Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1877-05-23
THE SAN JUAN MINING REGION.
An Int eresting Letter From an Old
EuPekan.

An Int eresting Letter From AN Old
Eurekan.
The proprietors of the City Brewery
received yesterday the following inter.
esting letter from the San Juan mining
country. 1t was written by J.. 7. Poin.
dexter, formerly head smelter at the
Eureka Consolidated reduction works,
and he gives a graphic description oil
that region:
LAKE CITY, HINsDALE Co, Col.
GENTLEMEN: Agreeable to promise,
l write to give you the truth about the
San Juan mining country as near as
can. l have not been out prospecting
much yet, and sc my news is limited,
but as far as / have seer l am m ore
than pleased with this part OF the coun.
try. / have seen here as good ore as
ever came out of the ground, some OF
it assaying up in the thousands.
From what l can learn, the whole
country seems to be one continuous
mineral belt for 100 miles square,. I
will start out on a prospecting trip
next week. and will be gone a month
or six weeks, and during that time I
intend to explore the region between
here and the eastern line of Arizona,
on the Uncompaghne and Las Animus
rivers, as that is claimed to be the
heart Of the San Juan country.
DRAWBACKS.
The great drawback to the country
is the lack OF such thorough business
men as Sharon, Jones, and other min
ing experts of California and Nevada.
Instead of these, there are a lot of
picayune Eastern men, who are on the
steal altogether. 1t seems in almost
every instance where prospecting has
been done, that good ore has been
found from the surface down as far as
they have sunk. The deepest mine is
400 feet, and the ore has improved all
the way down. They have different
machinery here from what we use in
Nevada. They run what they call
~"LiXivatiOn" and augmentation"
works. They will not buy anything
under $50-ore, and after running it
through their machines send it to New
York for further manipulation.
Some western capital IS coming in
mere dIJu ItW Hills dIl0 IhdClIlllGIy ~
furnaces. Harry Strout is putting up
a furnace at Ouray, IA town twenty
miles from this point. Lake City re-
minds me of Eureka i'll its palmy
days. The sound of the hammers can
be heard from morning till night.
There are a great many pilgrims COM
ing in here n about as many leaving
every day. California and Nevada
,ninara .ra in f1anpands uoOAc arn
from 50 80 to s. per day and board.
Everything in the way of provisions
is as cheap as in Eureka and some
things a great deal cheaper. l could
have taken charge of u company's
works the day after / got here, but l
was afraid / might beat my man and
lose my job. / prefer to try my luck
prospecting, and then go to work
when l get busted.
BLACK HILLS.
1 laid over one day in Cheyenne, and
saw men there just from the Black
Hills whom / could rely on, and they
advised me to stay away from there.
Pilgrims at the rate of five hundred a
day were going into the country, and
the business men of Cheyenne est
mated that there would be at least 50,-
900 men go into the Black Hills this
sumner. l went by rail through
Denver TO Pueblo, and found a big ex-
element in that place relative to the
San Juan country. Lake City is on
the headwaters of the Arkansas and
Rio Grande, about $50 miles south
west OF Denver, 300 miles south east
Of Salt Lake City, $50 miles e OF
Pueblo, and in a country that will not
be bothered with railroads for some
time to come. l do not want to ad.
wise any Of my old friends to come
here yet, nor / will not until I see
more of the country. From what
have seen and heard, l am better
pleased than / expected to be, and am
building castles in the air a. to how l
will spend my money when l get to
be a millionaire. If any one should
come here from Eureka, the best
route for them to take is by Denver,
Pueblo, Canyon City, Suguache, Los
Pinos Agency and Lake City. The
latter is the head center Of all this
mining region. Fare from Eureka to
Lake City, grub included, $3.50. If a
party of ten or fifteen should conclude
to come together, they could pack
through from the end of the Southern
Utah Railroad direct to Ouray, but it
would be dangerous for a smaller
party than that. There are some
placer mines, and the quartz ores are
both free aud base. ! will write again
and answer all the questions that my
friends will ask.
Yours Respectfully,
JOHN Il. PoINDEXTER.