Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-07-17
new MEXICO MINES.
Dolores, the Oldest Camp in the Country
Men Are Working the Mines Their
Great randfathers Worked,

49,
this point deserves more than a passing
glance.
Mining has been carried on here TO
more than two centuries, the story o
which has often been told. But ther,
are gray-haired men who were mining
when their grandfathers mined, whel
they were boys, and SO on back. 1t is
dry placer section, and for many mile
seems ineXhauStible. A cement holds i
in place, mixed with fine gravel from
grass roots to bed rock, which is nov
and then swept to get the gold which
there settles, when released by the &C
ton OF the air, water and the miner.
The latter, with rocker, pan, bowl ant
spoon, gets what he can out of wha
gold the air and moisture has loosene(
in the course of the ages, or since tn,
art has last gone through the process
Maybe he uses a dry "WaSher"-What
paradox; water is supposed to be need
ed for "washing''-yet water may no
appear on the surface for miles AM
hundreds of feet of digging may no
find it.
In the dry washer wind takes tn,
place of water, and the inventive geniu
has contrived machines that save all tn,
gold that cement does not hold. TIL,
waste is tumbled back into the work
ings to be worked wei again in tn,
course Of a few years, and maybe, al
has been the case, more gold is caugh
than in the first washing.
AS intimated, this golden gravel il
found for miles in every direction. ,Ye
there are rich spots, and other places
that do not pay for the working.
These rich spots are not in tn,
gulches, ravines and beds Of streams
exclusively. They are found on the sid,
of the hill, on steep declivity or gentl,
slope.
This place is probably about the cen,
ter of the noted southern Santa Fe min.
ing district. To the north, across thu
Galisteo river, toward Santa Fe, for
say, fifteen miles, is seen a minera
country, said by mining men, with what
is to the south Of us, to be the richest
without disparagement to any other
mining district in the world.
There is one thing about mining-o1
"our kind"-there is no competition. II
in the near future, next year, for in
stance, this already noted district
should excel Cripple Creek in it's won.
drous production of gold, the great in.
dustry of the greatest gold camp or
earth would not be crippled.
To the north are to be seen hundreds
Of dumps around prospecting holes, al
well as abandoned mines, if you please
gentlemen. In the distance ten miles
may be seen the %turquois mines, worked
from Montezuma to Tiffany, and being
worked still.
On the other side of the Galisteo are
veins of galena, copper, silver, zinc, etc.
and all containing gold; many of these
are p~rospected, many do not need it; the
ore, copper, lead, ETC., sticks up along
the lodges in large quantities.
"Inaccessible?" remarks our l~isteninf
friend. Not at all. You can drive arount
vel the country in a carriage. The
fact is, much of the ground is held, bes'
not to say owned, by parties who dc
not have the money or the mining abil.
ity to work them; some by people Of
companies who are "at outs" as 20 how
to work their mines; very little, if any
by grants" yet these big Lodges witt
pay ore sticking out of the ground ar,
likely to be held by people who tool
them up in the early days or bought
them. They are on surveyed govern.
ment land, and of course titles are per.
feet; in fact, they are SO all through this
mining district.
To the south you cannot drive around
with a carriage SO well. The Ortiz, Tu.
erto, East End and other mountain
groups interfere. Yet mountains were
never made so easy to get around ant
among. They are in groups and isolated
peaks and spurs. From here to Albu
querque Is a days drive on a good road
passing through the Golden, San Pedr,
and other sections.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa F,
runs along the banks of the Galisteo tt
the Rio Grande, near Thornton, the out
let of Cochit land Bland, the mountain
around which are visible to the south
west, less than forty miles away.
The sands and gravel of the Galiste
are of course full of gold. Some desul
tory work Is being carried on by east
ern people. who seem to be doing tn
least possible under the circumstances
which are the vast amount of wealt
with which they have to contend-bein
some 80 feet of gravel and no place t
put the tailings.
The Ortiz mountains, the heart Of tn
mineral section on this side of the rive
at least, is, as we'll known, held by on
OF the old Spanish grants, owned or con
trolled by Senator Elkins, Richard Ker
ems Of st. Louis, heirs Of the late vii
son Waddingham ct al. The title to thi
has recently been confirmed by tn
United States Ian dcourt, but the own
ers have differences among themselve
which may be complicated by the deaf
Of Waddingham. All this has retarde
the progress and development of thi
section south Of the Galisteo river.
The settlement of the land grant /
favor Of the above-named claimants ha
OF will work a great hardship to som
Of the settlers here, and among ther
some of those mentioned in the frs