The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-01-13

How Over Four Hundred UndevelOl,ed
Mines Slipped Through His Hands.

J. p. Whitney, formerly of Colorado, and
once owner of the Leadville mines, was re-
Gently intervied by a reporter of the New
York World
&c l suppose you feel a good deal of regret
at allowing all this property to slip through
yourhands?''
"No not much. Although life is full Of
regrets, l feel but little on this score for my
self, though for company to which l sold a
portion ofmy properly and which lost its
property as did, do feel sorry. We must
step aside and give Others chance. 1t 1 had
all these properties to-day should have been
worked to death, and perhaps as uneasy and
nervous as millionaire mine owner from
Leadvlle whom saw to-day. Colorado is
too large to be controlled by few men, as
Nevada is.
EDO you think Colorado presents better
inducements Cor mining than Nevada :''
"Yes, altogether. There arc but few great
mines in Nevada. Take away the Comsteck
which, with all its bonanzas, has cost more
to work the whole vein than has heen pro-
duced from it-and you have not got great
deal left. Colorado has dozens of mines
which will approach, if not surpass, the Com
stock vein.''
"Do You think the best mines in Colorado
have already been discovered?'
"By no means not but what great many
already discovered will pan out altogether in
excess of present developments as they are
sunken into. Still, there are literally thous-
ands of rich veins in Colorado yet over which
the pick has not yet been swung
"Are not these mines visible Oh the sur
face ?''
"1es, almost always; yet, owing to their
oXodized surface exhibits and the ohliteration
OF surface by rock and earth slides, they are
not always in sight, and, besides, rich veins
do not always show their wealth as third-rate
groupings. Sometimes the miner strikes at
once chimney or pay-streak which opens
into bonanza, but generally not"
elbow did the mines appear TO you about
Leadville when you first saw them?"
ain the most prominent cases, like roads
OH the mountain, and the eye couldfolOw them
for long distances. was like Aladdin in the
garden without hardly realizing it. l was
quite alone in this region with my band of
employed prospectors. When l returned into
this region after the assays had made at
Denver, in 1865, helped myself to 800 or
400 mines, beside taking up large quantities
of water-powers and tunnel sites under the
Territorial laws
"Dd you take them all up III one local
ity?"
"No, i went from mountain to mountain
On Fletch mountain, few miles from Lead
vile, where 1 thought the mineral veins most
prominent of any, l took up over 100000 feet
of mines in ten days. I took up here some
mines for two or three miles in length, plain
ly visible on the surface. In some instances
the partially OXidized ores with argentiterous
galena projected some feet above the surface
rocks, and amused myself in some instances
in having the men detach large masses.
weighing many tons, of glittering ore, and
roll them down the steep mountain side to
see their rapid flight and final dishtegration.
In some instances few feet Of shaft sinking
would develop solid veins of argentiferouS
galena from foul to six feet in width But it
must be remembered that at that time there
was not railroad in Colorado, nor one with
in 600 miles of these mines.