Year: 1879

i
JUDGE PENDERY's PERSEVERANCE AND REWARD.
| IFRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.
| LEADvILIR, Col, June 2.-The distance, In n
| direct line, from Long and Derry Hill, the most


southern point in this immediate vicinity at which


a vein of silver ore has thus far been struck" to
| the Evans Hills, which, for the present. form the


northern boundary of the ground that has been


prospected. is about seven or eight miles;


but by the wagon-roads and trails which


wind around and over the mountains and
| through the gulches, it is at least twice
| as far. To examine, therefore, with any de-


gree of care. the more important mines that have


thus far been opened, if the explorer goes into


only one or two of each group is the work of three


or four days. To make such an examination with
| any degree of comfort and without wasting too
| much time one needs to be mounted on good


Broncho pony which Will carry him up and down the
| steepest places on the mOuntan-sides, and which
| will not be discouraged when he comes TO fallen
! timber finds the ground covered with loose
stones which make the footing anything but Sc


cure. Such pony be hired at the livery stables
| here for about - a day, or at n propOrtionately
! higher price if not regularly engaged.


The Iron Nine, owned by Messrs. Stevens &


Letter the latter of Chicago should be visited first


not only because it was the first discovered, but


because it has been the most extensively and scen-


tifcaily developed. and for the further that


the geological formation in which the ore is found
| is more clearly defined than in any other mine in


this vicinity. Iron Hill lies between California and
Timber Gulches north Of the latter, and the mine


from which it takes its name is about three or four
| miles from Lcadyille. / have not been able TO


obtain a very full history of the discovery of this


mine but have picked up from different sources q
few incidents which may be interesting in tins
| nectiOn.


THE FIRST DISCOVERY.


| Messrs. Stevens and Wood, two old prospectors


and miners, were engaged in 1876 and 1877 in


washing out gold in California Gulch. 1t is hardly


necessary to describe this process. The earth and
| gravel is thrown into sluicc-way, in which the


water runs with sufficient speed and force to carry


down the dirt and even large stones, while the
| PARTICLES of gold, mixed with the gravel, sink to
| the bottom and are caught in rifles and held there
| by mercury placed in them for that purpose. While
| thus engaged in placer mining Messrs Stevens
and Wood were greatly troubled by q pc
| cular kind OF stone that, being too heavy to be


carried away by the water, caught in the
bottom of their sluice-bOxes and chOked them up.


Mr.. Wood was, 1t is said the first to discover that


these troublesome stones, besides containing large


percentage of lead carried also small quantity Of


chloride of silver. At that time the lead was


worthless, because its value would be much more
|
market and the grade of the silver ores


was too low to make it pay to work them.


But Mr.. Stevens seems to have been impressed


with the idea that this new kind of silver ore


might after ALL prove valuable if found in sufficient


quantities.; after examining carefully the points
| along the gulch where the float" or loose pieces


were found he extended his explorations, expecting


to find the out-crop" from which the :" float" had


been broken Off Having discovered this, he located


his mine in 1877 and began operations on "a small


scale, being more and more convinced, the further


he dug, of the great value of his discovery. In


the Winter or Spring of 1873, Mr.. stevens,


anxious to develop his mine, brought out
| from Michigan, in which State he formerly
| lived. a number of men who were all
| " tender-feet," that is, they had never lived
| in the mountains and were not used to the


hardships of mining camp. Mr.. Stevens IN his en-
| thusiasm supposed that he was comforting a great
| favor upon these men by giving them work and


placing them in position to make their fortunes but


they did not appreciate their opportunities. Unac-


customed to the high altitude of the camp, to the


severe climate and the rough manner of life among


the miners they suffered from exposure and for want
| of the comforts they never before had done with


out and they finally forced Mr. Stevens to furnish
| them money with which to return TO their homes.


Most of them left LeadvIc just before some of the
|


fore the excitement that has not yet subsided be
! gan.


PRESENT CONDITION OF THE IRON MINE.
The Iron Mine now embraces a number of claims


extending along the side of the hill, and is at
| present in litigation with the owners of other


mines further up the hill, which, Mr.. Stevens as
| serts, have struck his vein. The laws of the
| United States provide that the dscovcrcr of vein
| carrying precious metals may follow it down in all


its dips and spurs. Mr.. Seveno's contention is that
| having discovered this vein no one else has right
to sink shaft into it from above. even though the


mouth of the shaft be outside of the sde-lines of
! his claim. The other side deny that there is any


well defined vein III the hill, and hold therefore,
| that the working of each claim must be confined


within its side-lines. To prove the existence of


vein and that it is identical with the which the
Williams and other shafts have struck Meosrs.
stevens and Letter have pushed their main incline
down 900 feet and have driven levels at right
angles to it each side 100 feet apart Tho north
| and south inclines have not been pushed as far.
To enter this mine walks down the incline or
tunnel pitching into the mountain at the angle OF
15e or 200. The sides and roof of the incline are


supported by timbers and two tracks arc laid upon
the floor over which ore and waste rock are hauled
to the surface in small ears The main incline fol-
lows the general direction Of the vein, although as


the latter is not always regular III its course, but
wavy, it is sometimes above and sometimes below


the former The levels, also, sometimes run out of
the mineral and then strike IL again at distance


of few feet. In this mine the 'contact" " is very
plainly defined, and there is hardly point where


the porphyry above and the limestone beneath can


not be plainly distinguished with the ore-bearng
| vein between. varying from line in thickness to
| six or seven feet. The greater part of the ores


taken out of the Iron Mine of comparatively low
| grade the oxides of Ton-bearing silver being the
| most plentiful At the same time there are streaks
| both of hard and soft carbOnates found in this