Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-03-31
Interesting Description Of This Rich
Mineral Section, Geographically
and GeOlogically.
HOPEWELL ONCE A GRANITE ISLAND
The District Possesses All the Con.
ditions Necessary for Rich Ore
Deposits.

duu bWu soulu Vi huboulto peak elgu
miles east and three south of Brazos peak
It is situated on government land between
the TERRA Amarillo and Petaca grants
By reference to Rand q McNally's o.
other atlas you will see government lands
between these two grants. The coloret
portions of New Mexico maps show that
the grants extend entirely too close tc
camp. For instance the Petaca grant il
only about one-tifth the size indicated by
coloring on the map.
The nearest railroad stations to camp
are Tres Piedras, 20 miles over splendid
wagon road; Chama, 30 miles over g
rough wagon road, and Antonito, 45 miles
by fairly good road. Next June q daily
stage line will run from Tres Piedras to
Hopewell. mail hack now runs there
three times each week when snow per.
mits).
Let US go south from Antonito to the
1900 miles D" post on the D. Il R. G. rail
road. This will bring US to the base OF
Antonito peak, south side. This basaltic
mountain was once a volcano and the
ground for miles around it as we'll es the
entire body of the mountain is one mass
Of volcanic rock. So is Brazos to the
westward Of the camp. In going west
ward toward Hopewell we soon leave the
basalt arsa and CROSS the diversity meta.
morphic granite, trachyte and quartsite
areas. There are several basaltlc spots
near camp, but none nearly 50 extern
sive as at Antonito and Brazos peak.
The evidences of an eruptive era is
palmer no where in the Rocky mountain
district than at Hopewell. At the camp
proper we find the rocks fssured, re-
fssured and faulted; the stratas in
cllning and perpendicular with intrusive
sheets of igneous rocks; these once fis.
sured openings are now the quartz
deposits into which lodged a volatile or
gaseous substance which, upon cooling,
became the "yellow phantom" which we
cranky phantom chasers are now seeking.
Hopewell was once granite island.
The seas on either side lashed its shores
and receded, forming in the immediate
vicinity the stratas of cerboniferous, the
sheet of lime and other paleozoic rocks.
The eruptive period, as evidenced by the
extinct volcanoes surrounding, was the
time when the old bedrock of granite
was rent in twain at Hopewell and pro
dueed the few great assures and the
myriads of spreading and sprangled
breaks and clefts, ths former now called
main contacts and the latter veins, leads,
etc.
have read the geological formations
of nearly all the camps in Colorado. Have
visited some Of them and talked to posted
prospectors about the requisites for ore
deposits. Having drawn conclusions from
concensus of opinions from geologists,
and at Hopewell 1 find just what have
been looking for. At the south end of
Eureka gulch find it crossed by what
the camp terms "the main contact" The
schist at north wall of contact, here on
one claim, is mineralized for width of
$50 feet; and good judges tell me that
this entire width will run SO to the ton.
saw prospector pound up and pan
pieces of this ore, and implicitly believe
the judgment placed upon the richness of
this huge contact vein.
Biologists tell Us that the conditions
necessary to ore deposits are: First, the
eruptive forces to produce the assures
with consequent heat and escape through
them Of the volatile or gaseoas minerals
and fossilizing quartz. Second, the
porphyrites and other intrusive sheets
necessary to act as retorts and lodgment
for gasses that produce precious metals.
Here we find the denuded bed-rod of
granite all fissured as we'll as we could
order it. From the top of this once
primeval island down the gradient to.
ward the bottom of the pre.Adamic sea,
we can trace-no not trace, but find and
behold, as plainly as We can discern the
noon. day sun in the heavens, the meta
morphised and other sedimentary stratas
of rocks such as carboniferous, lime,
quartzite, etc. And all through this dis
trict are scattered the porpyry dikes and
mineral bearing sheets of rocks into
which were blown, with all the forces of
nature, the gaseous precious metals.
In visiting mining camps have run
across as many queer cranks as there are
in any other line of business or chute.
There are quartslte cranks, cube iron
cranks, Hayden cranks, and others.
When visiting at Creede I met an old
timer who was away up on porphyry-
trachyte contacts and Hayden. He knew
them by the back. told him of Hope.
we'll. He referred to Hayden's Atlas and
then said: "Hayden's description of
your camp is nearly identical with that
of Summitville, but I fail to see his men.
tion of porphyry. And then l see no indi-
cations of gold in his Typographical
plats of territory" called his attention
to the fact that in Hsyden's Atlas the line
of sections run by geological survey were
first, from Antonito peak to Brazos peak !;
and the second from Antonito peak to
TERRA Amarillo town. Either line would
not be through Hopewell camp. And,
secondly, the camp was not known then
to the world as gold camp and Hayden
and his men we're not prospecting.
then assured him that, if he would visit
the camp and not find all the Summit.
vile and Creede rocks, then I would eat
the griddle gresser. He left me shaking
his head after the fashion of the bishop
who refused to look into Galileo's tele-
scope or believe that Jupiter had moons.
Well am not writing these articles to
convince the cranky, mulish miners who
know it all learned through the mar
row-gauge channel. I am simply telling,
without undue geological phraseology,
Just what saw at Hopewell. If it will
be of benefit to investors in mineral
properties or prospectors, we'll and good.
II my articles fall upon stony ground,
will Be amply repaid for all my trouble
in writing for the fun of collecting my
scattered ideas and focusing them on
what really did see on my prospecting
tour.
To my mind the camp possesses ell the
conditions necessary to rich ore de-
posits. A small fortune has been found