The Alaska citizen., 1911-08-14

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yin N"' ~ ana INNING ','''
vi ''P"l' INA GA "ou' nv W go i"S
.tSS go i"''"' rs "a al wv ''H
',''.i,N Vi l"c ''se anu ."., "a man
oi 'le camps VI !"e "eS'' MS -
MS INST 'oH'''""''o"'
Few mining camps live forever.
some die hornin. some Just nat
urally peter out. and some are
strangled TO death by murderous
methods employed IN WORKING them
stripping them Of their riches by
cutting process used by the
greedy grab-all. "set-rich-quick min
eral pirates who have no thought OF
the future. ana who. IN their hurried
gophering Tor rlCh pockets. leave
mine in such sorry condition that
II cannot be worked successfully ana
in scitn'iilC manner for the pro
ttahle low grade ores. but that have
been spurned in the feNerlSh rush Tor
sudden wealth
or course, there ar" exceptions
There's LeadNille. ont IN Colorado,
that has been shipping out gold ana
silver ore Tor more than 81 years
and there ; GnanaJuaio. down IN
Mexico. where they have been MN
ing for more ihan three hundred
years.
l.eadville has been killed at least
four times. only TO come 10 lie on
each fatal occasion while the post
mortem was being held. II is Just
now undergoing another OF those per
lods OF resuscltatlon ana It's flslhs
from the dead Is almost as mlratu-
lous as that olher epochal feSnrrtc-
tion when the golden rule. IL not
golden treasure. was discovered -
the world.
ms ume ZlnC Is the SaiNahlZeF
that is setting the muscles OF Lead
vile twitching. leadville has been
gold camp. silver camp, gold
camp again. and now, IN 1911. II Will
take its place as the leading Mnc
producer OF the world. II VIII add
millions to the wealth OF the nation
and make Colorado the hrSt oil lhe
metal-producing states OF the Union.
1t is strange thing that twice
Leadville has owed its being to the
fact that desplsed ore. scprned as
worthless. has proved to contain
riches of inconceivable value. In
1919 the great dumps OF coarse sahd
we're found to be mountains oil car
donates of silver, carrying heavy
percentage OF lead. and, therefore,
easily treated by smelling. In l9ll
carbonates of zinc are proved to b."
the camps salvation, The entire
district Is underlald with the metal
and conservative miners thlhk 'hat
S2o,OOo.000 Is the least the camp
should produce IN the new pfoduc',
not counting gold and silver, OF
which about sH,ooo.ooo was taken ont
last year. Zinc in carbonate form
means immense profits.
The 1ol9-l9ll parallel is so strange
as 10 be almost uncanny They call
the LeadVlle pioneers '9ers ana
everything i'll that camp dates from
that year, though the real discovery
OF carbOnaleS OF silver was maze III
1873. In that year Leadvllle did not
exist iii name. California gulch was
known to the world over as gold
placer district Miners had washed
its gravel with varying success for
nearly 20 years, or since the pixies
Peak excitement in 1893. The
ground had been thoroughly worked
over for nuggets and dust; every
body knew there was little lett TO
be taken out. Spasmodlc enort had
been made to lind the mother lode,
but without success.
Horace A. w. Tabor was store
keeper who would not Join the exc
dus OF departing and disguised min
ers. Instead of leaving he seriously
depleted the stock OF his general
store by "grub-staklng prospectoTs
to look for that mother lode. TWO
Of these 'grub-staked' miners We're
August Richey and George Hook.
They selected hill about mile
northeast of the gulch for their OPP
erations and began sinking shaft.
Compared to other mining districts
Leadyille shows but few surface i'll
dications of the rich mineral under
meath. The prospector must blindly
dig down to bed rock through the
conglomerate mas of rock that COW
ers the entire region before hoping
10 get the indications of concealed
wealth further down Richey and
Hook toiled away fruitlessly week
after week and every Saturday night
they regretted to report to Tabor
at his store. All they could say
was their shaft was growing deeper
and deeper and they were building
up one OF the loveliest dumps ever
seen outdoors.
Ono day Tabor 6acidad m 600 for