The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-09-12
THE La PLATA MINES
An Old Prospector Gives His
Opinion of Them.
A FEATURELEsS DAY ON CHANGE
The kssayers Are ALI Rushed With Work
Report From the Cleveland Consoli-
Concentrates.
To the Editor of THE HERALD:

noWery but misleading description of La
Plata, wish, for the benefit Of the public,
to give fair description of the camp, its
mines, etc. IL is reported that there are
from 800 to 600 people at La Plata and
vicinity. Now the fact is, there has never
been that number of people there since the
camp was founded. have been in the i'm
mediate vicinity of La Plata for nearly a
month, our camp being at what is called
Mound City, sloping hill situate on the
main road to LIS Plata, and giving US the
pest chance to see them there. For
awhile there was quite a rush to
the camp, as many as eighty-tive
teams passing in one day. But ! also
noticed that these same people returned in
a few days. Two weeks ago, last Sunday,
visited La Plata, and while looking about
camp, started to count the visible in
naoltants and to do my best, counting wo-
men, men and children, l reached the
inquire 81, and as TO the surrounding coun-
try being alive with hundreds of prospec-
tors Tor radius OF fifteen miles of La
Plata, twenty to thirty would more than
cover the number, How adisinterested man
with good eye sight and common sense can
give out the statements l have read, is
| more than l can understand.
Where you find one person, who is a
thorough experienced prospector and
miner, who will say that the mines, claims
or veins so far developed, amount to much,
you VIII find DOZENS who will speak the
truth, to the effect that all the mineral that
has yet been discovered is of low grade
and when they claim that they are shipping
ore it means that there are about two
wagon loads per week, this being picked
ore at that.
OF course when you talk with men who
have some interest there, then you will
hear tales of hidden treasurs far surpass-
| ing the Arabian nights, but should you ask
them to show you the treasures, there is
always some excuse for not doing so. AS
an example of the ways and means en-
ployed to boom the camp, the following in
cldent of facts will show you one of the
| many schemes to cause the green, unso-
phlstcated dupes to dream Of Golconda.
Some time ago, when L was travelling
through Idaho, l met party of men claim
ing to be old miners and prospectors from
Colorado, and after few days acquaint-
| ance, one of them showed me small piece
OF ore containing wire and native gold,
which he claimed hehad found in the Seven
| lewis country, Idaho, a few miles from
where we were then camped. He claimed
to have struck a two-foot vein of said min
eral and was then on his Way to devotion
the same. Now l had been prospecting in
| this same district for six months and know
That there was no such formation in that
section OF country. A few days after, one
OF the other men told my partner that this
same piece OF ore had come from the Pine
n ut region in Idaho. We separated few
days after and the incident was forgotten
until about ten days ago, when we were
camped at Mound city, these same parties
visited US, and one of them, when asked
what he thought of La Plata as q silver
camp, said that he did not think much of
1t In that respect, for he was looking for
the yellow stuff (gold) and that he had al
ready located a claim that would astonish
the natives, and to substantiate his asser-
| ton, produced this same piece of ore that
he had been showing US in Idaho. called him
to time about 1t, and he did not know what
! TO say, other than he must have made q
mistake. Thus it is with dozens of others,
! who have picked up pieces of ore some.
where, and to be thought and rated mine
owner, they produce these samples to prove
their assertions, and if you could see the
many different samples of sandstone, gran
lite, limestone and other boulders these ex-
perienced miners and prospectors carry
around and show, you would certainly go
out IN the brush and weep. Some say tney
have quartzite, and hundred OTHER names,
! Tor the commonest chunks of sandstone,
but as have said, when you ask them to
| show you the ledge matter they ask to be
| excused. have not met man prospecting
| In the hills as yet but who claimed to be an
! old time experienced miner anG prospector.
One party said he would show me his
| claim and had the nerve to take me to one
which we had staked cut ourselves a Jew
! days previous. He said they were his
stakes, and whenI told him Of The lie he did
not even blush. This is the nature of a
great many prospecting around La Plata,
who, having been sent out by others, pro.
vlded with grub stake and outfit, must
give these highly colored reports to holc
their job.
BY next spring, perchance, those claims
which are now working will be so far de-
veloped that fair estimate and conclu
sion of the camps work may be reached
but not until then. would say to those
who r. ad the highly colored reports of "a
Plata, that they had better pause ere ven
| turing their little all in the district. for
they will find that every foot of ground
has been staked for radius OF five miles
around the camp, some parties stalking as
many as nine claims each, and before these
are outlawed the winter will have come.
| and snow six feet deep will surround them
] on all Sides The roads now are the very
worst / have ever Travelled over, even
| worse than those TO LeadFille in the early
| days, and when the snow is on the ground
the only way they can procure food will
| De to pack 1t in on snow shoes.
| AS regards the location Of La Plata. or
the TOWNSHIP, it lies in the bottom OF a
gulch, about one hundred feet wide. the
main and only street, si6eling, dusty
| dirty roadway, which, as soon as it rains.
will be mud hub-deep. The tents, claims
ETC., to the number of seventy three. are
situated along a shallow, dirty stream.
placed here and there with no regard to
appearance. l am told by sheep and cattle
men who have been in the country for
years, that when there comes g heavy
shower, on II the spring and early summer
time when the snow melts that the whole
gulch, and where the town is now plsced
will be fifteen feet under water, aud do
not sec how it can be otherwise. | am bold
enough to predict that by Thanksgiving
day there viii not be over twenty. i've
tents, or places of abode. il the camp, and
unless there is better showing in the
mines now working, La Plata will be a
place of the past by the 1st of next April
The foregoing facts are given as the re
suit OF my own observation, and the CON
illusions as result OF long experience in
mining camps in the Black Hills, Mexico
Colorado, Idaho, Montana and California
wish it well, and trust it may become
all that is now claimed for it, for | have in
terests there, but from the present outlook
fear that will be disappointed
Ggs WILLIAMS,
In camp on Squaw creek near Bear Lake
Utah, September 10.
THIN ut EuRr AVN xryl-