Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1894-04-18


was made and a portion of the Cerrillos
road was driven over The writer docs
not hesitate to assert that there can be no
com parison between the two roads. The
Santa Fe road is much the better of the
| two. There is not to exceed 100 yards of
sand on the entire route.
The trip across the river was made on
the ferry boat in about two minutes. The
operation of this boat, although simple
is remarkably ingenious. 1t has Won
derful attraction for the Indians who live
at the Pueblo Cochiti, two miles below,
and they flock in crowds to see it operated.
Another steep hill is encountered after
crossing the river, but after it is ascended
there is good and nearly straight road
to the town of Allerton, SIX miles from
the river. When within two miles of Aller-
ton one begins to notice location stakes.
They are not mineral, but millsite and
i other locations. Evidence of the boom
is visible as soon as glimpse is caught
of Allerton.
] PEOPLE GOING IN.
The writer has been asked many times
since his return, 'are there really as many
people going into the district as has been
reported?" The answer to this question is
yes. Those who remain in the city and do
not observe the numbers going out daily on
foot, by horseback and in stages can have
no conception of the large number that
have already gone IN and are still going
into the district. 1t is only when one
nj Is tha
ing crowds that any idea can be formed
of the rush.
ALL ARE SATISFIED.
There is one remarkable phase of the
boom and that is that very few have
spoken i'll of the district. It is not to be
ex pected that everyone will be satisfied,
but it is fact worthy of note that there
is great absense of grumbing or any sort
of complaint.
Men have gone into the district and
come away dissatisfied, but those who
have done this form a portion OF that
large class the members of which have
no idea of the hardships of miner and
expect to find the mountains covered
with pure gold, and be able to COB
BILE as choice a lot of claims as those who
were earlier on the ground.
A better class of men were never congre-
gated before in any mining camp. They
are, as rule, hard working miners who
are willing to invest their mite IN the dis
trict, confidently expecting that it will be
increased many fold.
1t is true that comparatively little cap
ital has so far been invested in the dis
trict but there are good reasons for this;
namely, the meagre development which
has been done and that has,
until now, been caused by the careless
statements in the Albuquerque press that
these great ore bodies were on an alleged
grant. Happily, this is not SO, as will
appear in detail below.
AS to its being poor mans camp it
depends entirely upon the sense in which
the phrase is used. In reality there Is no
such a thing as poor mans camp. 1t
requires money to develop mine in any
country. No place has ever yet been
found where pure gold in quantities may
be picked up. But there is another way
of looking at the question. Is it good
place for poor man to go at present!
The answer to this is both yes and no.
If man has little money which he
can use to prospect with the writer ad-
vises him to go into the district, for he
may discover good claim for which he
will be able to obtain good price. If a
man is poverty stricken and is seeking
employment then he should be advised to
stay away for the present at least.
FOREIGN POPULATION.
The towns are fast becoming populated
by what may be termed outsiders, that u.s.
citizens of other states and territories
Colorado has furnished more than its
quota of the miners. The noticeable lack
of citizens Of this territory is deplorable
There is lethargy which seems to en-
thrall the citizens of New Mexico, and the
writer can not forbear saying that if they
do not arouse themselves they will awaken
in the near future to find the golden plum
snatched from their grasp. The advent
of the Colorado miners is significant.
They are men, as rule, who are trained
in mining, can tell porphyry from country
rock, and know what they are about. Co
chit with its vast mineral deposits and
with such backing can not help becoming
really wonderful producer of the pre-
cious metals.
DEVELOPMENT WORK.
When it is taken into consideration that
practically no development work has
been done and that ore has been shipped
from the grass roots it does not stand to
reason that the camp promises to be a
failure. Nothing more than assessment
work has SO far been done and on some
] of the claims not even this.
A number of prospectors have located so
many claims that they have been unable
to work the assessment on even one.
This is matter that can not be helped,
however, for the present, as the law allows
a man to stake as many claims as he de-
sires. This unnecessary and foolish
stalking of claims has proved very detri-
mental to the district. Still with all the
lndiscriminate locating there is plenty of
virgin soil left for the new conner.
THE VEINS.
There is a group of four or five parallel
veins running through the country Moth
east and southwest They are elldefned
and strong. In fact old miners say that the
groupings are tho greatest ever discov-
cred in the west. How true this state
ment is the writer does not undertake to
say, but they are certainly the greatest
he has ever seen in years of experience in
Colorado and California.
The veins are six or eight miles in
length and the mineralized district is
about three miles in width. They are
supposed to start north of Pine canon
and run south of Peralta canon. All the
large veins cross Pine canon above
Eagle City.
They all seem to be true fissure veins