Show z V IV v v w v io v z 1 S abe ube famous tv t v v v v IV V V V 1 dixie copper mine of 5 zt r debroe Se r broe v V w v v v w vt n HE mining review is not able to give all the facts and data connected with THE the discovery of the dixie copper mine below st george in washington county this state although much is known regarding its subsequent history of the struggles made by its early owners to transform this bonanza into a producing and dividend paying mine of the obstacles they met with and with the many difficulties encountered in the attempt to work the property successfully and to treat the dres ores in crude blast fur naces with no fuel but bufa charcoal and coke and with such limited experience in i in the smelting smelling sm elting of ores that the usual routine was a blowout blow out one day and a freeze out the next indeed so primitive were the methods then employed in and i in n 0 ore r e treatment that in these latter days when the minin mining and milling industry has been reduced to an exact science no wonder is expressed that these early pioneers in mining affairs in the southwestern portion of the state met with more failures t than h a n successes n notwithstanding 0 t w i t h the fact that they possessed a property rich in its deposits of the red metal of a mine which in its present state of development gives promise of ranking at no distant day as one of the most prolific and best paying copper producing properties in this vast intermountain region 04 the first organized effort to work the dixie copper mine was made ab about out the year 1884 when the dixie apex copper mining alining i company was organized by erastus snow A W ivins john and others of st george who gave employment to a large force in the development of the property and in the erection and operation of a common brick blast furnace with a daily capacity of twenty or thirty tons of crude ore daily the mine of the company located about eighteen miles south and a little west of st george near the arizona line was then so inaccessible that the ore had to be packed down to the wagon road by burro train the furnace being located at st george with the little clay smelter the company had no end of trouble much M uch difficulty was experienced because of the f fact act that it burned out every few days and had to be repaired charcoal and co coke ke were burnt and manufactured on the ground round not on one e of the operators knew what the ore itself was was the proper charge really y self flexing fluxing and yet the company hauled iron ore f from rom iron city in iron county to be us used d for flux if it was thought that used sand would be liberally too much iron was added to the charge no essays assays wera made and as a consequence the furnace would freeze up about ev every ery twelve hours still the company com pan y kept the plant in operation about six months and turned out an excellent ap quality alti and a goodly quantity of copper bullion which nias was shipped by wagon to milford the nearest railroad point about miles distant the enterprise a little more than paying expenses although the company expended many thousands of dollars in wages and laborg labor mine operation and improvement and in mining machinery and supplies after this the mine r kt 4 AMA at z 1 ej 60 v 2 lie r LOADING COPPER BULLION AT THE DIXIE SMELTER remained idle for several years year 9 or until 1892 when the property or its control passed into the hands of that well known st george firm irm woolley lund and judd of which james A andrus adrus was manager while in the possession of these gentlemen the property was worked for fora a period of about eighteen months a new smelter being put in in the operation of which the same difficulties were encountered which so greatly areat ly hindered successful work when the property was handled by its original owners in tact fact while the ore ran high in its copper contents some of the essentials of successful operation were lacking and the employment equipment such as proper t of a competent compete nt smelting smelling sm elting man and assayer the consequence being that the mine and smelter were finally closed down with the trial balance showing up in the red about two years later S L adams of st george and W W old and dr J 0 E king of this city secured a lease and bond on the mine on an op option tion calling for an ultimate P payment of a royalty being exacted on all ore and bullion marketed on tl the ath of october 1899 old king adams and their associates incorporated the st george copper mining company on the bond and lease a little brick blast furnace was put in at the mine and in a short time the owners of the property from the royalties from ore and bullion sales were able to declare dividends a aggregating in august 1900 the W P F snyder company secured the control of the stock of the st george company and W F snyder assumed the active management of the property A gasoline aas engine L and hoister bolster displaced the horse whim then in use a new and better furnace was located at st george and the systematic and extensive development of the mine was inaugurated under the direction of supt grant snyder under whose supervision magnificent disclosures of vast ore bodies have since been made one feature of mr snyder s manage ment being his abil ity to confine development within the ore bearing channels it was not 1 long 0 n g after securing the control of the dixie mine before mr W F snyder was able to place the property with a strong eastern syndicate the purchaser being W S tucker and his associates of new haven conn and as a result the mine has since formed the basis for the incorporation of the utah eastern cripper copper mining alining co with a capitalization of shares of a par value of 5 each accordino according to th the e terms of the sale and the contract existing between the company and mr snyder the be made in tune june of this year when the new association will be put in possession of this valuable property and in this connection the mining review takes pleasure in congratulating mr tucker in tha acquisition of a proposition which according to conservative estimates made is well worth a round million the dixie group of twelve claims is located in agabet mining district in the southwestern portion of washington county the mine is located eighteen miles from st george and but four miles from the arizona utah line the consolidated claims covering the vein for a distance of feet the formation isa is a blue dolomite lime associated with chert the ledge being a true fissure with a strike to the northwest and southeast its inclination being to the west at an angle of sixty degrees from the vertical the cropping is bold and strong at the surface the ore body gaining in size as depth is attained quite a heavy tonnage of high grade ore having been taken f from rom near the grass roots by owners and lessees lessels in the early history of the property it being stated that from the surface to the foot level a chute was worked which brought the operators when the ore was marketed and settled for the mining review is informed that in the development of this ground all of feet of development work has been performed the principal workings consist of a foot tunnel which uncovered the ledge at a vertical depth of feet and a drift of feet on this level on the vein all in good ore from the face of this tunnel the main working shaft has been sunk to a depth of feet the ore body at the bottom being forty three feet in width the shaft workings k being in a zone of lead ore going from 24 to 31 per cent in this metal and from 11 to 23 ounces in silver to the theton ton from this shaft levels have been run both ways on the vein at every fifty feet with the exception that between the and there are no such openings these levels being from to feet in length and from the ore bodies thus blocked out general samples have been taken fifty from the high grade mineral and fifty from the second class the average of the high grade being 2444 per cent in copper to the ton the low grade showing an average of 54 percent in the red metal the result of careful examination by noted mining experts and engineers showing that of the first class ore all of tons is blocked out ready for extraction and the mill while of the second class tons are exposed ready for mining and treatment the ore of the dixie mi ame mme ne in its general characteristics is a free smelting g product 1 carrying its own iron and lime for fluxing flexing flu xing and it can therefore be handled successfully at the smelter without extra cost the mineral in its different forms ranges from green and blue malachite to red and black oxide while native copper and copper glance existing exist in large quantities and going from 80 to 90 per cent in its copper contents the specimens on exhibition at the companas comp anys office in this city being exceedingly beautiful As a matter of fact the mine is riot not alone a bonanza on account of the immense bodies of low grade ore exposed in its various workings but it is also rated as a high grade proposition as in various places splendid zones of high grade rock have been opened up for instance in the drift on the level a ten foot breast of solid ore is exposed which will carry average values of per cent copper to the ton while on the 45 0 to the south the whole face of the drift presents a solid f front of high grade ore and such chutes of rich pay VIA JE i aoi 4 N SMELTING DIXIE ORE AT ST GEORGE rock are showing in vari various 0 us portions of the property in the continued d e v e I 1 0 p ment an and d exploitation of which a force 0 f thirty five m men e n is now engaged who are extending the drifts from the main shaft in both directions and api upi up raising absing aising every hundred feet the object beino being to block out vast quantities of ore ready for extraction and reduction no ore being taken out but what is necessary to break b r e a k down in pushing development work and this ore is being hauled to the smelter of the company at st george where it is transformed into an a n excellent grade arade of bullion in the way of mine equipment and other necessary conveniences a 25 horse power fairbanks morse gasoline engine and hoist has been installed with its necessary accessories such as cage cars etc ore bins blacksmith shop hop and tool house and a comfortable for table five room boarding house the smelter equipment embraces a 36 inch 25 ton water jacket furnace one 12 horse power lever gasoline engine one ih 4 inch leffel water wheel uti utilizing lizino inches inch es of water per minute und under r a 31 34 foot head one inch blake crusher one 24 inch blower assay office feet power house feet scales etc so that aba t it will be seen that almost every facility exists for the successful handling of the output of the dixie mine in a limited way it being the intention of the company to materially increase the capacity of its plant at no distant day on account of the excessive cost of fuel the company for the present will allow the low grade ores remain to intact in the mine as one of the assets of the enterprise and the high grade rock only will be handled I however the company is now making ex hau stive tests on southwestern utah coal with the view of the ultimate manufacture of coke suitable for smelter use and when this is successfully cess fully accomplished these immense deposits of low grade ores can be profitably mined and treated As it is the review is reliably informed that it is the intention of the company in due course of time to put in reduction works capable of handling from to tons of crude ore daily and two projects are now in in contemplation as to the location of the new naw works it may inay be that the plant will be located on the river twelve miles from the mine the mine and smelter to be connected by an aerial tram which will reduce the cost of transportation transports tran tion from to 35 cents a ton another plan is to build the smelter at the mine water necessary for its operation aeration and for camp purposes to be piped in from the source of water supply in either event according to careful estimates the entire output of the mine can be economically and profitably h handled a n d I 1 e d one prominent feature connected with the operation of this bonanza proposition not already mentioned being that the present workings will have to be extended to a depth of at least 2500 feet more before t the h e water level is reached every addi indication going goiner to show that the ore bodies will maintain their continuity and permanency until this great depth is attained thus giving givanc an immense area of sloping n ground and insuring e a tonnage running up into bito the millions with values correspondingly great As it is the st george plantis plant is now in active operation and from now on or until the change is made in the ca capacity of the plant as above outlined the company expects to output from to monthly at the mine and mill at prose present nt about fifty and this force will be men are on the payroll increased as rapidly as the work in hand will deal to almost warrant which means a great every man woman and child i in n washington naton resident of that section will county as every be more or less bene fitted by the extensive operation of this old and famed wealth pro ducer and by the existence of this wealthy company in their midst |