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1913 Who's Who in Arizona

This book by Jo Conners was published in 1913. A small sampling of extractions are provided below.
Arizona Copper Company

Arizona Copper Company, LTD., whose lands consist of about 4,000 acres containing eight producing mines in Greenlee County, was organized in August, 1884, under the laws of Great Britain, with a capitalization of 755,000. About 20 per cent of this stock is issued in the United States. The mines, except the Coronado, are developed to a depth of 500 feet only, being opened mainly by tunnels, thereby affording cheap extraction. Notwithstanding the comparatively shallow zone of development, a tremendous amount of ore is in sight. Considerable diamond drilling has been done. The Humboldt mine, which is the principal producer, shows a large body of low-grade disseminated chalcocite. Extraction from this property is partly opencast, but mainly through tunnels equipped with electric lights and electric traction. The haulage system uses the overhead trolley. Electric locomotives of 12 horse-power haul 80-ton loads, the line having a single track running 8,600 feet directly through the mountain, with a loop reaching all workings of the Humboldt mine, the tunnel running through International Hill direct to the new concentrator. The Longfellow mine, belonging to this Company, is the oldest important copper mine in Arizona, dating from about 1877. A 1300-foot tunnel driven from Chase Creek connects with a 600-foot blind shaft, obviating about three miles of railroad haulage over bad grades. The Longfellow Extension mine has developed into a good property.

The Coronado Group, about nine miles from Clifton, has three shafts, the deepest of which is 1,100 feet, and shows considerable high grade ore. Ore is taken from the different mines by six gravity tramlines to storage bins on the Coronado railroad, from which it is hauled to the reduction plant at Clifton. This railroad is of 36-inch gauge from Clifton to Metcalf, a distance of seven miles, and has 30-ton ore cars.

The mines and works use about 3,000 horse-power, supplied in about equal portions from steam, gas and distillate engines. The gas-engine plant is exceptionally complete. It has been planned to develop hydro-electric power and transmit same from a dam about 50 miles distant. The somewhat scattered works at Clifton, Morenci, Longfellow and Metcalf were remodeled and enlarged several times, and the reduction plants now include six concentrators, a smelter, lixiviation plant and acid plant.

No. 6 Concentrator has a daily capacity of 1 ,500 tons, and has two 600-ton crushers and a 250 horse-power Nordberg engine, direct connected to a 125 horse-power dynamo, steam being furnished by three 400 horse-power Stirling water-tube boilers. No. 6 Mill has a large settling basin. The Company has had trouble over tailings and has found it necessary to use its best endeavors to keep its tailings from entering the river. There is a tank about a mile above the town, with an 18-inch wooden pipe line to supply clear water at flood times, and in dry seasons, the tank being fed by seepage and spring water.

The smelter is of steel frame with slate roof and floor of iron plates laid in cement. There are six 300-ton water-jacket blast furnaces, each 39x240 feet at the tuyeres, with blast supplied by Nos. 7, 9 and 10 Connersville blowers, operated by a 275 horse-power engine. Gases from the blast furnaces pass through a 480-foot tunnel and 300-foot stack. Matte of 50 to 55 per cent copper tenor is charged into the converters by a 10-ton ladle handled by a 30-ton electric crane. The converter plant has three stands and six 7-ton shells, with a daily capacity of 50 tons of 99.5% blister copper. Disintegration of slag by running water was tried, but has been discontinued, and molten slag is again handled by a steam locomotive. A complete new smelter is now under construction.

The 25-ton briquetting plant uses coal-breeze as a binder, under a pressure of 2,000 pounds per square inch. The plant is entirely automatic, fines going in at one end and briquettes being loaded on cars at the other.

The acid plant makes about 3,000 tons of sulphuric acid yearly from the fumes of the roasters, the entire product being used in the leaching plant, which treats an average of 250 tons of low grade oxidized ore daily. This is perhaps the most successful leaching plant in the United States.

Miscellaneous enterprises include a well-equipped foundry, machine shop, saw mill, planing mill, and 20-ton ice plant, all built of brick. The Company also has excellent general merchandise stores at Clifton, Longfellow and Metcalf, while a splendid library is maintained for employees. The number of employees at the present time is over 2,700.

The office of the Company is at 29 St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh, Scotland, and the mine and works office at Clifton, Arizona. The officers are as follows: John Wilson, Chairman ; P. Dickson, J. P. G. Readman, J. Wilson, Y. J. Pentland, Alex McNab, J. P., and Lord Salveson, Directors ; Norman Carmichael, General Manager ; William Exley Miller, Secretary; George Fraser, Smelter Superintendent; Archibald Morrison, Mill Superintendent at Clifton; J. G. Cooper, Purchasing Agent. The Company is entitled to much credit for its conservatism and the thoroughly successful working of its plant.

Shannon Copper Co.

Shannon Copper Company's Mines and Smelter

The Shannon Copper Co. was organized November 13, 1899, under the laws of Delaware, for the purpose of purchasing the Hughes and Shannon mine, which had been for years considered the equal of any copper mine in Arizona. It had been owned for twenty years by Charles M. Shannon, the well known pioneer of the district, who had been unable to interest capital to develop the property so as to bring it to a producing stage, until he attracted the attention of Mr. W. B. Thompson, of Boston. Mr. Thompson, however, would not undertake to handle the property unless it w y as sold outright, which Air. Shannon agreed to do with the understanding that he be allowed to retain an interest in the company as stockholder. The company was capitalized at $3,000,000, par value of shares $10; and in July, 1909, this amount was increased to $3,300,000, of which $300,000 was held in the treasury for conversion of an issue of $600,000 6% bonds which had been authorized in May, 1909, by the Shannon-Arizona Railway Company, and were convertible into Shannon stock at $20.00. The company also had a direct issue of 7% bonds originally $600,000 with a $60,000 annual sinking fund for redemption, by means of which the bond issue was reduced. The new company immediately began the systematic development of the property, and shortly afterward purchased some adjoining claims from the Arizona Copper Company, the pioneer mining company of the district. This gave them not only very valuable mines, but also control of ground which was necessary in the extensive work which had been mapped out. Their lands now consist of about 50 claims, in area about 400 acres, at Metcalf, in the Greenlee district, with a millsite of about 100 acres area, and some limestone claims on the Frisco River. The mine is developed by shafts, tunnels and open pits, underground workings reaching a depth of about 1,300 feet below the crest of the mountain. The mine is timbered with 12x12" square sets. Extraction is by two double track tunnels, one of which is 7x8' in size and connects with a 1,400' double-track incline tram leading to the Coronado Railway, with six ore-bins at either end, the tramway, inclined at 36 deg., having 10-ton cars operating in counter-balance with a retarding engine at the upper end, the steel cable passing around a 13' double drum, which runs a small air-compressor that generates power while serving as an auxiliary brake. The Shannon Company controls the Coronado Mining Co., through ownership of 51%, of the stock issue, and operates under lease, the property of the Leonard Copper Company, owning the Copper Belle mine at Gleeson. They also own and operate the Shannon-Arizona Railway, which is capitalized at $600, 000. This standard-gauge line of about ten miles length, was built and equipped at a cost of about $600,000, the territory traversed being very rugged and a 900-foot tunnel having been necessary. It was completed in 1910, and has not only proven a saving to the company of considerable money on ore haulage, but gives immunity from the serious interferences formerly caused by annual floods.

The 1,000-ton smelter at Clifton, seven miles from the mines, had two 350-ton water-jacket blast-furnaces, which were thrown into one large furnace by a new section between, built on the plan first used at the Washoe works, making a single blast-furnace of 1,000 tons daily capacity. The briquetting plant for flue dust and fines has a daily capacity of 60 tons, and there is a small sampling mill in connection. The 500-ton concentrator, on the San Francisco River, eight miles from the mine, has ore bins 100' long, in two sections, for first and second grade ores, and treats daily about 400 tons of ore.. Tailings have carried as high as 1.2% copper, due to the highly oxidized condition of ores, but have been stored and may be leached later. Formerly there was much trouble from acid waters eating the iron screens, while brass or copper screens in the jigs were worn out too rapidly by abrasion. This trouble was overcome by a simple but ingenious application of the principle of electrolysis, a low-voltage electric current being applied to the jigs, by which the screen became a cathode in the circuit, this attracting hydrogen from the water, which in turn, attracts the metallic salts, and the copper freed is deposited on that portion of the screens formerly eaten away. Water is pumped from wells near the San Francisco River by an electric triplex pump. The amount of ore smelted has shown an unbroken annual increase since the fiscal year 1904, while costs have also shown improvement The office of the company is at No. 82 Devonshire Street, Boston, Mass., the mine office at Metcalf, Arizona, and the works office at Clifton, Arizona. The officers are: Nathan L. Amster, president; Alexander B. Clough, vice president; David A. Ellis, secretary; R. Townsend McKeever, treasurer; Charles R. Jeffers, assistant secretary and treasurer; John W. Bennie, general manager; H. H. Dyer, general superintendent; H. A. Collin, mine superintendent; William H. Bond, mill superintendent. The stock of the company is listed on the Boston Stock Exchange, the property is considered very valuable, and the management excellent.

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