The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-06-30
MINING IN COLORADO.
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF TIE
SEARCH FOR RICH METALS.

a Savsunahian Tells How Gold and
Silver Are Found and the Way
the Ores Are MISUNDERSTANDING
About the Silver Kings-The Craze
About Mining Stocks-Colorado Pol
tics and the CorruptinR Use OF
Money IN Public Affairs.
VILLA GROVE, COLORADO, June 2S.-I
met man recently who does not own a
mine in Colorado-or the prospect Of one
The reason why this exceptional individual
did not own one was he had Just sold his.
If you go into barber shop. mingled with
the razors and brushes, are specimens Of
metaliferous rock, and the proprietress flor
the barber is a woman) talks mines while
she shaves you. If you drop in for
friendly chat with the editor OF the weekly
paper, among the types and the presses, are
specimens" and the editorial bosom unbur-
dens itself on the subject of mines. II taken
with mountain fever you visit drug store,
there among the pill boxes and bottles are
specimens" if wanting piece of beef you
| go TO a butcher, there among ribs and sir
loins are specimens" if needing broad
brimmed sombrero you visit hat store,
there on the counter and heaped up In the
windows are specimens Specimens of all
| sorts and sizes, specimens bearing gold and
| specimens bearing silver, tellurides of iron
| and tellurides of lead, rocks dull and heavy,
rocks bright and glistening, rocks of every
| color Of the rainbow containing the sui
phides and carbonates of the precious
metals. Every able-bodied citizen, on an
| average, expects to spend his vacation
| every summer from two weeks to two
months, In the mountains prospecting for
| gold, silver or lead. 1t is not difficult for a
| man who understands anything about
| geology and mineralogy to stumble on a
mine. In fact, it is difficult when in the
| mountains to keep from stumping your foot
| against a rock that does not contain mineral
matter. With this vast army of 'pros-
pectors, and with the large number of those
| who are GRUB staked," that is, hired and
provisioned by such men as Bowen, Tabor
and Hill (the millionaire Colorado senator's,
and sent out to prospect" for their en-
| ployers, it is not surprising that hundreds
of claims are staked and opened every
| year. The prospectors sell their
claims at prices ranging from
$500 to 5000, rarely as high as $4,000,
and these claims, in course of time, when
railroads draw near and capital takes hold
of then, begin to yield, as we shall see when
we come to some of the famous Mines all
the way from $4,000 to S100, 900 per month,
| or, when not SO rich, per year. As for ex-
ample and also as a comment on Colorado's
| peculiar political methods, the United
States senatorships will soon fall in. A
few months ago ex-senator Bowen re-
marked that he would have to ''hustle"
around and get the needful million to Sc
cure his election; he sent men out ON the
Cochetope mountains, discovered VEN,
opened it, took out $500, 900 the first week,
and is in a fair way to get his million and to
| secure, l suppose, his election. And, by
| the way, il the reporters were out here and
saw the shameful and disgraceful methods
by which the gang" controls the politics
of the state, and sell out openly, without
the slightest scruple, to the highest bidder,
| we would hear less of the brilliant parts of
such men and more of their deepJand I'M
| scrupulous corruption. A worse gang of
money corrupted politicians never afflicted
| a state, and these men prey upon and cor
rupt the people of Colorado
UNTOLD MILLIONS AWAITING THE PROS
PECTOR.
But to our subject. Every man a pros
| pector, and yet there is nothing unreason-
| able in the thought. There are 500 miles of
| the Rockies in Colorado, and these rocks are
chiefly igneous, not sedimentary, capable of
carrying the veins and lodes in which the
metal is deposited. A continuous metali-
ferrous deposit has been found from Boulder
county in the north as far south as San
Juan county, but it is evident that this vast
deposit has only been touched in places,
and there are still vast ranges and spurs
and gulches where untold millions are
awaiting the search of the prospector aud
the pickax of the miner. l would say that
mining in Colorado is yet in its infancy
SO far as the methods are concerned, the
labor-saving expedients, the economical
treatment of the different ores, the
minimum loss of the precious
metals. these have advanced to the
highest perfection to which long
experience and scientific knowledge could
bring them, and furnish striking contrast
to the rude and wasteful methods of the
early days of Colorado mining The men,
the methods, the machinery are all thor
oughly skilled and adapted, standing ready
for the time when all the present "pros-
pects' shall have become "mines" and all
the untried and untrodden mountains of the
great continental divide and its magnificent
spur, the Sangre de Christie range, shall
have become dotted white with prospectors'
tents
Let us now follow the prospector to the
hills in his search for the precious metals
Mounted on broncho, with blanket and
rubber coat tied on behind the saddle with
buck hide, and driving his "burro," IA curl
Gus MSXlCdu JACK dDOub tue SlZ5 Vi u year
ling, but sturdy and strong enough to
carry 800 pounds loaded with provisions for
several weeks, he makes his way into the
mountains, with spade and piok-axe, as
soon as the snow is melted. Avoiding all
the sedimentary deposits, he looks for a place
where igneous and crystalline rock appears,
for the precious metals are chiefly found in
connection with metamorphic rocks. He
takes to the hillside of such formation,
and up and down he carefully scrutinizes
the float; that is, the surface rocks lying
on the side Of the hill or gulch. Now you
see him bending over the debris Of the hills
smashing piece after piece with his hammer,
examining carefully each piece with his
microscope. Long experience has trained
him in the colors, TO distinguish the yellow
Of copper from the red of gold, the CLINT OF
mica from the glitter Of silver, and all
through the whole chromatic scale. Sud-
denly be gazes intently upon piece he
holds beneath his microscope, he turns on
an extra power of his glass, he throws off
his hat SO as to get the full light of the sun
upon his specimen, he claps his hand against
his thigh, giving prolonged whistle; he
has found something--he holds piece OF
gold-bearing quartz in his hand Now
he rises from his knees, and the
search begins-to discover where the
piece of float came from. He studies the
confguration Of the hill, to see which way
the debris has tumbled down IL or been
brought down by water. He scrutinizes