The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-03-24

| Ii one wishes to penetrate still farther,
he can leave civilization itself behind
| and live for a time in an unspoiled
wilderness.
Mountain highway building may ap-
| pear simple enough to the vacationist,
| as he bowls along ''in high" over loop
after loop Of gently rising road that
lifts him eventually to a lofty ridge
| of the Rockies and eases him down on
| the other side.
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 silver state. One reason for
the tremendous production of silver in
| Colorado-an average of more than
| 300 tons Of it years. the complex
nature of the states ores. Many con-
tain mixtures of gold, silver, copper,
lead, and zinc. Thus silver has been
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, anthony 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
| a turn in economic conditions before
they can be touched. Others have had
their day and may have a rejuvena-
ton.
Now 1t Is MoIybdenum.
| 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
i makes the steel Of our steel age tough
| er, stronger and harder. From this
one mine comes more than four-fifths
of the entire world output of molyb-
| denum. vanadium. 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-ffth of the world
supply.
Beside precious and rare metals.
coal may seem grimy interloper, but
| it is mineral king of Colorado. 1t
| passed gold few years ago. Close
to three-quarters of a billion dollars
worth has been dug during the states
life
All along the foot of the front range
are coal mines-some large, some mere
private fuel holes. Near Colorado
Springs two guides who take visitors
| up Pixies peak on burro-back in sum-
mer open up their little mine in win
ter, dig the coal themselves, and sell
it at a few dollars load, "cash and
carry"
| Petroleum production today means
| derricks and clanking drilling machin-
cry, gushing streams of greasy, black
liquid. But some day petroleum will
be mined and manufactured in Colo
RADIO. The states vast beds Of oil
shale are one of Americas mineral
wonders. Nearly a million acres in
the state have been classified by the
United States geological survey as oil
shale lands and have been removed
from entry against the day when the
country's liquid petroleum supply will
be exhausted.
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 a
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 1t 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 1880 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 S50OOO,00O 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 by fields of verdan1
green.