The indicator., 1897-10-02
THE HILL TOP MINE,
Paying Mon Are Paid
the Ton Produced,

a raging Proposition--Men Are Paid by
the Ton Produced.
The Hill Top is the name of the latest
colorado wonder in the way of n pro-
uuclnS mine. 1t deserves its name,
Ior II is located at an altitude of be-
tween l2DoO and 1900 feet. 1t is
ABOUT twelve miles from Fairplay. and
from 1t a birdseye view OF Leadville
can be obtained. Nathaniel Robertson
OF me tobertson-Doll Company. re-
Gently visited the property and this is
what he said of 1t yesterday:
TO me the Hill Top seems wonder
ful mine. The owners invited me to
go through the property, and feel
wen repaid for having done so. 1t is
silver and lead proposition, and If
SILVER was now worth what it was
some years ago, the owners would all
be millionaircs. AS 1t Is the lead val
lies are such that n good profit is real
izeu from taking out the ore. What
the value of the ore is cannot say.
as did not ask, but there are such i'm
mense bodies of IT, and it Is so easily
handled that most ANYBODY would be
satisfied with the net results.
The Shaft Is 800 feet deep, and from
IFS bottom the workings extend in all
directions.
the ore bodies. | need only mention
that 1 was taken into one chamber,
which was made by cxcavating the
ore, and this chamber was twenty-five
feet wide, POO feet long and seventy
fcef high. OF course, all the eScava-
tons were not so large rs this one.
There are other bodies which | passed,
but which we did not enter, probably
because The manager did not wish me
TO see the amount of treasure avail
able. They are probably the kind of
miners who do not exhaust an ore
body Immediately after it is discovered.
but go on looking for something else.
meanwhile using the ore held in re-
serve so that the property will pay div
idends constantly.
The mine gives employment TO be
tween sixty and seventy men, and Il
bigger. stronger, better looking set of
men | never saw. They do not work
for wages. hut all do piece work. Two
or four men viii work together. and
when they have filed n ear with ore
1t is wheeled 10 the shaft. placed on
the cage and drawn to the surface.
There it is weighed and the weight is
registered and credited TO the men who
eNcavated the ore and put it on the
car. Each set of men fastcns a ticket
TO the car. and it is by this means that
the man on top knows to whom to
credit the ore. The men receive 90
cents Ton. When working by the
piece this way they do more work than
when working hy the day. When 1t
is desirable 10 drift, make an upraise,
sink the shaft or do any kind of dead
work. n contract is made with the
men to do the work at Il fixed price
Ia.
much rs 81 a day at the rate paid for
taking out ore.
"1he owners confidently expect to
find gold values in lower contact
The ore is in blanket veins and the
formation seems to be tlic same as that
at Leadvillc. The operators went
through 300 feet of porphyry before
finding any ore. so they think they are
in the first contact. When the shaft
is sunk until il reaches quartz etc
they expect 10 find gold In this OK
pcctatlon they arr supported by EN-
mons. the geological expert, whose
maps show all this territory to be gold
bearing.
Like many another good mine. this
property has passed through the hands
of several people. 1t was first worked
many years ago. and at least two par
ties whom l know went broke on IT,
The present owners are the first people
who ever took ore out of the mine.
zone strange feature of this property
is that there is no water in the mine
TO prove troublesome. This is because
the ground is frozen to n depth of be.
tween iG0 and 500 feet
The Hin Top mine Is principally
owned in Denver. the Du Bots brothers
and officers of the Denver & Gulf rail
road being among the stockholders
Denver Republican.