Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1897-09-13
LUCKY LAS vEGANs.
Some Rich Gold Discoveries That
Will Pan out Fortunes.
To the Editor OF the Optic.

To the Editor OF the Optic.
SANTA FE. N. NJ, September 18th,
1897.-Talk about your Klondyke,
south Santa Fe county has come to
he front with gold discoveries within
the past few days that are every whit
as rich as those reported as existing on
the famous Alaskan river. And your
scribe is gratiied to state that several
Las Vegans are sufficiently interested
to Justify them in feeling that they are
the sonly nuggets in Klondyke, the
only pebbles on the beach, the only
turtles In the reservoir! Such men as
Frank A. Manzanares, w. E. Gortnel
and j. van Houten seem to have beer
born with golden spoons right be-
tween their molars-otherwise how are
we to account for the fact that they
should be along with that clever miner
OF Golden, Sam Wright, the fortunate
possessors of the ground on which one
OF the most notable gold discoveries in
the history Of the west has just beer
madeP
Last Wednesday, telegraphic pres
dispatches to such papers as the St.
Louis Globe Democrat, Rocky Noun.
tain NeWs and Denver Republican, San
Francisco Examiner, New York
Journal and World and other great
metropolitan journals, announced thu
cheering piece OF news; two days later,
the Santa Fe NeW Mexican sicaughf
on" and the details have thus already
been partially gwen to the public
but that is another story, since what
THE OPTIC wants are factsi
w. S. Williams is superintendent for
the Monte Cristo placer mining com
pany, of Kansas City. Recently, he
entered into a contract with M. Har.
rold, the Pennsylvania we'll expert, to
sink tubular well, for the purpose of
supplying water to wash the rich placer
deposits owned by this company in
"Old Timer" gulch, nea Golden
They sought higher ground. and leased
from the above named Las Vegans the
privilege Of locating the we'll on their
property. AT the depth of $50 feet it
was noticed that the drill was bringing
up pure white quartz carrying free
gold. The stuff was PANIED, and
grains of the yellow stuff as large as an
average grain Of wheat were revealed
The miners Of the camp went wild
The well vas being sunk in virgin
ground no mining shaft in the vicinity
has ever attained one-ifth of that
depth, and 1t was recognized that a
great find had been made. Yet, no.
body, not aver the most enthusiastic,
was prepared for what came after. As
the. well tools pounded away, the white
quartz ledge was shown to be thicker
and thicker. and now, after reaching a
depth of 500 feet, it has been demon
strated that, underlying the surface
ground owned by these Las Vegans,
there is a free gold deposit of at least
fifty feet, the whole OF which prospects
81, 900 to the ton, and upward. With
IN this extraordinary deposit has been !
a flowing underground
roar is akin to a small Mag
are-which is good for the placer
miners, but tough on the lode miners,
who must sink q shaft, or several of
'em, to get at these newly-fuund riches.
1t will probably cost, considering the
quantity Of water in sight, 800, 900 to
sink a shaft 400 feet there, but nobody
questions the ability u Manzauares, ct
al, to go after the vast riches which
neve thus been shown to exist beneath
he surface Of their south Santa Fe
mining claims.
Nor is this all. Three. quarters of a