence of twenty years on the Pacific Coast. I have examined the property personally and without any pecuniary interest in it whatever. The conclu- sions to which I have been brought are based upon my own experience and best judgment. I believe good mines to be both profitable and durable, as shown by the history of the mines of South America and Mexico, referred to in the beginning of this letter. Our leading mines on the Comstock have yielded up wards of one hundred millions of dollars in ten years. The mines of a single district in California have yielded thirty millions of dollars in a little over the same space of time. The mines of the Pacific Coast have yielded twelve hundred millions of dollars in less than twenty years. Everywhere within oar mineral territory good mining properties, well man- aged, have proved enormously remunerative. I have shown that the Santa Rita mines can be worked at one-fourth the cost of the Comstock, and pro- duce at least an equal amount of bullion with the labor of 4,000 men ; that the Hacienda is located in the center of the richest mineral district discov- ered by the Spaniards; that the projected railway to Guaymas will pass directly through it; that the location commands the richest ores of Sonora and Arizona ; that wood and water are abundant, and all the productions of the temperate and many of the tropic zones flourish here ; and, finally, that under efficient management, this enterprise, so marvelously favored by geo- graphical position, by soil, climate, and proximity of mineral wealth, cannot fail to prove a brilliant success.
Trusting that these notes of my observations in Arizona, hurriedly thrown together as they are, may prove satisfactory, I am, my dear sir,
Very truly yours, (Signed) J. ROSS BROWNE.
[From the accompanying map the locations made for the Aztec Syndicate can be seen, as also the mines now the property of the Toltec Syndicate. The work done upon the former locations has very thoroughly proved the immense value of the Bushell, Saint Louis, La Parisienne and others.]
Now Ready.
(Of the San Francisco Evening Post.)
This Handsome Volume of 530 pages, large 12mo, is illustrated by 24 Full PagJ Lithographs. 40 other Sketches, two Ancient Maps, and A NEW MAP OF THE1 TERRITORY, containing all the Latest Mining Districts, U.S. Silver Mines Towns, etc.
Pkice, Eetail, $2.00 Per Copy.
The Hand-Book contains 19 Chapters and Appendix : Chapter I. Where ami What is. Arizona. II. Historical Sketches. III. Physical and Geological Fcaf j tures. IV. Mineralogy. V. Mines, Mills, Locations. VI. Over Valley and Mesa* ' VII. The Santa Rita Mountains. VIII. The Santa Cruz West to Papagoria. IX-. The Babacomori and East. X. The Towns of Arizona. XL Agricultural Re- sources. XII. Military Posts and Telegraph. XIII. Climate. XIV. Fauna and Flora. XV. Indian Tribes. XVI. Miscellaneous. XVII. Spanish Explo-'ers and Missionaries. XVIII. The Ancient People of Arizona. XIX. The Ancient Ruins.
The Appendix contains a Summary of Mining Laws, Itinerary, Fares, Freights etc.; Glossary of Mining Terms, etc., ete.
Also— New Edition of Hinton's New Map of Arizona. Colored and Varnished,1 on Rollers, $2.50 ; In Case, for the Pocket, $1.50. ,
Opinions Of The Press.
The book gives a very thorough historical and descriptive account of the Terri- tory. We cannot recall any publication on Arizona which at all approaches My. Hinton's Hand-Book in point of quantity and variety of information imparted. —[Sari Francisco Bulletin.
Equally interesting particulars concerning mineral productions of Arizona might be selected from Mr. Hinton's book, and those disposed to pursue the sul}- ject further will do well to consult the volume itself —[London (Eng.) Mining Journal.
The Hand-Book to Arizona is as complete a.nd satisfactory a work of the kind i as would be asked.— [Essex County Press, Newark, N. J.
Colonel Hinton has produced a book of very considerable literary merit, as well as a reliable guide to "the coming land," which Arizona has not inaptly bt-'-n styled by enthusiastic admirers. No other published work relating to any of the territories is comparable to this one for thoroughness in all its parts. On the whole, we regard Hinton's Hand-Book to Arizona as a valuable contribution'to the literature of the Pacific coast.* It is a book which will bear reading apart from its special object as an itinerary.— [C. JR. J. in the San Francisco Post.
To the easy chair traveler it will prove an attractive work, while to the bona fide traveler, whether tourist, emigrant, explorer, or pleasure-seeker, it will be a necessity.— [St. Louis Dispatch.
This book ought to be in the hands of every one who wants to " go west." This volume, prepared by a writer of established literary reputation, is of the highest value to all who wish for positive information concerning this wonderful territory.— [St. Louis Posi.
This Hand-Book seems to contain all that the tourist or the prospective settler would care to know of a territory favored by climate, adorned with lovely scendry, and enriched by manifold natural resources of wealth.— [Chicago Tribune.
Of the many " Hand-Books " constantly being produced this is perhaps on<J of the most satisfactory. Moreover, Mr. Hinton has been conscientious in the performance of his task, as every page of his comprehensive work testifies. Thro is an amount of labor contained between its covers that puts to rout any thought j of the indifferent or mercenary. It is free from all semblance of fraud, and al- ! though it may be sprinkled unavoidably with errors, it is, on the whole, solid-, and abounding in information serious, humorous and entertaining. — [('!, Times.
Hinton'S Hand-Book Of Arizona-Opinions Of The Press-
Arizona li.-i.s been fortunate to secure for its historian so careful a worker as is
Richard J. Hinton; and the public . is fortunate in having prepared for its
well-digested :t volume as is the " Hand-Book to Arizona.'' Mr. Hinton's
ml v comprehensive to meet any general requirements.—
[Philadelphia T;
To say that the work for statistical information in reference to the resources of i Arizona, her agriculture, mining and cattle raising advantages is good, would ' hardly express the impression we wish to convey, for it is so far in advance of any other work on Arizona that there is no comparison to make.— [Tucson (Ari- zona) Star.
This book gives the best and most accurate description of Arizona that has ever been published. The amount of information collated is simply marvelous. . . It is written up in a style that fascinates a render. . . Trifling inaccuracies in dry detail can be remedied in subsequent, editions, and is more than compensa- ted by the author's fidelity to facts in description and narrative. The book is invaluable to parties contemplating a visit to Arizona, whether for business, health or pleasure. — [Yuma (Arizona) Sentinel.
The volume is the most complete compendium of information concerning Ari- zona that has ever been published.— L.OS Angeles (Hal.) Republican.
The subject matter has been collated from the most authentic and official sources, and is written up in a lively, interesting style. It is seldom that so much valuable and interesting matter is found condensed in a volume of its size, and the book will-be read with avidity by everybody, especially those having inter- ests in that section or contemplating a journey thither. It should form a portion of every one's library.— [Gold Hill (Nevada) News.
The value of this work to our Territory is incalculable. Mr. Hinton's efforts 'tainly appreciated at home, and every Arizonian is anxious to obtain a copy of his new book, which, on account of its valuable information and unu- sually interesting matter, cannot fail to become very popular and command an exceptionally large circulation.— [Arizona Citizen, Florence, A. T.
This book, with all its accompaniments, is, moreover, thoroughly practical, and could not have appeared at a more opportune moment, a great deal of atten- tion being now turned towards this rising Territory. concerning which there was before a dearth of recent and reliable information.— [San Francisco Mining Press.
The people ofrArizonn owe much, and we fearmore than they will ever pay, to Col. Hinton for this comprehensive and readable Hand-Book of their Territory. The author has evidently made a careful study of his subject, nnd has produced a work that will not be superseded, and for m n ny branches of information will not need to be superseded.— [Alta California, S. F.
The work of Mr. Hinton, entitled The Hand-Book of Arizona, is a book which
is sure to find readers, whether in the mining engineer, the geologist, the natu-
: ralist, the antiquarian, or the pleasure reader, ns in it all will find food for his
i attention. . . It would be almost impossible in 'his short space to mention all
I the subjects elaborated upon in this work, but suffice it to say that the reader will
find in it a highly entertaining and instructive history, past, present and future.
of by far the richest district, naturally, in the United Statesof America.— [Walter
E. Hildreth, E. M. C. E., in the Minine Record, New York.
PAYOT, UPHAM & Co., Publishers,
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ess- The "Hand-Book to Arizona" will be sent, postage paid, by Chas. Cranz, Jr., Secretary, Room 14, 302 Montgomery street, San Francisco, Cal., on receipt of Post Office Order for Two Dollars.
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