Smyrna times., 1879-07-02
The New Silver Mines.

The rush of emigration to the new silver
mines at Leadville has been so great as to at.
tract the attention of the whole country and
the n. Y. Tribune formost in all enternrises
sent a responsible correspondent to the new
territory to write up the actual state of
affairs. His last letter shows that while
there have been greatly exaggerated reports
published as to the value of the Leadville |
discoveries, the mines of that group are, in |
fact, exceedingly productive, and according |
to the opinion of the best experts, are not |
likely to be soon worked out. They are |
certainly the most valuable deposits of |
argentiferous ore now being worked in the !
United States, and are probably unrivalled |
in the world. The output this year is esti- |
mated at $l0,000,000, and there is good |
reason to think it will be considerably in.
creased another year. About fourteen
miles from Leadville a new group of mines
has been opened recently on Ten Mile
Creek, which promise large yield. The
Gunnison region, on the western slope of
the Rocky Mountain watershed, eighty
| miles from Leadville, has created the latest
| excitement. No mines are yet open there,
but the prospectors claim to have made dis
coveries that promise greater returns than
those at Leadville.
The remarkable feature about all these
reports is that the silver is found in carbon
ates of lead-a mineral which was previous
| lysupposed not to contain enough silver to
make it of any account to the miner. Now
| the question naturally arises whether in
the old silver regions unexpected wealth
may not be found in carbonate strata.
There will certainly be an active assaying
of carbonates in all the old mining camps
this Summer. Leaving out Of the consider
alton any results that may come from such
investigations, it is evident that we must be
prepared for aheavy increase in the worlds
annual production Of silver. Besides the
Leadville region, the boundaries of which
are not yet well.defined, and the newer
camps with their large Possibilities there is
the San Juan country,in Southern Colorado,
where true fssure mines were discovered
five years ago. Lack of transportation IA
cilitles has crippled enterprise in that Sec
ton, but the rapid progress of the Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in the direc.
ton of San Juan is cau<ing fresh activity in
the mines, and the output this year will
} make an important figure in the total pro-
duct of Colorado silver.
: There is no reason to apprehend that the
new mines will produce enough silver the
present year to disturb the current value oil
the metal in the markets of the world; but
if fresh discoveries should constantly be
! made and there should be no check in the
, present remarkable expansion of mining in
dustry, it may well be doubted whether
, the existing ratio between silver and golC
can be long maintained. OF course there
= must be taken into account the increased
| cost Of working the older mines as they
. enetrate far below the surface, and the
n possibility Of many of them giving out
With large allowance for such drawbacks
# however, the letters of our correspondent
n make it almost certain that Colorado
d going to stock the market for silver bulliol
e heavily for several years to come.