Show t agold G old mines on me gila river I 1 ARIZONA OR GADSDEN GADSDE 1 PURCHASE PuRcIl AsE TERRITORY or OF NEW MEXICO AlExi cop dec 20 1858 f The Recent gold cold Disco discoverer verea on the gila gil prospect of the scarcity of provisions climate ac ac c As I 1 know that you are always anxious to lay before your readers every interesting inter eating fact concerning the development of the resources of if our country 1 I hasten to inform you of the late ate dieco venes ot of gold in this section of the country toi for man nany years past t it wis was reported that c sold gold could be found all alon along the gila river indeed I 1 have frequently read of 0 it in the columns colu inna of your pa paper er but the hostility ot of athe he indians indiana was fu such as to prevent parties i icho ho passed through the country from ful fully ily 9 exploring imploring Mp loring it it w waa a no not t however consider t td that found i d so 83 near tha thia mouth of the river until about abit the middle of last august v u hen a mr air birch an old california minera bluer who aho was passing through here on his way vay lack back to texas determined to stop and prospect the hills bills for a few days as liis his cattle ere re kited after crossing the desert ile he tad lad nol leen been lin an hour at work before lie he foai d several small email pieces of gold merely by I with his knife lie ife then set to I 1 bork ork and made himself a rocker and commenced iced in earnest and as there were at that ID il hile is many their from tex emigrants on way a 23 to maar california ca I 1 ifo rrita they all stopped as they adfle came along and went to wo work k also until in about out six or ei eight abt weeks there were about aty qty by men most of them having families encamped and at work here if about the f first arst of november I 1 and several WB determined to go down from san franco and try our fo fortunes stunes we accordingly 1 arrived ved here about the of last novem nove hr i and found some devent seventy 1 men 11 n mostly all g texans lne at T work they have 1 built them selves ei houses ma made de of brush ard and mud arid and called the place gila city it is situated tk et sa s1 mile s above the junction of the rila gila tl Is ta a t the he col colorado 0 r ado river at which alch point fort iduna ituna nia is ia located there is a city laid 0 off ir tit opposite rort fort yuma in the gadsde gadsden en purchase u rc liase called arizona city which contain fa 1 it but two to mud houses one of chich is the tha post office for a large tract of country on loth both sides of the river when we arrived at the mines we found that they were not doing so BO well as we q had been informed formed iti only four or five parties could lie be said to bo be making high wages the others were only doing tolerably well velh taking all on an av average rage they hey N were ere only making about four or f fe 1 dollars a day clay to t the he man I 1 have seen some claims yield as high as fifty dollars per day to the man and again I 1 have seen others that mould w not pay more than fifty cents cents berday per day the mines in in this section or of the country will never pay well as a general mhd thing as the river is nearly halt half a mile distant from the ile nearest t place where gold is found and tc they ania have v c to haul the dirt in wagons to the river to wash it for which they have to pay I 1 two dollars per load some loads yield as high as twenty dollars others do not yield enough to pay for hauling but should capitalists ital ita lists bring engines here an and d force the waters up lip to the hills as in the california mines I 1 then indeed they will pay handsomely the mines here extend about five miles on each side of the river there are three mining camps here at present there are numbers of men bien coming coining liere here daily from california many M lany of 0 them stay here tor for a few days day and prospect a little and not finding it as rich as aa t they y would old o ld wish curse the country and go 1 home rne again again but I 1 have never seen any one who N mould 0 uld go 0 directly to work and keep at it steady mho 0 could not make it pay ell there are a few companies M ho bo have nia made is we well 11 of it one company I 1 know hau have ve taken out three thousand dollars in tw two months the gold is found ir in the deep ravines and in some places on the tops of the hills th there ere are scarcely any deep diggings it is found mostly near the surface arid and on the bed rock in the gulches and ra ravines vines ni where here it was washed down the hills bills from becom decomposed posed quartz rock but this his is merely a beginning and no doubt when the adventurous pioneer californians niana come down they will make their way up tip to the thel head lead waters of the gila where gol gold is said to be found in large quantities ili indeed they are already be beginning ani to organize a lar large ge body of men to proceed up but they must be well armed and vigilant as th they ey will have to advance into the very heart of the apache country should they organize organize an effect effective tive body of 0 men I 1 will go along with them and keep y ou informed of all that transpires there are here at present some two elves undred hundred men the majority of whom ha have no fixed claims but are prospecting the country all around I 1 myself did the same for nearly three weeks and not finding anything good bought one third of a claim which is paying well ahe climate of this country is 13 delightful at this season of the year we have now such weather as you have in new york in october it scarcely ever rains here except a few show sho era in august the entire country for hundreds of miles is one vast region of barren hills and valleys it never can be made much of as an agricultural country country as there are no means ot of irrigation an and the f ground round is highly impregnated bated with alkali chere rh ere is is no timber timbe r eielt in some places where her there ethere are a few or cottonwood trees to t 0 be found its only omy redeeming character is that it is ex rich in minerals provisions al aie e very i ery high here as everything has to be brought from california chiefly from san francisco up the gulf of calif califor or nia to the mouth of the colorada Co lorada thence to fort yuma by steamer the stag stages es of the overland mail company from st it louis pass through here twice a week so we have ample means tor for correspondence I 1 will now nov close this letter in my next I 1 will give you all the items of interest that may transpire hero here |