Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-11-04
The New Gold Placer.
INTERESTING FROM NEw MExECe.
respondenee Of the State Journal.

mexico, on account OF a newly discovered
gold placer, on the waters of the ''Billv VIII
liams" Fork of the Colorado. Thousands are
fioeking to the mines. Dona Ana county
will lose one half its population on this ac-
count. The reports are indeed Startling
For instance, ten men took out 500 ounces in
! orte week, with pans, worth $40 per ounce :
| flat is 81. 40 a man Nearly the same
amonp, has also been taken by lien in the
| drv dirt = the top of the mountain, without
! using anv water IN the process; and none
| take lass thai. - a day. They dig up the dirt
among the rocks !. I'd "ifihoM Ont the dry
| dust, when the gold I. 'pearS II nuggets.
| have seen worth 53D.
These the same min IS mentioned ia
! your telegraphic report Of Au, &uss -otI' anu
| situated $50 miles east of Fort 'oiaSt, ana
loo miles north of the ella (Heela fonr
readers may locate the region. by Ia. ing d
railroad survey map and finding Fort Yu rs,
at the junction OF the ella with the Colorado,
also the Pimos villages on the former river
and drawing lines northerly l25 miles each,
till they intersect, which viii be about the
junction of the Santa Maria with the Billy
Williams, and you are at the mines. The
placey has been proved 80 miles north and
| its boundary on the east is undetermined. I'm
doubtedly it reaches to the head waters of the
ella, or at least to the Salinas, named on the
maps Rio Verde. The distance from MesiIa
New AICAiCO, W IuCcOH Is ABOUT oOO miles,
but much shorter track can be found bv
leaving the road at the crossing of the San
Pedro, and following it down to the ella and
PlmOs villages, ndnuch better supplied with
water and grass for animals. \ wagon road
viii soon be opened by that route, and thus
make saving of 200 miles travel.
| 1t seems little strange that this region
should have been traversed by the railroad
explorers, with their bands of scientific ex-
ar1irars and tbav ,,,iad IN ,,-arv-
strata, as they tell us in their volumes of pic
tured books, though they picked up every
fossil, and examined mountains of feIspar
greensboro and porphyry, with creyices filed
With amygdaIoid, and trachyte and chalcedo-
ny, and, as the auctioneers say, Others stones
" too numerous to mention" they saw no
gold no silver, no copper, where all have
been found native, or virgin. Strange as it
may seem, it is nevertheless true, the United
States explorers have never found d particle
OF gold silver or copper, or if they did they
have taken most excellent care not to report
it. This discovery, which is as extensive and
rich as any yet found, is due to the untring
perseverance of the old mountaneer, Wal
ker, who went there with a small party I'M
aided by government, or rich men, carrying
their pans their backs, and there washed
out the gold, and only returned to inform the
world OF their discovery at the time they did,
because they wanted aid to protect them from
the murderous Apaches. So too the DIaceJ
on the Pierto (head of the Gila), and at Pinos
Altos on the Mimbrcs, lie in the track of
Lieut.. Emory, and the explorers and were
unseen by them; but California volunteer,
with his camp tools washed out the q color "
Of the first, and an unsuccessful gold hunter
on his return trip, found the last; at either
Of which good washer made his five dollars
4 day.
Such facts as these coming to light induce
a man Of not very charitable views to sug-
gcst, that these men may be able to draw
very pretty looking pictures upon paper; but
that the drawers are very poor witnesses,
when called on the stand to give evidence of
what lies buried few inches in the dust I'M
der their feet, even though they have read all
works of science, and seen men washing gold
in the plqcerS OF California Perhaps if they
had examined that same soil, they would have
sOiled their hands, so that such delicate
pictures could not have been made. But if
such thoughts fill the mind as TO the man in
search of the railroad line, what will be tho't |
Of him who has been paid as a Geologist, and
whose sole business it was to look for miner |
ais? Did these have their eyes so firmly fix
ed the yellow boys in Uncle Sans peck |
ct, that they could not sec nuggets Of $50 ~ |
ing around loose in the sand or the shining |
grains in the rocks which they were sent to |
examine? Or, are we to suppose they We're
so ignorant and lazy as to be unfit for their
duty? One fact We know, when YOU have |
led these scientifcs up to the place where
the hardy miner has knocked out the ''rotten"
quartz, and you put it into their hands freed
from dust, they have gone into ecstacies over
the golden treasure, and eXpatiated in long
articles on mines and minerals. None OF
these however, have found the matrix of the
metal, or the precious article itself, until
some man of hard practical common sense
-v-I,r lr- -,
self has laid it open to the world. The ex-
plorcrs were in search of the best route for a
railroad to the Pacific ocean, and what route
could offer such Inducements as that which
passes over veins of virgin silver and copper
and in the midst Of gold fields inexhaustibIe,
and which must draw with the power and en-
chantment of the almighty dollar" men to
to seek their fortune, where it can be had for
picking up They were as blind as justice,
but whether for the same cause, men may
well disagree. Be that it may. The gold
exists in the mountains west of the Rio
Grande, and its location has been found 1t
is found too where no Spanish grants have
ever been claimed or can be; in country
unknown to the Mexican as the American.
| 1t is found where the Apache has fed with
his booty after his forays upon the Mexican
frontier, and the miners who going there
by thousands, win soon break up those baunts.
One wear viii settle the matter with the Indi-
ans, and they must either live in peace by
cultivating the soil or be exterminated
The best route from Wisconsin to the
mines IS by Leavenworth, Kansas, and the
Santa re roads, until the proper place Is
reached to strike down the Rio Grande, and
| thence to MesiIIa, where the only road leaves
| for the west North Of this road the trails
| are impossible for wagons being intercepted
| by mountain ranges, over which only pack
| animals can travel IF the war of the rebel
| lion were once closed, and the guerrillas were
| killed, which God grant soon, the southern
| overland mail route would be the true route.
| This route would leave Fort Scott, en- the
| Arkansas river, and passing southwest through
| the cross timbers, over the Red river and
| come into FL Pass, or rather strike the Rio
| Gfande near that place, and thence up the
| river to Mesilla, and thus save the distance
| from Santa Fe to Mcsilla, and also having the
| advantage Of being as good travelling in win
| ter as in summer, SO far as grass is concerned,
/ and the heats of summer is thus avoided en-
| tirely. At present the route would be IN
| safe except with a party strong enough to
| cope with the guerrillas and Indians. The
mail route from Me>illa 70 Tucson must be
| again opened, and thence TO the mines The
mines Of Arizona and New Mexico, on and
/ near the ella, cannot be frozen rD more than