lxvi REPORT OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST. 



ing indications, and even distinct veins of lead carrying silver, most of 

 them at least having traces of gold. Occasionally, also, tin is present. 

 " The outcrops are generally composed of iron silicates, with probably 

 some carbonate and oxide of iron, usually containing a little silver; a 

 few feet below the surface the copper stain begins ; deeper down the 

 quantity of copper increases and traces of lead appear with the copper. 

 This becomes stronger the lower the shaft is sunk, and shows zinc and 

 bismuth in greater depths."* The zinc sometimes amounts to thirty 

 per cent of the whole, and even pure argentiferous zinc ores are found. 

 One fact observed is that on the northeast slopes of the mountains ura- 

 nium is found in connection with the ores, while on the southwest 

 slopes this metal gives place to molydenum even on the same vein 

 traced across the crest of the mountain. 



There are a number of shallow prospect holes scattered over this re- 

 gion, but very few of them reach a depth of fifty feet. 



Several mines have, however, made shipments of ore, the principal 

 shippers being the Alice Eay and Bonanza mines, both of which are on 

 the same vein. Tl j ir ores have an average value of $60 to $65 ; but 

 owing to the fact th tt they contain twenty-five to thirty per cent of zinc 

 and that the El Paso smelters are not prepared to properly treat sach 

 ores, it has not been found possible to work them profitably after paying 

 for roasting the zinc out of the ores in place of receiving pay for it. 

 The Bonanza is the best developed mine in the Quitman range. The 

 lead runs about east and west, dipping almost vertically in a contact 

 between granite and porphyry. A shaft ninety -five feet deep is sunk 

 to a drift below, running on the vein and about three hundred and fifty 

 feet in length, which shows a seam of galena from two to ten inches in 

 thickness. This carries an average of about thirty ounces of silver, 

 although it sometimes reaches as high as sixty ounces, to the ton. The 

 shipping average of this ore is about thirty per cent of lead, twenty- 

 five to thirty per cent zinc, and thirty ounces of silver to the ton, and 

 about five hundred tons have been shipped. From the drift a winze 

 is sunk one hundred and ten feet deep. 



On the Alice Eay claim, at a distance of three thousand feet from the 

 Bonanza, a tunnel is run into the same lead. This mine is five thousand 

 and ninety-five-feet above the sea level, which, when compared with the 

 deepest body of the Bonanza, shows an ore body four hundred and fifty 

 feet in height by about four thousand feet long. The ore body of the 



*First Annual Report, p. 221. 



