The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1859-07-14
WEALTH OF THs ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

per OH the Mineral resources of the Rocky
Mountains was presented by William ?.
Blake. 1t is altogether probable that fur
thcr explorations will show that the gold
deposits found in New Mexico extend not
only rs far north IA Pixies Peak, in Kansas,
but on tho slope Of the mountains opposite
the sources of Fraser river. Very little is
vet known Of all this region, which affords
vast and most interesting field for sei:n.
t'ic exploration. Mr.. Blake's paper is con-
fined chiefly to New Mexico:
The gold field of New Mexico has l,ern
known and worked since 1928, and is con-
fined to the Placer or e. Id mountains,
about twenty miles from Santa Fc, towards
Albuquerque the yield of gold has hecn
chiefly from the waslings, and not from ;he
veins, and was estimated in 1917 by Wis.
licsenus, as varying from thirty to two hun,
dred and fifty thousand dollars a year, but
it soon afterwards so diminished that it
was counted BY hundreds instead of thou.
sands. These placers are on the subordi.
nate or outline rides Of the eastern ranges OF
the Rocky mountains. and are true hill de-
pos'ts, sttording coarse gold like that from
the high rlscers of California. The pay
gravel, from twenty to one hundred feet be-
low the surface, is generally very rich
Owing to the scarcity of water, a very large
amount OF gravel has been untouched.
Veins or beds in the rocks, containing gold.
outcrop higher up in the ravines in one
place, gold occurs in strata of quartzose
sandstone, and i'll great ferru ginous beds,
rather than in veins the sandstone an.
pears to have been charged with aurif.rous
pyri:es, by the decomposition of Which gold
has been liberated.
At otherroints regular quartz veins bear
ing gold and ryrites are found, and some
Of them have been worked at times for over
twenty years-thc Ortsz and Biggs mines
have been worked to a depth of about 1856
feet in deserted mine in the mountains
Known rs ''Los CcrilIos," worked nearly
200 years ago, the principal shaft is 200
feet deep, cut vertically and with great pre-
cision through solid rock. The largest
lump found mt the placers was worth $4,000
and from this they occur all the way to $50
and $50; the gold from New placer is
black and i'll looking on the surface, bu. is
very fine, bcing worth SIC an ounce for it,
and their wages by the day are from GO to
a. cents. The gold mountains and paccrs
are about 400 miles South of Pixies Peak.
and there is but little doubt that gold will
be found over this entire distance. The
i;ocky Mountain gold, from assays made at
the Dahlonega branch mint, Georgia, is
nearly one tenth richer than California gold,
and little richer than the Austrian.
Next to gold, but of greater importance
to the country, is the existence Of the Rocky
Mountain chain of beds of coal both bit
luminous and anthracite coal in thick beds,
and ofsuperlor quality, occur near Santa Fe
an in the vicinity of the gold mines. The
presence of anthracite in the Rocky Noun
tains is of great national importance ce in
many points Of view. One Of the chief
questions in connection with the proposed
railroad to the Pacific has been, where shall
fuel be obtained Here we have a store
OF the most compact fuel, at point nearly
midway between tue Pacific and the Mis-.
sissippi. This is one great reason for the
construction of a central road to the Rocky
Mountains near Santa Fe; coal not havinc
been found, and probably not existing in
workable beds, in the lower and porphyrilic
ranges Of western Texas and Southern New
Mexico. Wood is no: abundant except at
great ele vations and the coal is much more
accessible and desirable; it is valuable not
only for railroad purposes, but for domos
tic mining, and metalurgical operations.
There is reason to believe that the Rocky
Mountain chain is rich in silver ores, in the
shape ofa argentiferous ga1ena. Stevenson's
mines, near Franklin, El Paso, have long
been known, and are very rich. In other To-
calities are ancient and deserted mines. ca.
pable of be''', pro6tably worked. Of copper
ores there are several localities the sui
phuret, with the blue and green carbonates
occurs in the Placer Mountain native
copper and the red oxide are found near
Je'nes, in the valley of the Rio Grande, ro.
sembling those found in such abundance
and richness at Arizona. Magnetic iron
ore is abundant in the mountains near the
gold, mines, and, as coal and limestone are
plentiful in the vicinity, may at some fu-
.turetime be profitably worked for iron and
steel.
Specular iron is said also to exist there
/. in veins or beds. Besides metals and ores,
there are many valuable minerals and