New-York tribune., 1879-06-11
COLORADO'S NEW WEALTH.
IRON MINE AND CARBONATE HILL.
III.

i
JUDGE PENDERY's PERSEVERANCE AND REWARD.
| IFRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.
| LEADvILIR, Col, June 2.-The distance, In n
| direct line, from Long and Derry Hill, the most
southern point in this immediate vicinity at which
a vein of silver ore has thus far been struck" to
| the Evans Hills, which, for the present. form the
northern boundary of the ground that has been
prospected. is about seven or eight miles;
but by the wagon-roads and trails which
wind around and over the mountains and
| through the gulches, it is at least twice
| as far. To examine, therefore, with any de-
gree of care. the more important mines that have
thus far been opened, if the explorer goes into
only one or two of each group is the work of three
or four days. To make such an examination with
| any degree of comfort and without wasting too
| much time one needs to be mounted on good
Broncho pony which Will carry him up and down the
| steepest places on the mOuntan-sides, and which
| will not be discouraged when he comes TO fallen
! timber finds the ground covered with loose
stones which make the footing anything but Sc
cure. Such pony be hired at the livery stables
| here for about - a day, or at n propOrtionately
! higher price if not regularly engaged.
The Iron Nine, owned by Messrs. Stevens &
Letter the latter of Chicago should be visited first
not only because it was the first discovered, but
because it has been the most extensively and scen-
tifcaily developed. and for the further that
the geological formation in which the ore is found
| is more clearly defined than in any other mine in
this vicinity. Iron Hill lies between California and
Timber Gulches north Of the latter, and the mine
from which it takes its name is about three or four
| miles from Lcadyille. / have not been able TO
obtain a very full history of the discovery of this
mine but have picked up from different sources q
few incidents which may be interesting in tins
| nectiOn.
THE FIRST DISCOVERY.
| Messrs. Stevens and Wood, two old prospectors
and miners, were engaged in 1876 and 1877 in
washing out gold in California Gulch. 1t is hardly
necessary to describe this process. The earth and
| gravel is thrown into sluicc-way, in which the
water runs with sufficient speed and force to carry
down the dirt and even large stones, while the
| PARTICLES of gold, mixed with the gravel, sink to
| the bottom and are caught in rifles and held there
| by mercury placed in them for that purpose. While
| thus engaged in placer mining Messrs Stevens
and Wood were greatly troubled by q pc
| cular kind OF stone that, being too heavy to be
carried away by the water, caught in the
bottom of their sluice-bOxes and chOked them up.
Mr.. Wood was, 1t is said the first to discover that
these troublesome stones, besides containing large
percentage of lead carried also small quantity Of
chloride of silver. At that time the lead was
worthless, because its value would be much more
|
market and the grade of the silver ores
was too low to make it pay to work them.
But Mr.. Stevens seems to have been impressed
with the idea that this new kind of silver ore
might after ALL prove valuable if found in sufficient
quantities.; after examining carefully the points
| along the gulch where the float" or loose pieces
were found he extended his explorations, expecting
to find the out-crop" from which the :" float" had
been broken Off Having discovered this, he located
his mine in 1877 and began operations on "a small
scale, being more and more convinced, the further
he dug, of the great value of his discovery. In
the Winter or Spring of 1873, Mr.. stevens,
anxious to develop his mine, brought out
| from Michigan, in which State he formerly
| lived. a number of men who were all
| " tender-feet," that is, they had never lived
| in the mountains and were not used to the
hardships of mining camp. Mr.. Stevens IN his en-
| thusiasm supposed that he was comforting a great
| favor upon these men by giving them work and
placing them in position to make their fortunes but
they did not appreciate their opportunities. Unac-
customed to the high altitude of the camp, to the
severe climate and the rough manner of life among
the miners they suffered from exposure and for want
| of the comforts they never before had done with
out and they finally forced Mr. Stevens to furnish
| them money with which to return TO their homes.
Most of them left LeadvIc just before some of the
|
fore the excitement that has not yet subsided be
! gan.
PRESENT CONDITION OF THE IRON MINE.
The Iron Mine now embraces a number of claims
extending along the side of the hill, and is at
| present in litigation with the owners of other
mines further up the hill, which, Mr.. Stevens as
| serts, have struck his vein. The laws of the
| United States provide that the dscovcrcr of vein
| carrying precious metals may follow it down in all
its dips and spurs. Mr.. Seveno's contention is that
| having discovered this vein no one else has right
to sink shaft into it from above. even though the
mouth of the shaft be outside of the sde-lines of
! his claim. The other side deny that there is any
well defined vein III the hill, and hold therefore,
| that the working of each claim must be confined
within its side-lines. To prove the existence of
vein and that it is identical with the which the
Williams and other shafts have struck Meosrs.
stevens and Letter have pushed their main incline
down 900 feet and have driven levels at right
angles to it each side 100 feet apart Tho north
| and south inclines have not been pushed as far.
To enter this mine walks down the incline or
tunnel pitching into the mountain at the angle OF
15e or 200. The sides and roof of the incline are
supported by timbers and two tracks arc laid upon
the floor over which ore and waste rock are hauled
to the surface in small ears The main incline fol-
lows the general direction Of the vein, although as
the latter is not always regular III its course, but
wavy, it is sometimes above and sometimes below
the former The levels, also, sometimes run out of
the mineral and then strike IL again at distance
of few feet. In this mine the 'contact" " is very
plainly defined, and there is hardly point where
the porphyry above and the limestone beneath can
not be plainly distinguished with the ore-bearng
| vein between. varying from line in thickness to
| six or seven feet. The greater part of the ores
taken out of the Iron Mine of comparatively low
| grade the oxides of Ton-bearing silver being the
| most plentiful At the same time there are streaks
| both of hard and soft carbOnates found in this