Gunnison news-champion. [volume] (Gunnison, Colo.) 1905-1932, 1923-09-07
A Correction in Gun
nison Mining History

Recently the News-C Champion
printed q little quotation from the
Mining and Engineering Journal,
which has called forth some correc-
tons from several older residents,
who were personally familiar with
early days in Gunnison. The fol-
lowing by Royal Jarvis covers the
matter rather completely:
by Royal p. Jarvis, E n, Phi. d.
Geologist and Mining Engineer, Min
eral de Dos Est-ellas, Michoacan, NJ
August Fl, 1923.
Editor Gunnison News-Champion,
Gunnison, Colorado,
Ny Dear Sir:-
! notice in your August Srd issue,
under the caption: "What was the
matter with the Tomichi Valley Smell
teri" several statements which are
not in accordance with the facts. You
say, Speaking Of smelters and their
prospects in Gunnison, the attention Of
the News Champion il called to m
article appearing recently in the well
known Engineering and Mining Jour
nal Of New York City, In which il
printed an interview with Alfred de-
Ropp. metallurgist, who was in charge
Of the Tomichi Valley smelter during
4 portion Of its existence. This Is
the smelter that stood two miles north
Of town on the river bank, the brick
stack Of which still stands"
The Tomichi Valley smelter, Of
which Alfred de Ropp won de Ropp
in those days) was the metallurgist,
was the smelter which stood between
the La Veta hotel and the d. 4 r. G..
freight yards, and u fair sized slug
dump still serves to mark its location.
This was the smelter which was built
by Ben Lewis and his associates along
in 1885 and SO, and was the last
smelter built in Gunnison. The smell
ter to which you refer, located two
milesnorth of town, of which the brick
stack is still standing, was built some
years before, and believe was known
as the Gunnison Valley Shelter. Any
way, it operated for only very short
time, and of the three attempts made
to found a smelling industry in Gun
nison, this was the first. The second
was the Moffat smelter, which en-
bodied quite different process from
the first, in that the ore was smeltcd
upon hearth-the same Moffat
hearth which has been perfected in the
lead fields of Missouri, and which
was nothing more or less than an en-
larged Scotch hearth. Volatilization
losses with this process were large
and it was necessary to construct long
and elaborate flues and dust settling
devices, and those Of your readers who
were residents in Gunnison during the
middle SOS will remember the tall
hs,tt xsrI,s ~, .N- h.. -, - L..
hill northeast of town, which was the
last trap laid in the path to catch the
fleeing particles of fume or flue dust.
This smelter, after very brief career,
closed, never to reopen.
The Tomichi. Valley smelter, or the
Lewis" smelter, of which Mr.. Ropp
was at one time the metallurgist, con-
tinued to operate along into 1888,
when II died for lack of breath-that
is ore. There never was smelter on
the south end of Main street, where
you say Steve Schribner and associ-
ates had one. What they did have
was a sample mill, where a small
amount of ore was sampled from time
to time, but none was smelted.
A brief inquiry into the history of
the rise and fall of any one of Colo
RADIOS numerous smelling enterprises
will show that their decline and death
was due to one or two causes, either
the substitution Of some other cheap
and more efficient process for terating
the ore, or failure of the ore supply,
generally the latter. There are any
number Of places where there in ar
ample supply of limestone for fux
Tone Of the advantages often cited in
in favor Of some locality as a smelling
center) and plenty of good fuel; but
without the really necessary ingredi-
ent, that is the proper kinds of ore in
sufficient quantities, no smelling en-
terprise, of course, can prosper. Civ
en- the ore, all the balance is easy,
but this is by far the most difficult
part Of the whole proposition. Tho
steady decline Of Colorado's smelling
industry is due to one cause, q dimin-
ishing ore supply, and no amount Of
boosting" and oratory can remedy
this defect.
Yours very sincerely,
nAVAY