The Marble times and Crystal silver lance., 1901-04-05
The Prospector.

One of the conditions that contributes
very actively to the progress OF the
mining industry in Colorado, is the
number of prospectors that start out
every summer from the many estab-
lished centers in the mining regions,
and scour the hills and valleys for
new mines. Each season, according
to observations carefully made last
summer, between two thousand and
twenty We hundred men are out. The
most of these work during the winter
for wages, and earn enough thereby to
maintain themselves in comfort the
year round. The prospecting season
begins in some regions as early as
April 1st and extends-even in high
altitudes-to nearly the end of No
vember.
| In no other part of the West, ex-
cepting perhaps in California, is this
class of men so numerous. The beau
tiful summer climate of the Colorado
ranges, and the abundance of wood
and water. make the labor in many
cases a delight. Conditions are very
different through the arid regions of
Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Me-
vada, where the pleasant season is the
wiater. Further north, in Montana
and Central Idaho, the summers are
perceptibly shorter. Many northern
prospectors make it almost yearly
habit to put in their winters in the
desert regions to the south, where the
mineral field is fully as attr active as
it is anywhere.
AS an individual the prospector is
not as thoroughly Understood or ap-
preciated as he ought to be. In the
early mining days of the West he was
not always an altogether lovely char
acter, perhaps no better than the popu-
ar notion of him. But the modern
representative of the class is very
much of a business man, who follows
the profession strictly for what there
is in it, who is not without consider
able technical information in his line
gained by reading the mining per-
iodicals, and the many manuals of
geology, mineralogy, ETC., that have
been published of late-and who al
ways has that love of nature which is
a necessity if one expects to under
stand her, and fathom her mysteries.
Generally he has few Localities which
he thinks more of than others: his
range, SO to speak: and to the explor-
alton of which he will return year after
year, until his search is rewarded or
he becomes utterly discouraged. He
rarely is without good outfit, and an
ample stock of "grub" and tools. If
at times he looks unkept it is because
the campaign has been a hard one,
and the luck poor. Generally he can
dig out of his kit, when the circum-
stances warrant it, as good suit of
clothes and underclothing as the aver
age man.
He is at the foundation of the Ameri-
can metal mining industry; its corner
stone. There is no such thing as a
Spanish, Russian, Italian, French,
German or even English prospector.
The mining laws of those nations
afford no opportunity for such man,
and accordingly their mining industry
does not amount to much. But there
are plenty of American prospectors of
foreign birth, men who have naturally
the instincts of the profession, and
who would be amply able to make
something out of the mineral resources
of their native lands, if the rulers
thereof had the wit to give them the
chance. Lacking that, they come to
the American mountains, and are do
ing their share in transferring them
from an untrodden wilderness to the
finest mining field the world has ever
known of.
The method followed by the average
prospector is to discover lode and
develop it sufficiently to show up an
ttractive vein of mineral. He is then
in the market to sell. He is essential
ly a discoverer and not producer.
His love of an outdoor life and of the
mountain peaks is too great to permit
him to work long underground. He
will sell, too, at reasonable prices. If
the real investor and developer and
the real prospector could get together
oftener there would be fewer disap-
pointing mining sales, and larger
percentage of successes Mining Re-
porter.