USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume I > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
.
Some of the gold hunters who overran Clear Creek and Gilpin in the summer of 1859, not striking it rich, hit the trail for fresh pastures. One party of pros- pectors-Thomas Cassady, Clark Chambers, W. J. Curtice, Catesby Dale, Earl Hamilton, W. J. Holman, and several others-skirted the Snowy Range and explored the edge of South Park. They found pay-dirt in a creek christened by them Tarryall. As the story goes, one of the tired men exclaimed: "Let us tarry here." "Yes," said one of his comrades, "we'll tarry all." The name of "Tarryall" stuck, and it was also given to the new mining camp. So there was a "Tarryall City" as well as a Tarryall Creek. The town has been deserted many years.
Near by sprang up a mining camp named Hamilton in honor of a member of the party. Reports of rich finds spread, and crowds of "Pilgrims" flocked to the diggings. The later comers, being told there was no room for them, in
262
VIEW OF A GULCH MINING LOCALITY AT THE PIONEER TOWN OF MONTGOM- ERY, IN THE NORTHWESTERN PART OF THE SOUTH PARK DISTRICT, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH MADE IN 1867 The town became extinct soon after 1867.
264
HISTORY OF COLORADO
derision changed the name of Tarryall to "Graball." Moving on some thirty miles or more, they had the luck to discover rich gold-bearing gravel and named the new settlement Fairplay. Both names-Tarryall and Fairplay-have passed into history and they perpetuate the dispositions of the first arrivals; they are significant of traits, selfishness and the love of fair play, which are characteristic of Coloradoans today.
In the summer of 1859, the South Park mining district swarmed with pros- pectors and miners. Among them was an odd character called "Buckskin Joe," because he wore buckskin clothes. This man, whose name was Joseph Higgin- bottom, discovered a valuable deposit of gold dust in the Park mineral belt, and the vein or district became known as "Buckskin Joe." A lofty peak in the north- western part of Park County was named in his honor Buckskin Mountain. Buck- skin Joe was a flourishing mining camp for a number of years, some of its veins being of extraordinary richness. The famed Phillips lode is said to have yielded over three hundred thousand dollars in the early '60s. Up to 1866, the Buckskin district was credited with a production of $1,600,000.
"This region is rich in gold and silver," says Fossett in 1876. "The placers have yielded largely and are again doing so, but in a less degree. Up to the time of the silver discoveries in 1871, the gold lodes and placers had produced $2,500,000, principally obtained prior to 1866. The silver deposits are, however, of vastly greater value and extent. They did not produce largely until 1872 or, rather, 1873, but have already yielded nearly three million dollars."
The section around Fairplay had many productive mines of gold and silver. The estimated production of Park County, in gold and silver, amounted to over half a million annually from 1873 to 1879, the Moose and the Dolly Varden giving big returns. Up to 1876, the Moose is said to have produced over three million dollars. Here it may be stated that the estimates of Hollister and Fossett are sometimes over the mark.
Speaking of Park County, State Geologist J. Alden Smith, in his report for 1882, remarks :
"High up on the slopes of Mounts Lincoln and Bross, we find some of the finest contact mines in the county, many of them extensively developed, among them the Moose, Dolly Varden, Russia, Wilson, Lime, D. H. Hill, and others of lesser note. For ten years the Dolly Varden group, working but a small force, has returned about six hundred and sixty thousand dollars in bullion, and it is estimated that the low-grade ores on the dumps are worth five hundred thousand dollars. The Moose appears to have been equally productive * *
"Both fissure and contact veins are found in Mosquito district. In past years some of these have been quite productive. Both gold and silver occur in about equal proportions, or rather of equal value. The Orphan Boy, Senate, London, Forest Queen, New York and some others have acquired greatest promi- nence through exploitation. From the London, besides the smelting product, im- mense quantities of free-milling gold-bearing ores are extracted."
On the top of a peak of Mosquito Range, overlooking South Park, is the cele- brated London mine. It is situated about six miles west of Alma, and lies near the county line. The London is the foremost producer of gold and lead in Park County. It has been one of the great mines of the West. Most of the deep mines of the county are in the Mosquito district.
265
HISTORY OF COLORADO
During the eighteen years, 1897-1914, the gold output of Park County fluc- tuated, year by year, from the high-water mark of 1909, $555,815, to $43,644 in 1914. Park's silver production in the same period totals something over a half million dollars. The lead output during those years amounted to about $345,000, an average of less than $20,000 a year. The copper production has averaged about $5,000 a year. For some years, 1908-1I, the zinc yield of Park County was considerable, aggregating almost a quarter of a million dollars. These fig- tires are based on statistics in reports of the State Bureau of Mines.
THE ROMANCE OF MINING IN SUMMIT COUNTY
The story of the first prospecting of Summit County belongs to the romance of mining. Among the disillusioned fortune-seekers who camped in the shadow of Pike's Peak in the fateful summer of '59 was a band of gold-hunters who were disappointed but not quite disheartened by their experience. Finding no nuggets or colors galore in the region around Manitou, they hit the trail leading into South Park, August 4, 1859. In this historic party were Reuben J. Spalding, John Randall, William H. Iliff, James Mitchell, N. B. Shaw and Balce Weaver. Moving in a northwesterly course, they reached the South Platte, crossed the Snowy Range and halted at a point on Blue River not far from the site of the Breckenridge of to-day. They camped and set about in earnest to find gold in the vicinity.
Mr. Spalding's narrative tells what happened on the afternoon of August roth. "We sunk a hole 3 ft. deep on a bar," he says, "and I, having mined in Cali- fornia, was selected, as the most experienced man in the company, to do the panning. The result of the first pan of dirt was 13c of gold, the largest grain about the size and shape of a flax seed. The second panful gave 27c, both yields being weighed in gold scales brought for the purpose. This was the first recorded discovery on Blue River. Our little party now felt jubilant over the strike thus made and began to realize chat here lay the fulfillment of their most ardent hopes."
There were fourteen in the company, and they proceeded to stake off claims on both banks of the river. Spalding's claim was 200 feet and each of the others had 100 feet. Believing they had found a rich mining country, the miners erected a rude log blockhouse for defense in case of attack by the Utes. Then Spalding put up a cabin for a dwelling. This done, he began placer mining in the river, washing out $10 worth of dust the first day.
Digging and prospecting went on, and several mining camps were started in 1860, one of them being Breckinridge, (afterward changed to Breckenridge). The population of the various diggings numbered about eight thousand, and many of the pilgrims found placer mining profitable. It is said that the dis- coverers of Gold Run, two brothers, cleaned up ninety-six pounds of gold in one season, lasting six months. There were other valuable finds. The gulches of Summit County were scenes of feverish activity not only in the early '6os, but in '64 and later, when placer mining had played out in some other parts of Colo- rado. No exact estimate can be made of the golden harvest of Summit County in the '6os, but it amounted to several million dollars. Breckenridge and other
.
266
HISTORY OF COLORADO
nearby mining districts prospered when some other gold camps of the territory were deserted.
The first notable discoveries of silver in Summit County were made in 1868-9, along the Snake River. Some of the mines were worked with varying success, but owing to its isolation this section did not become populous. The heavy snow- falls interfered with mining operations a great portion of the year.
In the southwestern portion of the county some of the ore deposits are low in silver content, associated with sulphides of iron and copper, the average grade of ore ranging from 20 to 100 oz. silver a ton. In the neighborhood of Monte- zuma and Chihuahua are veins rich in silver.
For many years, work has been carried on in the placers along Blue River and its tributary gulches. The harvest of the yellow grains, obtained first by the gold-pan and sluice and of late years by dredges, has been very large. The first gold dredge in Summit County was installed in the Breckenridge district in 1898. It was a small affair, but larger and more costly dredges followed. Now gold- dredging is a profitable industry.
Summit County's yield of gold for the eighteen years, 1897-1914, has been nearly five million dollars, an average of about $270,000 a year. The silver output during the same period has averaged about $130,000 a year ; the production of lead has amounted to about $2,500,000; copper is a small item, about $100,000; while the yield of zinc has been some years enormous, aggregating about three million dollars during the fourteen years, 1902-1915. The zinc production of 1914 was valued at $260,000.
Summit County is the foremost placer area in Colorado. In 1914, the pro- duction of placer gold in this state was $642,360, and 95 per cent of it came from the placers of Summit County. The Breckenridge mining district includes practically all the placers of any importance.
Since 1901, dredging operations have been carried on extensively in the Breckenridge district, and over $3,000,000 in gold has been garnered in. The placer yield of 1913 was upward of $400,000, most of it obtained by three dredges, run by electricity. There has been some hydraulic mining in the placers of Summit County. Several valuable gold nuggets have been found, one being worth $500.
In recent years gold dredging in Summit County has become a paying indus- try where the ground shows an average value of 20 cents per cubic yard. The cost of handling ground is about 7 cents per yard, but varies in different locali- ties, electricity being more expensive in some places than in others. In some of the placer fields the yield is much greater than 7 cents to the cubic yard. Gold dredging in the Swan River district has been a profitable enterprise for years. The Tonopah Placers Company's three large boats get as good returns of the yellow metal as any dredges on this continent. One of the boats of this company works successfully both summer and winter. The French Gulch Dredging Com- pany has been operating for years past and owns some of the richest gold areas in the United States.
The Wellington is the principal mine of the county. The Wellington mill in Breckenridge is well equipped.
267
HISTORY OF COLORADO
LEADVILLE MAKES WORLD HISTORY
The mines of Lake County have a world-wide reputation. Leadville is as famous as Cripple Creek. There have been several epochs in the history of this wonderful mining district. In early days placer mining was active in Cali- fornia Gulch. The gold diggings of that far-off time, which has almost passed into oblivion, yielded up millions of treasure. Then the pioneer miners, after making large clean-ups, departed, thinking that the deposits had about played out. After a period of depression there was a revival that ranks among the world's marvels. The stampede of 1878 is comparable to the Pike's Peak gold excitement. Then for a dozen years or more the camp had a considerable popu- lation, and things were humming. The period of prosperity lasted until 1893, when silver mining got a setback and many mines were closed because of the low price of the white metal. Stagnation ensued. That year of panic and de- pression will be long remembered. Leadville staggered beneath the blow, but recovered. A period of exploration and renewed enterprise followed. The pro- duction of gold picked up. The camp was again alive. A campaign of develop- ment work was carried on in the gold belt of Lake County. The names of its mines became household words. Leadville has had its ups and downs, but is still on the map. Of late years zinc has helped its prosperity amazingly.
Such is a brief epitome of Lake County's growth and achievements. It is one of Colorado's most celebrated counties. It is Colorado's most productive county. A section of about four thousand acres has given the world nearly $400,000,000 in metallic wealth. Its hills contain treasure vaults of riches. Its mines are still producing. This historic region faces a bright future.
As the story goes, Russell Gulch became the mecca of Georgians and other Southerners in the summer of '59. From time to time parties of these placer miners broke away and wandered westward into the mountains, looking for pay gravel. One of them, a man by the name of Kelly (or Kelley) is said to have prospected on the upper Arkansas and to have found gold in the vicinity of Granite in the fall of 1859. His find became known as Kelly's Bar. This event led to the discovery of California Gulch the following year.
In the early spring of 1860 Kelly and a score or more of prospectors explored the locality south of the Leadville district of today, getting colors in various timbered ravines. In March, 1860, "Kelly's Mining District" was organized by these hopeful adventurers, and soon afterward the news of the discovery reached Denver, starting a stampede to the new diggings.
In April, 1860, a company of Georgians headed by Abe Lee drifted into the Leadville country in quest of gold. On the slope where Leadville now stands they met a party of prospectors from Iowa, led by W. P. Jones. Shortly after- ward, on April 26, 1860, the Georgians uncovered a rich deposit of placer gold in California Gulch. Building a big bonfire that evening and firing their guns, they attracted the attention of the men of the Jones party, who joined them in the morning. The diggings proved to be extraordinarily valuable, and the fame of California Gulch spread far and wide. So great was the influx of adventurers that Lake County in 1861 was the most populous spot in the Territory of Colo- rado, just organized. California Gulch, only five or six miles long, had from five to ten thousand people in it that summer. For years it was one of the best
268
HISTORY OF COLORADO
gold-producing ravines in Colorado. In 1860 and 1861 it may have yielded a million a year in gold dust. Some of the 100-foot claims panned out from $20,000 to $60,000 a season, from $10 to $25 a day to the man, if Hollister's figures are to be trusted. This writer was at times addicted to exaggeration. The richness of the ground was, however, very uneven. Here a man had the good fortune to strike a pay streak that sparkled with flakes of gold, while his neighbor got little or nothing.
"California Gulch, in 1860 and 1861, had a population of something over 10,000, and was the great camp of Colorado," says Wolfe Londoner, who was on the ground in those flush times. "It was strung all along the gulch, which was something over five miles long. * * * There were a great many tents in the road and on the side of the ridge, and the wagons were backed up, the people living in them. Some were used as hotels. They had their grub under the wagons, piled their dishes there, and the man of the house and his wife would sleep in the wagon. Their boarders took their meals off tables strung along the wayside to take in the cheerful but unwary miner. The game that took the most was three-card monte."
Meanwhile other placers were located. One of them, Georgia Bar, two miles below Granite, is said to have been the most productive in proportion to area in the county. A venturesome Georgian, Jim Taylor, has the honor of being the first prospector to cross the Saguache Range. Taylor Park and Taylor River in Gunnison County perpetuate his name. Other fortune hunters wandered up and down among the hills, garnering the golden sands in the gulches. Such were the beginnings of mining in Lake County.
California Gulch saw its best days in 1861, but, in the following years of lean diggings, the camp was not entirely deserted. Sturdy workers with the pick, shovel and sluice-box or "long tom" were to be found here and there, and other gulches had their solitary inhabitants. Some claims that were fabulously rich at the start were worked over and over till the streambeds were pretty nearly denuded of gold dust. Sometimes they quit because of the scarcity of water. and returned when it was plentiful. Placer production was light after 1866, and miners were few and far between; it dropped to $60,000 in 1869, and to $20,000 in 1876. Meanwhile the Printer Boy and other gold lodes were profitably oper- ated with stamp mills. The gold production of 1877 was $55,000, and $118,000 in 1878, according to Fossett. All told, the county's gold product during the quarter-century, 1860-1884, amounted to $13,000,000. At least, this estimate is somewhere near the mark.
In 1873-7 times were pretty dull in Lake County, and yet things were hap- pening that eventually changed the course of Colorado history. In 1873 Lucius F. Bradshaw was sluicing a side hill of California Gulch, but was compelled to abandon gold washing by the accumulation of heavy sand in his boxes. Sus- pecting the presence of lead, he looked around and uncovered a body of lead- silver ore. The discovery was made near the spot where Abe Lee found gold deposits in the gulch in the spring of 1860. It was an event of far-reaching importance.
In the summer of 1874 W. J. Stevens and Alvinus B. Wood began to work placer claims in California Gulch, using improved methods. It is supposed that Stevens heard of Bradshaw's discovery, and it set him to thinking. Anyway,
Courtesy of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.
FIRST CABIN IN ORO, BEFORE LEADVILLE WAS NAMED, WHERE GOLD WAS FIRST DISCOVERED IN THIS PART OF THE RANGE
FILA YPELNE
BR/ MAIL ARUGGISTS Destrhex adirty
BOOK STORE
VIEW ON CHESTNUT STREET, LEADVILLE, IN 1880
270
HISTORY OF COLORADO
Stevens and Wood, after investigating the heavy dirt they had to handle, found it to be carbonate of lead carrying silver. They concluded that the hillside was full of it and took up more claims. Two brothers, Charles and Patrick Gallagher, became interested and located claims rich with carbonates. Reports of these dis- coveries were noised abroad. Scores of men, then hundreds, were attracted to California Gulch in 1877. High grade ore was obtained by digging to shallow depths, and a boom was started such as Colorado had not known since the Pike's Peak excitement. The mining camp was organized into a city and named Lead- ville on January 14, 1878. It has been nicknamed the "Cloud City" on account of its high altitude. It is nearly two miles above sea level.
The "Leadville fever" was the result of the discovery of bonanza ore bodies on Fryer Hill in May, 1878. Then the rush began in earnest. In 1879 Leadville was the liveliest town in the world. It had 5,000 residents in January of that year, and its population was estimated to be 15,000 in the fall. As if by magic a cosmopolitan city grew up in a single year. Again Lake became the most popu- lous county in Colorado.
The railroad was completed to the "Cloud City" in 1880, and the camp was a scene of bustling activity. In 1884 it was estimated that Lake's silver production up to that date amounted to $55,000,000, and the output of lead was very great.
During the first decade of its existence, 1878-87, Leadville's yield of gold, silver and lead exceeded $120,000,000, largely silver (estimated at ninety cents an ounce). Meanwhile the "Carbonate City" had become a big smelting center. Its growth was substantial.
Before the opening of the Cripple Creek mines, Lake County stood first as an ore-producing county. Silver mining was the chief industry of its camps until the slump of the white metal in 1893. The city was hard hit by the demonetization of silver. A period of stagnation followed, but it was not long continued. The enterprising citizens of Lake turned their attention to gold, lead and zinc. Gold mining picked up, and the county had another period of prosperity. During the decade, 1898-1907, its output of gold amounted to $15,640,000. In this decade Lake was the banner county in the production of silver, yielding thirty million dollars' worth. The bulk of Colorado's supply of zinc comes from this county. Its zinc production has ranged from three to six millions annually for several years. Since 1907 its gold production has averaged more than a million and a quarter a year. During the seven years, 1908-14, Lake's harvest of the white metal was about twelve million, five hundred thousand dollars, or an average of something over one million, seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Lead is still extensively mined, and so is copper. Lake County's mineral treasure is seemingly inexhaustible.
The first half of 1916 was a period of marked activity in the mines of Lake County, the output being estimated at nine million dollars or more, or equal to the mineral production of the entire year of 1914. The yield of the mines in 1915 was close to sixteen million dollars. Many. old .mines, idle for years, have been re-opened. Among these are the Harvard, the Mikado, the Greenback, the Tarsus, etc. The upward movement in silver has increased the production of the white metal, of which Lake County has to its credit about one hundred and eighty million dollars in value.
271
HISTORY OF COLORADO
MINES OF THE SAN JUAN
One of the thrilling episodes of early Colorado history is the Baker expedi- tion of gold hunters, who explored the San Juan country so long ago as 1860.
Among the prospectors and miners who swarmed in California Gulch in the eventful summer of 1860 was an adventurer named Charles Baker. He was a restless fellow "who was always in search of something new." Baker was eager to penetrate the trackless region of southwestern Colorado, now known as the San Juan. He persuaded some men to outfit him for a prospecting trip in the terra incognita along the San Juan River or, rather, the mountainous district included in San Juan, La Plata and neighboring counties. There were six men with Baker on this foolhardy quest for treasure in the Ute domain. The leader reported that he had found colors, but the fact is that the party obtained very little gold on their wanderings. They knew nothing about lodes or quartz veins. They suffered many hardships in this inhospitable region; the Utes made it hot for them, and the discouraged palefaces had to get out.
The San Juan was traversed time and again by other parties of gold seekers in the '6os and '70s. In 1868 Captain Baker wandered through the mountains and over the plateaus of southwestern Colorado and finally met a tragic death at the hands of Indians. Baker Park was named in honor of this brave soldier of fortune. In this lovely valley nestles the Town of Silverton.
In 1871-2 some notable finds were made by prospectors in the San Juan Mountains. In 1873 that part of the Ute Reservation was ceded to the United States and thrown open to settlement. Immediately settlers poured into this rich mining country. Silverton and other mining towns date back to the '70s. Mining, however, was then at a disadvantage in this county, because of its isolated situation, and the yield of the precious metals was comparatively small up to 1882, when the Durango and Silverton Railroad was completed. From time to time the years have witnessed a magnificent outpouring of mineral wealth in the San Juan, the total up to January, 1916, being nearly $67,000,000.
According to Fossett, the San Juan district had produced $823,000 in silver, $416,000 in gold and $115,000 in lead prior to 1879. The area of the county was much larger then than now. The pioneer settlers were practically all miners, for agriculture is ont of the question in this elevated, picturesque region, where disaster overtook Frémont on his fourth expedition in 1848-9.
Says Hall: "The permanent occupation and development of the San Juan country was accomplished under almost incredible hardships and by a mere handful of resolute people. At first there was no communication with the older settlements of Colorado, the nearest of importance being Pueblo; no outlet even to the San Luis Valley at Del Norte, except by crude and rugged trails which tried the souls of men to the uttermost, until 1875, when by prodi- gious labor a more direct thoroughfare was opened on which wagons could be used. In 1876 the opening of the Crook Bros. reduction works at Lake City in Hinsdale County, offered a temporary market for the products of the lode mines, but they were almost inaccessible from this side and soon closed. It was not until after the completion of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway to Durango that any substantial prosperity ensued."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.