The National tribune., 1883-08-23
DBYS.IN WONDERLAND
The Bonanza County of Colorado
On Crested Butte Mountain.
Special Correspondents National Tribune.


Special Correspondence National Tribune
GUNNIsoN, Colo, Aug. 1, 1888.
At Gunnison it was the good fortune of THE
NATIONAL TRIBUNE party to make the ac-
quaintance of Dir. John K HailOweu. of Dem
yer, who has recently completed a geological
survey OF GunuisOn county, under the auspices
OF the Colorado Museum of Applied Geology
and Mineralogy Mr.. HallowelI is a practical
geologlst and a young man of rugged physique,
with clear head and q steady hand. which
particularly qualify him for the hard task OF
scaling and sounding the archaic SUBMITS of
Colorado. From Mr. Hallowell, and through
valuable pamphlet account OF his investiga-
tons, just published, we are enabled to see the
GunnisOn country through the broad and IN
faliible lenses of exact science.
While engaged in his labOriOus and impor-
tant work, extending through o period OF five
months, Dir. HalIoWelI Travelled over an area of
territory covering 5000 square miles, the lines
of travel pursued reaching 1900 miles, very
much OF the journey being made on foot. Of
the extent OF territory covered, 5000 square
miles, nearly 1000 Of it would be embraced
under the head of mineral lands; nearly 100
square miles as coal lands; the rest ranch
grazing aud timber lands with an occasional
stretch of mGnraic terYes, or bad lands, good for
nothing under the sun except to sharpen the
point of geological speculation
The geological structure of the area traversed
was found to consist of belts of primitive or
archaen granite, well assured with gold mines
and iron ore; sedimentary carboniferous rocks.
including the sandstOnes near GunnisOn City
and limestone with fossils in Brush Creek
near by, closed by an eruption of red field
spathic granite filed with quartz porphry
gangue, mineraliZed chiefly with iron sui
phides; and gigantic upbaiding cretaceous
rocks with occasional patches of cretaceous
coal, marking one of the most stupendous erup-
tons on record, covering hundreds of square
miles with one class of eruptivc material and
building up whole mountain ranges. One of these
peaks. known as Monumental Mountain at
the head of TOmichi River, reaches an eleva-
ton OF nearly 1900 feet. These cretaceOus
rocks, closing with granite porphry, form some
OF the most notable peaks and ranges in Gun
n1SOn county, such as the WheatstOne Group
Ragged Mountains Anthracite Ranges, and
other equally famous peaks, as the Gothic
CARBON and Crested Butte
it IS generally known, no doubt, that wher-
ever we have mineral sections we must first
have volcanic or eruptive centers, and in this
case geology, that great index finger of the
creation, tells us that the eruption has occurred
from great sea depths. And what an eruption
1t was the heat and pressure of which metamor-
phosed those vast eretaceous rocks; the sand
stones into quantities., the shales to states, and
the IImeStones towards a marble, as it exists in
some localities. The assures of these rocks
abound in iron, ziuc, gaIena and copper sui
phides, carrying gold and silver, the character
OF the veins being easily ascertained by the
preelpitants from the sn0w-Yater channels
which thread the SUBMITS like the tracery of
leaf.
A great mineral belt three to FIVE miles
IN width, extends in an air line, from Snow
Mass TO White Pine, distance of 100 miles,
tho veins varying in width from ten 90 FIVE
h1nHrad foot he 4
heavy bodies of iron, with zinc, galena and
copper, but though the subsequent surface
erosion has cut of most of the iron, galena is
still found in the limestone more or less con-
slant along the whole surface; the farther down
the richer the deposits, One of the anomalies
of Colorado mining is rich silver veins in hori-
zont2l coal measure strata.
CHARACTER OF MINES AND DEPOSITS.
Mr. HallowelI's conclusions are that within
radius of seyenty-iiye miles of GunnisOn
City there are 20,0G0 square miles of mineral
lands, with more ore per square mile than has
ever before been seen; that this is the largest
known mineral belt in the world, with the
double advantage of coal in abundance, side by
side with the metals for which it must be
used IN smelling; that the gold and silver
districts, after the next five years develop
ment Will count & greater output than that OF
the whole State of Colorado IN 1892; that the
iCdQ uLt VIII compare fdVOF&hAF WIN the OUT
put of the State of Missouri; that the district
contains more iron ore than is now known in
either Pennsylvania or Missouri; that there
are districts with copper suIphides in their
VEINS sufficient TO run smelter on the copper
matte basis ten times rs large as the ArgO Tor
HllPS) great works at Denver; that the de-
posts of nickel and cobalt are more than have
ever been seen in paying quantities; that there
is $50 square miles of gold territory. almost
upfnflPhod which Tharn &c
palladium and platinum; that within this terri
tory there are tellurium ores, traces of tin,
building stone of unsurpassed quality and in
exhauStible quantity, with limestone, gypsum
and marbles in abundance; that rare metal,
uranium, is found in paying quantities. No
ire-clay is found, but immense quantities of
ordinary clay for bhilding-brick
So much for the conclusions of exact
science as to a country whose climate is equa-
bic, and where work in the mines may be
carried on the whole year through. Of the
broad, well-Watered valleys and the rich
returns of farming and grazing we have here
toriore made mention. Such are the present
and prospective advantages of Gunnison
county. a review of which has been given to
account for the phenomenal growth of GUnni-
son City and the tide of capital and labor
which are setting IN that way.
LABOR AND ITS REWARDS.
i1SEet Is every where, the Gail Is I0f capital.
Labor follows capital, and it Is not hard 70
secure, though commanding generous prices
OF the two, labor is the first to secure its re-
ward. So at the leading hotel in Gunnison
we find the chamberInaid, q eolOred woman,
receiving $40 per HlOnth, and her husband, the
porter, $50, with perquisitos amounting to as
much more. Carpenters receive 50 per day !;
laborers from $3.50 to So; engineers from
$3.50 to $500 per month Supplies arc adjust
ing themselves to the demand Lumber, for
merly $40 per thousand, now sells for $40; hay
cut from the meadows at $40 per ton, costing
SIS to cut and 81 TO bail; corn brings q cents
per pound. In the silver mines labOrerS are
working for $3.50 per day, and find their en-
plOyment comparatively light and pleasant,
compared to work done by the men in the coal
and iron regions. The mines are neither damp
nor the yield Obstinate, and the day laborer
cannot be more proftably employed. There is
not much money saved, however, though good
boarding may be secured az from s. to 81 per
week. The ailurements of the saloon and the
dance-hOuse are too great for the average man,
and the easily earned money is much more
easily spent.
GEOGRAPHY OF GUNNfsoS COUNTY.
From geographical standpoint, Gunnison
county, occupying fully one-third of the terri
tory of Colorado west of the continental divide,
and the central third Of that grand division, is
most interesting. From the continental divide
its decline is abrupt and sudden though inter-
estinr peaks and RANGES suddenly rise and fall