23, 79. In '80-2 matters assumed their worst aspect, stage robbers were lynched, cowboys attacked some of the towns, sheriffs and their posses were often resisted, bloody affrays occurred between Amer. and Mex., an emigrant train was attacked by robbers, and several legal executions are recorded. Tombstone was a centre of lawless operations, the U. S. marshal was shot, and several bloody fights took place between the desperadoes and scarcely less desperate officers of justice. The citizens were at last fully aroused; money was contributed, and a volunteer force raised; the president of the U. S. issued a proclamation; and in '83 quiet was restored, and the prisons were full. See files of Tombstone and other newspapers in these years; also Ariz. Jour., 12th legis. ass. 30-2; U. S. Govt Doc., 47th cong. 1st sess., H. Ex. Doc. 188. The last serious trouble was at Bisbee in Dec. '83, when five armed men deliberately and openly robbed a store and killed 5 citizens in cold blood. The 5 culprits were speedily convicted and hanged at Tombstone in March '84; while another accomplice, being condemned to imprisonment for life, was lynched by citizens in Feb. See Ariz. Hist. (E. & Co.), 154-5; and the newspapers.

HIST. ARIZ. AND N. MEX. 37

CHAPTER XXIII.

ARIZONAN INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS.

1864-1886.

MINING EARLY OPERATIONS THE GOLD PLACERS-EFFECT OF APACHE WARS-OTHER OBSTACLES-FINAL SUCCESS-STATISTICS SILVER AND GOLD BELT-THE FOUR GROUPS, MOJAVE, YAVAPAI, GILA, PIMA, AND COCHISE-SOME LOCAL ITEMS-FAMOUS MINES-TOMBStone-Copper MINES DIAMOND HOAX-MODERN WORKS ON ARIZONA—AGRICULTURE -CLIMATE AND PRODUCTS-STOCK-RAISING-GOVERNMENT LANDS-MEXICAN GRANTS-MANUFACTURES AND TRADE-ROADS, STAGES, AND MAILS -RAILROADS AND TELEGRAPHS-EDUCATION-LIBRARY-HISTORICAL SOCIETY-CHURCHES-NEWSPAPERS.

FROM the time when it first became known to Europeans, Arizona has been especially noted for its mineral wealth. There is no evidence that its mines were ever worked by the aborigines; but by the Spaniards its treasure of precious metals was much talked of, even before being found. It was enough to know that the country was in the mysterious north, and occupied by savage tribes; its wealth was taken for granted. On its partial exploration, however, and the establishment of missions and presidios on its borders early in the eighteenth century, abundant indications of gold and silver were found in all directions. Yet so broad and rich was the mineral field farther south, and so feeble the Spanish tenure in Alta Pimería by reason of Indian hostility, that not even the wonderfully rich 'planchas de plata' at the Arizona camp, giving name to the later territory though not within its limits, led to the occupation of the northern parts by miners. As I have already explained, the current traditions of extensive mining in Spanish

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times are greatly exaggerated. The Jesuits worked no mines; and in their period, down to 1767, nothing was practically accomplished beyond irregular prospecting in connection with military expeditions and the occasional working of a few veins or placers for brief periods, near the presidios. It is doubtful that any traces of such workings have been visible in modern times. Later, however, in about 1790-1815, while the Apaches were comparatively at peace and all industries flourished accordingly, mines were worked on a small scale in several parts of what is now Pima county, and the old shafts and tunnels of this period have sometimes been found, though the extent of such operations has been generally exaggerated. With Mexican independence and a renewal of Apache raids, the mining industry was entirely suspended, only to be resumed in the last years, if at all, on a scale even smaller than before 1790.

Still the fame of hidden wealth remained and multiplied; and on the consummation of the Gadsden purchase in 1854, as we have seen, Americans like Poston and Mowry began to open the mines. Eastern capital was enlisted; several companies were formed; mills and furnaces were put in operation; and for some six years, in the face of great obstacles -notably that of expensive transportation-the southern silver mines were worked with considerable success and brilliant prospects, until interrupted by the war of the rebellion, the withdrawal of troops, and the triumph of the Apaches in 1861. The mining properties were then plundered and destroyed, many miners were killed, and work was entirely suspended, not to be profitably resumed in this region for many years. During this period the Ajo copper mines in Papaguería were also worked with some success; and on the lower Gila from 1858 gold placers, or dry washings, attracted a thousand miners or more, being somewhat profitably worked for four years, and never entirely abandoned. In 1862 the placer excitement was trans

ferred northward across the Gila, and up the Colorado to the region where La Paz, Olive City, and Ehrenberg soon came into existence. For several years these Colorado placers attracted a crowd of Californians, and a large amount of coarse gold was obtained; but as a rule the dry washing processes were too tedious for the permanent occupation of any but Mexicans and Indians; and the Americans pushed their prospecting north-eastward, under the pioneers Pauline Weaver and Joseph Walker, for whom new and rich districts in what is now Yavapai county were named in 1863. Not only was the placer field thus extended, but rich gold and silver bearing veins were found, giving promise of a permanent mining industry for the future.1

Such was the state of affairs in 1864-5, when the territory of Arizona was organized; and the mining

The Cal. papers of 1862-3 are full of corresp. on the Colorado placers, and there is a large col. of this corresp. in Hayes' Scrap-books, Ariz., i., passim. The number of miners in 1862 is estimated from 500 to 1,500. Reports are contradictory; but nobody seems to be making much money. There is much discussion of the best routes from Los Angeles, the number of miners returning in disgust being apparently about equal to those starting out in high hopes. In 1863-4 the La Paz fields are comparatively deserted for the north and east; and we hear more and more of veins and lodes of gold, silver, and copper. Olive City was then called Olivia. Many discoveries are mentioned in Mojave co., and we hear much of the Moss lode, Eldorado Cañon, and Hardyville. The placer excitement ended about 1864, though the deposits continued to be worked, and often with profit. According to Raymond's rept of 1870, the placer gold of the Gila and Colorado fields is of local origin from small gashveins in slates and greenstone. The gravel is angular and not rounded by water, having little or no earth with it. Only coarse gold had been saved, and there was more left than had been taken out. From 1870 there was a revival of interest in the placers, though they had never been wholly abandoned. A machine for dry washing was used on the Colorado; and on the Gila a company pumped water into a reservoir on the hills. Hamilton says the Yuma co. placers have yielded over $2,000,000. The census report and King give the placer yield of 1880 as $30,000. Lynx Creek and the Weaver district in Yavapai are said to have produced over $1,000,000 each from gravel; and there were several other rich districts, the placer yield of 1873 being put at $40,000. Richmond Basin, Gila co., was a most remarkable placer, over $100,000 in nuggets being picked from the surface, and there being 10 feet of gold-bearing mud on the bed-rock. In the Quijotoa region, Pima co., dry placers have been worked by Mexicans and Pápagos. Extensive placers are mentioned in the Sta Rita Mts. In Graham co., on S. Francisco River, is a broad tract of gravel which is thought to promise well for hydraulic work. Hardly a year has passed without a placer discovery in some part of Ariz., chiefly in Yavapai; and work has been continuous and in a small way profitable, though interrupted often in one section or another by drought. Statistics of production in this branch of mining are naturally very meagre and unreliable

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excitement in Yavapai doubtless had much influence in making Prescott the capital. This excitement continued for years, new and rich discoveries being frequent; but the richest lodes were always those to be discovered a little farther on in the Apache country. The Apache war soon made mining and even prospecting extremely perilous in most regions, at the same time preventing the influx of capital from abroad; and in many of the mines that could be worked it was soon found that the ores were too refractory for reduction by the crude processes and with the imperfect machinery of the pioneers. One or two mines of extraordinary richness were continuously profitable; a few others paid well at times; many men gained a living by working placers and small veins; and some mines near the Colorado made a profit by sending selected ores at enormous cost to San Francisco. Meanwhile every military expedition was also a prospecting tour; and the attitude of the people was one of most impatient waiting for the time when, with the defeat of the Apache and the return of peace, the development of mineral wealth might begin in earnest. Enthusiasm over the country's prospects was unbounded; the local newspapers were full of rose-colored predictions; the governor and legislature were strong in the faith; and the government commissioners of mining statistics, Ross Browne and R. W. Raymond, gave some prominence to Arizona in their reports.2

2 See annual messages of the gov. in Ariz., Journals, 1865 et seq. Reports upon the Mineral Resources of the United States, by special commissioners J. Ross Browne and James W. Taylor (for 1866). Wash., 1857. This contains on Ariz. only Gov. McCormick's message, and the mining law, p. 135, 249. Report of J. Ross Browne on the Mineral Resources of the States and Territories west of the Rocky Mountains (for 1867). Wash. and S. F., 1868; also published as Resources of the Pacific Slope, etc., S. F., 1869. This report, p. 443-81, contains a good account of Ariz. mines, made up in part from the author's observations, but mainly from notes of various writers, especially those furnished by Gov. McCormick. Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Territories west of the Rocky Mountains; being the first (eighth) annual report of Rossiter W. Raymond, United States commissioner of Mining Statistics (1837-75). Wash., 1869-77, being published in the House Ex. Doc., from the 40th cong. 3d sess. to 44th cong. 1st sess. The report of 1870 is founded mainly on the personal observations of Prof. A. Eilers, a deputy commissioner, and is very complete in its account of the geology of Ariz., and the various districts and mines. The last