The Penn's Grove record., 1895-02-08
Among the Rocky Mountains.
LeadYiIle. Colo. January 30. 1895.

LeauV1iie, COio., january oV, .
MIR. EDIToR:-You may be some.
| what surprised to receive q letter from
| your scribe from this elevated point
among the Rockies, but as l have about
fixed up my business matters in the
land of gold until next fall, my face Is
now turned towards the State 30 fam
Gus for morality (since Billy Thompson
aslbeen downed) and sweet potatoes.
My object in stopping off at this place
was to see If / could further the inter.
est of my friend Jas. Borden in the way
Of purchasing a silver mine, but am
sorry to say / found affairs in that City
in a very unsettled state, owing to the
silver bill being before Congress.
Should the free coinage bill pass the
silver men will be jubilant, but should
1t fail silver mines in the state Of Col
orado will be a drug on the market,
ESQ the mine Bosses say and can be
bought for q song. So my genial friend
Borden will be seen as usual behind the
counters Of ex-Assemblyman Diver,
eulogizing the good qualities Of silks,
satins, sugar and soaps, &C., until Con-
gress settles the silver question.
My hotel was situated about eight
blocks from the depot, but / was com
PEELED to rest three different times in
going from the depot TO the hotel on
account of the light air, the attitude
being nearly 1900 IT. The following
morning / paid a visit to the Penrose
mine. IL being nearest to the town and
was shown through the mine by going
down q shaft 1900 feet below the sur
face of mother Earth, along with the
Superintendent. Well, yes! / was just
a little v when l thought my feet
were going from under me by the cage
50 suddenly going down, down, down,
hundreds and hundreds of feet, with
nothing to hold on to but a rubber suit
which the Superintendent gave me to
put ON before making the descent.
Well, l got down there, anyhow, and
what sights 1 beheldl Every rift and
alley way being lighted up by electric
lights and thousands apon thousands Of
tons of ore in sight.
The Superintendent explained all the
workings to me; said such and such an
ore PANIED out so many ounces TO the
ton, sc. OF course l said yes. but at
the same time most of it was Greek to
me-. This company is at an expense
alone, Of s. 1000 per month for pumping
water ont of The mine. Two immense
ngines being at the bottom of the mine
and are ru. steam being sent down
to them from above through large pipes.
On account of the muddle in the silver
market not much mining is done at
present, so Leadville is quiet, save at
nights when the gambling dens are
thrown open and things goes q hum
ming then.
The day / left California the
never shone brighter nor pTettier.
Everything was bright and green with
roses in bloom like an early June day
in the East, but before the sun had
gone down behind the mountains my
train was ploughing through snow four
foot deep. One can get any climate in
California they want by moving . hun
dred miles or SO. AT a station called
Blue Canyon in the Sierra Nevada
Mountain snow was % feet deep on u
level. | walked under SNOW tunnels
100 feet to the hotel for a cup of coffee,
as did all other passengers. The Rail
road Company keeps two immense ro-
tary snow plows going up and down
this section all the time, otherwise no
trains could be run. At Truckee about
100 miles farther East, SNOW was IA
feet on q level, the thermometer 200 be.
low zero At New Castle, so miles
farther East, snow wps A feet on a level
and the thermometer 1850 below zero.
At Leadviile the snow was 2 It. Oh u
level, the thermometer 300 below zero.
Denver had only a slight fall of snow,
but Mr.. Jack Frost was about just the
same, 12o below zero.
While at Denver l had the pleasure
of renewing acquaintances with a
former resident of Penn's Grove, Jos.
Bilderback, who, by the way is looking
well and doing well and is considered
m of the rising p~harmaceutist OF that
city. / spent several hours with Joe
taking in the sights Of the town and
was 10th to bid him farewell. My next
change Of cars will be at the windy
city. Chicago, but 1 think my train
from Denver makes close connections
SO / will not have to tarry there long,
neither do l care to, as l am anxious to
get home and explain TO Jing- a-ling,
ex.Assemblyman Diver, Cooper Sparks
and M or two more why I failed to
get their horse ranches, orange groves,
wineries, &C., which they requested
me to get for them.
This, Mr.. Editor, will probably be the
last letter from the Western Slope. /
have tried to depicture things as near
and true as could possibly be done, al
though some things l have written
about almost seem incredulOus, yet
they are truths. The climate, the
mountains, the soil and products OF
California cannot lie praised too highly,