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THE PROSPECTING TRADITION
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By Gary Dillard
The Great Southwest
WesternHistory.com
PROSPECTORS INFLUENCE ARIZONA HISTORY
Other than the cowboy, perhaps no person of the West stands
as tall in mythology as the prospector. And justifiably so----look
at the dates when a Western state was made a territory and compare that
to the date of a major gold or silver strike in that region. The
nation wanted territories rich in precious metals. While the 19th
century hosted most of the nation's gold rushes, beginning with the strike
at Sutter's mill in California in 1848, gold fever wouldn't die with the
dawning of the new century. Though most Arizona gold mines have been
in a belt trending from central Arizona northwest into Nevada, Cochise
County in Southeastern Arizona has had its share of small strikes.
In July through September of 1914, there were at least three gold "strikes"
reported in Southeastern Arizona by the Bisbee Daily Review. The
largest of these was just a few miles northwest of the famed copper mines
of Bisbee. Another was at Bowie, near the former military post of
Fort Bowie. A third was at Patagonia, about 20 miles west of Fort
Huachuca in Santa Cruz County. These gold strikes were made by what
could only be termed prospectors, despite the proximity of large, well-organized,
well-funded mining companies. (Even in today's multi-billion-dollar
world of mining, "prospectors" are often responsible for sniffing out new
bodies of minerals. Much of the hundreds of millions spent each year
on exploration by major mining companies is expended on sites acquired
from modern prospectors.) By the teens, Bisbee was one of the world's
largest mining areas. Each week the papers were filled with news
about mining in the local area and around the world. Readers were
used to seeing investment and profit figures in the millions of dollars.
Nevertheless, when there was a hint of gold in the air, it caught the attention
of everyone, not just the "masses," those who would have been National
Enquirer readers, had such a paper been around.
SEEKING THE BONANZA
"Jewelry shop ore, bonanza stuff, the regular mint article,
was the talk around town last night in those centers where mining folks
gather," wrote the Bizbee Review on the July 12, 1914 front page.
"It sounded like Goldfield in its days, and the later Rawhide." The talk
was about Juniper Flats, an area about four miles northwest of downtown
Bisbee. (Easily seen from Highway 80 north of Bisbee, Juniper Flats,
elevation 7,110 feet, is the peak covered with communications equipment.
The find had been made by William Truax, a local restaurateur, and Oliver
Zane. (Later in July, Zane would sell his interest in seven claims
to Truax for $10,000, payable over a year. Truax wanted to develop
the ore on a much larger scale than Zane was interested in and wanted to
form a corporation . As with any gold strike near a populated area,
Truax and Zane didn't remember the sole claimants on Juniper Flats for
long. "News of the richness of the gold being found spread over the
district," the newspaper reported on July 12. "In consequence, there
were half a hundred people at Juniper Flats yesterday and location work
was the busy game of the time. There will be more people there today,
and by night everything in the neighborhood should be covered with location
notices and new monuments." What did that mean for people who already
had claims in the area? "Meanwhile those with old locations in the
section are sitting on their claims and seeing to it that they are not
mistaken for open ground," wrote the newspaper. Though the Review
was an old hand at reporting exciting mining news even handedly, there
was excitement conveyed by the details of the story. Truax was the
owner of a large Bisbee restaurant to which the ore was brought each evening
for safekeeping. Said the Review: "At the Truax restaurant last night
were half a dozen sacks of the ore stacked over the safe. These sacks
were the cleanup of the the day at the claim...." "The ore gathered
up yesterday was specked all over with gold. It looked entirely too
tempting and too valuable to be left lying out on the dump. Might
as well have strewn a lot of $5 gold pieces around and left them lying
overnight."
TYPICAL WAGES WERE $2.50 A DAY
The paper had reported
in the same time frame that City of Bibs employees had been given a raise
to $2.50 per day. With Juniper Flats ore worth $1 per pound, a worker
who could haul away a mere 50 pounds would have a month's wages in his
hands. A description of mining techniques showed that work was being
carried through by prospector miners. "The shot (of blasting agent,
probably dynamite) which brought out this rich stuff was fired on Friday.
It scattered rock all over the hillside. Yesterday this rock was
gathered up and sacked," the Review reported. "And when they fire
the next shot, the hole will be covered with gunny sacks which were taken
out yesterday to save the rock from becoming scattered and lost.
They are figuring its value in pounds." "Wise" prospectors were staking
claims as close to the Truax property as possible, hoping to get in on
the general trend. "If it (the Truax property) strikes gold, so will
they. If it does not, it will not be the first time for most of them"
THE MOTHER LODE
The following Sunday, in its regular mining section, the
newspaper said it talked with "a mining engineer whose word counts for
more than that of any other single person" about the strike. Though
this engineer hadn't seen the property since the strike, he ventured that
Truax and Zane may have hit "the main lead," or "the mother lode."
But he hedged by saying that "work and exploration alone will tell the
story." The find was a big one for Arizona. "During the last
two weeks," the Review reported July 19th, "there have been hundreds of
claims....located in the vicinity of and for five miles out from the Juniper
Flats discovery claims. Prospectors are still locating. Everything
on formations bearing any resemblance to the discovery claim is being taken
in." The discovery of gold had been "the all-absorbing topic about
the district over the last week," the paper added, "and which has claimed
attention to more or less extent since the Truax-Zane claims were taken
up the first of the year. "Lately there has been nothing else talked
in mining groups in the streets and in public places, while expression
of interest has not failed to come from up mining authorities in the district."
Every week there was good news about the Juniper Flats gold discovery.
July 26, for example, the Review reported that perhaps Truax wouldn't neglect
to incorporate to raise money for a mine. "Surface workings on the
vein are making good returns in the rich ore," the paper said. "Possibly
it may be a grass roots proposition." Such is the dream of every
prospector. Find enough rich ore right on the sight and use funds
from that to build bigger and better facilities to mine the ore which lies
deeper. Repeat as necessary. Such is never a likely prospect,
but then again, neither is hitting the mother lode, also every prospector's
dream. After making the discovery, Truax the restaurant owner did
the smart thing. He brought in an expert to decide how to develop
the ore. Ed Schieffelin did the same thing in Tombstone; that's one
reason the development of those mines was rapid and smooth.) W.J.
Martin, who had operated gold mines in northwest Arizona, came to the Bisbee
area in late July to take over the Truax property. Said the Review:
"Martin holds that Juniper Flats presents the best surface showing for
the making of an important gold mining district that he has ever seen."
GOLD STRIKES IN PATAGONIA AND BOWIE
Though the strike at Juniper Flats brought the greatest
amount of interest in 1914, both because of the richness of the surface
discovery and because of its proximity to a major population center, it
wasn't the only find in the vicinity. A visitor to Bisbee in early
September reported that a rich gold strike had been made in the Santa Rita
Mountains of the Patagonia district, about 20 miles west of Fort Huachuca.
Said the Review: "Mr. Ed Fuller is very much elated over the new discovery
and has already received several good offers for his property, but refused
same owing to the fact that he was organizing a company to develop his
property on a larger scale." The paper added that "much excitement
prevails throughout the Patagonia district and many prospectors are now
in the field taking up ground and commencing the necessary assessment work."
Gold was also found in the northeast part of Cochise County. The
Review reported October 7th that "three Mexicans discovered what is believed
to be the mother lode of free gold in Gold Gulch Canyon, near Bowie, and
today there was a general rush to the canyon by prospectors as well as
others to locate claims near the place where the ledge bearing the free
gold was discovered." Gold had been found in the area 40 years earlier,
but no one had been able to trace it to a source. One of the early
nuggets was worth $250, which would have made it a 13-troy-ounce piece
at gold's price in 1874. The 1914 discovery included a piece of ore
weighing about two pounds, was crushed and melted, yielding about 10 ounces
of gold. Three Bowie-area men filed a claim on the site of the gold
discovery and filed 11 surrounding claims. Others were immediately
attracted to the area and many had some success. "Many of the people
who went to the canyon today (October 6) panned some sand and in all cases
considerable gold was secured, the paper said. "The rich lode....is
easily reached. One is able to drive an automobile within 100 feet
of it and people went to the canyon....in automobiles, on horseback and
in buggies."
GOLD FEVER CAN STRIKE ANYONE
Who was attracted by the smell of gold? The Review
described them: "There were railroaders, farmers, merchants and business
men." What was the fate of such gold strikes? MOst of them
produce enough prime metal to create a rush of prospectors, most of whom
gain nothing for their efforts----unless they are able to sell the claims
to others. In virtually all cases excepting a very few, where major
mines were created, more money was made selling claims and supplies, and
gambling, than was made mining gold. Southern Arizona has never had
a really successful gold mine, though the potential is there. Today
there are several successful gold operations just across the border in
the Mexican state of Sonora. And there is gold. The copper
mines at Bisbee produced almost 2.9 million ounces of the yellow metal
between 1880 and 1975. At today's prices, is would be worth most
of $1 billion. That was only a by-product of copper; Bisbee produced
more than 8 billion pounds of copper, which would be worth well over 5
billion at today's prices.
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