The Elk Mountain pilot., 1903-09-01
Colorado VS.. the Rand.

The richest spot on earth" it is
claimed. lies in Gilpin county, Colo
RADIO. writer in the Gilpin County
Miner, quoted by General Frank Hall.
makes the statement that an area
about six miles square lying in Greg
ory and Bobtail gulches. has been
mined continually for forty-two years
and has produced $120,000,000. Com
pairing it with the Transvaal prior to
the closure of the mines by the war,
with its production of $40000,00 per
annum (the last annual official report
prior to the war was $50 900. 900. with
an estimate of $1,000 900 for the sue
ceeding Year, the gold-bearing reefs
are six miles wide by $50 miles long
900 square miles-an average of $4.440
per square mile per annum. In this
Colorado district the average produc-
tion has been $3.000,000 per annum. or
$S3,333 for each square mile of terri
tory for eacn year that the mines have
been in operation.
General Hall very effectively replies
to the natural question which suggests
itself as to why it is that, although the
mines in Gilpin county have been
worked for forty-two years. while the
Rand has been actively opera.ed only
| since 1882 the former is far behind in
prOuuCtlOn ana ueVelOpment-
This may be answered by the state
ment that the South African mines
have had the advantage of unlimited
capital, corporate effort and the cheap
est of cheap labor, directed by the best
modern engineering. 1t is estimated
that not less than ninety millions of
dollars has been expended for machin-
cry alone in the Witwatersrand. Its
mines are opened to depths ranging
between 5000 and 5000 feet. The best
mechanical devices known to the trade
have been employed Besides, while
the mineral values in Gilpin county
Hes IN regularly defined fissufe veins
of four to eight feet in width as a rule.
the Rand mines are in reefs. where
the material can be quarried out in
unlimited quantities and with the
greatest ease. Every pound of the
quartz matter is milled at the shafts.
for there are no shelters in that re
gion. The average product is fourteen
TO sixteen shillings per ton.
The same statement applies to the
Leadville district. 1t may be said
without much fear of successful con-
tradiction that one of the richest spots
on earth is a section OF twelve miles
IN Lake county which has produced in
twenty-five years nearly 100000. 900.
The shallow diggings of Fryer hill
alone produced $40O00.000 in a few
years.
But while the ore deposits of Lead
vile are still very extensive. thus in
suring a long and prosperous life for
the camp. il is hardly fair to compare
conditions here to those in South AT
rica. Where the Rand miner has one
problem to solve the Leadville miner
has twenty. In the first place the char
acter of the ore is very simple. 1t is
free milling quartz. No complicat-
ed metallurgical problems are in
volved. no question to be considered
excepting large plants to separate the
gold as quickly and cheaply as possi-
BILE.
There is probably no mining camp in
the world that presents SO many diff
cult problems in mining as right here
in Leadville. The complexity of the
ore and in many instances its refrac-
tory character. enhances the difficulty
of finding a ready market. and renders
special and expensive treatment nee
essary. But in spite of all these diff
culties mining in Leadyille has pros
pered wonderfully.