The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1878-11-15

W0Iu0 casually 1oIudEA0U tO0t C00 1aSI
time he passed them he had broken of
had observed that 1T had a green lingo.
Powell became interested, and pro-
posed that they should go and look at
the rock before resuming their journey.
After q short search Edwards found
the spot where he had found the green
rock. Powell broke off some as high
up as he could reach. The grain SEEM
ed messy and of vegetable growth.
Powell pulled out his jackknife, and
began to so scrape it. A grey metallic
gleam appeared. It was horn silver,
s0-called because when rubbed down
and compressed it cuts like horn. Not
knowing what 1t was, but thinking it
might prove valuable, the two men
made a careful examination of the
cliffs, and staked out five mining
claims, posting the requisite notice,
and giving the name and date of the
discovery. Each claim entitled them
to 900 feet across the lode by 1860 feet
longitudinally. They filled bag with
specimens from these claims, and had
them assayed at Rosita, six miles
away. The silver buttons found i'm
the bone crucibles gave a valued Of
1 900 ounces to the tom.
The report spread like Wildfire, The
Inhabitants of Rosita identified the
black manganitic rock, and knew
where it was alone to be found. When
Powell and Edwards returned to their
claims on Monday half the residents
OF Rosita were on the ground. But
the black, rotten-looking rock was SO
unlike the usual ore deposits that they
staked no claims, and laughed at the
discoveries. They predicted that if
the two men worked that rock, they
would be barefooted within three
weeks. Powell and Edwards, how
ever, were not discouraged. They
took in one Hafford as partner, and
resolutely went to work with their
picks. In four days they broke out
six tons of rock. They spent nearly all
their ready money in hiring teams to
draw the mineral to the reduction
works. The returns arc said to have
been IS, 400.
There was no more laughter. The
excitement was unparalleled. In twen-
ty-four hours the hillside, the adjoin-
ing plain and Round Mountain were
covered with claims. Several other
extremely valuable deposits were dis
covered. There was rush from every
mining district in the State. Denver
and other cities poured out their hun
dreds of eager seekers after wealth.
Tents and shanties sprang up like
mushrooms, and the Silver Cliffs were
crowded with a busy mining camp.
Men tattered and tired, roamed the
country with eager eyes, and specula-
ton rampant. An eyewitness says
that ssthey would stick a stake in a
prairie dog-hole and ask $4,000 for
| it.' The first house was built on Sep
tember 8. Now there are over hum
dretl. Sixteen saw mills are buzzing
night and day on the hills and
in the gulches, and every
town within fifty miles has been de-
pleted of lumber. Tho plain below
the cliffs is white with tho fonts of
eager prospectors. The roads are worn
and dusty with the constant grinding
of wheels, and the tramp, tramp,
tramp of the army of occupation is
heard in all directions.
The mines are located in what is
known as the uartlscrabble District.
Six years ago Rosita was the centre of
a mining district of wonderful promise,
but it quickly petered out. The great
ttMaine" mine, which made a very
poor man a millionaire in one year, is
four miles southeast of the Silver Cliffs.
The region is volcanic, and it is said
| that there arc several distinct cratcrs
near Rosita. Volcanic upheavals seem
to have burst the primary granite, and
to have forced through chimneycd pas
sages masses of eruption bearing mol
ten precious metals. Tho silver has
been cooled amid n mixture of por-
phyry, margarine, feldspar, gypsum,
and other mineral substances more or
less decomposed and entirely unstrat-
flied.
The mine worked by Powell, Ed
wards and Hafford, is known as the
"Racine Boy" So far it has turned
out nothing but horn silver, a chloride
carried in decomposed porphyry full of
seame. In its surroundings it repre-
sents the mineral taken from the Com
stock lode. Thus far it is the only
mine in Colorado that does bear resem-
blance. The ore is found in deposits,
without any crevice veins or distinct
walls. The mine is full of hard quartz
builders, which are coated with scales
of chloride of silver. The scales con-
tain the bulk of the silver, but the
precious metal pcrmeates the whole of
the mineral. The chloride is broken
from the builders like egg shells, and
the finest ore is sorted and put in sacks.
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