Desert Messenger

14 www.DesertMessenger.com January 7, 2015 SEE MINE PAGE 40 CUSTOM MADE PET ACCESSORIES The Pet Pa� o ~ Ray & Verna Maurer EASY TO FIND! Tyson Wells Space 29 Full line of nylon products and comfort harnesses, fleece coats, dog boots, doggles, etc. 661-428-3499 or 206-890-1696 Excerpts from "In the Shadow of Saguaros" by Rosalee Oldham Wheeler "In the Shadow of Saguaros" Vol. I & II are now available exclusively at the Tyson's Well Museum and Reader's Oasis Book Store Voices from The Past in Quartzsite, AZ TOOLS TOOLS TOOLS & TARPS & TARPS & TARPS VENDOR SUPPLIES • Canopies • All Sizes of Tarps • RV Supplies • Tools • Table Legs • Hand & Power Tools Open 9am-5pm - 7 days a week LOCATED AT TYSON CENTRE #1 121 W. Kuehn, Quartzsite K & B "The place with the stuff!" "If we don't have it, you don't need it!" Ladies Stuff, too! We‛re Honored to have Received the 1st Town of Quartzsite VENDOR APPRECIATION AWARD! Since childhood Richard James Dar- ling had been fascinated with rocks. Born in Pennsylvania on December 17, 1847, he read everything he could about minerals especially periodicals announcing new fi nds of minerals such as gold, silver, copper, and lead among others. His well-to-do parents were skeptical of the stories Richard shared about mineral deposits out West, in- stead they encouraged him to get a col- lege education in Pennsylvania. However, adventure and his interest in minerals drew Richard out West to Colorado where according to the U.S. Census of 1900 he stated he was a quartz miner. Well-known and respect- ed, in 1883 Richard was elected to the Colorado State Legislature. Around this time he had met Beatrice Agnes Casey, a beautiful 20-year-old Irish lass who had immigrated to America in 1879. Rich- ard and Beatrice were married in1884 and settled into a very comfortable life in Denver where they started their fam- ily; Grace F (1886), Richard James Jr (1891), Ralph M (1894), and Dorothy M (1897). In 1899, after the sale of his Colorado mining interests, the family relocated to Los Angeles where Richard continued his association with his many mining ac- Double tragedy at Copper Chief Mine Antiques • Collectibles • Teacups & Teddy Bears See's Candy Fundraiser for GFWC in season 455 E. Main St. Quartzsite Open Tues. thru Sat. 9-3 928-927-4223 quaintances, analyzing where he would invest in his next mining venture. In 1910, after thoroughly digesting How- land Bancroft's U.S. Geological Sur- vey of Ore Deposits in Northern Yuma County, plus the research and investiga- tion of W. T. Lee's 1903 USGS Recon- naissance, and Louis A. Dunham's 1910 report stating, "remarkably favorable iron outcrops in the area would proba- bly reveal underlying high grade copper ore", Richard Darling decided to acquire 560 patented acres in the Middle Camp Mountain area of the La Paz (Weaver) Mining District, west of the Dome Rock Mountains, about 12 miles northwest of Quartzsite in Yuma County, Arizona. Richard considered himself a mining expert and together with his mining en- gineer son, Richard Jr, analyzed dozens of geological reports and spent many days with local experts Bill Keiser, Sol Pease, and William E. Scott. Each was convinced that with knowledgeable operators and the right equipment the area would be an enormously successful producer of copper ore with a sizeable byproduct of lode gold and silver, thus the Copper Chief Mines was registered. At 63 Richard was in good health and planned to work alongside Richard Jr and younger son Ralph to get the Copper Chief up and going utilizing $5,000,000 from the sale of his Colorado mining in- terests to buy generators, compressors, engines, boilers, and vehicles along with supplies to build a warehouse and cab- in. Although contented with their life in Los Angeles, Beatrice was excited about the new project. Richard realized that even though armed with many positive geological reports, like most miners he too was a dreamer and it was his dream to strike it big and leave something sub- stantial for his children and grandchil- dren. Even so, Richard was enough of a realist to know he needed this venture to be a big success here in Arizona as well as on Manhattan's Wall Street. With the assistance of J. W. Norton of New York, Richard prepared a glowing report (further enhanced by Norton) to be delivered to Charles W. Chubbuck at his West 34th Street offi ce in New York City for the purpose of offering 3,000,000 public shares at $1 par, in the Copper Chief Mines Company in- corporated in the State of Arizona with Richard as the president and treasurer, Richard Jr the vice president, and Bea- trice the secretary. Shafts were dug and equipment put into place at the Copper Chief Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and Uncle Sam No. 1. A two-com- partment 650-foot vertical shaft was dug down to water-level with crosscuts reaching 490 feet on the 648-foot level, 165 feet on the 420-foot level, and 100 feet on the 250-foot level. Twenty-fi ve additional claims were located. From the start, the lack of dependable water was an enormous issue. The pri-

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