The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-14
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precious metal than in any other de-
partlnent of active life; and while
training and method are by no means
! to be ignored or slightingly used, they
! are long way from being as indis-
pensable as they were once considered
! to be.
The state line at almost any point is
just now very inviting field for the
prospector. The difficulty of getting
there and maintaining a hold in even
comparative comfort for any length of
time have operated largely as a bar
rier Of protection to the wealth sup
posed to be reposing in the flinty
breast of the cliffs thereabout. The
example of Osceola shows that the
country is by no means destitute of
placers, but il would require, as it has
in that case required, more ready cash
to operate such a find in one of the
waste places than to develop a silver
mine on large scale. Placers without
water would be about as valuable as a
farm in one of the valleys herein
spoken of; and when it is considered
that with all the ingenuity that can
be brought to bear only about enough
of that element to enable a person or
party to remain a single day at any
desired point in the desert can be had,
the desperateness of the situation be-
comes more apparent. The presence
Of gold in quantities, even if known,
would thus only aggravate the case
unless capital on an extensive scale
could be enlisted: and the metal is
there-I am sure of that for at least
two good reasons: Without it this
part of the country would have been
made utterly in vain, which we are
taught is not the case with anything
that exists. The other reason why
there must be gold there is because
nobody has taken it away; it is all
there yet, with the possible exception
of the sample first spoken of. Science
will doubtless some time overcome all
obstacles in the way of dragging forth
the hidden values Of the wastes, but
science unaccompanied by cash in job
lots comes as near being a barren
ideality" as anything recorded in the
books: it is like faith without works
and several other inert things that
might be mentioned.
After philandering through the color
less sterility to the west, it is q genuine
delight to get hack 10 where good
water is so abundant that one seldom
gets thirsty-that is, for water-where
vegetation ab1unds and verdure is
everywhere; where animate life in all
its familiar forms appears upon the
scene and the haAoitations of man are
all around. When to this pleasing
transformation is added the existence
of mineral resources in abundance, it
would seem as though there were little
need Of going further. The little town
of Minersville and the once famed Lin
coin district lying to the northeast and
within rifle shot of it, constitute even
such a situation. But little work is
being done in any of the two or three
dozen, more or less, developed proper
ties Of Lincoln just now, yet better
average ore or larger bodies of it
would be difficult to find anywhere.
Everything indicates continuity, and
what is wanting more than anything
else is a concerted movement by mine
owners in the district. There was once
a large and flourishing camp here,
containing more houses and people
than the town itself; but the striking
of living water in the lower levels of
the great Rollins lead mine and the
subsequent decentralization of silver,
produced a feeling of general discour-
agement which grew apace, and one
after another the mines shut down.
To say that they are exhausted is to
go directly against what a personal
inspection disc.oses; they are, in fact,
except as to the noted Cave mine and
the Rollins Tor Lincoln) spoken of,
only IN the lnclplent stages OF develop
ment. Why, the ground is not even
thoroughly prospected; an experienced
man who owns and has done consider
able work in the district, and with
whom / have been making the rounds
herein spoken of, made two new loca-
tons during the day which we spent
looking over the ground. The ore from
both these, on being assayed, showed
gold and silver, and one of them a
small percentage of copper. There is
such a thing as going further and
faring worse, and it is frequently the
case that we stumble over a good
thing in our own dooryard and leave
ii there because somebody has found
something somewhere else and our
covetousness Immediately prompts us
to prevent him from enjoying it with
out division.
1 don't know whether this is a Demo-
cratic year or not; I am pretty sure.
however. that it is mining year, if we
have a summer at all.
ESSAY CAIGH.