Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1895-09-16

' immigrant. New Mexico is traversed froI
: north to south by the great Rocky noun
4 tain range, which near its northern bour
8 Diary seems to have been split in twair
3 one portion extending down upon tn
8 western side of the Rio Grande throug
+ the counties of Rio Arriba, Bernalillo, Sc
corro, Sierra and Grant; the other lyin
, east of the Rio Grande and extending
through the counties of Colfax, Tao:
Santa Fe, Bernalillo, Socorro, Valencia
Lincoln and Dona Ana. Large portions o
these mountain ranges are covered with
heavy growth of timber, pine, spruce
cedar and pinon, which exist in larg
bodies, while the quaking asp, cotton
wood, maple and oak are found In differ
ent localities. ~.
WEALTH OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Humbolt, the great geologlst, who i
said to have read nature as other mel
read books, once declared that the wealth
of the world would some day be found il
the mountains of Arizona and New Mex
leo. The result of recent = ,stigatior
tends to prove the truth u this assertion
for almost every pos,.. of the grea
mountain range has been found to bt
rich in mineral wealth.
The gold, silver and lead mines found
at White Oaks and on the Rio Bonito, in
Lincoln county; at Los Cerrillos, Dolores
San Pedro and other points in Santa Fe
county; in the Black Range, Magdalena
and the Socorro mountains in Socorro
county; at Kingston, Hilsboro, Lake
Valley and other points in Sierra county;
at Cooks Peak, Silver City, Pinos Altos,
Central City and dozen other camps in
Grant county; at Aztec, the Moreno valley
and other points in Colfax county, and in
the Organ and Gold Hill camps of
Dona Ana county, all we'll known
throughout the territory, which have
been for years past and are now large
producers of wealth, and the re-
cent discoveries at Cochiti in Bernalillo
county, attest to the richness of the pre-
cious metals found in New Mexico. They
are now, and have been for years past,
known to contain large deposits of these
minerals.
But, great as is the wealth of this terri
tory in precious minerals, it is believed
that they do not compare in extent, va
riety and richness to the industrial min
erals and precious stones, of which COM
paratively little is known, and it is pre-
dloted that in the near future these in
dustrial minerals will furnish employ
ment for large numbers of the unem-
ployed, and yield results more profitable
and vastly superior to those now obtained
from mining the precious metals.
Chief among the industrial minerals
will be classed the great deposits of btu
minous and anthracite coal found in
various localities throughout the territory
of New Mexico. Bituminous coal is
found in large bodies in the counties Of
Colfax, San Juan, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe,
Bernalillo, Valencia, Socorro, Lincoln
and Grant, while in the county of Santa
Fe there is to be found the only large
body of anthracite coal in the United
States west of the Allegheny mountains.
LARGEST GYPSUM DEPOSIT IN THE WORLD.
Gypsum is found in the southern por-
tion of Santa Fe county, and in several
other portions of New Mexico large de-
posits of this mineral are known to exist;
but probably the largest deposit known
in the world and of the finest character,
is found ON the San Augustin plains, in
the county of Dona Ana. The location
and condition of this deposit are unusual.
The San Augustin plain is about 100
miles in length, from north to south, and
from thirty to sixty miles from east to
west. Near White Oaks, in Lincoln coun-
ty, in the midst of this plain, is the crater
of an ancient volcano, the lava from
which has flown in a southerly direction
like stream of water for q distance of
sixty to seventy miles, varying in width
from half to three miles. At the south
ern end of this stream of lava there is a
small stream of salt water flowing into
salt lake, about one mile in width and
one and half miles in length. At the
southern end OF this lake the bed Of gyp-
sum begins and extends in a southerly
direction down the center of the plain,
adjoining what appears to be an ancient
river bed, almost without break for a
distance of ffty miles. This gypsum
bed varies from five to twenty miles in
width; it is granulated in character; white
as the driven snow, and is piled upon the
plain like snow drifts, requiring no labor
for handling or mining. l can not more
accurately describe its appearance than
by comparing it to granulated sugar. II
you should take granulated sugar in one
hand aud the gypsum in the other, it
would be difficult to tell one from the
other by sight or touch. The body of
the gypsum stands from ten to forty feet
above the surrounding plain, and the lire
is as distinctly marked as the sands upon
the ocean beach.
Immediately adjoining this extensive
1nl r>f - Iorn Ia ~f
Donate aad sulphate of soda, being about
one mile in width and five mllesin length.
Its depth ie unknown. At about two to
four feet below the surface, water is en-
countered, which is largely impregnated
with these minerals and with chloride Of
sodium. Experiments have been made
by driving down tubes to depth of
some thirty feet below the surface with
out discovering any change in The char
acter of the deposit.
There is also considerable deposit of
carbonate of soda near Manznno, in the
county of Valencia; near Wagon Mound,
in the county of Mora, and at Ojo Cali
ente, in the county of Taos.
Kaolin and alum are also found to a
large extent and in large quantities in
the counties of Santa Fe, Grant and Rio
Arriba. Large deposits of sulphur are
found in the county of Grant and near
the Sulphur springs, in the county of
Bernalilloj in the latter, the process of
depositing the sulphur is going on, the
mineral coming to the surface in the
form of vapors aud crystalizing when it
comes in contact with the cooler atmos-
phere.
MANY VARIETIES OF PRECIOUS STONES.
No description of the mineral resources
of New Mexico would be complete il it
did not include passing comment upon
the many varieties of precious stones,
which are steadily rising in popular esti-
nation and in production.
Traditionally, this territory has been
noted as having produced some remark
able gems, and recent develo pinents are