Show THE prospector AND US IUS I BURRO f f if aaili by will C higgins when I 1 reached the little settlement in the valley said the prospector to his burro 1 I was given a warm welcome by its inhabitants and they were much interested in my account of having found a free milling gold mine by drowning out a lot of red ants and sinking down to the ledge from which they had brought up tip the small particles of gold which helped to form the mound over their nests and the result was that almost every man and boy in the settlement went scouting out over the surrounding country investigating every ant hill they could find hoping that they too would be fortunate in finding a bonanza but after a few fe v days spent in futile effort the whole outfit returned somewhat the worse for encounters they had bad had with different species of the ant tribe some of the boys having been quite severely bitten and disfigured I 1 took no stock in the quest however for the valley section was not at all mineralized and I 1 knew that it was only by chance that I 1 had happened upon an ant nest that had bad been constructed above a gold bearing ledge the leading men of the village however who were principally engaged in mercantile pursuits and cattle raising wanted to go in with me and form a company for the development and operation of my red ant group and so I 1 sold them a half interest in the property for which was dirt cheap and we organized the red ant mining reduction company with a capitalization of shares of a par value of of 50 cents each setting aside shares for treasury purposes the balance being divided among the incorporators the treasury stock was largely taken by the townspeople including the incorporators and within a month we had a fat bank account with which to proceed with the development and equipment L of our property the first thing we did continued the prospector was to build a number of cabins for the use of employees a boarding house blacksmith shop and stables I 1 was manager for the company and everything we bought was paid for so that we got a discount for cash the little camp was built below the spring and a small system of water works was installed and water piped to the cabins and boarding house and also to a large watering trough near the stable and corrals while the spring was fenced in to provide against its pollution when this work was completed we allowed a store to be put in by an outsider a merchant of good reputation and we only leased him the ground for a period of six months so that we could close down the establishment in case he failed to conduct his business in a manner satisfactory to his customers we also made necessary arrangements range ments for the establishment of a post office which was vas registered as the red ant and a little later constructed a telephone line to connect our town with the village in the valley we had had ordered a gasoline hoisting plant with a sinking capacity of feet and when this was installed we began sinking with two shifts for a depth of feet we sunk the shaft in ore when we cut into the pf af the vein which had a dip of nearly perpendicular in the meantime we screened the ore as it came from the mine and sluiced the fines the cleanup which we made weekly being more than enough to pay for operating expenses so that our treasury fund remained intact ex hepting for the drains made upon it in building operations and the purchase of th the e hoist from the bottom of the foot shaft we crosscut cross cut to the hanging wall of the ledge and found it to be about fifteen feet in width with values in free gold averaging about 40 to the ton while the ledge was even richer at the bottom of the shaft than at the top after crosscutting we started drifting both ways orf on the hanging and footfalls foot walls of the lode and ran these drifts about feet giving us feet of ore blocked out on both sides while cross cuts were made every fifty feet which gave us a large tonnage that was completely blocked out on four sides with backs reaching to the surface we made samplings and assays essays as work progressed so that we had an excellent idea of the amount and the value of the ore we had in sight by this time we were confident we would be justified in the installation of a milling plant but before deciding upon the machinery and equipment necessary we closely scanned the advertising of the lake mining review where we found just what we wanted after considerable discussion we decided to put in an amalgamation plant breaking the ore in crushers and grinding by feeding to ball mills a cyaniding cyan iding annex to treat the tailings from the plates to be added to the equipment the machinery was soon ord ordered cred and while the plant would be rather small to start with the first unit of which was planned to treat fifty tons a day we were satisfied and within a month the first machinery shipments began to arrive by this time we had quite a tonnage of good ore on the dump below which the foundations for the milling plant were being constructed and I 1 also increased the force so that we were breaking down and hoisting nearly fifty tons a day as I 1 believed it good policy to have a goodly tonnage of ore on the dump ready for the mill when it should go into commission while at the same time I 1 pushed development by drifting and crosscutting and had also continued the sinking of the shaft for another hundred feet we had quite a little town by this time and the fame of the red ant mine had spread all over the country the result being that a lot of new faces were daily seen in our camp while a great deal of prospecting was done by outsiders A few important discoveries were made by these newcomers and a number of new prospects were in course of development by the time our milling plant was ready to go into comm mission we had arranged that the ore should go to the crusher by gravity from the dump and our flow sheet was designed to take care of the mine product without any the result being that economy was practiced in every department part ment from mining until the gold bars came from the retort it was a gala day brhen hen the mill went into commission and we had many visitors I 1 had made preparation for a big feed and gave every one attending the ceremonies a badge button emblazoned blazoned em with a big red ant I 1 made a speech when the power was applied and the way the crusher fed the ore to the ball mills and the spectacle of the amalgam piling up on the plates satisfied those experienced perien ced in mill practice that the proposition was an assured success and believe me it seemed as if I 1 had achieved the dreams and aspirations of my life and my associates were wild over the prospects for the future that night before retiring I 1 gave your mother an extra feed of barley and decorated her neck with ribbons for had it not been for her it is more than probable I 1 never would have found the mine for there was no outcrop or float in its immediate vicinity you want to know if the mine turned out according to expectations and aari if the mill worked satisfactorily after the first day which is a question one could hardly expect from such a source but I 1 am glad to say that for two years we continued to mine and mill with most satisfactory results cleaning up something like a month during that time within the first three months a dividend was declared of twenty five cents a share and this amount was paid quarterly thereafter we made a close saving on the plates and the cyanide recovered about all that was left 8 it in the m 8 tailings which was a mighty good record about this time a salt lake bunch came into camp and wanted to examine the mine as they had heard so much about it of course the request was granted with the result that we received an offer of two dollars a share for our stock and I 1 advised that the stockholders make a clean un ug which they did and every one felt happy for they made a killing to say nothing of the regular dividends they had r received lee ived f for or the two years the company was en cli a paying basis under the new management the property continued to pay big money for a number of years when it was sold again and today it is one of the great bonanzas of arizona 1 I want to tell you concluded the prospector this was a gratifying climax in my mining experience and especially so after the dismal failure with the strata mine in the shell hole range and I 1 may as wen well admit that I 1 have a great deal of admiration for a red ant wherever I 1 find him notwithstanding his ferocity and bloodthirsty blood thirsty dis position for if his breed had not so hotly hody resented the trespass of your mother on their preserves I 1 never would have found the red ant mine and there you are and then some |