New-York tribune., 1891-12-20
THE HEART OF THE ROCKIES
THE MOST PERFECT RESORT
OF COLORADO.


10000 feet above sea level. with capped peaks
Of Of the lofiest ranges OF the Rockies impend-
ing 1t. lies LeadvilIe the greatest mining camp
In the country and probably In the world. 1t is not
quite twelve years old and yet this wonderful ,eity
has 10000 people. The valuation OF the property
of the city aside from its mining plants and smelters
cannot be more than one-sixth that OF city of the
same size In one of the old States, and yet its pro-
ductiye power is enormous The output Of Its mines
has been, I'm round numbers. Sl6O,0oO,OOo. This
amount would buy the entire State OF New-fork at I'd
per the entire wheat crop OF Illinois Tor thnec
years at dollar bushel Such a marvel is tiIs Is
well worth attention. But when you turn from The
Mines interest finds little to reward its search The
city is unsightly in appearance and its temperature
Is so low as to make one uncomfortable even ID
August. Thcky dotting the. foothills OF the Mos
quito Range the shaft houses and dumps OF the
mines. The shaft-houses are built OF rough pine lnm-
Der placed upright; they are often raised many feet
above the ground and extend high into the air They
are the most temporary covers It Is possible to con-
struct and thought is given to their appearance
The dumps ore made of the refuse rock and dirt from
the mines They are conlcal in shape and some OF
them reach a height OF more than a hundred feet.
The director of the mint gave the Of 1876 mines
for this place in 1857. The reader can form some
conception OF the appearance this number OF shaft
houses and dumps Of various sizes and ages, crowded
together on the bare hills would present. Lower
There is chief business street with numerous short
onsloots. Most OF the storchouses are plain sub
stan,lal brick buildings there is good brick school
house and well-arrsngcd brick hotel that would do
credit TO any city Of It's population. The residences
almost entirely frame and log. The log houses
are OF many varieties, from the simple rude square
structures Of the most primitive DAYS to fancy,
elaborate arrangements that seem TO be tho rustic
playthings OF rich men, The frame residences are, In
the MAN, the simplest and cheapest that could be
made Probably three-fourths OF the residences In the
city could be built In the Mississippi Valley for less
than thousand dollars each. j walked and drove
about the city considerably and looked down on IL
from several different elevations and remember but
one brick residence there may be others, but sup.
pose there are not six in the CIV The most costly
house I saw could he bnilt in Missouri for S5 900
SO OOo Nearly all OF the residences seem to have
been built In a hurry for temporary shelter. fire.
we'll started would sweep the city agTay In q few
hours one would think The town has tho appearance
OF having been built for season in appearance IL
jusfcs the term mining camp. Yet many experts
have testified 10 the belief that the yield Of metal and
therefore the city will be practically permanent.
Much evidence Is adduced to show that the deposit has
barely been touched that there will be profitable
mining in the vicinity for wears to come
The annual output for period of ten
years has varied between Sl0.0O0,0O0 and SloOoo,-
600 in vane and the last year for which statistics
give these statistics have no doubt they VIII be
of interest The data was collected by Percy Leonard.
editor OF aThe Leadvle Dispatch" who believes hat
the best policy TO pursue is to present the actual
facts on q moderate basis. Other estimates maze
are two or three millions higher than Mr. Leonnrds,
but they include tho products of mines from other
places handled ct the Leadville smclters, or place
higher estimate the yield OF some mines that gave
little authoritative Information. II would seem that
Mr. Leonard's estimate Is the most Trustworthy ono
available There were 90 500 ounces OF gold. valued
at s432 4s3: s,5oO000 ounces Of silver, valued MT
es oe3 9e5 more than 100000 ounces OF lead val
ued at 81 $50 $50 tSal valuation OF mineral product
Sl2, 2,GsOss0. This amount exceeds the value o. inc
output for any of f1ur OF years preceding ana IS
exceeded by that OF any of ak Of the same period
Dut the difference is not great In case The low
est year's output $3.50 033374 the greatest
1889 s15s30446 But the figures for these ten
years arc taken from the report OF committee that
places the valuation for 1850 at sl363935l, about
a million higher than Mr.. Leonard's estimate. so
there is stlll some allowance to be made In the com
parson that Will be TO the advantage Of this last
year IL is probable therefore, that Leadvlllc Will lie
an important city for many years TO come l'ut us
population is continually changing. so that while the
city will, remain the citizenship will be changed many
times over there will be many people there Tor
years to como but they will not be The same people
Thre Is much evidence Of the presence of the feverish
and nuctuating life Of Specializing centre On tho
ground with the veteran who makes COOL melodical.
permanent business OF mining Is the advenfirer VINO
has nothing to lose and every thing 10 gn, the broken
business man who hopes by lucky stroke to retrieve
his fallen fortunes the patient prospector who never
succeeds and never despars and the dissnie hangers
on Of both sexes. I'll Dorado was the invention and
IS the Mecca Of these sa1euine vsonaries who think
Fortune will stoop 10 the select few and voluntarily
nlace the magic wand in their hand: who have not
learned by experience that Fortune boards her wealth
and Yields II only when wOrsted in q desperate and
labOriOus contest.
Every effort has been made by the wiser heads to es
tablsh the institutions OF our present civilization. q
god system OF public schools in operatI n and there
were about thousand pupils In attendance last
year The scholastic census to 5000, but
the school age extends to twenty-One, so that the
percentaee Of attendance Is necessarily low In com
parison with cities whose limit rams no higher than
sixteen or eighteen years. All the denominations are
rerreseuted In the churches, and the Y. NJ {. a that
was founded eleven years ago now has more alan
900 members.
As before stated tie temperature OF the city Is too
low 10 be agreeable shaft of ice ten feet high and
sixteen inches square, that was set up in one OF tile
streets, lasted through March and April, and did
not disappear till along in May. In the suburbs
snow fences protect the tfa5ss from te
heavy drifts OF high attitudes. on August "a
at 7 a. m the thermometer marked but forty -four de
grees only twelve degrees above freezing; at 80
D. m. the same day 1t stood at sixiy-nine degrees
fire burned in the hotel Office crate and was an aid to
comfort all the time Overcoats and heavy cloaks were
common on the streets In the evening one afternoon
drove out the Evergreen Lakes that lie at the foot
of the mountains six miles east of town. BY feet
grew cold I'm the ride and / would have been much
more comfortable with a heavy coat and overshoes
A gentleman told me that he had been at the Mount
MassIm Hote-at the akes-thirtesn months, and that
the preceding July had been the only month during
that time that had been free from snow. The Inst
snowfall tiere was on June 90. The windows OF the
residences In the city ablaze with flowers but the
wards are bare Of them; the presumption Is that they
are not safe from frOsts In the open air.
The Evergreen Lakes form a chain of pretty noun
tain lakes fed by mountain streams, overlooked by