134 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1902. [bull. 213. 
production of this company was 17,500,000 pounds. (3) The Shannon 
Copper Company, having mines at Metcalf and smelting works a 
short distance below the town of Clifton. This company began oper- 
ations on a large scale in 1002, and started its furnaces in the month 
of May of that year. 
There are a number of smaller mines and prospects, but their pro- 
duction cuts a comparatively small figure. 
Situated in the southeastern part of Arizona, on the north side of 
the Gila River and only a few miles from the New Mexico line, Clif- 
ton is connected with the Southern Pacific Railway by an independent 
road leaving the main railroad line at Lordsburg, N. Mex. From a 
point on the Gila River along this road a narrow-gauge railroad 
branches and continues to Morenci, direct communication between 
Clifton and Morenci being impracticable on account of the great dif- 
ference in elevation. 
TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES. 
On the north of the broad valley of Gila River lies, in this vicinity, 
an irregular mountain region with no well-defined ranges. The ele- 
vations in the Cila Valley are about 3,000 feet. The highest elevations 
in the mountain region adjoining the valley on the north are about 
8,000 feet. Rising gradually from the Gila River to the base of the 
mountains is a broad terrace of detrital material, attaining at that 
point elevations of about 4,500 feet. From this line, where the older 
rocks emerge from the old alluvium of the Gila Valley, a steeper slope 
begins, furrowed by sharply incised ravines and gulches. The Gila 
River in this vicinity receives two tributaries — Eagle Creek and the 
San Francisco River, both flowing southward and heading on the high 
volcanic plateaus near the boundary line between Arizona and New 
Mexico. These streams flow in moderately deep and sharply incised 
canyons, and are evenly graded throughout their whole course, which 
is generally bordered by a strip of bottom land, the width of which 
rarely exceeds a few hundred feet. In their upper courses these 
rivers flow through canyons cut in Tertiary lavas or older rocks, 
while the lower part of the San Francisco River, at least, is cut to a 
depth of about 600 feet in the old Pleistocene terraces mentioned 
above as adjoining the Gila River on the north. Clifton is situated 
on the San Francisco River, near the point where the older rocks 
emerge from the Pleistocene terraces, and has an elevation of 3,405 
feet. At Clifton the San Francisco River is joined from the west by 
Chase Creek, a water course 10 miles in length and flowing in a south- 
southeast direction, most of the way through a deeply cut canyon. 
An irregular and high complex of mountains rises between San Fran- 
cisco River and Chase Creek, the most prominent of which is Copper 
King Mountain, attaining 6,825 feet. On the west side of Chase Creek 
the high ridges attain elevations up to 7,400 feet, the highest point 
