USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 50
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 50
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 50
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500
MATERIAL PROGRESS.
Mexican towns north of the line,27 and one, La Cos- tilla, directly upon it. Soon after the survey the legislature of New Mexico memorialized congress to have the counties of Costilla and Conejos reannexed to New Mexico upon the ground that Colorado had obtained them "through fraudulent representations," and that the people desired it, which was not the fact.28 The boundary remained unchanged.2'
In 1869 Governor Pile of New Mexico, as if to retaliate, and meet covetousness with covetousness, fitted out a company of experienced prospectors to explore the headwaters of the San Juan and the con- tiguous country, who learned at this time little to encourage effort in that direction. But the following year a party, having pushed their explorations west- ward to the Rio Animas near Baker park, discovered the Little Giant gold lode, samples of which were sent to New York for assay, and yielded from $900 to $4,000 per ton. Other discoveries followed, chiefly of silver lodes, and Las Animas district was formed in 1871, while the mountains swarmed with pros- pectors. This being a violation of the treaty of 1868, the Utes and the miners were soon antagonistic, though no open hostilities followed. In 1872 troops were sent into the country to keep out the miners, which action on the part of the government only stimulated the desire of occupancy. A commission
project so that they could not have been approached from above, and there remains no means of reaching them from below, though signs of a trail doubling among the rocks are here and there visible. In the few cases where towers exist they are curved and smoothly rounded. Emma C. Hard- arce, in Hayden's Great West, 445-56.
27 Trinidad, with 500 inhabitants, Calaveras, San Louis, Guadalupe, Cone- jos, San Antonio, and several minor Spanish settlements were found to be north of the line, according to the survey report.
28 U. S. H. Misc. Doc., 97, 41st cong., 2d sess .; H. Jour., 383, 41st cong. 2d sess.
29 The survey of 1868-9 seems to have been made merely preliminary, and the final boundaries of the state of Colorado were not established for 10 years thereafter. H. Com. Repts, 708, 45th cong. 2d sess. There was a bill before congress in 1869 to extend the boundaries of Nevada, Minnesota, and Nebraska, and the territories of Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming, which was referred to the committee on territories and there lost. U. S. H. Jour., 132, 40th cong. 3d sess .; U. S. Sen. Jour., 150, 40th cong. 3d sess.
501
LAS ANIMAS DISTRICT.
was also appointed to negotiate the purchase of the mineral lands of the Ute reservation, which, through the machination of interested persons in Wall street, failed of its object. An order was issued in Febru- ary 1873, at the request of the interior department, requiring all miners, prospectors, and others to quit the reservation before the first of June. So strenu- ous were the objections to the order that a detach- ment of troops was ordered to march to San Juan to enforce it, and was half way up the Rio Grande when it was suspended by the president. A commission was again ordered, and a treaty made by which the Utes surrendered a tract of country containing 3,000,- 000 acres of territory, which, though unparalleled for roughness,3º was considered of inestimable value by mining men.
In 1874 more than a thousand lodes were claimed, upon many of which the work required by law was done.31 In 1875 roads had been opened by which machinery was transported to the Animas district, 11,000 and 12,000 feet above the sea, where it was put in operation before winter. The first mine worked was the Little Giant in Arastra gulch. With this exception, the leading lodes in this district were argentiferous galena, highly impregnated with gray copper, the veins being large and well defined, yield- ing in the smelter $150 to $2,000 per ton.32 Blue
30 Ernest Ingersoll, in Harper's Magazine, April 1882. See also Ingersoll's Crest of the Continent, 162, 'a record of a summer's ramble in the Rocky Mountains,' and supplementary to Knocking around the Rockies, which describes Colorado as seen in 1874, when, attached to the U. S. survey, the author made a tour of the mountains.
31 The mining laws were generally known and understood, like common law, except in the matter of Jocal rules in different districts. In 1881 R. S. Morrison and Jacob Fillius, lawyers of Denver, published a volume on Min- ing Rights, pp. 336, 12 mo., containing all the Colorado statutes on mining, including the rules adopted under the provisional government, and all suc- cessive regulations, with the U. S. laws on the subject. The Jaw to which referencee was had above required a discovery shaft to be 10 feet deep, and $100 worth of work to be performed annually to hold it; or, if $500 worth were done, a patent might be obtained.
32 The names of some of the earliest mines of note were the Highland Mary, Mountaineer, North Star, Tiger, Thatcher, Chepauqua, Comstock, Pride of the West, Philadelphia, Susquehanna, Pelican, Gray Eagle, Shen- andoah, Bull of the Woods, Prospector, McGregor, Aspen, Seymour, Letter
502
MATERIAL PROGRESS.
carbonates of lime were found on Sultan mountain, and large deposits of iron ore at its foot.
The Eureka district lay north of Animas, with the town of Eureka, nine miles from Silverton, surrounded by large ore bodies. The Uncompahgre district, the highest in the San Juan country, contained a better class of ores than the lower districts. Lake district, in Hinsdale county, and more accessible than the others, had for its chief town Lake City. Hundreds of mines were located here, its tellurium lodes being the only ones of note in the San Juan region. One hundred and fifty tons of selected ore from the Hotch- kiss sold in San Francisco at the rate of $40,000 per ton.33 Ouray county, which is on the northern skirt of the San Juan country, was found to contain not only silver mines of the highest value, but the gold district of San Miguel. This gold district reveals one of those wonderful pages in the history of the globe which inspire awe, the gravel deposits, 100 to 150 feet above the present San Miguel river, being evidently the bed of some mightier stream, which in a remote past rolled its golden sands toward that buried sea, to which geological facts point a signifi- cant finger. The present cost of carrying water to these ancient gravel beds is in itself a fortune, which only the certainty of greater riches would tempt asso- ciations of miners to expend.
But it is as a silver region that San Juan became, and will remain, preeminent. Some of the moun- tains, notably King Solomon in San Juan county, were so seamed with mineral veins of great width that they could be seen for two miles. The most remarkable of the Ouray county lodes was Begole, G., Empire, Sultana, Hawkeye, Ajax, Mollie Darling, Silver Cord, Althea, Last of the Line, Boss Boy, Crystal, King Hiram, Abiff (gold), Ulysses, Lucky, Eliza, Jane, Silver Wing, Jennie Parker.
33 Some of the leading lodes in Hinsdale county are the Accidental, Amer- ican, Hotchkiss, and Melrose in Galena district, yielding from 100 to 600 ounces of bullion per ton, in the concentration works at Lake City; Belle of the East, Belle of the West, Big Casino, Croesus, Dolly Varden, Gray Copper, and Hidden Treasure. Ocean Wave, Plutarch, Ule, Ute, and Wave of the Ocean are in Galena district.
503
MINES AND MINING.
known as Mineral farm, because the locations upon it cover forty acres, and the veins twelve acres. It was located in 1875, and developed by a company which built reduction works at Ouray, the county seat, in 1887. One vein carried a rich gray copper in a a gangue of quartzite, much of which milled from $400 to $700 per ton, and another in some parts car- ried a hundred ounces of silver with forty per cent of lead, per ton. The latest discovery in the San Juan region was of carbonates, in the western part of Ouray county, on Dolores river, where the mining town of Rico was located in one of the inclined val- leys near the top of the globe. Almost every kind of ore was found in this district, not often in regular veins, but in irregular deposits, lead and dry ores occurring in contiguous claims. Also coal, bitumin- ous and anthracite, limestone, bog and magnetic iron, fire-clay, building-stone, and wood for charcoal, from which it is evident nature designed this for a centre of reduction works and founderies. A branch of the Denver and Rio Grande railway was constructed to Silverton, one to Antelope springs, one to Lake City, and one to Ouray. The region which I have briefly described under the general name of San Juan com- prises the counties of La Plata, Hinsdale, San Juan, Ouray, and Dolores, created in the order in which they are here named, out of the territory purchased from the Utes in 1873.
CHAPTER IX.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT.
1875-1886.
CALIFORNIA GULCH REDIVIVUS -HILLS OF SILVER-THE CARBONATE MINES -MEN OF THE PERIOD-ORGANIZATION OF LEADVILLE-MONETARY AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS-OUTPUT OF THE MINES-VIGILANCE COM- MITTEES-MINERS' STRIKE -- MARTIAL LAW PROCLAIMED-DISAFFECTED UTES -- THE GUNNISON COUNTRY-SCIENTIFIC AND MINING EXPEDITIONS -THE GUNNISON COLONY-COAL-TOWNS ESTABLISHED-BIBLIOGRAPHY -NEWSPAPERS.
THE San Juan region was only fairly started on the road to development when a fresh fever seized the Coloradans and drew many to an older field, but where discovery made it seem new. California gulch, as the reader knows, was discovered early, and had yielded in the first five years over $3,000,000. After that its productiveness lessened, dropping annually, until in 1876 the diggings yielded but $20,000.1 During six- teen years the miners had been accustomed to move out of their way with difficulty certain heavy boulders which neither they nor scientific geologists had recog- nized as of any value. No one for all this time had thought to question whence they came.
Among those who had long followed placer mining in California gulch was W. H. Stevens, who in 1876 discovered a supposed lead mine on a hill on the south side of California gulch, a mile and a half above the present site of Leadville. This is known as the Rock mine, and adjoining it is the Dome mine, also owned .
1 A gold lode, the Printer Boy, was discovered in 1868, which drew pros- pectors for a season, who soon abandoned further search.
(€04)
505
DISCOVERIES AT LEADVILI.E.
by Stevens and his partner, Leiter.2 From the Rock mine Stevens took samples of ore, which being assayed by A. B. Wood yielded from twenty to forty ounces of silver to the ton. It now became apparent what was the nature of the boulders which had so troubled the miners while sluicing in the placer diggings.3 Further exploration revealed richer ore, and carbon- ate of lead similar to that of White Pine district, Nevada, was found to exist over a number of emi- nences surrounding the mining camp of Oro. These hills, before unmarked, now took names of the mines first located upon them, or of their discoverers. The Carbonate mine, discovered by Hallock and Cooper, gave its name to Carbonate hill; the Iron mine to Iron hill; Long and Derry mine to Long and Derry hill; Yankee mine to Yankee hill; Breece mine to Breece hill ; Fryer hill being named after one of the discoverers, Borden and Fryer. These hills were the seat of so many different groups of mines,‘ some loca-
2 Leadville, Colorado, the most Wonderful Mining Camp in the World, etc., Colorado Springs, 1879, is the name of a pamphlet written concerning the dis- covery. Soon after the first location there were discovered north from the Rock the Adelaide, Camp Bird (by Long and Derry), Pine (by the Gallagher brothers), and Iron. In Strayhorse gulch the Wolfstone was located the same year, these being, according to the authority above quoted, all the important discoveries of 1876. The Iron mine paid its owners in the first two years $200,000 above expenses, which were $57,500. The Silver Wave mine adjoined the Iron. Maurice Hays, and brother, and Durham are men- tioned among the original locators. Belmont Nev. Courier, Oct. 21, 1876.
3 This statement is premature as to time, for although silver was known to exist in the lead ore in the beginning, the nature of the composition was not at once understood. Carbonate of lead is the silver base in nearly all the ores, which, however, vary in the different groups.
4 The Leadville Democrat of Dec. 31, 1881, gives the principal mines of these various groups as follows: On Fryer hill, the Robert E. Lee, Chrysolite, Matchless, Little Chief, Dunkin, Amie, Little Pittsburg, Climax, Carbon- iferous; and among the less known, the Little Sliver, American, Forepaugh, Bangkok, and others. On Carbonate hill were the Evening Star, Morning Star, Glass-Pendery, Cloutarf, Yankee Doodle, Ætna, Carbonate, Maid of Erin, Henrietta, Wolf Tone, and Vanderbilt. On Iron hill, the Iron Silver, Smuggler, Tuscon, Lime, Cleora, Silver Cord, Silver Wave, Rubie, Adelaide, Frenchman, and Belgium. On Yankee hill the principal was the property of the Denver City company. On Breece hill the Breece, Iron, Highland Chief, Miner Boy, Colorado Prince, Black Prince, Highland Mary, and others, On Long and Derry hill, the Long and Derry, Hoosier Girl, Belcher, Preston. Hawkins. In California gulch, the Last Rose of Summer, Columbia, A. Y., Gilt Edge, La Plata, Rock, Dome, Stone, and Leopard. In Iowa Gulch, to the south, were the Florence, First National, Kaiser, Brian Boru. On Bald Mountain, at the head of California gulch, the Green Mountain
506
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT.
tions, however, being made in gulches which subse- quently proved to be rich in veins of carbonate. The oxide of iron imparted to one group of ores a red color, chromate of iron gave another group a yellow hue, while the predominance of silica and lead in others imparted a gray color. Chloride of silver per- meated all the ores, and horn silver was found in all the prominent mines. What were termed the hard carbonates were those in which silica was predomi- nant, with iron for a base, preventing disintegration as in the before mentioned boulders. The soft car- bonates had a base of lead. The normal position of the lodes appeared to have been in contact or hori- zontal veins, sometimes called blanket veins, with limestone as the contact, iron above the ore, and trachyte as the cap, the latter being covered from ten to a hundred feet with drift. The veins dipped slightly to the east, and varied in thickness from a mere line to a chamber of ore from ten to forty feet in height, giving evidence of disturbance bewildering to the prospector. The ores in almost all cases were easily smelted without roasting.
Such in brief was the character of the new mines to which thousands hurried in 1877 and 1878. In June 1877 the first building was erected in Leadville,
mine, while 'scattered along the whole length of the gulch were numerous other mines and prospects in various stages of development.' In Evans' gulch were the Ocean, Seneca, and Little Ellen. Six miles from Leadville, across the Arkansas river, were Frying Pan and Colo gulches, with the Sun- down, Defiance, Venture, Gertrude, Golden Curry in the former, and the Sil- ver Moon, Little Mystic, and others in the latter. West, in Half-moon and Little Half-moon gulches, were the Susquehanna, Harding, Billy Wilson, and Iron Duke. Lackawana gulch and Twin lakes are mentioned as rich districts. In the latter were the Eagle Nest, Boaz, Gordon, Bengal Tiger, M. R., Pounder, Australia, and others. In Hayden and Echo cañons were the Black Diamond, Black Crook, Nabob, Copperopolis, Garfield, Ross, Sweep- stakes, Fisher, Antelope, Dexter, and Mountain Quaie. North of Leadville were Mosquito, Buckskin, and Pennsylvania gulches, in which were the London and New York, Sunny South, Bonanza Queen, Bonanza King, Grace, St Louis, Steele, Stonewall, Fannie Barrett, Silver Leaf, and 'a large number of rich claims.' Northwest of Leadville was Tennessee park, where were El Capitan, Plattsburg Junior, Sylvanite, and other rich claims. South of Leadville, in Georgia and Thompson gulches, were the Coon valley and Mishawaka. In a new district, the Holy Cross, on French mountain, 150 mines were located, 'nearly all of which are in pay mineral.'
507
QUICKLY MADE MILLIONAIRES.
which soon grew so as to absorb the mining camp of Oro, where Tabor was keeping a store and post-office, in a resident population of about fifty persons.5 The effect on Tabor's fortunes was magical. The Little Pittsburg, in which he was third owner, proved exceedingly rich. Soon after it was opened he, with one partner, was able to pay $90,000 cash for the interest of the other owner.6 A month later the sec- ond partner was brought off for $265,000, and Tabor became associated with Senator Chaffee in the owner- ship of the mine. In an incredibly short time, not only Tabor, but many others, could lay claim to be of America's privileged order-millionaires.1 Nor can
5 So says Tabor in a brief MS., Early Days, devoted to Leadville history. Mrs 'labor, in Cabin Life in Colorado, MS., relates how by mutual labor and hardship in the mines they acquired $7,000 in money, after which they set up a store and boarding-house, with a post-office and express office, the care of all falling on her, while her husband looked after a contract for furnishing railroad ties to the Atchison and Santa Fé railway, in which he made nothing, not even wages. They were still keeping their little trading-post in Oro when the Carbonate mines were discovered, Tabor 'grub-staked,' as the miners' phrase is, Rische and Hook, two prospectors who discovered the Little Pittsburg, on Fryer hill, in April 1878, and in Oct. bought and sold his hun- dreds of thousands worth of mining property for cash.
6 Rische, who with Tabor bought out Hook, was a Prussian, born in Min- den, in 1833, and immigrating to America in 1852, worked at shoemaking in St Louis. He served in our civil war, coming to Colorado in 1868, and work- ing at his trade in Fairplay. He retired from the ownership of the Little Pittsburg with $310,000, and afterward owned in the Nevada, Hard Cash, Last Chance, Little Rische, Wall street, and Willie mines. Leadville in Your Pocket, 176-7; Leadville Dem., Jan. 1881.
7 Among the men who profited by the discovery of the carbonate mines was J. Y. Marshall, born in Pa, and came to Colo in 1873, settling at Fair- play. He was elected to the legislature in 1875, and removed to Leadville in 1878. He was elected judge of the district court in 1881, serving two years. He was the first president of the Robert E. Lee mine, not far from the Little Pittsburg, which proved very valuable, and made its owners rich.
J. J. Du Bois, born in N. Y., came to Colorado in 1877, locating the same year in California gulch, and prospecting for mines. The time of his arrival was fortunate. In August he had an interest in four claims, and in Dec. staked out the Little Eaton, 'in snow waist deep,' the mine being afterward sold for $1,200,000. Du Bois was elected mayor of Leadville in 1884.
Charles J. Rowell, a native of Vt, located himself in 1880 at Leadville, in a law partnership with A. S. Weston. In May 1882 he was made business manager of Tabor's property, of which he had control for 18 months, resuming his law practice late in 1883. He became owner, with Tabor and Weston, of the Santa Eduviges, in Chihuahua, and also owner of valuable mining prop- erty in Montana.
Lyman Robison, born in Ohio, came to Colorado in 1878, and, with a part- ner, located the Col Sellers mine at Leadville, which produced in 4 years $400,000, and was then valued at over $1,000,000. He was one of the incor- porators of the South Park Land and Cattle co, in 1881, with a capital of
508
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT.
it be denied that in some instances their liberality and public spirit were as princely as their fortunes.8
$750,000, and in 1885 was vice-president. His residence in Cañon City cost $50,000. He married in 1866 Mary A. Roodnight of Chicago.
Peter W. Breene, from Ireland, located himself in 1874 at Leadville, where he became part owner in the Crown Point, Pinnacle, and Big Chief mines, besides having other mining interests. He was elected to the lower house of the general assembly in 1882, and lieut-gov. in 1884. He married Mary L. Mccarthy, principal of a public school at Leadville, in May 1884.
John D. Morrissey, born in N. Y., came to Colorado in 1872, settling at Georgetown, working at mining until 1878, when he removed to Leadville, and became interested in the Crown Point and Pinnacle mines, which, though slow in developing, finally made him wealthy. Crown Point yielded, in Sept. 1883, $20,000 per month, and was afterward still richer.
Samuel Adams, born in Canada in 1850, removed to New York city in 1866, and to Colorado in 1880. Soon after arriving he purchased half of the Brooklyn mine, at Leadville, for $50,000 cash. In 1881 he bought other mining interests, and organized the Adams Mining company, with 150,000 shares at $10 per share. In 3 years the company took out $425,000, paying $220,000 in dividends, leaving $50,000 in the treasury after paying all ex- penses, besides having $600,000 worth of ore in sight in 1885
John T. Elkins, from Mo., joined Price's army in 1861, and surrendered to Gen. Canby in 1865, going to Nebraska afterward; then to New Mexico, where he was a freighter and miner until 1879, when he came to Leadville. He obtained interests in the Leadville Consolidated, Boreal, Small Hopes, and Annie, selling the Annie in 1881 for $750,000, $500,000 of which he in- vested in Kansas City real estate. He was elected state senator in 1884.
F. De Maineville and W. H. Brisbane were partners in Wilmington, Del., from 1871 to 1876, when they removed to Cheyenne, Wy., where they kept a hotel until 1879, in which year they came to Leadville, investing what capital they could command in mining property. In 1882 they erected the De Maineville block, at a cost of $16,000 for the land, and $25,000 for the building; and secured a large amount of real estate in Leadville.
Luther M. Goddard, born in Wayne co., N. Y., in 1837, was in 1864 en- gaged in freighting across the plains between Leavenworth and Denver. In 1878 he came to reside in Colorado, and began the practice of law at Lead- ville that year, investing some money in the Pendery mine, which in 1879 proved rich, when he sold five sixths of it for $200,000. He afterward ac- quired an interest in Crown Point and Silver Cross, the former at Robinson, in Summit co., and the latter in Chaffee co., both of which proved valuable properties. He was elected judge of the district court of the 5th judicial district in 1882 for a term of 6 years.
8 Horace A. W. Tabor was born in Vt in 1830. At the age of 19 years he removed to Mass., where he remained until he came to Colorado in 1859, and had his share of the rough work of erecting a new state. He had resided in Kansas, and been a member of the Topeka legislature. He was the first to realize any large amount from the mines at Leadville, and thereafter kept in the lead. In IS81 he owned the following mines wholly or in part: the Matchless, Scooper, Dunkin, Chrysolite, Union, Emma, Denver City, Henri- etta, Maid of Erin, Empire, Hibernia, New Discovery, May Queen, besides mining property in Mexico, and 6 claims in the San Juan country. He erected the Tabor opera-house, costing $850,000, and built the bank of Leadville for a safe deposit. He was first in the organization of a fire department, pre- senting the hose company with their outfit; caused the construction of water- works, the incorporation of a gas company in which he was principal owner, and which expended $75,000; organized the Tabor Milling company for crushing dry ores, investing $100,000; and equipped the Tabor light cavalry, 50 men, at a cost of $10,000, besides donating $10,000 annually to schools and
509
SMELTING.
On the 1st of August 1877, there were six buildings on the site of the present town of Leadville,' and by the end of the year 300 inhabitants. But until smelters on the ground should test the various ores there could be no certainty of riches sufficient to cause a great influx of population. The town organization was perfected in January 1878. About the same time the first smelter was completed by the St Louis Smelting and Refining company, Weise superintend- ent, which received its ore through the sampling- works of A. R. Meyer & Co.1º During eleven months ending November 30, 1878, 1,080 tons of bullion were produced from 3,330 tons of ore. Only one furnace, with a capacity of fifteen tons daily, was employed until late in the season when the capacity was dou- bled. By the end of the year four other smelters of various capacity were in operation.11 The smelters
churches, and giving freely in private charities. The Tabor block in Denver cost, with the land, $200,000; the Windsor hotel was owned chiefly by him; his private residence cost $40,000; and his interest in the First National bank amounted to nearly half the shares.
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