White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1933-03-16

SCdCoS mountain highway SybLem Ad0
opened up this region of tumbled
peaks only in recent years. Twenty
years ago the states Summer land"
consisted almost exclusively of the
foothill country and the eastern slopes
Of the front range.
Now, with four excellent main high
ways crossing the Continental divide
and with q network Of minor roads
and trails available, increasing num-
bers Of the holiday crowds are push
ing into the back country, where the
scenic beauties are more marked,
where the fishing is better, where the
highways are less crowded, and where,
If one wishes to penetrate still farther,
he can leave civilization itself behind
and live for q time in an unSpoiled
wilderness.
Gold was only the curtain-raiser for
the amazing drama of minerals that
has unfolded in Colorado. Silver was
discovered in paying quantities six
years after the gold rush. Four years
later, in 1868, more ounces Of silver
were produced than gold, and this has
been the case in every year since.
When Leadville's bonanza silver
mines came into heavy production, in
1879, the dollar value Of the silver
mined each year actually passed that
of gold. Colorado had become pri-
marily a silver state. One reason for
the tremendous production of silver in
Colorado-an average Of more than
300 tons of it year-is the complex
nature of the states ores. Many con-
tain mixtures of gold, silver, copper,
lead, and zinc. Thus silver has been
a by-product in numerous properties
and has often paid the freight for
gold.
Tin and titanium, cadmium and CO.
bait, manganese, mercury, and molyb-
! denum, antimony. and arsenic, zinc
| and zircon-dip almost where you will
| into the alphabet of minerals and you
| will find substances mined or minable
| Colorado. Some deposits are awaiting
| turn in economic conditions before
| they can be touched Others have had
| their day.
Just now Colorado is sitting on top
| of the molybdenum world. A mine at
| Climax, near Leadville, is turning out
| ore that produces each year several
| million pounds Of this rare metal that
| makes the steel of our steel age tough
err, stronger and harder. From this
| one mine comes more than four-fifths
of the entire world output of molyb-
| denum Vanadum, another rare and
valuable metal used in steel manufac-
ture, is flowing from a mine at Rifle,
| in western Colorado. This is one OF
| the largest vanadium mines in exist
| ence and yields one-fifth of the world
supply
Beside precious and rare metals.
coal may seem grimy interloper, but
it is mineral king of Colorado. 1t
passed gold a few years ago. Close
to three-quarters of billion dollars
worth has been dug during the states
life.
Saved by irrigation.
Irrigation was the savior of Colo
RADIO. Most of the treasure seekers
who went out in 80 and go had only
the desire to collect gold quickly and
return to the East. 1t was believed
that the country could not support
permanent population. But few men
planted gardens in the river bottoms,
led water to them in crude bitches,
and obtained astonishing yields.
Cooperative groups built larger
bitches at higher levels and threw up
diversion dams Development has
gone on until now every one Of the
many streams that flow from the
mountains is taken bodily over by irri-
gators as soon as it reaches the foot
hills.
AS one drives through the highly de-
veloped irrigated region north and
west of Denver, one comes every few
miles, to great factories Of steel and
glass, each dominated by tall smoke
stack. These, one learns, are one of
the fruits Of irrigation. In them mil
lions Of tons of beets that grow in the
surrounding fields are turned each
year into hundreds of millions of
pounds Of sugar. In 1890 Colorado
factories produced nearly a third of
all the sugar produced in the United
States.
This white, crystalline gold from
Colorado's plains has been worth in
excess of $5O,OOO,O0O in single year,
more than ten times the value of the
yellow gold that was dug in 1881 from
the mountains.
All through this irrigated country OF
: northern Colorado one comes upon
thriving towns Sterling, Fort Morgan
Greeley, Fort Collins, Longmont, Love
, land. and dozens of smaller ones
, each surrounded nv fields of verdan
5 ! green. 4tos,s@