The Elk Mountain pilot., 1882-03-16
Il FRIEND OF S. l. : SPEAKS.

| n FKlEltA OIT II. -. !. 0EEAAS.
The following excerpt was handed
us, and we know not the author or
the paper from whence it comes. Who
ever he or she may be, in the language
OF the poet, IS dandy:
The recent strike in the Forest
Queen and Ruby Chief mines at
IRWIN, has developed resource not
surpassed By the famous Carbonate
camp. The belief entertained by many
"tenderfeet' who have visited this
now famous district, was that the For
est Queen, Ruby King, Lead Chief,
Ruby Chief and other noted veins of
the district, were too rich near the
surface to last long, and that the de-
post was only skin deep. But since
the vein Of the Forest Queen and Ruby
King has been opened below the
"Fault," uncovering tons upon tons
of the richest ore ever found in Col
orado, the would-be wise "Jacobite"
professors, have bowed their heads in
very shame at their want of foresight.
To go into, the Queen workings espe-
cially in the drift leading to the Ruby
King ground you will be held SPELL
bound at the glittering array of tons
upon tons of rich silver ore-in front,
at your back, and on all sides of you.
The busy boom of the drill and pick
beats merry tuneto the rapid strides
Of tollllng hundreds of eager miners.
A new era has opened for Ruby
no longer is the question of perman-
ancy unsolved; no longer is there a
doubt as to what the next blast will
bring forth. Uncertainty has been
superseded by reality, and an air of
substantiability-even the air of a
bonanza king-beams from the coun-
tenance ofthe fortunate owner Of these
famous veins.
The question is often asked: Are
silver mines inexhaustible? The query
is not so easily answered. There are,
we believe, very few instances where
silver mines have given out, but we
know ofno instance where true fssure
veins of argensiferous ore have failed
to yield the precious metal. 1t is true
they may be worked to such 4 great
depth that they become Improbable,
or, as in the case Of the Comstock
lode, their working may be met by
such serious obstacles as to render
further progress not only improbable
but impracticable. As rule through
out the world it will be found that
where silver mines have been worked
they are worked now, OF may be
worked if tae proper machinery were
on the ground. There are mines in
Mexico that were worked by the Aztecs
before the conquest, that are still
worked as proftably as ever. The old
Spanish mines that we're opened long
before Hannibal's time, and from
which the Dons of that period obtained
the bright metal that adorned the
housings Of their charges, yield enor-
nous profits to-day. For over three
hundred years the South American
mines have constantly enriched their
owners and are now great wealth pro.
ducers. Those in Freiburg that were
opened in the eleventh century and
worked continually ever since yield
their steady increase. There are mines
in Hungary worked by the Romans
before the Savior's sine that still yield
an abundance. The same may be
said of the mines in Norway, Sweden
and Russia, and in nearly every other
place where silver mines have been
opened. They continue to be worked,
and their output of ore is not lessened,
nor its richness decreased. Those in
Mexico and South America are on the
same great backbone that supports the
two grand divisions Of the western
hemisphere. They are known to be
rich and centuries of labor have failed
to exhaust them. Farther north but
on the same silver producing range,
are the treasure vaults of Colorado.
There is every reason to believe that
these will prove as rich and as perrna-
nent as those which are being worked