The very name of " Arizona" is suggestive of streams yellow with golden sands, and mountains glittering with virgin silver. Popular belief has long considered this region as a synonym for marvelous mineral wealth, and long before that wealth was proved to have an existence, tradition and story had woven about the name a glamour of golden fancies, which modern enterprise and modern energy are at last about to turn into solid facts. The first mention of the Territory in history is connected with the search for the treasures supposed to be collected in the Cities of the Bull; but although the expedition did not result so successfully as a similar one in an earlier age, which sought and found the Golden Fleece, it was indirectly the means of leading to the discovery of the buried treasures which underlie the mountains and valleys of this wonderful land. The hardy adventurers who followed Coronado little dreamed that the mountains, plains, and mesas, which they passed over in their wearisome journey to " Cibola," contained riches, which would make the fabulous wealth of the Moquis cities appear mean and insignificant. It has remained, however, for a later age and another race to bring to light this vast wealth, and send it forth to benefit mankind, and enlarge and enrich the trade and commerce of the globe. The Territory of Arizona is one vast mineral field; from the line of Utah on the north, to the Mexican border on the south, and from the Colorado of the west, to the boundary of New Mexico, mineral is found in nearly every mountain range, and in every isolated peak. Nowhere on the continent is there such an extensive distribution of the precious metals. While in other mineral-bearing States and Territories the deposits are confined to certain well-defined limits, in Arizona no such distinction prevails. It would appear as if nature had here, in a prodigal mood, scattered her treasures with a lavish hand, and neglected no portion of her chosen mineral domain.
In the richness and variety of its ores, Arizona is also distinguished from the mining regions of the west. This predominating feature of the country was noted at an early period in its history. No mining State or Territory has yielded such masses of pure silver, and few have equaled the wonderful gold deposits of Antelope Hill. To Arizona belongs the honor of producing the largest nugget of native silver ever found at 2,700 pounds. This mass of pure metal was confiscated by Philip V., and taken to Madrid. The mine was also declared government property, but it does not appear that the royal robber ever derived much benefit from it.
The many rare and beautiful combinations in which silver is found make Arizona the favorite field of the mineralogist, while the ease and simplicity by which these ores are reduced commends itself to investors and to metallurgists alike. Pure native silver, horn silver chlorides, ruby silver, bromides, silver glance, sulfides, carbonates, and sulfides are the most generally distributed of the silver ore, but there are many other types and varieties peculiar to the Territory, which space will not permit to mention here. Native gold is most generally found in its matrix of quartz. It sometimes occurs in conjunction with pyrites of iron, copper, and lead, and is met with in its pure state as placer nuggets in many creeks and gulches in all portions of the Territory. Copper ore is found in red and black oxides, as a green malachite and blue azurite carbonates, sometimes as a sulfate, and often in its native state in many places. Silver ores in Arizona, which assay into the thousands, are of common occurrence, and create no special comment. Large quantities of ore going from $5,000 to $10,000 per ton, have been shipped from the Territory, and several mines are steadily producing "rock" that will go from $15,000 to $20,000 per ton. These are simple facts which can not be gainsayed.
Probably no portion of the mining domain possesses so many natural advantages for the successful working of ores. Wood and water are abundant in nearly all of the mineral-bearing mountain ranges, and in places where water is scarce at the surface, a sufficient quantity is found by sinking a short distance. The climate of the country can not be excelled. Work can be prosecuted all the year round. While mountains of snow and intense cold retard operations in other States and Territories, Arizona's equable climate' is specially adapted to out-door operations, even in the middle of winter. This fact alone is worthy the careful consideration of men desiring mining investments. The old shafts and tunnels which have been discovered in various parts of the Territory, show that the Spanish explorers and the early missionaries had proven the richness of Arizona mines, and had, in their crude way, worked them successfully. The almost indisputable evidence which an earlier race of miners have left in several of the gold bearing streams of the Territory, proves conclusively that the people who once occupied this land, and whose origin is lost in the mists of conjecture, delved for the precious metals in this region—at once the oldest and the newest portion of the American Union. The same difficulties which obstructed the operations of Toltec and Spaniard has also stood in the path of their Anglo-Saxon successors. Isolation and savagery have retarded Arizona's development. These two words express the causes which have prevented the country's advancement, and deprived her of the position which she is soon destined to attain—the leading bullion-producer on the globe.
But now that the peace has been secured, and the mountains and valleys which once resounded with his warwhoop, re-echo the music of civilized industry; now that the Demon of Isolation, whose shadow hung like a funeral pall over the land, has been driven to more distant fields by the shriek of the locomotive, Arizona is rapidly coming to the front as the most promising mineral region in all North America. An army of prospectors are swarming through her valleys and mountains; new discoveries are constantly being made; mills and furnaces are going up; the yield of bullion is steadily on the increase; capital is seeking investment; railroads are penetrating in every direction, and henceforth the career of Arizona is to be onward and upward. The scope of this work will not admit of a detailed or elaborate description of every mining district in the Territory. It is believed, however, that in the following brief summary of the leading camps, enough will have been shown to prove all that we have claimed for the richness and extent of the mineral field; the natural appliances for the reduction of ores, and the unrivaled opportunities which the country presents for the investment of capital.
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Arizona Gold Rush Mining History
