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Juniper Flats Mine

Truax Mine / Truax Gold Property / Truax-Zane Claims

 

 

This property was  located on Juniper flats above Bisbee and was operated by William Truax Sr. He is better known for being the owner of the English Kitchen restaurant, which he sold before moving for a few years to Sylvanite N.M.  In March of 1914, Truax returned and purchased the Edelweiss Café a restaurant. He the removed a window from restaurant and used it to display ores from his Juniper Flat Mine. Most of the window displayed copper ore and in one corner he showed gold nuggets and other gold ore removed from a forty foot shaft. Later, the same year William Truax Sr. brought samples of native gold with fluorite to show around Bisbee. On July 10, 1914 a blast spread six sacks worth of visible gold ore over the ground. It was gathered and shown off at the Edelweiss café exciting all of Bisbee.  It assayed from $781.60 to $2,086.40. The newspaper called it “Jewelry shop stuff” and said it was necessary that the ore be collected and brought into town; otherwise it would have been like leaving five dollar gold pieces strewn about. One sample of ore taken weighed 80lbs, of course this is ore and the actual gold amount would have been maybe a couple ounces. By the end of July 1914 Truax bought out his partner Oliver Zane for $10,000. A minor gold rush began as a results of this find and hundreds of claims and fractional claims were filed in the weeks that followed.  For a short time people were sneaking onto the property and stealing ore at night, until a guard was put on the property. Soon after Oliver Zane was no longer part of the property, The Juniper Flats Gold Mining Company was formed. During 1915 William and his son William Jr. opened another restaurant named the English Kitchen in Bisbee A five stamp mill was built  and some gold recovered. Humorously, that September William Sr.  one day left his  restaurant and mounted a horse to ride up to the mines on Juniper Flats. As he rounded Castle Rock he noticed the horse seemed tired. So he went to the Palace Livery Stables and wanted to know with he had been given such a horse. The man at the Palace informed him that it was not their horse. Quickly, he returned to the restaurant and tied up the horse he had accidently stolen. During 1916 gold was found on 100ft. level of shaft. In 1917, a 30 ft. shaft was on property and Truax was shipping ore.  No significant work occurred on the property after this time.

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