Year: 1864




Santa F6, y. NJ.


GESERAL:-In complisGco with your re-
quest to me upon my departure from santa
Fe | will now, so far as ! am able, give
you brief description of this county and
of its future prospects,


Arriving here in December, since which
time have seen considerable Of this i'm
mediate vicinity, and have consequently
been rather a close observer of the grad.
ual improvement in the development ofthese
mines,


That this country is rich in the precious
metals no one will pretend to deny as
silver and copper as well as gold lodcs ere
found here in abundance which certainly
prospect exceedingly well, but owing to
the limited extent Of country yet prospect
ed it is impossible 10 determine which will
finally predominant. ] have some speci.
mems of each which are, in my judgment,
as promising as any | have ever seen; In
fact so confident are the owners Of these
lodes of their richness that It's almost i'm
possible for person coming here at the
present time toobtain an interest in them,
vet there are plenty more think to be
found in this vicinity and equally as good,
when the country shall have been more
thoroughly prosPected


Owing TO the absence Of Quartz Mill
nothing of consequence in the way Of
quartz mining has yet been done although
some members Of MIR. George Loun's party
who are largly interested hero are now
absent in San Francisco preparingt to bfing
mill to be pat in operation by the list Of
July; this party have several times eooi
specimens to California to be assayed and
the results in each case has proved most
satisfactory Others have also tested theirs
in La Paz and other places and the result
has proved likewise satisfactory, Not
withslanding the cry that has been raised
about the scarcity Of waterin the Place.
Dggings there is sunicleatin the immediate
vicinity of all the lodes TO supply all of thu
mills that will ever be brought here, 0s,dC
from the creek, Our experience thus ia
has been that tho deeper we sink upon TIN
ledge the more plenty the water becomes.


| have Just learned from good authort.
that some parties low down on the lia8iam
pa have rugged up two ordinary woodeI
crushers or arastas with which they ar
doing exceedingly well and the fact of thci
seeing desire to keep the thing secret
is pretty conclusive evidence that they arr
to say the least satisfied with their sue
cess shall go over in few days TO SCI
for myself.


As for-PlOccr mining | can write bu
little if anything that will be new to yo
as no new diggings have been discovere
this winter. Walkers Gulch still continue
to yield quite abundauty, the interes
there being still owned principally by til
same parties as at first; perhaps the numbc
of miners on this creek is a little large
than when Genl. Clark made his repor
and most all believe are doing well BIT
wonld do better if provisions were plent,


Weaver or the Antelope Diggings sI
pay pretty well but believe not quite t
we'll as at first although the cold weathC
there has prevented them from minin
successfully during the winter No MOI
of the Swiling kind of claims have bee
found Notwithstanding a good many mil
ers have remained. Provisions there hay
been more plenty, consequently cheapC
which is an advantage they have had ovC
the miners on this side of the mountain


But little has as yet been done on ii
Hasiampa; most of those who have renal
cd there and were beginning to do we
were short time since driven in by Il
Indians but at present some little excit
ment has been created concerning that Sc
tion by reports of those who are now wor
ing there said to BEDDING exceedingly We
and nearly all who are not interested els
where have now gone Or are preparing
go there. These mines are located abO
40 miles s. W. from Walkers. The sea
city of provisions, and in fact all neccss
ries of life have driven hundreds from Il
country who would have remained had
been otherwise; hence the slow progre
made in the settling up and development
this section. Why some parties have n
brought supplies in here, either from Ca
fornia or New Mexico, is more than | c.
comprehend Had it not been for the fC
goods brought from New Mexico, ma
others who are now here would have !,
longerO this. have talked with ma