The Monte Vista journal., 1897-10-02
THE HILL TOP NINE.
A Payisg Propositioa-Msn Are Paid BY
the Ton Produced.

A P.yi.g Propositioa-M Are Paid BY
the Ton Produced.
The Hill Top il the name OF the latest
Colorado wonder In the way Of u pro-
ducing mine. 1t deserves Its name,
for 1t is located at an altitude Of be-
tween 1900 and 1900 feet. 1t is
about twelve mikes from Fairplay. and
from 1t n blrdseye view Of I.eadvllle
can be obtained. Nathaniel Robertson
of the Robertson-Doll Company. re-
Gently visited the property and this is
what he said Of 1t yesterday:
ITO me the Hill Top seems wonder
full mine. The owners Invited me to
go through the property, and l feel
well repaid for having done so. 1t Is
a silver and lead proposition. and II
silver was now worth what 1t WAS
some years ago, the owners would all
he millionaircs. Az 1t IL the lead val
ues are such that good profit liz real
lied from taking out the ore. What
the value Of the ore Ia l cannot say,
as did not ask. but there are such I'M
mense bodies Of 1t, and 1t Is 20 easily
handled that most anybody would be
satisfied with the net results.
THE shaft In 80 feet deep. and from
directions.
ITO give you an idea OF the size Of
the ore bodies. need only mention
that l was taken into one chamber.
which was made by eycavnting the
ore, and this chamber was twenty-five
feet wide, 200 feet long and seventy
feet high. or course. all the eXcava-
tions were not so large as this one.
There arc other bodies which l passed.
but which we did not enter. probably
because the manager did not wish me
to zee the amount OF treasure avail
able. They are probably the kind of
miners who do not exhaust an ore
body Immediately ter II is discovered.
hut go on looking for something else.
meanwhile using the ore held In re-
serve 10 that the property will pay div
ldends constantly.
''The mine gives employment to he
tween sixty and seventy men. and n
bigger. stronger better looking set Of
men l never saw. They do not work
for wages. but all do piece wo-k. Two
or four men vii: work together. and
when they have filed a car with ore
1t IL wheeled to the shaft. placed on
the cage and drawn to the surface.
There 1t Is weighed and the weight Is
registered and credited to the men who
excivated the ore and put it on the
car. Each set of men fastens a ticket
10 the car. and It is by this means that
the man on top knows to whom ia
credit the ore. The men receive N
cents Ion. When working by the
piece thIa way they do more work than
when working by the day. When 1t
is desirable to drift. make an uDraisc.
sink the shaft or do any kind OF dead
work. contract Is made with the
men to do the work at n fixed prit,'
per foot. Many Of the men make as
much ns 81 day at the rate paid for
taking out ore.
"The owners confidently expect ia
find gold values In lower contact.
The ore Is in blanket veins and the
formation seems to e fhc same NJ that
at Lcadvill". The operators wen,
through 800 feet OF pornhyry before
finding nnv ore. 40 they think they are
In the first contact. When the shaft
IN sunk until II reaches Quartz. ETC.
they expect to find gold. In this 81
pcctation they arr supported hy Em
mons, the gcnloyiral expert. whose
maps show all this territory to he gold
ha'H ring.
"IIke many another good mine. this
property has rassed through the hands
Of several people. II was first worked
many years ago. nn,l at least two par
ties whom I know went broke on H.
The present owners are the first people
VIII" ever took ore out Of tn" mine.
zone sirnnge feature of this property
is that there ls no wafer In the mine
1" prove Troublesome. This Is because
the ground IL f'oycn 10 n depth OF be,
tween 400 md $40 feet"
The Hill Top mine is nrincirallv
owned In Denver. n" Dn D"is broiher>
AMI officers Of the Denver g. Gn,f rail,
rad 'elng among the stockholders
Denver Republican.