New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-05-30
THE MINES OF COLORADO.

| INCREASE OF POPULATION Win ALL Ah9 INA
1UREs OF NFw AND POPULAR MINING CAMP.
frpo,I As1oSAI coRREsPoNDEET OF THE TRIBUNE.
| DENVER Col, May 23.-As the SHOWS have par
| tiav left the mountains, 80 the surplus population
| of Denver has, during the past three weeks TO
great extent melted away from the streets and no
| tel fronts. The men with the sOmbreros and top
boots are now scarcely to be seen. They have gone
| off into the mountains Most of these men were
"tenderfoot" prospectOrs. You could tell that from
their apparel il not from their PALE fair faces Inc
veteran prospector is not cratic in his style OF
| dress when he gets into a civilized community
His trousers are not stuck in his boots His hat is
not of the sombrero style. He does not wear the
brown canvas California mining suit All those
marks of the digger are left behind in the mining
camp. When he comes out of the mountains he
makes rs much change IN his dress as the Eastern
farmer does when he goes to church. Very likely
he will appear in a suit of black broadcoth, and
Won would probably know him for pos
sibe prospeotor only by the bronze on his
face and neck and by his perfect self-posses-
sion under even tho most unexpected circumstances
He is familiar alike with the mOneyseeker from the
East and from the West, he has dealt with the
honest and dishonest, he has been rich and poor he
has sold half mine for So 900 and he has borrowed
fifty cents to get supper and he has seen the worst
characters Of the mining camp. 1t will DO readily
seen how easy it is to distinguish this parsonage
from him who for the first time treads the ground
west of the Missouri and wears about these streets OF
Denver the tOp.boots that are new and the mining
Jacket that is yet unsoed The majority Of the new
corners who were to be seen here three weeks
ago were of this fair, virgin type. The trains
brought them in by the hundreds, and here they
stayed to get their outfit, and, in some cases, to
wait until the snow had melted somewhat from the
Gunnlson country. Gradually they have gone OF,
and it IS tine exception now to see one or them here
They came early so as to be the first among the
prospecting regions, and now that the season Is
somewhat advanced, the railroad trains bring few
of them. Tourists are beginning to come. They
and others from the cities. capitalists perhaps, are
taking the place of the harder men who came
so plentifuly q month ago. Still, Denver re-
mains busy town. The hotels arc full, and most
of the supplies for the multtudes IN the mountains
90 either from here or through here SO the city is
stirring enough.
LonA rs the prospectors have had to wait this
year before beginning their work on account of the
snow it is still doubtful whether many of them will
not find to their cost that, even as it Is, they
have made too early o start AS l have
written before, the snowfall beyond the Con-
tnental Divide has been almost unprecedented.
The ordinary roads are not yet open, or are barely
passable at the expense of much time and labor.
The human species still does much Of its travelling
over the snow crust, hard enough now, at morning
and night to be traVersed without snow-shoes At
midday tho sun is warm enough to melt the snow.
But IL takes good deal Of sun to melt away fifteen
or twenty feet of snow, depth which has not been
much above the average in the Gunnison country
this Winter. Most of the prospecting parties are
striking In rather to the northward and going down
by the Roaring Forks, where it Is said tho snow is
mostly gone and prospecting is possible. Lower
,krv,A ba
pearng, but not much effective work can probably
be done there till the 1st Of juno. Meantime. pros
pectors who have got into the snowy localities arc
consuming their means to little no present use.
II is commonly reported that several large compa-
MES of men have started for have entered, ithe
Ute Reservation. prospecting. It is probably the
trnth. What the consequences Will be. 1t may be
interesting for dilatorY Congress to reflect upon,
BRECKENRIDGE THE NEW MINING CAMP.
While tho Gunnson country has been much talked
about as prospecting ground and Is O part OF the
State to which n largo stream of prospcctors is
tending; while the Reservation is the object of at-
tack to somo Of the bolder spirits, and while the
San Juan region Is about equally sought on account
of it's rich deposits and discarded because of its
comparative inaccessibility and the ruggedness of
ITS surface. by. mp IN the first snowy range
Breckenridge is receiving much attention as new
mining camp. The " boom at Breckenridge is be-
ginning to DO in evcrybody's mouth 1t was first
heard Of two or three months ago. and since then il
has steadily increased. Croakers and residents and
mne-Owners in nearby rival villages may say what
thay please. there is o most unmistakable rush to
Breckenridge and no lack OF confidence IN the place
among those who have gone thore aud examined the
spot. Breckenridge is an old gulch-mining place.
Placer mining has gone there extensively, and
S15 900 900 or 800 OOO,O OO in gold it Is reckoned,
have been taken from that district. As at Lead
Vile IN those days the carbonates Mt Breckenridge
though encountered, were not supposed to be min
eral-bearinG. But tho placer mining about Brock
enridge gave richer results than were attained at
Leadyille, then California GuCh; and argument
is made that, as the Leadville formation IL found
at Breckenridge. tho carbonate deposits at Breck-
enridge will DO found to be richer or more plentiful
thnn those at LeadYe. The Leadyille contact Of
limestone and iron-stained pOrphYry has been
found to exist nearly all, If not all, the many
hills about Breckenrldge-all dipping IN toward the
centre of the bills. Moreover, very rich carbonate
ores have been struck at a very short distance from
the surface. The camp 10 yet young, and little de-
vcopment has yet been made. Some of the lodes,
they are Of high value. But, IL gen.
eral development Is what the camp now needs.
1t is at that stage where the ground has been
almost entirely staked out and claimed for two
miles or moro around the acknowledged not
vet having arrived in very largo amOuut and
ihere having been a natural Juror among the pros
pectOrs on account of the discoveries made to take
up all the land possible And it has been race of
diligence among them. 1en-fOot holes now meet
the eye everywhere, NJ ABOUT One-nau OF WHICH you
will find mineral already on the dump, thrown ont
In sinking the hole. Men are there who have been
through LeadYille, ard insist that Breckenridge
promises better than LeadVe did at the Same stage
of development, that is, when about six months
old. One or two of them. it appears, have already
invested rather heavily there.
IS THIS ANOTHER LEADVILLE9
The growth of Breckenridge, without regard to
whether ITS mineral deposits will turn out very rich
OF not, is simply astonishing. Last December there
were possibly fifty men there. Now, rs nearly as
one can judge. there are between 800 and 1000,
with fresh arrivals of from forty to fifty day. To
Indigo from the hustle and activity of the place. one