Of the present mining operations in the Territory of Arizona, the most considerable, in point of labor performed and results, is "The Arizona Copper Mining Co." This company is incorporated by the California Legislature, with a capital of one million of dollars. The President is Major Robert Allen, U. S. A. The mines are old, and very celebrated in Mexico under the name of El-Ajo. This company, at an expense of $100,000, have supplied their mines with an abundance of water, extracted several hundred tons of ore, and erected buildings, smelting furnaces, and other appliances to facilitate their operations. They employ about one hundred men, mostly Mexican miners. Their supplies of breadstuffs and beef are obtained by contract from Sonora. These mines are situated one hundred and thirty miles from the mouth of the Gila River, and about sixty miles south of it. The ore varies in richness from thirty to sixty per cent, and the proceeds of some sales in London were quoted as being the highest prices ever paid for ore in that market. A portion of this mine is owned by English capitalists, and it is without doubt one of the most valuable in the world. The profits may be easily calculated, when it is known that the ore costs delivered in Swansea, England, not exceeding $125 per ton, and is worth from $200 to $375 per ton. Of course these profits will be greatly increased when the company is in a position to smelt its ores at the mine. The Sonora Exploring and Mining Company was organized in 1856, with a capital of two million dollars ($2,000,000). Its principal office is in Cincinnati, Ohio, and its seat of operations at Tubac, in the Santa Cruz valley. This company is managed in its mining operations by Chas. D. Poston, Esq., a gentleman of much experience on the Pacific coast, and of great energy of character.
The Rancho of Arivaca, containing several valuable silver mines, and seventeen thousand acres of valuable land, has been purchased by this company. It has also acquired the titles to a number of other valuable mines of galena ore, and copper containing silver and gold. Hitherto, the exertions of the company have been directed principally to explorations and cleaning out the old mines, but they have at present above ground, ready for smelting, several thousand dollars worth of their ores. Prof. Booth, U. S. Assayer, as well as other distinguished authorities, have, after thorough experiment, given to the company certificates of the great richness of the ores already shipped to the east. The annual report of the Sonora Mining Co. is full of interest to the general reader. The Sopori mine is another very valuable property. It is owned by Messrs. Douglass, Aldrich, and another. Want of capital has prevented the extensive development of this mine. It affords its proprietors a handsome profit, worked in the smallest and cheapest manner. The vein is of great size, has been traced several rods in length, and pays about one dollar to the pound of ore. The writer has examined specimens from the "Sopori," taken at random, and so rich is the ore that the native silver can be cut out of it with a penknife, as out of a Mexican dollar. Undoubtedly the Sopori mine is destined to yield hundreds of millions. It is a peculiarity of the ores in this district that they run near the surface, making mining of comparative small cost. The Sopori mine is surrounded by a fine country, well watered and wooded. The "Gadsonia Copper Mining Co.," after taking out a few tons of exceedingly rich ore—averaging over eighty per cent.—was obliged to suspend operations on account of the cost of transportation. When the Territory shall be organized and capital protected by law, these mines will be worked to advantage. "The Gila River Copper Mines" are more favorably situated than any other yet opened, being directly on the Gila River, only twenty-five miles from its mouth. The ores can be taken from the mine, immediately shipped upon flat boats or a light draft steamer, and transported down the Colorado River to the head of the Gulf of California, when they can be transhipped to England at small cost. Upwards of twenty veins of copper ore have been opened, and the assays give results varying from 30 to 70 per cent. These mines are owned by Messrs. Hooper, Hinton, Halstead, and another. Several thousand dollars have been already expended in prospecting and opening veins, and it was anticipated by the proprietors that the first cargo would be shipped to Swansea, England, this year.
Smelting works will eventually be built at the mines, or at Colorado City, opposite Fort Yuma, and the profits of this company must be very great. The vicinity of the Colorado, and the abundance of wood and water, give the proprietors facilities for conducting their operations at small cost.
Silver mining is also carried on in the vicinity of Mesilla Valley, and near the Rio Grande. Many other mining operations are constantly being commenced; but the depredations of the Apache Indians have almost entirely snatched success from the hard-working miner, who, besides losing his all, is often massacred in some ferocious manner.
No protection, either civil or military, is extended over the greater portion of Arizona. This checks the development of all her resources—not only to her own injury, but that of California and the Atlantic States—by withholding a market for their productions, and the bullion which she is fully able to supply to an extent corresponding to the labor employed in obtaining it.
A. B. Gray, Esq., late U. S. Surveyor under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, for running the Mexican Boundary, and subsequently Exploring Engineer and Surveyor of the Southern Pacific Railroad, has probably seen more of the proposed Territory of Arizona than any other person, his statements in reference to that region, embodied in a report to the Hon., the Secretary of the Interior, from actual field reconnoissances six years ago, will be read with much interest, particularly as since then, repeated developments in that country have proved the correctness of his judgment; his opinions are, therefore, of much importance, as expressed in his able report. It will be recollected that this was then Mexican Territory. Colonel Gray says:
"The public, I think have been misled by misrepresentations made in regard to the resources of the region of country lying along the Gila and upon the line proposed for a railroad at or near the parallel of 32 degrees north latitude. That portion of country east of the Rio Grande I can say but little of from personal observation, having been over but apart of the ground near the eastern division in Texas, and that in the vicinity of El Paso. At both these points, however, a fine country exists. Upon the Gila river grows cotton of the most superior kind. Its nature is not unlike that of the celebrated Sea Island cotton, possessing an equally fine texture, and, if anything, more of a silky fibre. The samples I procured at the Indian villages, from the rudely cultivated fields of the Pimas and Maricopas, have been spoken of as an extraordinary quality. Wheat, corn, and tobacco, together with beans, melons, etc., grow likewise upon the banks and in the valleys bordering the Gila and its tributaries. The sugar cane, too, I believe, will be found to thrive in this section of the country west of the Rio San Pedro. A sort of candied preserve and molasses, expressed from the fruit of the cereus giganteus and agave Americana was found by our party in 1851, as we passed through the Pinal Llano camps and among the Gila tribes, to be most acceptable. The candied preserve was a most excellent substitute for sugar. It is true that there are extensive wastes to be encountered west of the Rio Grande, yet they are not deserts of sand, but plains covered at certain seasons of the year with luxuriant grass, exhibiting green spots and springs not very remote from each other at all times. There is sufficient water in the Gila and its branches for all the purposes of irrigation when it is wanted, the streams being high during the season most needed. The Rio Salado, a tributary of the Gila, is a bold and far more beautiful river than the Gila itself, and, from the old ruins now seen there, must have had formerly a large settlement upon its banks. "To many persons merely travelling or emigrating across the country, with but one object in view, and that the reaching their destination on the Pacific, the country would generally present a barren aspect. But it will be recollected that the most productive fields in California, before American enterprise introduced the plough, and a different mode of cultivation from that of the natives of the country, presented somewhat similar appearance. Many believed, at first, from the cold and sterile look of the hills, and the parched appearance of the fields and valleys, over which the starving coyote is often seen prowling in search of something to subsist on, that California could never become an agricultural district, but must depend upon her other resources for greatness, and trust to distant regions for the necessaries of life required for her increased population. It was natural enough, too, that this impression should be created in those accustomed to a different State of things, and particularly when it is considered that the very season of blossom and bloom of our Atlantic States was the winter of California; but these same fields and hills have a very different appearance in January, February, and March, clothed as they are in the brightest verdure and no one now will pretend to say that California does not possess within herself great agricultural as well as mineral wealth. This, I believe, will some day be the case with the country from the Rio Grande to the Gulf of California, adjacent to the Gila. Senate Ex. Doc. No. 55, 33rd Congress, 2nd Session."
In speaking of the resources of this region for a railroad, in the same report, Gray says:
"The valley of Mesilla, extending from about twelve miles above the true boundary of the treaty to the parallel of 32 degrees 22 minutes north latitude, lies wholly within the disputed district, and is, for its extent, one of the most beautiful and fertile along the whole course of the Rio Grande. The town of Mesilla, only a few years old, contains several thousand people, and is a prosperous little place. It was not settled until after the cession of this territory to us by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Portions of the valley are highly cultivated, and produce the grains and fruits of our most thriving States. In connexion with the land on the east side of the river, the valley of the Messilla is capable of sustaining a considerable population. It is situated centrally with regard to a large district of country of lesser agricultural capacity. The section of the Rio Grande in the vicinity of El Paso and the valley of Mesilla, is proverbial for the production of fine vegetables and fruits. Indeed, about El Paso, it is a complete garden with flourishing vineyards, equalling in excellence those of the most celebrated grape growing countries.