to the wagon. This was the first shipment of ores, and a pretty "long
haul."

Upon the arrival of these ores in the States they were distributed to
different cities for examination and assay, and gave the country its
first reputation as a producer of minerals. The average yield in silver
was not enormous, as the ores contained a great deal of copper, but the
silver yield was about fifteen hundred dollars to the ton.

In December, 1856, I purchased for the company the estate of "La
Aribac," or Arivaca, as it is called by Americans. This place is a
beautiful valley encompassed by mountains, and containing only a few
leagues of land. It was settled by Augustine Ortiz, a Spaniard, in 1802,
and title obtained from the Spanish government. The ownership and
occupation descended to his two sons, Tomas and Ignacio Ortiz, who
obtained additional title from the Mexican Republic in 1833, and
maintained continuous occupation until 1856, when they sold to the
company for a valuable consideration.

The validity of the title has been denied by the United States,
notwithstanding the obligations of the treaty, and is now pending before
the United States Land Court, with the prospect of an appeal to the
United States Supreme Court, with a fair prospect of the ultimate loss
of the property. The company conveyed the property with all mines and
claims in Arizona to the writer, on the 2nd January, 1870,--a woful
heritage.

In the early months of 1857, everything was going well in the Santa Cruz
valley. The mines were yielding silver bullion by the most primitive
methods of reduction. The farmers were planting with every prospect of a