New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-11-28
LEADVILLE AND IT'S MINES.
ORE DEPOSITS IN FRYER HILL

lFRou A STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF TIE rRBuNEI
LrApvrtrr Col. Sept. 1.-THE sver-ead de-
posts found in Fryer Hill in the spring OF 1910
IN many respects the most remarkable us
covered on TINS continent They may almost NC
said 10 have been stumbled upon by accident; ana
when they were reached they lay 50 near the sur
face. were 80 easily mined and transported to the
reduction works and yielded 50 richly 30 'i'ycr anu
| lead at q minimum cost for treatment, all thlnes
! combined 10 make their rapid removal and CONVEX
sion into bullion possible In fact in no otbcr mining
district which ever visited has Ma IRE yielded up
her Of the precious metals with 50 Tree
| hand. and that she seems To have Deen
stripped Of her wealth. and little but the shell
which inclosed the kernel appears to remain. II Is
possible for the Gr3t time to study mtelllgenty the
nature of these wonderful deposits and TO form an
| opinion Of what may be expected IN the future oi
! The mines that have already been opened IN them.
! If | have 70 record disappointment and disaster
great expectations not realized. and great wealth
upon paper vanished into thin air IL IS not because
there were not boranzas on Fryer Hill. but because
the drill aud glaut-rowder cartrilge, the pick and
spade. those best Of geoloGsts. have proved that
! greedy mine-owners and spectators demanded
more than they had any right TO expect, aud con-
| fdng public was made to believe that The laws o.
nature had been reversed when these wonderful ore
bodies were placed In the bowels Of Fryer HI.
IRE MINES N FRYER HILL
The Little Pittsburc ChrysoIite Little Chief,
! Anne. Matchles4, Dunkin Climax aud Robert +.
Lee Mines and other claims owned BY the same
! companies are all situated on he smallest If the
! line of foot hills which lie to the east
and northeast OF Leadylle, and between
| the city and the Mosquito range Of noun
talns. The mineral belt, bounded on the
north by Big Evans Gu.ch and on the
south by Stray Horse Gl'cl. is barely
two-thirds ola mile square anu the oreshate from
winch at least Sl2 600 600 Of silver and lead has
been taken in the last two years would b. entirely
iucosed by the boundaries OF stripot ground about
800 feet long and 500 feet wide. This Is Fryer
Hill
When visited Leadville In May. 1879. the work
of discovery on Fryer Hill vas stu III progress IN
tie midst of an intense excitement. The Little
Pi.tsburg property had been fixed up to show one Of
the largest bodies Of ore IN sight ever exposed ;
mineral" had been found in the Little Chief,
Chrysollte, Carb)nlfer,ls and other neighhormg
claims. and 1t was popularity believed that an im-
rnense stratum OF ore must underIe the entire .lll
and that II was certain to be- struck in every shaft
that was sunk deep enou gh 20 reach t. People sup
posed at that time that there at Leadylle and
| m FRYER Hill veritab,e blanket veins shat IL,
strata of ore extending in every erection and MN
ing claims were valued almost as much by the area
Of ground they covered rs by the character d
quantity of ore which they were known 20 contain.
A prospect hole that had in the bottom was, Of
course considered to b. worth more than one hat
had nouc; but there was aways q ready market
for the latter at price that would only have been
far il 1t had been bonanza.
Now everything Is changed. Il las been learned
by expensive experience that the ore deposits Of
Fryer HILL wonderful as they have been IN extent,
are not inexhaustible; and while many people still
cling to the hope that new bodies may Jet be found
somewhere in the unexplored ground, the dscourag-
ing fact stares the owners Of the properties on
FRYER Hill in the face that 10 such discoveries have
vet been made, and that every day portion of the
remaining reserves Of is taken out thus reducing
the actual amount there is in sight
LOCATION OF THF ORR SUITES.
Omitting for the present the ore bodies in the
Robert T. Lee, Matchess and Dnnkin mnes, the
wealth Of Fryer Hill in the Little Chief. Little
| Pittsburg. Chrysolite. Annie and Climax mines,
and lay in two ore shutes whose general direction
was northeast and southwest and whose bouD-
daries have now been pretty well determined. The
south shute which was the larger began III the
northern part Of the New Discovery clam, west Of
tbe Little Chief line, and extended across the for
uer and into the Latter of these properties. In the
| New Discovery it formed comparatively solid
body of ore aud yielded handsomely TO the
Little Pittsburg Company. 1t was this ore
which having been divided into blocks
fifty feet square by of drifts and cro9scuts,
was left standing for the inspection of tie gentle
men who came here in May of last year to buy the
property. It was from 100 to 10 feet wide. and
extended almost all the way across the New Dis
cov,ry claim varying from foot or two to tweut7
or twenty five feet III thickness. suppose that its
average thickness WAS five o. SIN feet.
In the Little Chief mine, the south siute of ore
was divided horizontally by barren streak of
norDhyry rock. which was about 40 feet thick.
In the early working of tho mine the upper OF these
divisions was followed Oh i;s over the hli or
bog.back of p1rphyry, while nothing was known
of the existence Of the lower one. 1t was heaviest
or the west side of the Little Chief claim, because
thinner and thinner as 1t climbed the porphyry
dixie, entirely disappeared for time, on the east
side but began again near the Little PittSburg
line. In the latter it seemed to grow weaker and
70 be shattered and divided up and spread ont into
many smaller shutes like f.h-tail. In this form
n entered the Anne aud extended through into the
Climax mine
The second or lower part of the south shute which
lay in the Little Chief mine, about forty feet below
the branch that was first worked out was dscov-
cred in March last under the MANAGEMENT of NJ:
George DAILY. Il extended in strong, well-de:ined
body about to the centre Of the Little Chef claim
and there 1t was cut of very suddenly by band OF
barren ron ore continuation OF 1t has ever been
found Tas lower branch of the south shlte
Welded $500, 900 worth OF ore.
ABRUPTLY ENDING ORE VEINS.
I, is one of the pecuarties Of TIE Fryer Hill ore
dcposits that they begin and end IN the most une x
pocted ways Sometimes drift which has been run
long distance in barren porphyry or iron ore.Suddenll
and almost without warning breaks cat into rlcl
body of silver and lead aud the latter, at the ver
time when II looks strongest and appears As though