The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1880-02-27
MINING IN COLORADO.

| 1t took the honest miner a long time to
learn that placer operatious-the washing Of
metal from the sands-were not certainty
aud permanency, and the capitalists who
cane in after him also long time to make
expensive experiments, and equally expensive
mistakes, and to come down to what is tech
nically called 'hard-pa and operate to some
extent with proper meant skill, and common
sense There was one collapse about 1864,
and Of course the panic Of 1873 affected the
progress of the state, and it may fairly be
said that the real flush times in Colorado
are these in which we are now living. In
spite Of all disappointments and drawbacks,
steady progress has undoubtedly been made,
and great results accomplished. Mining Is
beyond all question, the foundation of the
growing greatness of the state, and it is most
interesting to learn from an elaborate caicu-
lation, coming recently from responsible
source, that after making full allowance for
the labor af all the men employed from the
beginning, and all the money sunk, the resi-
due shows better return than any other in
forgotten that this is an average, aud that
the fortunes Of two or three bonauzl kings
balance the losses Of thousands of poor men
aud against the results of this calculation
should be set the assertion-lor which ample
support can be obtained at least up to
lS1l, when railroads cheapened living and
introduced greatly improved facilities, the
proportion Of miners who could be successful
was one in five hundred.
1t is to be noticed that here, as in other
similar regions public interest is continually
attracted to new discoveries and floating
population at once drawn thither; and events
move so rapidly that an account of the state
OF affairs in the mining region may be stale
before it is in type. On the other hand, it
may be said that even if some of the people
90 away, the mines remain, and the silver
and gold come out just as surely and easily
as before; and larger area than ever is now
the scene Of active operations
Starting from the north we come 10 the
mines Of Boulder county, not far from Longs
Peak, where there was an ephemeral excite.
ment some three years ago. about tellurium
veins. Then came those of Gilpin BLACK
Hawk, Central City, etc aud Clear creek
(Georgetown, etc. counties, the former noted
for gold product and both containing what
are called true tissure veins, where the rocks
have been broken or torn asunder by earth
quakes or volcanic disturbance. In this neigh
borhood some Of the earliest discoveries were
made, and the bullion product of the two
counties is large and steady. Then come
various points in the South Park and Just
between the Park and Main Ranges, Cator.
MIA Gulch, now known from one end of the
world to the other, for here is Leadville.
South again, and between the Sierra Moiada
and the Songre de Cristo lie Rosita and Sill
yer Cliff, and southwest again of this, the
great San Juan district. Discoveries have
also been made in the Gunnison and Elk
mountain country, away west of the Snowy
Range and only time can show what other
now hidden treasures are to come to light in
these regions. 1t is needless to say that sew
eral quarter volumes could easily be written
about these mines and their operation, and
still much be left unsaid; and perhaps indeed.
in view Of the rapid movement of events, the
writer Of such work stands in greater dan
ger Of being behind the age than he who
attempts some random sketches of the haunts
and ways Of the honest miner'-so first
called, it is said, by aspiring patriots who
sought his sutfrages, Mr.. Harte declares
that when sets Of pictures portraying the
contrasted careers of the honest and dissolute
miner were first sent out to California they
utterly failed of their effect for the reason
that the average miner refused to recognize
himself in either capacity.
y man may come to Colorado with resolu
tions worthy of Leouidas he may treat golt
and silver with lofty disdain; he may be
doctor, lawyer, parson, school teacher, boob
agent, lightning rod man, or dealer in sewing
machines-anything but miner; all in vain
for sooner or later if he stays in Colorado
the mania for the precious metals will make
an easy victim of him; he will seek claim,
and tondly see a bonanza in the smallest anl
shallowest of his prospect holes '-Harper'
Magazine for February.