Gilpin observer., 1906-04-26
Park County Placer Boom.

Golden treasures of greater magni-
tude than those of Cripple Creek or
of the Nevada fields are believed to ex
list in Park county, south of the line
of the Colorado Midland railway, says
the Colorado Springs Gazette. Mining
men who have visited the district says
it promises to return greater riches
than either of these gold camps. 1t is
dry placer proposition; the ore can
be handled by steam shovels, and it is
asserted that it can be taken out and
treated by cyaniding at cost OF so
cents per ton. If this be true, and the
ore is found to run only few dollars
to the ton the district will be one of the
greatest ever discovered. Assays run
from trace to $40 in gold.
| An area extending fifteen miles east
and twenty-seven miles south OF
Salina, about eighty-five miles west
of Colorado Springs, on the Colorado
Midland, is covered to depth OF sew
enty-fve to 100 feet with a tufa forma-
ton, or volcanic dust Experts say
the soil has been leached and the val
ues will be found at bedrock. Strict
| secrecy has been maintained, so far as
possible, by the few who know OF the
immense ore-bearing deposits.
The Chicago-Salida Mining Com
pany, corporation backed by eastern
capitalists, has been working In the
field for eight months, under direction
of man named Fitzgerald, who has
been in the district for twelve years.
1t is said that this crowd was so anx-
! ci1 a
gaining information of the bonanza
thatt instead of using the Colorado
Midland, which runs within few
miles of where their camp is located,
the miners and supplies were freighted
in from Salida, distance of over
thirty miles, and even now many of
| those at work do no know they are
within a few miles of railroad.
Claims are taken up under the placer
law, by which an individual may take
up twenty acres, which is twice the
amount of ground one can obtain on a
lode claim with the same assessment.
The Chicago-Salida concern has filed
on ninety-seven quarter sections and
their two engineers are still in the
field. A few other parties who have
learned of the prospects have visited
the region, and, in all, about $50 quar-
ter sections have been taken up, most
of them within the last two or three
weeks.
The Chicago Salida company has put
down many shafts, one of them reach
ing bedrock at 11S feet depth. That
the company thinks well of the prop
erty is evidenced by the fact that al
ready 100000 plant of machinery and
$4,000 steam shovel have been or
| dered with which to handle the ore.
A Colorado Springs man who has just
returned from the district says that
all the employees Of this company are
sworn to secrecy and that number
)of the shafts are actually guarded by
men armed with rifles. When the Col
orado Springs man attempted to in
spect a shaft he was warned off by
the armed guard, and when he asked
why the guard was carrying rife he
received the answer that it was to
keep cattle from falling In.
Park county's mining section in the
neighborhood of the Alma and Fair
| play has been known to mining men
since so, but little if any mineral has
been taken from the foothills in the re-
| gion south and east of Salina. Pros
pectors have gone over the country
and found veins, the streams in the
| park have yielded colors, but gold
never was found in paying quantities.
Last fall some prospectors found pay
dirt carrying from IS to $40 in gold
| to the ton. They interested NJ. Hewitt,
president of the Chicago & Northwest
ern railroad, and during the winter
| months he kept force of men at work.
| Several tons of the stuff were tested
by the cyanide process, and the re-
turns were satisfactory. 1t is said that
Mr.. Hewitt is preparing to erect cya-
nide plant to treat the ore from claims
| that he now owns.
| The remarkable find is in a grazing
country-as was Cripple Creek. That
| the tufa formation carried gold prob
| ably never would have been discovered
had it not been put to the cyanide
| test. The values are contained in mag
netic iron and under fire test are de-
stroyed.
Among the Colorado Springs people
who are said to have become inter-
| ested in the new district are w. s.
Montgomery, Arthur Perkins, William
Whalen, II. A. Watson, and j. B. Sims
| and ]. II. Ridenour of Colorado City.
There are no hotel accommodations
| at Salina and prospectors have had to
take all their supplies in with them.
With information that the big bonanza
\ was in existence given to the public,
persons who have been in the field for
! some time are anticipating a big rush,
| and a big tent has been erected at Sa-
lima, and tomorrow another will be
put, where prospectors may sleep and
eat.