Show rejuvenation uv 4 of the old camp of chloride arizona BY U S G TODD chloride is a camp reborn operated for many years as a gold silver and lead camp principally it was allowed to drop somewhat into obscurity only to burst forth in the last two years as one of the great copper camps of the west chloride is situated about twenty miles hundreds of miners from nevada and california were several rich veins of gold and silver ore so rich we rethey that it proved profitable even to freight the ore to the colorado river down that stream to the gulf of california and up the coast to where a large part of it was road passed through kingman making the haul from chloride but a short one however the richness of the chloride district soon justified a spur out from kingman which was constructed four or five years later while silver was high and gold running TAIN pa tj IN VANIA VL U 0 r N I 1 V int ij A IY b E L uj M T T F P RV A HE COLES lamoan UCES A 11 S NN it HA K pori R R 5 cc MAW OT 4 WV va panoramic view showing location of the principal mines of chloride north of kingman the county seat of mohave county arizona it is in the northern part of the district near the western slope of the carbat cerbat mountains and comprises roughly about six square miles the town is the terminus of a branch of the santa fe railroad giving its mines the big advantage of an easy shipping point the town is at an altitude of about feet near the base of the mountains the camp of chloride was discovered in the early sixties the magnet which drew 4 shipped to england for treatment the difficulties of this long transportation were by no means lessened by constant attacks from hostile indians of the region and yet the miners considered it worth while the great influx of miners came in 1872 1972 scores of claims were located in mohave county several of them being in the present chloride district all yielded gold and silver some lead and later zinc and all the ore was shipped by the method described railroad in 1882 the until the advent of the in large percentages chloride remained a busy camp but when the white metal took its drop in the early nineties it took much of the spirit out of the camp A period of low bearing gold ore also tended to discourage activity and several mines were abandoned or closed for long intervals about thirteen years ago however mr air john B D hughes a well known holder of chloride properties together with the goss brothers also heavily interested there and to take an inter one or two others began est iu in the copper possibilities of the camp copper was beginning to advance in importance and farsighted prospectors were directing their attention to its discovery As early as 1903 mr hughes predicted that chloride would yet play a significant part in the production of the red metal and his opinion was supported by several others their personal experience proved the truth of their predictions mr hughes made his demonstration by finding 27 per cent copper in his bobby burns property while the goss brothers were made true and wealthy prophets by the rich deposits they found in their copperfield porphyry claims new life and inspiration little by little the camp took on new life old mines were reopened opened re and operated new ones were staked out and developed shipments of lead and zinc and some copper became more and more important but the principal interest in the camp which suffering europe was making persistent demands and for themselves and their clientele secured much choice acreage their reward was sudden and beyond their dreams the price of these metals began to soar and their properties suddenly became worth many times the prices paid for them capital capit al was thrust upon them in frantic efforts to expedite development and production and their properties fast became famous this in brief is the blogna phy of chloride the war baby of the mineral world the zinc lead copper gold and silver of her mines will be needed I 1 for years to come many of these mines have been developed to a degree that makes them independent of outside help while others in large numbers are being put into self sustaining condition the treatment problems that racked the brains of mining men in the past when dealing with a combination of these metals no longer cause them a thought almost simultaneously N HUGHES 48 0 ta A COPT 1 I Y R I 1 s cv im il k f 51 I 1 ha S Y f 7 street view in the booming camp of chloride still centered in the gold and silver deposits then came the war it changed chloride as it has changed almost the antiro world from being a gold silver and lead camp chloride is rapidly becoming a copped and zinc bearing camp old prospectors there are surprising even themselves in the abundance of the copper ore they are discovering in a recent letter a well known brokerage firm has described the development there as follows chloride a war baby f chloride mining camp is a war baby the clouds above this big camp rifted drifted in the sun of capitals warming rays the moment the european war became a factor in the metal market eminent engineers such as gus holmes julius jr prof F C smith E ibi al M binds E B twitchell and many others were attracted by the inexhaustible deposits of the metals for with the demand of the metals came the discovery of a simple process for separating them then came the upward swing of the metal market the result of the combination was unavoidable the chloride camp became famous over night and the rush was tremendous production and formation chloride already has a production total that must be taken into account the richness of its ores during its early history helped to swell the amount and now the war boom in the baser metals is sending it up by leaps and bounds the total production at chloride is from forty eight properties at least 40 per cent of this has been produced since the copper craze struck the camp the tennessee alone has produced tie the white te hills the golconda elkhart while a score of properties have produced into the six figures in workings less than feet in extent the formation of the chloride district may inay be classed as precambrian cambrian pre complex the mineral deposits occurring in well defined fissure veins one system having a strike a little west of north standing practically vertical while the other system has a northwest strike with a dip either to the northwest or southeast the ores principally contain gold silver copper lead and zinc th the gangue is quartz with iron pyrite chal copy rite galena and zinc blend frequently disclosing the presence of br onite the ed zone does not extend to depth the m in in this zone being secondary argentine native silver horn silver and ceru site also disclosing the presence of copper the easy access of the ore bodies in chloride has materially expedited the development work in the camp and has enabled the management of properties to expose large bodies of ores one advantageous feature claimed for chloride is the high grade sulphide ores encountered reasonably near the surface this fact was particularly well demonstrated in the of the copper hill group of the hughes arizona copper un tins tais property a tunnel has abeen run in on the vein feet between the to foot points in the tunnel an ore chute was encountered that gave assays essays as high as per ton the water channel geive gave out at this point and probably will not be again encountered until a point feet in the adit is reached the conformation of the mountain is such that depth is rapidly acquired three hundred feet in the adit adif will give feet of backs the favorable physical conditions prevailing in the hughes arizona copper are equally a aa well demonstrated in a cumfer or ol other chloride properties chloride responding to prosperity the town of chloride itself is reflecting in a most positive fashion the prosperity of the mining properties in its vicinity the town has more than trebled in size during the past six mx months and is growing so fast houses cannot be put up rapidly enough to accommodate the newcomers practically every line of business is represented in the town even to the movies capitalists from every part of the united instates are represented among the holders of chloride stocks several have come from southern california and quite a number well known in utah mining circles as gus holmes john pingree and others are securing large holdings there it is reported also that D C jackling has been quietly buying into the camp the last few weeks the united states smelting smelling Sm elting refining inma company owners of the tennessee and other holdings are planning to increase the output capacity every claim in the camp is either being worked or is under bonded lease t tun 1 ne to commence operations within a short following are brief descriptions of some of the best known properties of the chloride 4 district largely taken from tile the united states k c geological survey for Alo mohave have county it the tennessee mine tile the tennessee is tile the largest producer in ill the district with a record of over it is now producing at the rate of per month with every effort being made to increase the output the tennessee has been operated steadily for tile the past thirty years the greater part of that time lead was the principal metal although gold and silver were found in paying quantities the zinc found in ill the mine was until the present boom in baser metals considered a detriment but now it is becoming the chief source of revenue for the mine tile the country rock at tile the mine is gneiss with granite and schist occurring near by the mine is situated on what is known as the tennessee vein and is developed by two inclined shafts and six levels the shafts are located feet apart the deepest now being 1400 feet the vein droppings crop pings rising locally several feet above the surface are reddish brownish yellowish and blackish quartz the vein is regarded as part of the great lead bearing lode on which the schuylkill and elkhart mines to the north are situated the ore is mainly galena zinc blend and pyrite and also carries good silver values and some gold the average run of mine ore omitting the zinc is about as follows lead 20 to 70 per cent concentrates 75 per cent silver 8 ounces concentrates 25 ounces copper in the deep part of mine i is increasing in amount with depth gold occurs only in small amount and is found in the pyrite schuylkill mine the schuylkill mine one of the oldest in the district is about one mile northeast of chloride on a patented fractional claim adjoining the tennessee on the south it has been enlarged however by the present owners the schuylkill mining alining company to embrace several claims among them the elkhart one of the largest producers in the camp in its early history the argyl Dun ferlin bullion ind and distaff it is situated in alignment with the tennessee and elkhart mines and is supposed to be on the tennessee vein the country rock and ore are similar to those of the tennessee the large dump shows that much work has been done the mine having been a consistent producer for many years especially during the past three its total output has been about tile the mine has produced much good ore and has much more in sight with the other claims included this property has a great future in ill sight the samoa mine the samoa one of the early locations in the camp has been a steady producer with a total of to date the mine consists of several claims of which only one the samoa has been extensively exploited it has six parallel veins which strike about north 10 degrees west and stand nearly vertical or dips steeply to the east at angles of about 80 degrees the principal producing vein the one on which nearly all the work has been done is no 3 known as the fourth of march its average thickness is about four feet and the ore shoot is up to thirty inches wide the ore contains pyrite galena and zinc blend in quartz gangue the principal values are contained in the gold and silver of the sulphide ores the management is now blocking blackin g out large bodies of ore the minnesota connor mine with a total production that has increased from in 1909 to in ill 1916 the minnesota connor mine ranks as one of the most important properties in the district it is located about one and three quarters miles southeast of chloride and a half mile south of the pay roll mine now known as the keystone it is reached by good wagon roads of easy grade the country rock is the usual precambrian complex which here consists mainly of pressed mickoline hornblende schist gneiss and syenite the vein strikes N 30 degrees to 50 W and dips 60 to 80 degrees S W it is known to extend through a horizontal distance of nearly feet and varies from five to twenty feet in width the gangue is quartz with some calcite which locally seems to replace the quartz the principal value is in silver which in part is in the form of ruby silver but the ore also contains some gold part of it is very rich especially in the deeper parts of the mine the towne mine the towne is reputed to be the first mine located in the chloride district it produced from 1882 to 1906 and its total production is now placed at the iiii mineral deposits consist of two veins about forty feet apart the second vein to be discovered is proving the richer one it Is about three feet in average and eight feet in maximum width and is well defined and easily worked the gangue is quartz much of which is shattered and pinched and the ore contains principally silver and gold with some pyrite zinc blend and galena it runs frequently Is as high as a ton some of tile the richest ore shoots occurred on the loo foot level the midnight mine one of the most aggressive properties in the chloride district is the Alid midnight night mine about two miles southeast of chloride this has one of the richest veins of copper ore in ill the world running as high as 1500 a ton thanks to the demand tor for the red metal and also for zinc the owners of the mine are vigorously blocking out huge ore bodies with an idea of shipping heavily soon the mine has always been a small though consistent producer hampered SO somewhat by lack of capital and the presence of zinc until recently more of a handicap than an advantage to western mines the ore contains silver copper gold zinc and iron the silver occurs mostly in the rule being that the more the more silver some is present the gold is found principally in the pyrite The zinc blende though more or less mixed with the ore occurs also in a relatively pure three inch shoot on the hanging wall in the northeastern part of tile the mine the keystone consolidated an illustration of the immense expansion of values which has taken place in chloride during the past two years is the keystone properties now being united under the name of the keystone consolidated several claims which had been worked and then partially or completely abandoned were purchased by bv gus holmes and other capitalists they developed enough to show that the entire property was rich in copper and zinc as well as carrying gold silver and lead values the mine from being comparatively obscure is now valued at several millions of dollars doll irs large bodies of ore are being blocked out and this property will undoubtedly become one of the great producers of the west for lack of space only a few of the mines of the district have been mentioned other new properties such as the arizona chloride company controlled by mr air john B D hughes are being brought swiftly to the front old mines made new practically every chloride stock that has been put on the new york market has increased phenomenally salt lake capitalists are looking chloride way confident that the little arizona camp contains immense possibilities |