Gilpin observer., 1914-03-26
HOPE FOR MINING
REVIVAL LIES WITH THE
oLD-TlME PRosPEcToR


term. And not Of the romance alone,
for cut of the work of the prospec-
tor has come the great producing
mines OF the state, the cities that
grew in night and flourished in
midday blaze of golden splendor, and
the railroads that linked the mines
and the smelters. and threw lines
of steel afar across the barren plains.
1t was the prospector that set high
on the mountain submits of Colorado
the light that shown in many states
and that drew the ever increasing
swarms of humanity as moths are
drawn by candle in the open at
night.
Where is the prospector today?
Ask anyone by the roadside in a
mining county of the state, or go to
the office in some tall building in
Denver where sits the man who has
had his part in the upbuilding of
Colorado's mining industry since the
days when they were hauling the
the railroad, and you Will get every
where the same answer.
"Gone" Not gone forever, perhaps,
but gone SO thoroughly and SO ef-
fectively : that though you travel
through all the summer season in
the wilds where Nature seems most
lavish in her hints of golden fortune,
YOU will catch not SO much as glim-
pse of sunlight reflected from the
swinging pick or hear the remote
tinkle of the hammer as it falls mu-
sically upon the drill.
And IL you ask the same author
ity in office or highway the reason
for the change. with equal unanimity,
they will place the blame primarily
upon the policy of the federal gov
ernment by which the Colorado
mountains have been made the fad
of eastern theorists and the play
thing of the boys out for a summer
vacation amid the above-timber-line
forest reserves.
Hang on the lonliest mountain the
sign of gold and the prospector will
dare all the dangers of great deserts
and the seven seas to win his chance
with the goddess OF fortune. Set at
the gateway of the garden of Hes
perides khaki-clothed forest rang
er, and not one of the whole tribe
of goldseekers would venture within
sight OF its certain treasures.
What Colorado needs most OF all, .
they will tell you, "is another great
gold mining camp-another Cripple
Creek pouring out dts golden flood at
the rate Of million dollars month.
another Gilpin county. unvarying in
steady production year after year, de-
cade after decade, another Ouray
with another Camp Bird and smaller
mines innumerable. And it's there, !"
they will tell you, somewhere in the
great gold belt that sweeps across
the state as the Milky Way sweeps
across the night sky, from where
the mountains of Boulder begin to
drop toward the Laramie plains down
to where the deep SHOWS of Hinsdale
steadfastly defy the efforts Of the
engineers to uncover the treasures
they hide.
But what's the use II the faith Of
the prospector, the "hunch" that has
located the great mines. is to be
measured by the rules taught In
some technical school of the east,
where one may learn well the chem
ical makeup OF minerals and nothing
at all of what the clouds and the
snow-capped peaks and the mountain
silences speak to the. prospector.
And that is what they were think
ing Of recently, these old-timers Of
the mountains and the mines. when
they gathered to welcome the new
secretary Of the interior, q man OF
the west like themselves. perhaps
he will know. Perhaps he will un-
derstand. Perhaps he may be able
to break through the web OF red tape
that the theorists and the jobhun-
ters have spun. Perhaps the pros
pector may come back and find-why
not?-that "other Cripple Creek" so
long desired. that lies somewhere In
Routt or Chaffee. in Saguache or San
Juan, or in some other county. walt
ing since creations dawn for THE
MAN. and thereby set the golden
blood running full in all the veins Of
the state as It ran In the olden days.
For agriculture Is good. and manufac-
turing il good, they will tell you. but
II you want to LIVE, find . NINE.
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