Copper.—Copper ores are found in all parts of the Territory in quantities unequaled by any other portion of the United States. Perhaps nowhere else in the world has such immense ledges of high grade ores been found. They are of that class which is easily reduced by smelting, consisting of malachite, azurite, red cuprite oxides, gray carbonates and copper glance. The red oxides frequently carry pure copper, of which many large masses have been found. The ores carry so little gangue that only a small amount of labor is required in dressing them for the furnace, which is no inconsiderable consideration in their economical reduction. The Copper Queen in Warren District, near the town of Bisbee, has a ledge of over a hundred feet in width, all fine ore, yielding from twenty to sixty per cent, of copper. A thirty-ton furnace at this mine yields seven tons of pure copper per day, and the quality of the metal is equal to that of the well known Lake Superior copper. Six men have taken out of the mine and dressed ready for the furnace ten tons of ore in a day. The smelting is done with English coke, and yet we are told the profit is eight cents per pound on the copper. In the Santa Rita Mountains is another copper region now being explored, in which the ledges are said to be of immense size and equal in quality of ore to those of Bisbee.
In the northeastern part of Pima County, in the Silver Bell District, some very rich and extensive copper ledges have been discovered, and smelting works erected. In the western part of this county is another copper district, in the center of which are the noted Ajo mines, which were discovered and worked several years since. In the northern part of Yuma County is a large region between the Granite Wash Mountains and Bill Williams Fork which hosts considerable amounts of copper ore. The Planet mines, situated in the northern part of this district, have yielded about 8,000 tons of copper. In Gila County, near the town of Globe, are situated the mines of the Old Dominion Company, which are remarkably rich. Other mines in this vicinity have large quantities of paying ore. Four smelting furnaces are in operation here On Cave Creek, in the eastern slope of the Yerde Mountains, is another copper district, in which there is an immense ledge said to average thirty four percent. East of Agua Fria Valley, Yavapai County, at the foot of the Black Hills, is an unexplored region of copper which promises to equal anything yet found in the Territory. It is said that hundreds of tons of good float ore may readily be gathered from the surface of the ground. At Riverside, Pinal County, smelters have been erected by the Pinal Copper Mining Company for the reduction of ores taken from their mines about six miles distant.
The Clifton copper district, in the eastern part of Graham County, near the Rio San Francisco, has long been known. – The copper developments here are truly wonderful; ledges from 30 to 100 feet in width crop out of the ground for thousands of feet in length, and where they are cut by the canon to the depth of a thousand feet, the same quality and quantity of ore is exhibited. The ores are red oxide, gray and green carbonates, and copper glance. Smelting furnaces have been erected at the town of Clifton, and are now running on these ores. It will be readily observed from this condensed sketch of the copper regions that this metal is to become one of the large resources of the Territory.
Lead.—Probably no other two metals enter as extensively into economical uses as lead and iron. The uses about the homestead, and in all mechanical constructions and in the arts, are so manifold and continuous, that the quantity required to supply the demand is almost beyond computation. These, with copper and tin, may be called the industrial metals. While gold and silver are valuable accessories in the arts and necessities, for currency, as well as for ornamental purposes, these metals are the sinews of all mechanical agencies the indispensables. In social economy, they represent the laborers and producers, while gold and silver represent the capitalists. Without lead and iron, the world would retreat to the age of wood and stone. These economical metals are the real precious metals, growing more precious the greater their quantity and the lower their price. Indeed much of their value depends upon their abundance and cheapness, as general use requires both conditions, and also insures a market at remunerative prices. Demand may sometimes fall behind supply, and the article falls in price, this renders its application to many new uses, profitable. Fluctuations in demand and supply, as we have lately experienced in silver and copper, are likely to occur with any metal to an extent that will render for a short time, their production unprofitable; such a period in the economical metals is inevitably short, as the old demand goes steadily on and new ones are created, while the supply decreases. The price then rises or the means of production is cheapened, and in either case the industry prospers.
A country which possesses large deposits of these industrial metals, has a resource which lasts a long time, and gives employment to a large population. But a year or two ago our copper mines received but little attention, notwithstanding their richness was known. The price of copper and the expense of freight rendered its production unprofitable. Now we begin to see that the production of copper is to become immediately one of our chief resources. No doubt a considerable time will elapse before we shall turn our attention to the manufacture of iron, the ore of which is abundant in many places in our Territory, and yet not in such quantities as to attract attention, or offer superior or equal inducements over other sections of the Union east of us, where labor, transportation and capital are cheaper. But in regard to lead, we see no reason why its production, like copper, may not become, within a short time, an important industrial resource. The immense quantities which have been mined, in connection with silver, in Colorado, Utah and Nevada, have temporarily affected the market, and rendered lead mining unprofitable, but with a metal, the use of which is rapidly increasing, the demand will, in a short time, catch up with the production, and mining in it again become profitable, especially here, where it can be produced so cheaply on account of the unlimited quantity of good lead ore, and its production being made in most cases, incidental to the mining of silver ore. With lower rates of transportation, it would immediately become an element of calculation in many of our silver mines. Our smelting ores of silver are found in greater or less quantities in all the silver districts, and must afford large quantities of lead. Besides these, there are in many districts, immense ledges of silver smelting ores, of two low a grade for present work, which will become available when the production of lead shall also become an object. In the northeastern part of Castle Dome District, in Yuma County, there are immense ledges of lead ore, carrying a small amount of silver. These ledges are also found northward, in the Plomosa Mountains, and in the Cedar District of Mohave County, as well as in many other portions of our Territory.
Iron.—No attention has been given to iron ore, for the reason that some time must elapse, and changes take place, in and around our Territory, before the production of iron can be made profitable. Good iron ore has been noted, however, in many sections, especially in the Chiricahua Mountains in the south, and in Cave Creek District Maricopa County, where large bodies of hematite ore are found. Good ore is also mentioned in the White Mountains in Southern Apache, and in the District of the Rio San Francisco.
Tin.—Small quantities of cassiterite wood-tin, one of the best ores of this valuable metal, have been found in various localities on this coast. In Northern Mexico considerable float tin ore has been found of a kind generally termed stream-tin, from being found in the gravel beds of water streams. Some years ago the writer was shown a couple of handfuls of these nodules of stream-tin, which were said to have been found in Arizona. There is reason to believe that tin would be found here if prospectors were acquainted with the ore. Stream-tin is likely to be found in gold-washing; but unless the attention of the miner is directed to it, the ore would be thrown aside with the other debris. It is found in small nodules from the size of a pea to the size of a man's fist, or larger. It is generally of a brown color, although all shades from gray to black are found. It has a smooth, hard surface, and feels like metal. On breaking one of these nodules it is likely to be found softer inside, and show concentric layers, like an agate. On account of its weight it will be found on the bottom of the sluice or gold pan. Wood-tin in the ledge or boulder is frequently of a grayish color, with streaks of lead color and brown, and is not infrequently mixed with little nodules of red. It often resembles sandstone, but its weight shows at once that it is metalliferous. The test is simple: Crush a small quantity of the suspected ore to a powder, mix with it cyanide of potassium, then cut a hollow in a piece of charcoal, put the substance in, turn the flame of a blow-pipe on to it, and if it is tin ore you will get small beads of pure tin.
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