Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-09-02
PLACER PROPOSITION
Red River District Has Paid We'll
for a Long Period.
WORK BEGUN.
The Bed of the Red River Gould Furnish
Employment to One Thousand Miners
Some of the Interests Being Dew
eloped.

Dullu II TeSeTFOlI anu operate on Cnt
placer beds, four miles above the tow
of Red River, Taos county, in the bee
of the stream of that name. The pro.
~jectors of the enterprise live in Trini.
dad and in the east. The ground to BIZ
worked covers a wide basin, three and
half miles along the river, and extend.
ing up to the last forks, an area of 60(
acres. A ditch two miles long has beer
constructed for hydraulicking. 1t is
feet wide and gives 200 feet fall. Twelve
hundred feet of sluice boxes have beer
set in running up to bedrock; they are
4 feet wide and % inches deep, and have
a fall of 2 inches to the box. Running
above the sluice boxes Is a waste fume
S75 feet in length, for carrying the sur.
deep.
A large part of the sluice and flume
runs through a narrow cut, where con.
siderable excavating had to be done, al
"a heavy cost. So far, about $50, 900 has
been expended. But it seems more than
probable that the first cost or total out
lay can be extracted from the ground
each season, after active operations be-
gin next spring. The richness of the
ground has been a sufficient guarantee
to justify the expenditure, the bars run-
ming 25 cents per cubic yard, and the
channel of the river and the bottom OF
the basin averaging a value Of about
s1.25 per yard.
Manager Carmichael will construct a
reservoir to provide for a uniform sup.
ply of water, which will allow of n.y.
draulic operations from six to eight
months in the year.
The Red River mining district, in
Taos and Colfax counties, is a mineral
wonderland. Its enormous wealth in
gold has scarcely been touched, al
though a number of mines have beer
producers for years. Lodes from Z to 81
feet wide are the rule. Some Of the
lodges are solid quartz, with well-de.
fined walls, showing values of 81 to $4(
per ton in gold, copper, silver and lead
Red River City has tributary to it
mineral area extending thirty miles
along the river and covering 300 square
miles. Fortunes in placer gold lie in the
beds of nearby streams, the Columbine
the Tenderfoot, Black Canon Pioneer
Placer Gulch, Goose creek, Bear creel
and South Fork.
The entire bed of the Red river, from
its source, where the Carmichael plac.
ers are being opened up, to where i
empties into the Rio Grande, a distance
of thirty miles, is a placer proposition
The same can be said Of many of it!
tributaries, notably Bitter and Place
creeks. The first named of these form
its junction with Red river about TWEEN
ty miles above where the latter emptie.
into the Rio Grande, and Throughout
it's six miles of length the bed and bar.
along the stream have paid. Placer
creek heads IN the northern slopes o.
Gold hill, emptying into Red river abou
two miles above the site of the town
Bed rock is found at from 4 to IL feet
The gulch has a good grade and the golt
is coarse, nuggets weighing from s.
cents to $3.50 being found frequently. A
ditch has been surveyed, and will soor
be under construction to bring in thu
water Of Goose creek, the branch of Rec
river next above, which will give ar
abundant supply of water.
Four miles above the junction of thu
Red river with the Rio Grande, wher.
the Lama enters it, are a number o.
bars of good pay dirt. Two hundred
acres Of this ground are under location
and a short ditch and fiume has beer
built for ground sluicing covering thu
lower portion Of the tract. A ditch from
a point about six miles above could b.
constructed to put all the water desired
on this ground to work it on a large
scale.
To sun up the capabilities Of the Rec
river as a field for placer mining, it car
be easily shown that 1000 men could b.
profitably employed in this branch o
gold mining on the Red river from
mouth to source, and on it's numerou.
tributaries, ground sluicing, dredging OF
with hydraulic plants. The gold il
coarse and plentiful, and the water sup,
ply sufficient for extensive operations.
Another very important and valuable
feature Of the Red river district Is al
immense copper belt lying in the yer.
heart Of the camp, and in it's most ac
cessible portion. This deposit has beer
opened up or the east side Of the rive,
by the Ester, at the mouth Of Bite
creek, and within 100 feet of the cit!
limits. A tunnel has been driven 15
feet, all in ore, which gives good returns
in copper, lead and zinc. In the tunne
the mineral Is scattered throughout TIN
vein matter, but a winze to water leve
at the breast Of the tunnel shows tn,
ore in large crystals.
The Ajax, on Pioneer gulch, owned b,
the Mallette brothers, DR.. Lewis ant
others, has 300 feet Of tunnel work ant
a 3O-foot shaft on a flne-looking 4-foo
vein of copper ore, carrying gold ana
giving assay returns Of from $14 to $50
gold and copper. The Anaconda claims
Nos. /, 2 and 8, lie west and within +,
stones throw of town, and covers
large deposit Of ore carrying 8 per cen
copper.
The Ester is one of a group Of 81,
claims on a similar character Of ore, al
owned by ]. M. and g. L. Moad, L. E
Wade and p. B. Coffelt. These gentle
men have under consideration a propo
sition for the erection Of extensive re
duction works in connection with thei
properties.
Other properties In this mineral zone
on the Bitter creek side, are the Cope
Queen and Mineral King claims. cover
ing a large blanket deposit Of sulphid
ores running 8 per cent copper and Civ