THE GREAT SILVER MINES OF NEW MEXICO.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 707, 30 July 1870, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE GREAT SILVER MINES OF NEW MEXICO.

[ST. LOUIS REPUBLICAN.]

Discoveries have recently been made in NW Mexico which reveal the existence of a vast deposit of silver ore that is said to surpass, both in quantity and quality, all the stores of this precious mineral yet found ia America. From correspondents whose reliability seems to be unquestioned, we have derived some particulars relative to tho " Virginia silver mining" that cannot fail to interest our readers. This district is located in the County of Grant, New Mexico, near what are known, as " Leitendoffer's Wells," some thirty miles east of the Arizona line, and about one hundred and thirty from Mesilla. > It is in a chain of mountains, between the Burro and Chirricauhua ranges, in latitude 32deg, and longitude 108^deg. The mines were discovered on the 2nd of February last, by Messrs Brown, Arnold, Harris, and McAllen, a' company of prospectors in the employ of San Francisco capitalists. Brown and Arnold took seventy pounds of ore from different localities, all being on the surface, carried it to San Francisco, and had it assayed. It yielded pure silver at a rate of from 20dol to 4000dol per ton — averaging 200dol per ton. The main ledges are from twenty to one hundred feet in width, and in many places crop out. fully fifty feet above the ground. Unmistakable indications prove that these mines have been worked a long time previous, but by whom is a mystery to the preseut generation. A cabin with cedar rafters and clay roof has been found, and also a tunnel, forty feet in length, from whence the ore has been excavated by the miners of a by-gone era. In richness and extent this district is. considered far beyond tho Washoe region, and experienced persons declare that there is nothing to equal it on the continent. Water sufficient to supply one thousand people can be brought from Liefzendoffer's (five miles distant), and by digging the quantity can be largely increased. At the mines there i 3 enough water for drinking purposes, and the Ceinegade San Simeon, a neighboring stream, will furnish it to run at least five hundred steam mills. Building timber exists in abundance at the Burro Mountains, twenty-five miles distant, where saw mills will soon be in operation, and fuel can be had within a range of twelve miles. The ex-

citement which these discoveries have caused in California, Arizona, and New Mexico, will he "the means of directing the tide of emigration to that quarter ; but men without capital may as well delay the going until the mills and furnaces now en route shall have arrived and gone into operation, although all that ia necessary to procure the ore itself is to put blasts in the face of the enormous ledges aud tumble it down literally by the cord. Rival companies from San Francisco have already staked out their claims, and as usual there are conflicts in regard to the titles. Troublesome times are anticipated, and Governor Pile has been called upon to secure the services of the United States troops at Fort Payard co interfere and preserve order, if necessary.