The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-18
THE GEOLOGY OF CREEDE.
Information for Those Montanians
Who Think Of Going to
Southern Colorado.
Deposits Different From Anything
Yet Discovered in the Gen.
tennial State.
Development Only Can Prove Their Per-
mnnency A Great Rush From
Denver to tho New Eel Dorado.

During the next week there will bo al
least twenty mon leave Helena for the new
mining camp at Creede, in southern Col
orado. The railroads arc doing their bes
to boom the alleged El Dorado, and witt
great success, if all reports be true. Ever,
days train out Of Denver over the Ri
Grande carries two packed sleepers. and thu
rush increases daily. That there will b
thousands there in the spring there i
no question, but the proportion of miner
and prospectors to men of other occupa-
tions it is hard to determine. According
to the papers published in the vicinity no
enough work has been done to determine
whether the finds are permanent mines o.
otherwise. In this respect the boom re-
sembles that in the SLOGAN country. which
will be in full swing III a couple OF months.
For the past six or eight weeks there has
been a rush to Creede, and already the pop
ulation is said to exceed 2,0O0-this in the
midst of winter, when the ground IS COW
cred deep with snow, and prospecting is
almost impossible on that account. The
excitement reminds some old timers of
the Ieadville boom in rs and 70; yet the
scenes OIL JLl6 IEuQN11lO OCoA4 LoNCA ~
repeated, such q difference has thirteen
years wrought. Those who trudged YEARLY
and heavily laden down through the snow
Of Mosquito Pass in 1879 can now ride TO
Creole in a Pullman sleeping car. The
local papers give the usual accounts Of new
strikes and sales Of mines and prospects.
speculation in town lots, notices Of tn g
opening Of shops of various kinds, liquor
saloons, gambling rooms and dance houses
typical accomplishments of the typical
mining boom. from that of Virginia City
In 1859 to Leadville in 1879. Cgesde. vari-
ously known as Amethyst, Jimtown and
C~reedemore up to a fortnight ago. has now
been christened formally after the pros
peetor who discovered the mines. Two
daily papers, the News and the Amethyst,
lave been established, Ia the map of the
camp published by the latter IL. its Id
issue, Jan. %, shows almos an intricate
checkerboard of rectangular claims.
The Denver Mining Industry gives the fol-
lowing geology of the Creede camp,
contemplating a visit: There has been
considerable discussion as to the geology
of the Creede district, situated in this San
Juan county of Colorado, and the character
of the remarkable ore deposits so far dis
covered on Bachelor, Campbell and Nam
moth mountains. When we CONSIDER that
the Amethyst vein has only been developed
to a depth of 10 feet, and that the Holy
Moses has only been developed to a depth
of q little over 200 feet, and that In many
respects the ore deposits are quite different
from anything which has been heretofore
discovered in Colorado, it will be seen that
II ID q difficult matter to arrive at a safe
/. I. ~ ,o ~ +bn nh arap ar and mamma.
hence of the deposits. The Last Chance
Aneshyst vein is in many respects the most
remarkable orc deposit which has yet been
discovered in Colorado. This vein has
been developed atta depth of from sixty to
seventy feet from the surface by drifts on
the vein of something over 700 feet in
length, and four shafts, the deepest Of
which is about 10 feet. When it is SAID
that all of these shafts and drifts are in
solid ore, less than two tons OF waste rock
having been taken out in prosecuting this
work, and that the orc is high grade, aver
ing from $50 to Sl6O Ger ton, and that the
vein has an average width of about four
ter of the deposit will be acknowledged.
This vein is apparently a fssure in the
trap n trachyte, the prevailing country
rock, With well-dsfned walls. the foot-wall
being especially we'll defined in the Ame-
thyst shaft to the present bottom of the
shaft, a depth OF about Ito feet below the
surface. 1he course of the vein is about
north northwest and south southeast, which
is apparently the course of all the veins i'll
the district. The course and width of the
vein is remarkably regular. so far as pres
ent developments show.
Tho vein matter consists of white and
amethyst quartz (about go per cent of the
whole), oxide Of iron, black oxide of man
ganese, heavy spar and tale, carrying ma
tiva aud nhin+iIa rf cI1ypr and pco2eional II q
small quantities of gold ana lead. In ap-
pearans 8 the ore Is extremely deceptive,
and it is only by careful sampling and as
saying that its grade can be determined.
There is between $500, 900 and 100000
worth of ore in sight in the Amethyst Minis
above the seventy-foot level, no drifting
having been done below that level. The
Last Chance mine is said to nave a greater
quantity of ore in sight.
The Holy Moses, which has been more
extensively developed than any other mine
In the camp, is apparently quite different
in character from the deposits of Bachelor
mountain. From the upper workings to a
depth of something over lG0 feet, there was
apparently a we'll defined foot wall, and
also apparently a quite well defined hang
ing wall, the foot wall being trap and the
hanging wall %trachYte. In places the foot
wall is slicken sided, and as smooth as
glass. In the lower workings the foot wal.
is very much broken In places and some-
times entirely absent, whilst the hanging
wall ia Eot at all we'll defined. and not in.
frequently there is no indication whatever
of q hanging wall. Ih ore Is quite differ
ent from that Of Bachelor mountain. there
being much less quartz and more tale ant
oxide of manganese. In places the blacl
oxide of manganese is several feet thick II
the vein and massive. In this mine occa-
sional pockets of galena are encountered
Frequently b~oulders and masses o
trachyte are found disseminated through
the vein matter. There is no regu
larltv as to the ore. and it
grade can only be- determined by carefu
sampling and assaylnG, the vein matter o
the same general appearance frequentl,
assaylng from one ounce uD to scvera
hundred ounces of silver. Ihis mine in it
PRESENT stage of DEVELOPMENT is certainly
conundrum and what it may prove to b.
can only be determined by future prospect
LEG and DEVELOPMENT work.
The Ridge and Ethel mines are also stu
ated on Campbell mountain, but are appnr
emily not on the same vein as the Hol,
Moses. The ore of both these mines i
galena. general highly crystalline, and as
ISOLATED with more or less biende usual
of the waxy crystalline variety. The or
will run from five ounces to over 100 ounce
in silver per ton. The veins are apparentl
we'll defined and different from the Hol
Moses in this respect as well as regards tn
character of the o g.
Shortly after leaving Wagon Wheel pa
a bed of Observation-Disclosures is seen on til
east Of the railroad. This limestone is ex
posed for some distance and is overlaid b
the volcanic trap rock. 1t ia reported the
the same bed Of horiZonal limestone
found on the other side of the mountain
f.-l,,i f'aA.tn uhyr svort1 H,l,a.t. L.