Semi-Precious Gems in Arizona

SemiGems in Precious Arizona

"La Pelea de los Gallos," The Cockfight is a heart shaped pendant of clear agate containing in one end two cocks poised for fighting. This reproduction is twice the size of the original. This is one of the fine gem specimens in the King collection at Douglas.

ARIZONA is recognized as a valuable source of copper, silver, and other minerals, but few of her own citizens know of the wealth of beauty and color lying beneath her soil in veins and pockets and vugs; in the blue of turquoise and azurite and chrysocolla, in the purple of amethyst, in the green of malachite and peridot, in the red of garnet.

In the cosmopolitan collection of semiprecious gem stones belonging to J. B. King of Douglas, Arizona, is a group of cut stones and several fine specimens in the rough which well illustrate Arizona's versatility in this respect. Among his cut and polished gems are represented chrysocolla, azurite, malachite, amethyst, obsidian, garnet, peridot, jasper, turquoise, agate, and petrified and opalized wood, all from Arizona.

gem material in Mr. King's possession is a specimen of early Bisbee malachite perhaps sixty years old, and weighing about thirty five pounds. This is one of very few speci mens from Bisbee preserved in such a size. This entire piece of malachite is gem material of unusually hard composition, with many "eyes" appearing on its polished surface.

Another unusual specimen in this collection is a piece of chrysocolla from a four inch vein of the material taken from the Inspiration copper mines near Miami, Ari-zona. This piece, weighing four and one half pounds, is all gem material of the finest grade. Mr. King has taken a slab from this piece for gem stones, which polished into most attractive, translucent sky-blue settings of unusual light and depth. More than forty years ago a Mexican operating a jeweler's shop in Miami secured this specimen from the Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company. Later he removed into his native Mexico, but retained the chrysocolla in his possession until a short time ago, when Mr. King learned of its existence. After several months of bargaining and uncertainty, this choice piece at last

Another odd specimen, interesting because of its formation, is a group of native copper crystals from the copper mines of Bisbee. These crystals have grown upward and branched out like some fantastic plant, becoming covered in the process with tiny pinpoint crystals of clear calcite, which glitter like diamonds. This crystal group appears to grow from a base of pea sized calcite crystals which have taken on red and green coloring from the copper stains. Viewed through a magnifying glass, the whole becomes a thing of wonder and joy to the beholder.

Another sample of beautiful wulfanite crystals from Hilltop. Mr. King has sought everywhere for select material for his collection.

Mr. King was in business in New Orleans, when in a magazine sent to him by a brother, he chanced to read an article written by J. H. Howard and entitled, "The Hobbyist Rides a New Horse." This article described the pleasure and knowledge to be gained through the collecting, cutting and mounting of gem stones.

Forced by ill health to retire from business, he moved with his family to Douglas, Arizona, where he hoped to regain his health. Time hung heavily on his hands; he recalled the article on the collection of gem stones. In the Douglas public library he found the magazine containing the article. Soon after he procured instructions on the subject through the "Handbook for the Amateur Lapidary," by J. H. Howard of Greeneville, South Carolina. Shortly thereafter the King collection of semi-precious gems had its beginning.

Unlike the usual novice, Mr. King was concerned less with quantity than with qual-ity. His specimens were carefully selected for beauty, value, interest, or a combination (Turn to Page 37)

Miami Copper Company

(Continued from Page 25) Company has about 50 per cent of the minable ore. The ore body originally contained 280 million tons, of which about 50 per cent has been mined to date. The ore body is a flat lying mass of irregular outline and variable thickness. It owes its existence to secondary enrichment, as the primary mineralization is too low grade to be considered ore. The orebody of the Miami Copper averages 315 feet in thickness, over which is a capping of barren leached schist from 245 feet to 500 feet in thickness.

The Miami Copper company is today min ing two kinds of copper ore. One contains only the various copper sulfides and is com monly referred to as sulfide ore. The other contains copper sulfides, copper oxides, car bonates and silicates and is commonly re ferred to as mixed ore.

The orebody, of large tonnage, and of such a nature that it breaks easily on mov ing, lends itself to the caving system of min ing. In the caving system a small portion of the ore is mined leaving a void. Gravity causes the overlying ore to break off, tend ing to fill the void. As the broken ore is drawn out through openings the overlying mass of ore and rock continues to break up.Boundary caving takes place in the 570 foot level, undercutting on the 590, the grizzly level on the 620 and the haulage level on the 720 foot level. Four trains, consisting of 30 four-ton (80 cu. ft.) side dump cars, hauled by two 6-ton trolley loco motives operating in tandem move mined ore underground.

The hoist, a mighty machine that lifts the ore from underground to the crushing bins, is a Nordberg double drum skip hoist. Two ten and a half ton skips, operating in balance, are semi-automatically loaded and automatically dumped. These skips travel at the rate of 1500 feet per minute. A single skip, when empty, weighs 15,000 pounds. The skips work in balance.

The Miami Copper company's mine pre sent production is at the rate of 14,500 tons per 24 hours, and is made up of 5,100 tons of mixed ore and 9,400 tons of sulfide ore, the former being mined on A shift and the latter on B and C shifts. The combina tion of the two classes of ore results in a mill feed of approximately 0.85% total cop per from which about 14 pounds of copper are recovered from each ton of ore mined.

The ore comes from the mine with a maxi mum size of 10" and contains approximate ly 14 pounds of copper per ton of ore The processing necessary to form a product ac ceptable by the smelter is called concentra tion, or perhaps more commonly milling. The ore is delivered to the crushing plant, where it passes through crushers, rolls, and screens to produce a product less than 1-4 inch in size. A conveyor takes it to the fine ore bins, and from there it passes to ball mills and classifier equipment for fine grind ing. The finely ground ore then passes to a flotation machine where the sulfide cop per is recovered as concentrate, and the re jected product is called tailings. The sul fide concentrate after re-grinding, retreat-ing, etc. contains 28.5% copper or 570 pounds of copper per ton. It is filtered, partially dried and shipped in railroad cars to the International Smelter for smelting.

The tailings from the flotation machine take one of two courses depending on wheth er the ore is sulfide or mixed ore. The sul fide tailings are dewatered and sent to Solitude Gulch for disposal. The mixed ore flotation tailings still contain the oxides, silicates, and carbonates of copper. These are recovered by leaching with sulfuric acid and precipitating as cement copper on de tinned shredded cans. The pulp from the precipitator containing both copper and iron is sent to a flotation machine which pro duces a cement copper concentrate con taining 65% copper or 1300 lbs. of copper per ton. The cement copper is shipped to Douglas for smelting.

The Miami ore contains a minute amount of molybdenum (called Molly for short), in fact the quantity is so small that it can not be determined accurately by a chemi cal assay. However most of the molly pre sent is floated along with the sulfide cop per. The molly sulfide is then separated from the copper sulfide by steaming off the reagents which have floated both the copper sulfide and the molly sulfide, and re-floating with a reagent which will float the molly sulfide but will not float the cop per sulfide. Miami is producing about 30 tons of molly sulfide per month.

The Miami Copper company, from 1908 through 1939, mined 72,286,500 tons of ore, which in itself would make quite a mountain. Throughout those years, the ore yielded an average of 18.85 pounds of copper per ton, and the company produced in that time 1, 362, 575,049 pounds of copper, for a net earning of $44,585,763.51, paying out $37,444,690.90 in dividends or a dividend pay ment of $50.15 per share of stock that sold for $5 back in 1908.

All this production has taken place on copper prices that are noted for being fligh ty. For instance, the Miami copper sold copper for 27.18 cents per pound in 1917. In 1932, copper was selling for 5.55 cents per pound.

The Miami Copper company, together with the Inspiration Consolidated Copper company and the International Smelter, has contributed to a large extent to the crea tion of a modern American city-Miami, Arizona. It has contributed its share in wealth to a great state, and it has provid ed the way of life for many American fam ilies. In the competition for business the Miami Copper company, with all American producers, must compete with foreign-mined copper, with copper mined by people whose standard of life and living is far below the American standard. The Miami Copper company and the other American producers ask only for the right to compete on equal grounds.

But the Miami Copper company is still doing business on that high hill overlooking Miami, and it will do business there for many, many years to come. That Miami is a great mine and so it always will be.

Of these qualities. His first gems were cut and polished with more than the usual care taken by many amateur lapidarists. His collection has more than once been commented upon for these characteristics. Mr. King modestly attributes any success he may have attained in this respect to the instructions in his "Handbook for the Amateur Lapidary."

The King collection is now of such size that a basement is devoted exclusively to this instructive and enjoyable hobby.

Immediately to the left of the entrance to his room is the specimen cabinet. Included in this cabinet, in addition to specimens already mentioned, are red wulfanite crystals from the Red Cloud Mine near Yuma, yellow wulfanite from Hilltop, vanadanite from the old Yuma mine near Tucson, amethyst crystals from Four Peaks, choice pieces of petrified wood from the petrified forest of Arizona, and azurite from Bisbee.

Mr. King states that no collection of this sort is complete without specimens of malachite and azurite from Bisbee, specimens from that locality being considered the finest of their kind.

In addition to the Arizona specimens listed, other outstanding pieces are three banded Brazilian agates, three polished slabs of variscite from Colorado, and a beautiful piece of fire opal from Nevada.

Beyond the specimen cabinet is a shelf of fluorescent minerals. Viewed in ordinary light, these specimens are interesting enough. But when subjected to ultra-violet light rays, these pieces become objects of awe inspiring and breath taking wonder.

Glorious and unearthly fire glows and shimmers in red, blue, green, and yellow flame. Each piece shows a color far different than in ordinary light-some show several colors, or shades of the same color. All become indescribably beautiful.

This collection of fluorescent minerals contains several slabs of chert from Cananea, Mexico; two milk opals and a piece of wernerite from California; amber from the Baltic Sea; fluorspar from New Mexico; "tiger-eye" from South Africa; calcite from Oklahoma; and sulphur from Texas.

Beyond this shelf is another holding fossils and Indian relics of various sorts. The other side of the room is occupied by the work table with its carborundum wheel, dia mond saw, and other lapidary equipment.

On shelves above this table are a number of small boxes containing possibly several hundred cut and polished stones of every variety and color. Amber, opal, turquoise, sapphire, chrysocolla, agate, garnet, malachite, azurite, amethyst, and many others. In ring, pendant, earring, brooch, stick pin, and bracelet settings, all are displayed on a background of cotton in boxes arranged for the purpose. In each box is one or two stones already mounted, so that the full effect may be seen and appreciated.

In addition to the usual settings, Mr. King has tried his hand at novelties. One of these boxes is given over to arrowheads of his cutting, in every conceivable size and of every conceivable material. Arrowheads of opal, amethyst, sapphire, obsidian, glass of various colors put the prosaic and utilitarian Indian arrowhead to shame.

There are some exceptionally choice pieces among the cut stones of this collection.

"La Pelea de los Gallos"-The Cockfight -is a heart shaped pendant of clear agate containing in one end two cocks poised for fighting, heads thrust out toward each other in combative pose. This design is merely iron stain in the agate, and is the more wonderful in that the two cocks are identical in pattern, and facing each other.

"La Pelea de los Gallos" has attracted the attention of a Mexican gentleman who is desirous of purchasing the piece. He has not been able to persuade his lady love into a favorable answer to his suit, and he feels that this ornament, suitably mounted as a pendant, might turn the tide in his favor.

"The Old Lady" is another outstanding polished slab in this group. In chrysocolla (Turn to Page 39)

"Ghost Road"

(Continued from Page 31) Arizona, Coronado, Father Kino, the Mormon Battalion, Cochise and Geronimo made fam ous; all of them stern and tough men in their respective lines. Over there is where the Mormon Battalion fought their only battle, the Battle of the Bulls. All around are many small mounds hiding much broken clay pottery; silent evidences of old Indian villages of twelve to fourteen hundred years ago. This quiet neighborhood had made important history almost a century before Boston was founded. I arrived at old Charleston and the San Pedro river. Not a stick remains of the famous old camp. A few gaunt slag piles and ore dumps alone betray its former ex istence. A railroad track running along the river and a small bridge are the only modern contraptions to mar the beauty of the neighborhood. I crossed the track and bridge to the other side. A large cattle company now owns most of the land for many miles up and down the river. The silence is noticeable. Not even a cow or cowboy is in sight. Clouds appearing over the Huachucas tempered the sun, making it an ideal afternoon. So many thousands of ore wagons have passed over these washes, I was sure they were well packed and safe to cross, so I paid them but little attention. All was peaceful.

The location is rich in material for the historian and archaeologist and I saw ar mored knights, lonely priests, dashing caval rymen, fugitive Indians, sheriff's posses and hunted bandits passing in review. Day dreaming as I rounded a sharp turn, I saw the sand wash I was approaching was mark ed by deep ruts and high centers; centers too high for my low-slung car. I shut off the gas and swerved my car, but too late; it shot away out to one side into the sand and then settled down. I got out and looked around and saw that the entire draw was covered by a species of fine sand, quick sand, and realized with a sinking heart I had no shovel or axe along. Both axles and running boards were down on the sand and settling perceptibly. The old Trail had busted me. Thickening clouds and a light spray of rain struck my face, spurring me to action. Somewhere nearby it was raining. I know this country well. Let an ordi nary summer rain fall anywhere above me and this wash would become a raging tor rent, then, goodbye car. As I live on a ranch miles away from neighbors or the nearest town, a dependable car is an absolute necessity. They cost real money; its loss would be a major catastrophe, so I sprang into action immediately. Help was so far away, Tombstone being the nearest point I could find any, the car would have been gone long before I returned if that shower developed into a real rain. True, Jim Wolf's ranch was comparatively near, but he is over eighty years of age and has no car or draft horses I could use to pull out with. Therefore I determined to stay with it and extricate the car alone. About a half mile distant was a clump of cottonwood trees. I ran there and broke off armful after armful of all the branches I was capable of breaking and carried them to the car. I must have spent hours on this detail alone. Then scooping out the sand with my hands and placing a large piece of cottonwood under the jack, I raised each cor ner of the car in succession and placed a heavy matting of brush under each wheel. I worked feverishly as the clouds were ever growing more ominous. Then, after laying a mat of the same brush on the sand in back for the car to ride on, I made ready to back up to safety. I partially deflated the tires, started the engine, put it in reverse, backed a few feet, then slid sideways off the layer of brush and settled down in the sand just as before. It was sickening. I had gone just enough to get the front wheels off the mat and down in the sand again. Desperately I spun the wheels thinking they might catch hold somewhere, but the smell of burning rubber stopped me. For the first time I rested and relieved my soul by swearing. I had eaten nothing since a light lunch at noon time. There was a canteen of water, but no food in the car. It was now far into the night; too dark to go after more brush and I real ized I was very tired and wringing wet with perspiration, so I took a drink of water, smoked a cigarette and fell asleep on the cushion. I was awakened several times by the howls of coyotes and in the tree below a hoot owl mocked my predicament, but toward morning I fell into a sound sleep again. It was well after sun up when I awoke. The car had settled somewhat into the sand dur ing the night, but not as much as I was afraid it would, so I felt sure there was a hard layer of rock and gravel under this quicksand, which eased my mind. I breakfasted on water and cigarettes, then went after more branches and brush. Now there were no clouds but plenty of sun. There was even more sun than that, so I stripped down to BVD's but they were soon wringing wet. Again I backed the car onto the mattress of foliage; again I backed up a few feet and then, as before, slid off into the same old sand. Cussing might move a mule, but I found it had no effect on a car. And was I hungry? I have found by long experience that the heaviest down-pours of Arizona's rainy sea son usually take place in the afternoon Time was now becoming limited. There high for my low-slung car. I shut off the gas and swerved my car, but too late; it shot away out to one side into the sand and then settled down. I got out and looked around and saw that the entire draw was covered by a species of fine sand, quick sand, and realized with a sinking heart I had no shovel or axe along. Both axles and running boards were down on the sand and settling perceptibly. The old Trail had busted me. Thickening clouds and a light spray of rain struck my face, spurring me to action. Somewhere nearby it was raining. I know this country well. Let an ordi nary summer rain fall anywhere above me and this wash would become a raging tor rent, then, goodbye car. As I live on a ranch miles away from neighbors or the nearest town, a dependable car is an absolute necessity. They cost real money; its loss would be a major catastrophe, so I sprang into action immediately. Help was so far away, Tombstone being the nearest point I could find any, the car would have been gone long before I returned if that shower developed into a real rain. True, Jim Wolf's ranch was comparatively near, but he is over eighty years of age and has no car or draft horses I could use to pull out with. Therefore I determined to stay with it and extricate the car alone. About a half mile distant was a clump of cottonwood trees. I ran there and broke off armful after armful of all the branches I was capable of breaking and carried them to the car. I must have spent hours on this detail alone. Then scooping out the sand with my hands and placing a large piece of cottonwood under the jack, I raised each cor ner of the car in succession and placed a heavy matting of brush under each wheel. I worked feverishly as the clouds were ever growing more ominous. Then, after laying a mat of the same brush on the sand in back for the car to ride on, I made ready to back up to safety. I partially deflated the tires, started the engine, put it in reverse, backed a few feet, then slid sideways off the layer of brush and settled down in the sand just as before. It was sickening. I had gone just enough to get the front wheels off the mat and down in the sand again. Desperately I spun the wheels thinking they might catch hold somewhere, but the smell of burning rubber stopped me. For the first time I rested and relieved my soul by swearing. I had eaten nothing since a light lunch at noon time. There was a canteen of water, but no food in the car. It was now far into the night; too dark to go after more brush and I real ized I was very tired and wringing wet with perspiration, so I took a drink of water, smoked a cigarette and fell asleep on the cushion. I was awakened several times by the howls of coyotes and in the tree below a hoot owl mocked my predicament, but toward morning I fell into a sound sleep again. It was well after sun up when I awoke. The car had settled somewhat into the sand dur ing the night, but not as much as I was afraid it would, so I felt sure there was a hard layer of rock and gravel under this quicksand, which eased my mind. I breakfasted on water and cigarettes, then went after more branches and brush. Now there were no clouds but plenty of sun. There was even more sun than that, so I stripped down to BVD's but they were soon wringing wet. Again I backed the car onto the mattress of foliage; again I backed up a few feet and then, as before, slid off into the same old sand. Cussing might move a mule, but I found it had no effect on a car. And was I hungry? I have found by long experience that the heaviest down-pours of Arizona's rainy sea son usually take place in the afternoon Time was now becoming limited. There Arizona's history, and in their silent, stony way have seen generations and the centuries come and go.

There was only one thing to do. That was exactly what I had been doing, even though I made but a few feet of progress at a time. So I continued plugging away along those lines. The sun grew hotter all the while until afternoon. Again the clouds came boiling up to worry me. It was late in the afternoon when I finally backed the car to safety. My two rear tires were pretty badly shot by my efforts but I didn't give a damnI'd worked for almost 28 hours but the car itself was safe. I was wiping the fine sand from under the body of the car when, as I looked a wall of water at least six feet high was coming down the wash. I had beaten it by about five minutes. If the car had then been out in the sand, that water would have rolled it over and over until it was completely ruined or else buried it out of sight somewhere below.

I cleaned off the sand as best I could, pumped up the tires and got thoroughly soaked by the rain but I didn't mind. It took some little time to return to Tombstone for many of the little washes were running high with flood water from the surrounding hills. Once there I immediately had a hot meal and went to bed. The next day I again started for Wolf's ranch. Cautiously and with superstitious misgivings, I approached the same sand wash. Before reaching it, I got out to examine carefully. I wished to make certain of not repeating my previous experience. To my amazement, yesterday's big flood had washed away the layer of fine quicksand. A level layer of rock and large gravel sufficiently compact to bear a heavy truck met my eyes. No danger at all of getting stuck now. Then I went back to the car, but instead of crossing the wash, I turned and drove it close to that clump of trees I had found so valuable the previous two days and parked it there. I went the rest of the way to Wolf's afoot. I felt safer that way. I know the Fighting Trail better now.

Semi-Precious Gems In Arizona

(Continued from Page 37) Besides slab and surrounded by clear crystal quartz, is an old lady of malachite, facing the wind in high, old fashioned hat, fur coat, and complete with overshoes and umbrella. The designs in these pieces are clear at first glance and require no exercise of the imagination to identify them. Of extraordinary interest and considerable value is a large pendant piece of clear amber which holds embalmed in its pale gold translucent heart a winged insect. The age of such prehistoric, amber imprisoned insects is estimated by scientists at from thirty to sixty million years. This exceptionally choice bit of the "gold of the Baltic" as amber is frequently called, comes from Konigsberg, the capital of East Prussia.

There are other pieces of extraordinary interest in this collection; there is nothing there which does not properly have a place. To the uninitiated who has had no previous conception of such a collection, this room is a revelation. A revelation of the Master Mincralogist who truly left His message in tablets of stone; a revelation of the wonders of nature; a revelation of that which man can accomplish if he will.

To the lapidarist himself, in the person of Mr. King, this collection is new health and new knowledge and new interest in life.

Spring Drive

Phoenix has Phoenix been called or at least should be called the garden spot in the Union in the Valley of the Sun. Particularly when one considers that hardly a decade ago these inhospitable desert lands produced nothing but prickly cactus and wild sage brush where today, by process of modern reclamation, a new and epic story is written in fruits and flowers and fairies. The last title is not a misnomer, either.

Because as our glance percolates through the rural tranquility of this wonderland, we are impressed by the sight of an exceedingly imposing building whose main entrance bears the inscription of "Madison School." Cars are arriving thick and fast and are unloading their precious cargo of neatly and stylishly dressed children. The diaphanous draperies of many hues worn by the girls form a riotous phantasmagoria. They lend an additional animation to a scene which, having passed the positive and com-parative degrees has reached the superlative. To be here at this time of the year and at this hour of the morning, even for a poor, unimaginative and humble mortal, like myself, is a historical experience almost a divine revelation. I feel happy for the mere joy of living in such an unheard of, unthought of dreamland. In the far distance, a range of amethyst, Amorous hills whose physical contour resembles the billowy waves of a mighty ocean, looks down upon this scene of unsurpassed majesty with awe-striking wonder. Apparently they are lost in the muse of admiring contemplation and feel about the handiwork of mankind exactly as this writer does.

Angora Goats

(Continued from Page 29) Selects the very choicest of food, therefore he gives to the consumer the very choicest meat. If he is accustomed to being herded, he loves his shepherd as his shepherd loves him. He requires a lot of attention but repays his master by producing a fiber which has no substitute for quality and durability..