COPPER  MINES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES ARIZONA.      99 
Within  the  last  decade  the  industry  has  shown  an  enormous  increase.  Copper  ores  occur 
in  nearly  every  county  of  the  Territory,  but  the  production  is  almost  entirely  from  four 
somewhat  widely  separated  districts — Bisbee,  Cochise  County,  6  miles  north  of  the  Mexican 
border;  Morenci  and  Metcalf  (Clifton  district),  Graham  County,  on  the  southern  border; 
Globe,  Gila  County,  near  the  center  of  the  Territory;  and  Jerome,  Yavapai  County,  in  the 
north-central  portion. 
There  are  about  forty  producing  copper  mines,  situated  in  eleven  out  of  the  thirteen 
counties  of  the  Territory.  The  largest  production  is  from  Bisbee,  which  has  seven  pro- 
ducing mines;  the  second  largest  from  Morenci,  with  five  producing  mines,  and  the  third 
largest  from  Jerome,  with  eight  producing  mines'.  The  copper  output  is  treated  in  eight 
smelting  plants  and  there  are  several  idle  plants  which  were  not  in  operation  during  the  year. 
The  Territory  has  shown  an  increase  both  in  the  production  of  copper  and  in  the  number 
of  properties  developed  during  1905.     The  production  for  1905  was  230,000,000  pounds. a 
The  greatest  activity  has  been  in  the  Bisbee  district,  where  the  Copper  Queen  mines 
have  maintained  their  supremacy,  producing  some  77,000,000  pounds  of  copper.  The 
jso-called  Bonanza  Circle  group  of  mines  has  been  successfully  developed,  the  greatest  pro- 
duction coming  from  the  Calumet  and  Arizona,  whose  smelter  produced  approximately 
34,000,000  pounds.** 
The  copper  smelter  at  Douglas,  situated  on  the  line  between  Arizona  and  Sonora,  has  been 
increased  in  size  and  is  now  capable  of  handling  about  3,000  tons  a  day,  or  50  per  cent  more 
than  heretofore.  This  increase  in  size  has  been  for  the  purpose  of  doing  custom  work,  and 
the  smelter  now  handles  ores  from  the  Globe  district,  from  the  Imperial  mine,  and  from 
various  small  mines  situated  in  the  Dragoon  and  Santa  Rita  mountains. 
The  United  Verde  smelter,  which  does  very  little  custom  work,  yielded  about  40,000,000 
pounds  of  copper. 
The  Equator  mine,  which  was  equipped  and  entered  the  list  of  producers  in  1905,  is  now 
(February,  1906)  closed  down.     This  mine  is  the  property  of  Hon.  W.  A.  Clark. 
BISBEE    DISTRICT. 
The  copper  output  of  Cochise  County  is  nearly  equal  to  that  of  all  the  rest  of  the  Territory, 
and  the  copper  ores  of  the  Bisbee  camp  contain  most  of  the  gold  and  silver  credited  to  the 
county.  The  chief  producers  are  the  Copper  Queen,  Calumet  and  Arizona,  and  Lake  Supe- 
rior and  Pittsburg  companies.  The  Bisbee  district,  or,  as  it  is  officially  known,  the  Warren 
district,  is  the  great  center  of  mining  production,  but  the  ores  are  shipped  to  Douglas,  on  the 
the  Mexican  boundary  line,  where  they  are  treated,  together  with  ores  from  Nacozari  and 
from  various  small  properties  on  both  sides  of  the  line.  The  gold  and  silver  values  of  the 
Bisbee  ores  are  rather  low,  though  the  total  output  is  considerable. 
The  Bisbee  district  produced  378,047,240  pounds  of  copper  up  to  the  end  of  1902,  entirely 
from  the  Copper  Queen  mine.  To  this  may  be  added  about  2,000,000  pounds  from  other 
properties.  The  Copper  Queen  workings  cover  half  a  square  mile  and  the  ore  is  developed  to 
a  depth  of  950  feet.  The  Calumet  and  Arizona  is  now  1,200  feet  deep;  the  Lowell  shaft 
1,200  feet;  the  Cole  shaft  1,200  feet;  the  Calumet  and  Pittsburg  950  feet;  the  Bisbee  West 
700  feet;  the  Junction  shaft  1,000  feet;  the  Briggs  shaft  1,140  feet;  the  Hoatson  shaft  850 
feet,  all  in  limestone,  and  the  Saginaw  shaft  900  feet.  The  Cole  shaft  of  the  Lake  Superior 
and  Pittsburg  Company  is  now  yielding  ore  from  the  stopes  above  the  1,000-foot  level  which 
carries  15  to  35  per  cent  of  copper.  The  Saginaw  shaft  encountered  ore  at  700  feet  and 
sinking  is  still  going  on. 
The  extraordinary  success  in  developing  new  ground  in  an  old  district  attained  by  the 
Bonanza  Circle  group  of  mines  makes  a  knowledge  of  the  geology  of  the  district  and  the 
mode  of  occurrence  of  the  ore  bodies  of  great  interest.  The  following  notes  arc  abstracted 
from  the  report  by  F.  L.  Ransome:  & 
a  Douglas,  James,  Eng.  and  Min.  Jour.,  Jan.  0,  1906. 
&Prof.  Paper  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey  No.  21,  1904.  See  also  Contributions  to  Economic  Geology,  1902; 
Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey  No.  213,  1903,  p.  152. 
