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History and Pro- duction of
The Gold Fields of Boulder County
Colorado
The Coming Gold Fields of Colorado
YOU WON'T BE SORRY IF YOU GET IT OF
WILSON
He Sells Hardware and Mine Supplies
W E have everything in Hard- ware and Mine Supplies. Our store is choke full of dependable goods, our windows are filled with seasonable Hardware sug- gestions, and we want every person in Boulder County, and others, to visit our store. You don't have to buy anything, but come in anyway, and let's get better acquainted, then when you do want something
YOU CAN'T HELP REMEMBERING
WILSON
1113 PEARL ST. BOULDER, COLO. PHONE 953 RED He Sells Hardware
HISTORY AND PRO- DUCTION OF
The Gold Fields of Boulder County, Colorado
BY EDWARD MONROE AND JOHN R. WOLFF
Copyright Applied for, April, 1905 by the Authors
PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE UNITED STATES GOLD CORPORATION
PRESS OF THE BOULDER DAILY HERALD
5-34802
THE LIBRARY C CONGRESS, Our COPY REDEMED MAY. 18 1905
apr. 28, 1905 CLASE a XXa. Nn 115512 COPY 3.
FJ 218 CTM7
Preface
(By Norris C. Sprigg, of Ores and Metals, Denver, Colo.)
Never before has there been anything like the present extent of in- terest directed to mines and mining as a legitimate and profitable means of operation. The materially improved facilities for mining and saving the values of the mineral, the slump in all kinds of industrial stocks, and the failure to produce on the part of the oil wells of Ohio, Indiana and elsewhere, are naturally attracting the response of the abundance of idle capital, in the hands of the wide awake investor who is ready to be "shown."
Mr. John Stewart Mill, the profound sage of political economy very aptly divided the world into two great classes, the "consumer," and the "producer," limiting the latter to 40 per cent thereof, with which mi- nority it is but just to include the ever persistent and seemingly impelled, process man and prospector, the miner and the "mill man," the "push- er" and the promoter. These are "they that do things," and in conse- quence of whose combined efforts, hundreds of millions of dollars are annually added to the wealth of the world and "monuments" will be built to their memory "and their children's children will rise up and call them blessed."
In mining, what has been done, and how, what is being done and how, what WILL be done and how, afford an indefinite margin for contemplation. Mainly, what not to do, and where not to go having been determined. The past and present are no possible criterion for the future. Thus far only the surface has been scratched, and yet against whatever odds, numerally, more mines have produced a "million" than are developed to a depth of five hundred feet. Formerly sixty dollars a ton were paid for a saving of 40 per cent of the value of the ore. Nine- ty per cent or better is now being realized at the minimum cost of two to five dollars per ton. Electricity has perfected light and locomotion and means more to Colorado than to any half dozen of the Middle States. Our numerous mountain streams are being successfully har- nessed and in Cripple Creek and Leadville machinery is doing 75 per cent of the mining. The hammer and drill and pick used, "time out of mind," and as yet in most of the mines, will soon find a place on the "shelf" with the tallow dip, the ox cart and the reap hook. The best brain and brawn of the world are being directed to the production of GOLD. Chemistry has practically won and GOLD is "king." The mine stands on its merit.
Thou vast empire of plains and parks and peaks Whose snow clad summits glisten in the light Thou mighty treasure vault where nature seeks To hide her jewels safe from human sight. Fond foolish dame thy secret mayest disclose Thy prying child the combination knows.
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THE GOLD FIELDS OF BOULDER COUNTY.
Introductory
The gold fields of Boulder County embrace one of the largest min- eral areas in Colorado. They cover the entire belt in the extreme northern portion of Colorado east of the continental divide. Beginning at the foot hills at Boulder with the Poorman mine, the gold belt ex- tends westward a distance of twenty-five miles to the Fourth of July mine on the crest of the continent. They extend from the Moffat rail- way on the south to the great Smuggler mine on the north, a distance of almost twenty-five miles. Gold was first discovered in this field in 1860 and for over forty years the mines of the county have poured forth a stream of golden wealth, quietly and without any flare of trumpets. Throughout this entire period operations have been confined to the min- ing of high grade ore on account of economic conditions which would not admit of mining low grades except at a loss. Of the vast net work veins that overspread the gold-fields, only one ore mine has been developed to the 1,200 foot level, one to the 1,000 foot level, two to the 900 foot level and four to the 700 foot level. The average depth of the entire field will not exceed 200 feet. Notwithstanding this fact the gold-fields of this county have easily produced in gold and silver over fifty million dollars to date.
From the stand point of development and production the field is in its infancy and affords the most attractive inducements for investment, of any field in Colorado.
No county in Colorado can boast of the same diversity of mineral resources possessed by Boulder County. It has the comming gold- fields of the State. It has great copper deposits which are now being de- veloped. Here is situated the greatest tungsten field in the world now supplying the market with over 50 per cent of the tungsten mined.
It also has large deposits of molybdinite ore a rare metal of which there are only two mines in the United States. Large deposits of iron ore are found in this county and great bodies of flourine ore exists here here.
The county is divided into six mining disrticts consisting of Mag- nolia, Sugar Loaf, Gold Hill and Central districts, embracing the great tellurium belt and Ward Districts where is situated the sulphide zone and Grand Island, covering the gold-copper silver belt. Each of these districts their mines and their production will now be considered in their
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THE GOLD FIELDS OF BOULDER COUNTY.
order, together with the great tungsten belt which is largely in the Grand Island and Sugar Loaf distriets.
In view of the thousands of lode claims in each mining distriet it will be impossible to give further than a brief review of the principal mines with their producton. The fact that a mine is not mentioned in this book does not signify that it is not a meritorious prop- erty, or that it is not a produeer. In fact we estimate that there are not less than 500 mines with a production of from $1,000 to $10,000, of whieh no mention is made herein because of laek of spaee or time to obtain data coneerning their produetion.
THE TELLURIUM BELT
The tellurium belt of Boulder County is six miles wide and twenty- five miles long and in area is the largest in the world, excepting the Cripple Creek distriet. Tellurium is a metal of no intrinsic value, but is found combined with gold and silver. It was first discovered in 1872, in Boulder County and was so rare that, at the time of its discovery it was then, the third locality containing it in the known world. Nature's secret of combining the precious metals with tellurium, proved to be a great pitfall to the miner and some of the most romantic ineidents eonnected with the early history of this country are the dis- carded fortunes thrown over the dumps in this distriet, before the miner learned the value of the ore.
The first discovery of tellurium was made in the famous Red Cloud mine at Gold Hill. Although the ore from this property would not mill or pan it assayed enormously and attracted the attention of the officials of the United States mint at Denver, Colorado. Specimens were sent to Dr. F. A. Genth, a professor of the University of Pennsylvania, for an- alysis, who pronouneed it tellurium ore. One of the peculiar characteris- ties of this ore is the fabulous value in gold which it carries, ranging from one hundred to one thousand dollars per ton. In appearance, it gives no sign of the existing metals but when roasted on the top of a eom- mon stove, the pure gold comes to the surface in the form of globules or bubbles. Perhaps one of the most remarkable featurs of the tellurium district is the faet that it is traversed by silver and free gold leads. The belt begins on the extreme south with the Magnolia district and extends northward embraeing the Sugar Loaf distriet, Salina, Sunshine and Gold Hill in the Gold Hill district, and Springdale, Jamestown and Ballarat in the Central district on the extreme north. The mines of eael distriet and the total gold production will now be considered in the order named.
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THE GOLD FIELDS OF BOULDER COUNTY.
MINES OF THE MAGNOLIA DISTRICT Gold Production to Date, Three Million Dollars
The Magnolia Mining District embraces the southern end of the tellurium belt and has recently been opened up by the construction of the Denver, Northwestern & Pacific Ry., more popularly called the Moffat road. This district is notable because its mines were the first to produce tellurium ore in large quantities in the State of Colorado. In 1875 the Keystone, the Mountain Lion and the Dunraven were opened up and produced in a few months from surface workings, fifty thousand dollars. The district is today creating wide spread attention, because both its formation and its ores so closely resemble the famous bonanzas of the Cripple Creek District, as to warrant the belief that the conditions are the same. Another fact worthy of mention is the unmistakable evidence of the existence of large copper deposits in the south and eastern part of the district. The Erie and Colorado Copper Company of Erie, Pa., and the Calumet Copper M. & S. Company of Denver, are both sinking deep. shafts on copper veins running through the district, and may yet open the great copper mines. The principal mines of the District with their total gross production is as follows:
The Mountain Lion $ 250,000
The Keystone 500,000
The Kekionga 500,000
The American 125,000
The Senator Hill 250,000
The Senator Hill 250,000
The Lady Franklin 160,000
The Magnolia (extension of Kekionga). 400,000
$2,185,000
The Cash and Rebecca, (shipping) $ 150,000
The Poor Man, (shipping) 60,000
The Ben C. Lowell 50,000
Ward H. Lamon 50,000
The Augusta, Little Jenny and I. X. L. . 40,000
Sack and Fox and Dunraven 150,000
The Graphic or Golden Group, (shipping) 40,000
The Pickwick and Little Maud. 50,000
The Little Pittsburg 45,000
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THE GOLD FIELDS OF BOULDER COUNTY.
The Dardinell, (shipping)
40,000
The New Year and Beggar 80,000
The Mineral Farm
60,000
The India
10,000
$ 807,200
2,185,000
Total
$2,992,200
The deepest shaft in the Magnolia District is not down over 500 feet and it may be safely stated that the splendid gold production of the mines above given has been taken from above the 250 foot level, and represents the output of the high grade ore, only, as conditions have been such that the mine owners could not profitably extract any ore run- ning under twenty dollars per ton. The mine owners have therefore, left the low grade ore standing. Like the low grades of Cripple Creek and all other great mining communities they constitute the largest proportion of the ore bodies and hence the principal source of income.
A 60-ton cyanide mill is now in successful operation at Magnolia and may revolutionize the prevailing conditions at this camp. That the ores of the district are peculiarly adapted to cyanide has been proven be- yond question.
The principal mines of the district lie on the great divide between Middle and South Boulder creeks and are capable of being cut at a depth of twenty-five hundred feet with tunnels. Many tunnels have al- ready been started into Magnolia mountain from Boulder creek, some of which are now working, notably the Gold Cliff tunnel and the Sylva- nite Deep Tunnel & Mining Company of Omaha, Nebraska.
NOTE :- The information concerning the various mines above giv- en is approximately accurate and has been obtained by the officers of this company after a laborious search and inquiry. Where no record has been kept a careful estimate of the gold production has been made from the best source obtainable and in cases of uncertainty the amount is un- der stated rather than over stated. We are indebted to the following persons for correct records of the following mines: To M. F. Leach and W. L. Seely of Boulder for the Kekionga; to Chas. H. Cheney of Boul- der, Colorado, for the Ben C. Lowell; to Guy Fairhurst for the Graphic or Golden group; to Col. W. B. Teeters of Boulder, Guy Fairhurst, Frank Leonard and Martin Comerford of Magnolia for each of the oth- er mines named. See also Fossett's Book on Colorado, page 405.
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THE GOLD FIELDS OF BOULDER COUNTY.
SUGAR LOAF MINING DISTRICT Record Production for Mines of this District, Two and One- Half Million Dollars
North of Magnolia lies the famous Sugar Loaf district of Boulder County, embracing an area four miles in length and six miles in width. The district is named after Sugar Loaf mountain, whose peculiar shape gave it that appellation. Like the district of Magnolia the ores and vein system closely resemble the great Cripple Creek district.
Sugar Loaf is in its infancy both as to gold production and develop- ment. Perhaps one of the most interesting factors in this district is the presence within its borders of many of the old time prospectors from Cripple Creek who discovered and opened up some of its great bonanzas, notably "Paddy" Burns, the locator of the Shurtloff, Burns and Phar- macy on Bull Hill, and "Bill" Davenport, the man who opened the fa- mous Jack Pot. These men who have already won and lost fortune in the greatest gold field on the American continent, have been allured to this virgin and attractive portion of Colorado, with that intuitive assur- ance that nature will again tell them of her secret treasure, which only comes to the experienced prospector.
The three great mines of this section are the Livingston with a rec- ord of a half million, the Logan group with a record of seven hundred thousand and the Yellow Pine with the record of a million dollars.
THE LIVINGSTON.
The Livingston is named after the famous mother lode or dyke on which it is located. This dyke varies from 20 to 60 feet in width and may be traced through the country for miles and miles by its outcropping on the surface. Its great record production has been taken entirely from surface workings extending for a depth of 100 to 250 feet and it is re- garded as one of the greatest of Boulder county bonanzas. For almost fifteen years it was worked continuously by its owner Captain Alonzo Coan, a wealthy and highly respected citizen of Boulder county, who owes a large fortune to Boulder county mines. The captain lacked the nerve to keep the development on this property ahead of his mining and in the year 1902, after most of the available developed ore had been tak- en out, he granted an option to sell it to two "tender feet," Loomis and Doty of Attica, New York. In the meantime, Col. Wilbur B. Teeters, the veteran prospector and mine expert of Boulder county, offered to show the "tenderfeet" (for a consideration) where to find an ore chute out-
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THE GOLD FIELDS OF BOULDER COUNTY.
cropping on the surface. His proposition was accepted and he took them to the center of a growing potato patch, through which the claim ex- tended, and told them to dig. They dug and the very ground which covered the Livingston dyke was saturated with gold. The ore was mar- velously rich and thirty thousand dollars was extracted in sinking 30 feet, and the gold potato patch attracted the attention of the entire state. Upwards of a hundred thousand dollars has already been taken from this ore chute above the 200-foot level and the property is one of the steady shippers of the district. Messrs. Loomis and Doty took up their option and are now the owners.
THE LOGAN.
The Logan group have a record of having paid to the stockholders of the Clintion M. & M. Company 40 per cent per annum in dividends and is rated as the greatest dividend payer in the county. Located in the heart of the great tellurium belt, the Logan is a free gold quartz mine. The high grade ore often runs as high as twenty-five dollars per pound.
One of the principal owners in the company is Col. S. B. Dick, also owner of the Colorado Northwestern Railway. The Logan affords a most interesting illustration of what can be done with a Boulder county "knife blade seam" vein when subjected to modern mining methods.
By a peculiar coincidence the Logan was formerly owned by Cap- tain Coan, also former owner of the Livingston. For many years the captain had mined the Logan group in a desultory fashion, gouging out the rich pay streaks from time to time but they "pinched or petered out." The captain determined to unload his "gold brick." He opened up a rich pocket that would run away up in the thousands. The cap- tain announced his desire to sell the property for twenty-five thousand and this desire was communicated to Col. S. B. Dick on one of his trips to Colorado in the latter part of the year 1898. The Colonel went to see the property, the "gold brick" was alluring, and he took it in at the fig- ure named. The property was deeded to the Clinton Mining and Mill- ing Co., and placed under the management of Hon. W. B. Hayes of Boul- der, Colo., and subjected to modern mining methods. In a few months' time the purchase price was not only realized but the company began the payment of dividends to its stockholders and have continued them regularly ever since. The total production of the Logan group by the Company from Jan. 1st, 1899 to Jan. 1st, 1905, is $576,820. Of this amount one fifth was free gold so pure that it was amalgamated into gold bullion by the Company and sold direct to the United States mint
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THE GOLD FIELDS OF BOULDER COUNTY.
This is a record that can be rivaled by few, if any, of the gold fields of the world. The mine is credited with a production of over one hundred thousand between the time of its discovery in 1875 and the time the Clinton Company purchased it in 1899. It is probable that the total production is upwards of three quarters of a million to date. The prop- erty is equipped with electric power for drills and hoisting and is one of the modelly managed and developed mines of the county.
It is developed by a series of tunnels, one below the other, aggre- gating a total of 5,000 feet in length, the lowest of which cuts the vein at a depth of seven hundred feet and the ground below this point is vir- gin, although the mines are developed below the 700-foot tunnel level by a shaft sunk 100 feet with levels run each way.
THE YELLOW PINE.
This great property was discovered in 1870 by George R. William- son, the president of the Boulder National Bank of Boulder, Colo. One of the most remarkable features about this property is the fact that it is a silver producer in the midst of a gold belt. It is located upon the famous Hoosier dyke or mother lode extending for miles through the Sugar Loaf district to Gold Hill upon which some of the greatest mines in the county are located. The contact of this mammoth dyke, which is 40 to 80 feet in width, with a small silver lead caused a deposit of ore from which the owner extracted over a million dollars above the 500-foot level, the ore being fabulously rich in silver, the high- est grade being almost pure metal. Old timers of Boulder county like to recur to the time when Williamson was a poor prospector hauling wood with a cart and mule to earn a grub-stake and the story of his dis- covery of this famous mine and his swift change from poverty to fortune is one of the romantic incidents which contribute to the fascinating his- fory of the Boulder County gold fields.
Mr. Williamson has tenaciously refused to sell or lease this property and like the late Winfield Stratton considers his treasure vaults safer in the ground than anywhere else.
THE LIVINGSTON DYKE.
With the exception of the producers above described the great properties of this district are the Sphinx group of mines embracing a mile and a half of the Livingston dyke, including the exten- sion of the Livingston itself. The Sphinx Lode has a record of upwards of $10,000 above the 180-foot level, realized from the sale of high grade ore only. The first gold discoveries of Sugar Loaf were made on this
THE GOLD FIELDS OF BOULDER COUNTY.
group of properties prior to the year 1870 on the Lindley Lode, to which the following historical reference is made in Fosset's Book on Colorado, at page 389:
"The Lindley is the great vein here, and is generally considered the mother vein of this section and perhaps of the county. It can be traced by its outcroppings for miles away. It stands up from the mountain, over which it extends like a stone wall. This wall is eleven feet wide and often forty feet in height. Even after the presence of silver was known, little work was done upon it. * * In 1870, however, the Blake brothers with commendable faith and courage, began to "work it" and continued so to do whenever means would allow, down to the past season. Since then it has proved itself all that they had hoped for. At a depth of 110 feet in the main shaft, the lode is 28 feet wide and this is mainly composed of ore whose average assay is $90 per ton."
The Boulder Gorge M. M. & P. Company own and are developing these properties under modern mine methods and they are destined to rank among the great shippers of the district.
Other mines of note with their record production are as follows:
Smoky Hill $50,000
The Dime 50,000
The Potter 50,000
The Recluse 50,000
The Pine Shade 50,000
The Harold
25,000
The Amalgam Thief
25,000
The Wild Tiger
25,000
The Golden Age No. 2
20,000
The Golden Eagle
10,000
The Milan
15,000
The Ragged Top
NOTE :- For an accurate statement of the gold production of the mines of the Sugar Loaf District we are indebted to the following per- sons : For the Logan, Hon. W. B. Hayes of Boulder, Colorado; for the Livingston and Sphinx group, Hon. George W. Teal and George E. Lake, Esq .; for the Yellow Pine, Chas. McAllister, Esq., of Boulder, who ob- tained his information from the books of the owner; for the Smoky Hill, the Smoky Hill Mining Company of Allentown, Pa.,; for other mines given, George E. Lake, M. F. Leach, W. B. Teeters and Hon. Geo. W. Teal.
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THE GOLD FIELDS OF BOULDER COUNTY.
GOLD HILL MINING DISTRICT Production of Mines to Date, Seventeen Millions
The Gold Hill Mining District joins the Sugar Loaf District on the north and is the largest as well as the best developed zone of the tellu- rium belt. It was named after the Gold Hill Camp, where one of the first fiold discoveries of the state were made in 1859 in the famous Horse Fall mine and the gold excitement which followed remains an interest- ing feature of the early territorial days of the state. For 45 years the mines of this disrict have been steadily producing gold, until its record production has almost reached the twenty million mark. One of the marvelous features of the district is the fact that its production has come out of purely surface workings. The average depth of the mines of the district probably do not exceed 300 feet. One mine has reached the 1500-foot level, another the 900-foot level and another the 700- foot level, being respectively the Slide at Gold Hill, the Wood Mountain at Wall Street and the Ingram at Salina. This is a factor showing con- clusively that the district is in its infancy from the standpoint of gold production and this position is further strengthened by the fact that this production represents only the high grade ore, the low grade ore being left to stand in the mines as conditions would not admit of their mining except at a loss. With the advent of changed condition the year 1905 promises to be a banner year for the gold fields of this district.
A vast network of mining camps extend over the entire district but its principal mines are grouped in and about the camps of Salina, Sun- shine, Gold Hill and Rowena, which will be considered in the order named.
SALINA
Record Production of Mines $6,000,000.
The large producers are the Melvina with a record of a million. The Ingram with the same record, the Emancipation with a record of one million and a quarter and the Victoria with a record of three quarters of a million.
THE MELVINA MINE.
This wonderful bonanza was discovered in the month of July 1875, by one of the most wonderful chances of fortune ever recorded in the fascinating history of the gold fields of the west. The story has been made the subject of more than one tale of romance.
Scene on Eldora Extension, Colorado & Northwestern R. R. in the Heart of the Tungsten Belt.
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THE GOLD FIELDS OF BOULDER COUNTY.
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