Salt Lake Tribune | 1904-07-03 | Page 31 | Chased Apaches; Found Copper

Chased Apaches; Found Copper. .For this wild and plctiircsquo canyon, with its rocky and precipitous trail, was taken by a band of marauding Apaches nearly forty years ago, as they lied from a pursuing cavalry troop. Thoy liad struck tho Gila river, miles bolow, crosacdj the wodgo of hills which divides tho Gila from tho San Francisco river and camped at somo hot springs a few miles below what Is now tho town of Clifton. In tho early mornjng shots rang out. and with tho troopers closely pressing ihoin, thoy Hod up tho river. Wheeling to tho loft up Chase creek canyon, they followed fol-lowed It to whoro the almost lmpaasablo Coronach) canyon breaks Into tho larger gorge, and on top of tho very dlvldo wc were mnklng for, a running light began, ending only with tho coming of night. In tho darkness tho Indians dlsappearud across Eaglo crook, and when morning cixmo tho soldiers wero alone. Then they saw, Instead of tho fluttering rags of their foea, bannern of red and blue nnd green hung out on tho silent hills. All about them were signs of a great copper deposits, tho unmlstakablo blazonry telling of the slow oxidation of copper oro. through tho long centuries. "A scries of bold outcropB," as a miner would describo It, stretched straight as a lino for a mllo or more, the outward signs of a great vein of the great motal. These hardy troopers aid not know whether a projecting rock was dlorlte or dolcrlto; they could not distinguish dis-tinguish between malachite, cuprlto or ftzurl.te, but they knew how splendidly masses of copper ore can glow under the play of tho sunlight. A copper coin la u dull thing, but tno clustered crystals of tho oro from which it came arc beautiful enough to havo made minors of naked Indians In-dians ages ngOt Tho soldiers roturnod to Silvor City, and with storlos of tho light, thcro leaked hints of it groat Held of copper, and presently pres-ently a band of armed men, ostensibly on a hunting expedition, were following the route of tho soldlcrn. This was the beginning be-ginning of tho location of the mlncs-ln the Clifton district, tho oldest copper-producing district in Arizona, Whon first opened tho vein at Coronado averaged thirty foot in width, with many expansions, or oro chambers, A. J. Wells In Sunset Magazine.