St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-07-26
n1isrrllanu.
COLORADo,s GOLDEN ERA.

which the map maker signifies noun
tains. 1t looks as confused and bro
ken and devoid of regularity as an
old dump, bat in this homogeneous
heap are hidden millions of mineral
wealth. When the Lord made this
continent He ran the ridgepOle down
Through Colorado. The great Con-
tinental Divide, which parts the wa
tiers of the oceans, traVerses 1t IN a
general nOrth-easterly and south
westerly direction, and the big min
eraI belt which is in places 100 miles
wide, lies along both sides of this
mammoth range turretted with
scores of peaks rising TO a height of
4 900 feet. From this central belt
are projected many spurs of miner
al-bearing rock, and others are de-
tached districts where natures ket-
lie boiled over million or two years
ago and spilled precious metals down
h he mountain side
When the panic came. blue over
41he prospects OF silver, the Colorado
man sat down and cogitated for
couple of weeks. He knew all about
! he mineral belt in his back yard,
and as he cOgitated he evolved an
Fs3dCd. Ii SllhOl was ~ IN q q JllNS
which would cause many mines to
shut down, what was the matter
with gold? If gold was to appre-
ciate until it could buy more than
ever before, the state that could dig
up millions of gold certainly should
be the last to complain. So the Col
orado mana good many thousand
of him-took his pick and pan and
blankets and started after gold.
The change since that time prob
4 ably never had and never will have a
f parallel, for such conditions can
scarcely occur again. The output of
q gold during 1892 was a little over
q $5,OOO,OOO. During 1898 it was
81, SO2, 453, and the increase, be it
remembered, all came during the last
two or three months of the year and
lin spite of the fact that many silver
mines, which also carry gold, were
Nclosed and did not add their quota
Ito the total. There is practically no
81 gold found below an altitude 10000
81 feet. yet on January LIST of the good
81 new year, in the depth of winter,
81 gold was being produced in Colora-
B do at the rate of $4,000, 900 year.
E The most conservative estimate ofthe
production for the year 1894 is $780,
100000. while statisticians who
4 base their figures on returns from all
the districts, place it at $24, 100000,
or nearly FIVE times as much as the
output for 1892. Colorado's pro-
duction of gold, silver, lead and cop
per, will this year be larger than any
previous year, for the increase in
gold will more than balance any loss
that might occur in other metals.
The aggregate will certainly run over
S35,OOO,OOO. California. the Golden
State, has for some years produced
about $12,OOO,OOO of gold each
year Colorado has already reached
second place and will lead California
in its gold output in 1894. Curious
" enough, the gold discoveries are
helping out the silver mines. Several
Of the heaviest properties at Lead
vile are working full time on iron
silver ores needed to Smelt the gold
ores of Cripple Greek and other tell
urium districts. Again, there are
hundreds of silver properties which
carry more or less gold. Silver min
ing is very far from dead, in fact the
production of silver last year, in spite
of all the scare, was $97,797, 800
and there was only small decrease
in lead. This amount of silver NAV
not be mined in 1894, but the gold
output will far more than make up
4 the loss.
1t is almost impossible to grasp
4 the possibilities of gold production
81 in this state. Imagine many thou
81 esnds of square miles of mineral bear
-, i
a q gold properties have been located
within six months, and under every
foot of which may be hidden a bo-
nanza. Scarcely a stream flows
q from either side of the Great Divide
which does not carry in its sand and
gravel enough gold to pay enperi-
enced men from So to $50 a day
with the simplest methods of placer
washing. This gold is all washed
down from veins in the mountains.
1t could not descend in a shower of
q rain. Some of these veins have been
found, but most of them have not.
They are being looked for in earnest
and the fruits Of this search are the
rich "strikes" reported almost every
day since last September, from wide
ly separated parts of the state.
Thousands of men are living on
bareback and pork in little cabins in
the mountains, holding down the
claims which they discovered too late
to work last winter and which they
have demonstrated to contain good
yellow gold in paying quantities.
From them will come flood with
the opening of spring. In the early
days extensive gold fields carrying
SO to $50 a ton could not be profit
ably handled because of lack Oftrans-
portation and of proper processes to
extract the value. With the discov-
cry of the immense silver camps,
the fields were abandoned and al