The Alaska citizen., 1911-08-14

'lif'Atll. 'Ailh f'ilhN ls'eh Ilit - Nll'
second gold producer in the state,
Cripple Creek occupying first place.
II has remained gold camp until
TODAY. but conditions there have
changed materially. There was a
tendency TO centraliZe and the popu-
lation dwindled until all the prophets
united in declaring that the end was
in sight The character OF the popu-
latiln hanged: the happy go-luCky
Irish and Cornish miners who spent
their m ,uey in rcvclry every Sat
urday night. and every night in the
week. gave way TO Slavs who saved
their wages. the little they spent
going To merchants and salounkeep-
ers uf their own kind; stores were
close and stocks moved; tlashy store
fronts were boarded up and streets
which were tnce aStir with pulsing
human life became deserted avenues
down which one might fire a gat-
ling gun without hitting even a
dog All was deSolation and despair.
The government census report show
ed a decline of nearly 30 per cent.
in population. Most of the merchants
who remained did so because there
was nobody to buy them out. A few
stout hearts refused To weaken and
stayed ON sustained by the conviction
that history would repeat itself and
Leady.lle would come back" In this
they Rere justified. Leadvile has
come back"
one day not many months ago. a
common miner. growing tired. On
handlm" grayish rock whose in
greGicr.3 had never been analyZed,
but which was passed over as worth
less by mine managers and trained
metallurgists. determined to satisfy
his curiosity. He had some of the
stuff as aged and next day the news
flashed over the camp that new
mineral mad been discovered The
grayish rock that had caused mine
owners so much annoyance was car
Donate of zinc. Spelter was quoted
in the metal markets at about Sl04
ton. The rock ran anywhere be
tween SO to $50 ton in zinc. AS
a simple process would extract the
zine. il was figured out that the
profits would be enormous, especially
as the mysterious rock was known
to exist in every part of the district.
Millions of tons of the stuff were al
ready for the dumps of the district.
and more millions Of tons We're ready
TO be blocked out and knocked
down" and hoisted to the surface.
The mineral was known to exist in
limitiess quantities Leadville went
crazy The dreams of - were
dreamed again: rents went up; real
estate suddenly acquired new values.
owners of merchandise stocks con
graduated themselves on having
been unable to sacrifice their pos
sessions.
All this happened only few
months ago. Mining publications. de-
voted considerable space to the new
discovery, but the daily press gave
it little space The glamor of gold
and silver mining is absent when it
comes t mining for the baser metals.
Plain. prosaic zinc meant nothing t.
the pulveyorS of red-inkcd news.
Only few weeks ago the annual
dinner of the Association of 1JerS
was held in the stoped-out chamber
of one Of Leadville's deepest mines.
The diners sat down within sight
Of a MILL Il tons If the new material.
blocked Gut and ready for the smell
ter. Il was estimated that the ore
would yield from 81 to $25 a ton.
A little hasty calculation will reveal
the imm nse wealth contained in this
one mine. which, in its day. had been
Un6 OF the camps greatest silver pro-
ducers. But the silver ore ~ long
er existed in paying quantity CT
quality, and the closing down o1
the mine was in sight when the dis
coVery of zinc again sent the miners
down the deep shaft and the mine
manages back to their offices for
another moneymaking campaign.
Zinc in l.eadville is nothing new,
but heretofore it had been found
only in the sulphides. Its presence
in carbOnates was unthought CT.
Treatment of the sulphides was ex-
the slightest slump in the spelter
market serving to make zinc mining
a precariOuS enterprise.
or greater importance than the
zinc discoveries. so far as I.eadVille' S
longevity is concerned. is the recent
announcement that the camps gold
deposits are in true fissure veins in.
surfing long life and profitable min.
ing. As Leadville has always been
good h the miner, let us hope ii
will live forever.
Then there's GuanajuatO. Here is
little Mexican state full of great
mining possibilities that has been
nodding and mapping for moIe than
a hundred years, only to be reused
by stroke of lightning and to be
literally electrified into new life
Science. not new mineral discoveries
has accomplished this marvel. When
CCrtez's Adventures scattered over
the land of the AZtecs. their single
ambition was to find enough gold
, and silver to quickly return home
and take their places among the
grandees of Spain. With their prim
tive arastras they squeezed the gold
out of the rock until they had enough
to load pack train of bulrCs and
then off they went to the seacOas1
and home These men were not
miners; most of them were pirates
rich they had no time for ore thai
wasn't so soft with gold it couldn't
be whitfield with a knife Only the
richest was brought to the surface
They knew nothing of the science OF
mining and they never learned. The,
took only the richest mineral an(
cast aside the rest. The day came
when there was no more riches
ore" The whole district had beel