Silver City, New Mexico - Report As to Grant County

Report As to Grant County

Mining in this district at present writing is not what the writer wishes it was, and it is an up-hill business to write up anything that does not assist itself. We have not lost hopes of this camp - far from it. There is no doubt but the British company, that are soon to stock M. W. Breman's 76, will make a stir that has never been witnessed before.

The 76 mine, owned by Mr. Bremen, is situated on the Chloride flat, two miles west of Silver City. Work was commenced on this mine in 1871, and the yield of paying ore probably exceeds 20,000 tons.

Tliere has been discovered in one of the cross-cuts a large body of. silver bearing slate. Where the tunnel was cut through this slate it exposed "face" from five to eight feet in depth, for a distance of 240 feet, horn silver is found all through the slate, and in the seams broad sheet of native silver, no thicker than tissue paper, are found. But the most singular form in which the metal is found in this slate is in round balls, or pellets, of almost pure silver, ranging from the size of a pin-head up to that of a quail's egg.

These balls, which very much resemble fossil, are in many places thickly interspersed through the slate, and on actual test are found to contain 95 per cent, of silver. Hundreds of tons of this singular silver bearing slate is exposed by the cut, and can be mined at less than $2.00 per ton.

. The Providencia adjoins the Bremen territory, but lies above and on the hill. For nine years past it has been opened, and has, to a very large extent, supported the Mexican population in this section. At present it is closed up but from what cause no one seems to know. It is a good mine and needs a competent owner.

The Boston Company have a ten-stamp mill, machine shop, assay office and a diamond drill on Legal Tender Hill. Another boiler has arrived and we are told that they intend to soon start up on ore obtained from the Cosette mine in the Lone Mountain District. They have everything necessary to do a successful mining business but from some cause it has not been done lately.

The Income Company of Boston have an interest in the Sherman, and 'desire to make a mine out of it, instead of "Gophering." When they have surmounted their present difficulties we hope to hear of a new mill being shipped - until then nobody is to be benefitted.

Report Op The Commissioner Op Gra.Nt County

AVm. Faux came here with a new smelter this spring and has it ready to run, but he has no ore. The Glorietta Company has sold him 100 tons, but that will be a mere drop in the bucket. Above his smelter is a relic *of the past in the shape of a played out stamp mill. At Lone Mountain is another - farther along, at Apache Tijo, is another - all of them are idle.

We have enough mills in this vicinity. What we want is mines and capitalists at their back to develope them. When smoke is raised in these mills and kept up night and day there, a better state of mineral afta.irs will exist. It is to be hoped that the day is not far away, and we will welcome its arrival.

In the mining location records, twenty more districts. are named, but they are only in name as we understand them. Those named above are the principal ones at present.

A few years ago where Georgetown now stands the cayote and cinnamon bear held undisputed possession. There is a wonderful change, and the distant reader can see the same that the writer has observed by paying this "roaring" mining camp a visit. It is accessible in more ways than one.

In 1866 the camp of Georgetown was first struck by Messrs. Butine and Streeter, Geo. Duncan, Andy Johnson and others. No work was done for two years later, when operations were commenced by E. AVeeks and J. Fresh, on what is known as the McNulty. In 1872 the wealth of the camp became apparent and it took a start that it has maintained up to the present time. There is also, without a doubt, in Georgetown, a vast amount of mineral wealth as yet undiscovered. The town itself presents to the eye of the traveler, on entering on the Silver City road, more the appearance of a mining camp than any I have yet visited, work has been done on both sides of the road for a mile or more.

The town was located during the year 1872, and has progressed gradually. This year it has grown faster than at any other time since it began.

If you come to Silver City you will find a coach line daily - if you are coming from the Pacific slope stop at Lordsburg and take the Smythe coach line. Now you know how to reach us from every way and we will briefly tell you how we look: First, we have a climate that is pro bono publico, it is cool in summer and warm in winter all of which is for the public good. Our town is 600 strong, on a hill, underneath which rich chlorides abound world without end. On the opposite hills we see hundreds of honest miners passing to and fro from the deep shafts daily where they uncover the horn silver that feeds the two A. No. 1 stamp mills on the Mimbres daily. In the vicinity good claims are for sale at reasonable figures. We have a new school building with county funds to operate it successfully, we have four extensive dry goods and grocery houses, and they sell their wares reasonable. We have hotels and restaurants that feed and sleep the stranger well; we have the butcher, baker, blacksmith, carpenter, doctor, druggist, news depot and many other branches of industry that are needed. Ours is a genuine mining camp and has been for years. Every month in the year we produce bullion, (see the express books at Silver City for proof) and our stamp mills hereafter will. throw $50,000 per month on the market. Each month they pay $15,000 to their various employes and their will be a marked increase in the future. Here the distant reader has a brief pen picture of the genuine, perfectly developed mining camp of Grant county. Be with us once and we can and will show a better mineral face than has ever been printed.

Silver City

By the census taken this season, it has a population of 2,435, since that hundreds of people have arrived, and a majority of them contemplate making it their future home. It is the only city in the Territory that has a charter and is governed by a Mayor and Common Council. Its mining resources are numerous and valuable enough hereabouts to build up a large and thriving city.

The delightful coolness of our summer nights have but few equals, and the clear, sunny days of winter woo visitors and home folks to the open air constantly. There is scarcely a day in the year but what the miner can work at something in connection with his mine.

The four hotels in Silver City are not to be excelled in any place twice its size. Day board is 50 cents a meal, or with lodging, $2.00 per day. All, by the week, $7.00. Boarding houses are plenty, and for $5.00 to $6.00 good board can be obtained. If a stranger rents a room and eats where he pleases, he can live well on $5.00 per week. General expenses are about 20 per cent, higher than they are in Ohio. Wages average about as follows : Miners, $2 to $4 per day; carpenters, $3 to $4.50; brick and adobe-layers, $4; plasterers, $5; salesmen $75 to $100 per month; laborers, $1.50.a day, or $30 to $40 per month.

We have the best of stone, sand and lime for building, and it is furnished, at reasonable figures. Lumber is the highest article we have to contend with, but new mills are going into operation and new lumber yards will spring up by another season, which will make that article within the reach of all. The Masons have an old and well established lodge here.

Water is no object scarcely. It is found all over the city and in the flat above, in inexhaustible quantities, at a depth of 25 and 50 feet. Nearly in the center of the city a splendid spring bursts forth. Its waters are used for drinking and washing purposes, and every day hundreds of head of stock quench their thirst from its clear, cold and pure surface. Notwithstanding all this, it "keeps up its lick," and the oldest inhabitant's memory runneth not back to the day when it went dry.

We have daily connection with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe rail- - road, and three times per week by four coaches from Lordsburg, on the Southern Pacific railroad.

A four-horse coach runs from Silver City to Clifton, Arizona, once a week. There is also a daily line from the former place to Georgetown and a fourhorse coach line to the Mogollons once each week.

It is confidently expected that the Texas Pacific will come near to Silver City on the road either to Clifton or the Mogollons, thence on to some point where it can tap the Atlantic and Pacific railroad m the San Francisco Mountains.

Is a new town that has sprung up since the railroad came along. It is the principal point from which the copper of the Clifton mines is shipped, and the coke for the same is landed. There is a large hotel and several business houses in the place. Shakspeare is only two miles away and claims precedence on account of age.

Is another mining town. It was originally named Ralston. It has one store, two hotels, and all the residences are neat and well built. It is the headquarters for all the officers of the mining companies that are operating in the vicinity. The Southern Pacific railroad runs two miles north of the town.

are looking better every day and the outlook is decidedly encouraging. The people have good coach connection with the county seat and railroad. Six miles distant is Leitendorf s mining camp, that contains many a ton of very rich ore. There they have a store and more coming. The day is near at hand when they will have mining machinery there as well as in Shakspeare. It has had no little to contend against. When the district was first opened up it was puffed and lauded to the skies by a set of mining speculators who wished to dispose of their claims, before doing any work to show that there was something in them to warrant investment by capitalists. This never works to the advantage of any camp, and as a consequence, Shakspeare was pronounced a fraud of the first water by many of the Territorial press.

The ore is principally low grade, but there are immense bodies of it which can be made profitable by careful and economical management. It has long ago been clearly demonstrated that low grade ore can be made to pay, and there are numerous instances where mines, containing less ore and of a lower grade than that found at Shakspeare, have been made to yield handsome dividends. The mine owners of this camp have begun to realize this fact, and have thrown aside the puffing policy and gone to work in earnest. As a result of this more capital is being invested there, and a number of sales are reported, which though not amounting to fortunes, repay the prospector well

All who have ever visited this camp unite in saying that they have never .before seen such immense bodies of ore. It is piled up in ledges mountain high, and requires but very little work to get it to the reduction works, where, though it may not run up into the thousands of .ounces to the ton, after paying the mill charges, it leaves a good surplus to the owner.

Is a town that has recently sprung up on the railroad in this county. The two railroad companies have erected a very fine hotel with offices and bath rooms attached and expect to accommodate the traveling public in the best of style. It is surrounded by good mining districts and may yet become a great shipping point. They have an abundance of water.