History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 97

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080

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on Tyndal street, and from there extended impartially along on both sides of the street from Slavick Bro.'s store and saloon (on the corner of Euclid avenue and Tyndal street), to the schoolhouse, and burning out the entire four blocks (with that one exception of Slavick's building). These four blocks have since been established by town ordinance, as "fire limits." There being no fire depart- ment in Rosita, the rates of insurance were high, ranging from 5 to 10 per cent, but nearly all buildings burnt were partially insured, and all the merchants were busy- selling goods again within a few days. Since the fire, C. C. Smith, Slavick & Mclaughlin and F. L. Miller & Co., have put up large fire-proof buildings.

The County Recorder's foffice is a neat and tasty building. A city hall, used as a court- room, and costing $2,000, has lately been fin- ished. A large brick hotel, and several other fire-proof buildings, are projected to be built as soon as the material can be got on the ground. The result of the late fire has been to scatter out the business that had been con- centrated on Tyndal street, Euclid avenue, Grouse and Quartz streets, all getting a share of the business, which must increase as the mines are developed.

Rosita depends entirely on springs for a water supply. There is no large stream nearer than Grape Creek, seven miles distant, though plenty of water for mills and domestic purposes can be procured in Wilmer Gulch, where the large mill of the Game Ridge Con- solidated Mining Company is now being erected. It is probable that water for the town supply will be pumped into a reservoir above the town, from which point its own gravity will throw it over the top of the highest building. Rosita is the highest town in Custer County, having an altitude of 8,600 feet above sea level, which makes it a delightful summer resort, with, perhaps, a few rather warm days, but. the nights are always cool and comforta- ble. In winter, there is generally a cold spell of a month or six weeks, including the holidays, and sometimes enough snow for sleighing. The timbered hills and pleasant drives, with variety of scenery, make Rosita an attractive place to live in.

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.

The first Board of Town Trustees consisted of W. H. Holmes, President; James Pringle, Edward P. Smith, John Hannenkratt and Martin Bromley, Trustees, with James A. Gooch as Town Clerk. They held office from 1874 to 1876, and were succeeded by Toner Thomasson, President; Alexander Thornton, Ellison C. Cheely, Charles Rognon and James A. Gooch, Trustees, with John H. Leary as Town Clerk, who were succeeded, in January, 1879, by Edward A. Austin, President; Charles F. Blossom, Alex Thornton, Moses Blancett and James A. Melvin, Trustees, with J. W. Brewster as Town Clerk. They were succeeded, in January, 1880, by Samuel L. Chapin, President; H. W. Kelly, Henry Shriver, Edward Norris and Louis Slavick, Trustees, with F. A. Tuttle as Town Clerk. In March, 1881, Rosita became an incorpo- rated town, and, in the next month, April, the following People's Ticket was elected: C. C. Smith, Mayor; James A. Gooch, Charles Schaale, D. S. Smith and H. W. Kelly, Alder- men, and F. A. Tuttle, Clerk and Recorder.

Querida has been built up within the past two years, around the Bassick Mine, and about two miles northeasterly from Rosita. It has a population of about 500. The concentrat- ing-mill and the offices of the Bassick Mining Company are here. There is a daily mail and there is a telephone connection with Rosita. Todd Bros., McKee & Ryan and Wilson & Lawrence, keep stores here, and Dr. J. Wal- ters has a drug store. A large three-story hotel is also now being built.

Ula, the oldest town in the valley, and sit- uated about three miles northwesterly from Silver Cliff, has a post office and had a store in 1870. It was headquarters for the valley trade for years, but after the mines began to yield, it was first eclipsed by Rosita, and afterward, almost extinguished by Silver Cliff. It has about 100 inhabitants. A. J. Falk- enburg keeps the only store, and is Post- master.

Dora is a small, quiet and pretty place, built up around the Chamber's Concentrator, about six miles northeasterly from Silver Cliff, and rather out of the main mineral belt, though there are some well-defined fissure veins in the granite formation in the vicinity, that

show encouraging indications. The Cham- ber's Smelter has a capacity of twenty tons per day, and has a fine location, as it is at the head of Grape Creek Canon, where there is plenty of water, and is on the line of the Den- ver & Rio Grande Railway, so that ores from the adjacent mines, or even those at a distance, can be economically transported there and treated.

Blackburn is a station on the Denver & Rio Grande Railway, and, in Grape Creek Canon, near the line of Fremont County, about twelve miles northeasterly from Silver Cliff. There are some promising mines in that vicinity, and at Titusville, near by, and it is fast assum- ing the shape of a permanent town.

RESORTS OF CUSTER COUNTY.

As yet there has been no wonderful mineral spring discovered in this county, not even an ordinary hot spring, though Pueblo furnishes the Red Creek Springs, twenty-five miles east- erly from Rosita, and near the county line; and Fremont County furnishes the Soda Springs, only a few miles over the county line, in Grape Creek. Canon. With the large amount of unsettled country in the Sierra Mojada and Sangre de Christo Range, it will not be surprising if some of the best medici- nal springs in the State, should, erelong, be found in some of these mountain recesses, that, as yet, are almost unexplored, outside of the small mineral-bearing sections. The sit- uation of Wet Mountain Valley is so pleasant and its scenery so magnificent, that it seems complete in its glory without the addition of Chalybeate Springs or romantic caves. But a remarkable cave has been lately found by J. H. Yeoman, who, while engaged in pros- pecting for mines, near the Music Pass in the Sangre de Christo Range, discovered an open- ing into the limestone mountain, above timber line, which he has since, with other parties, followed into the mountain some 600 feet, where he found a circular shaft about three feet in diameter, which they followed down to a depth of 275 feet on a rope. There is a current of air coming up through this shaft, indicating another opening into the mountain. Further explorations may lead to startling discoveries. Only small chambers

A. Esheldon i

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.

and inferior stalactites have been found in the explored portions of the cave.

The Lake of the Clouds, situated high up on the side of the Sangre de Christo Range, is one of Custer County's favorite summer resorts. It is reached by a trail of six miles from Judge Waltz's ranch, which is pleasantly situated in a picturesque spot, about nine miles northwest from Silver Cliff, where the Judge and his amiable lady keep hotel during the summer months. It is one of those delight- ful retreats where one can fish with some hope of success in the adjacent streams, or can, with rifle, prowl among the hills and get an occasional shot at large game, or can "read and rest and feast in peace, the happy summer days away.

FISHING.

The man who is patiently enthusiastic, and who also understands the peculiarities of taste and the retiring disposition of the voracious speckled trout, may yet find "quiet pleasure" in catching many a fine mess of the dainty beauties, on either Colony, Taylor, Brush or Texas Creeks (tributaries of Grape Creek), that have their sources among the everlasting hills and ancient snowbanks of the " Blood of Christ" Range, or even among the fenced ranches on Grape Creek, if the villainous deceiver is thoroughly proficient in the "bloodshirsty pastime of capturing the poor innocent fishes, by the vilest deceit." And yet, there is a lurking possibility of danger, and a ducking, in the pursuit of this cruel sport. Some of the " old residenters" of the - finny tribe, among the Rocky Mountain streams, are large enough to suggest a hope that the old Puritans' poetic prayer, on Isaac Walton's account, may be answered by some of his followers out West:

"Behold Old Isaac with his harhed hook, How treacherously he prowls along the brook. Avaunt! thou wicked man of sin.

May God then grant thee strength, thou little trout When he, with cruel haste, would pull thee out, That thou mayst pull him in."

PERILS OF HUNTING LARGE GAME.

The "range bears," a sort of small grizzly bear, are numerous in the mountains of Cus- ter County, and seem to be more ferocious than bears generally are in Colorado. The

large " silver tip," or the "cinnamon bear," more frequently found farther north and west, do not seem to range much in this section, though occasionally found here. Most bears will run, and even she bears will leave their cubs and hurry off when shot or shot at, but these savage fellows that range around the borders of Custer County, have attacked and almost killed two men, beside wounding sev- eral others. In September, 1873, a young Ken- tuckian, named Crawford, while out hunting some four miles east of Rosita, was attacked by a bear. Without shooting, he dropped his shot-gun, and started to climb a tree near by, but was caught by the bear and his leg pawed and bitten, so that he was laid up for several days; by leaving part of his boot and pants and a little of the calf of his leg behind, he managed to get out of the bear's reach, and set up in the tree until the bear got tired of watching him, and left, when he, too, con- cluded to go home, and got to camp safely, but with a lame leg.

In the fall of 1875, James Duckett, an old hunter, and the father of a family of hunters, was attacked, at the lower end of Wet Mount- ain Valley, by a bear that he and his two sons had caught in a trap. The old man was so badly injured that his life hung by a thread for weeks, but he finally recovered. The bear had been shot twice in his vital parts, before he got hold of the old man, and would, without doubt, have "completely killed " him, if his son, John, had not completely killed the bear, by a desperate blow on the head with his rifle-barrel; which broke its skull in.

In 1877, "Moccasin Bill" (William Per- kins) was attacked by a panther, while out hunting in the Sangre de Christo Range, and, if a friend hunting with him, had not arrived on the scene in time, it would have gone hard with him. As it was, there were eleven bul- lets sent through him (three of them in its head) before it consented to die.

In the Spring of 1881, William Nues was attacked after breakfast, at his camp-fire, near Humboldt Gulch, in the Sangre de Christo Range; not being armed, he attempted to get his pick out of a log, in which it was sticking near the fire, but before he could do so the bear had him knocked down, tore his scalp

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nearly off, chewed his right arm in a horrible manner, and tore great pieces of flesh out of his left leg, and then left him lying helpless. After awhile, he recovered sufficient strength to crawl three miles to the cabin of Samuel Isabel, who sent for Dr. Shoemaker, at Silver Cliff, who came and dressed the wounds.

Several have had narrow escapes, and, by climbing trees, saved themselves from mutila- tion, or death, "or both," as the court might see fit to inflict.

Messrs. Crow and Givens, of Rosita, in 1874, were chased by a bear, which first saw them across a lake, high up in the mountains, on the Sangre de Christo Range, and, as he seemed to be in earnest about getting hold of them, and they were not out hunting bear that day, they dropped their guns, and climbed a tree a piece, where, from their perches of safety, they watched the bear paw the bark off their trees in vain attempts to get at them, and, after he had given it up and left, they came down, rejoiced to think they had de- feated him, and returned home.

Colorado could furnish a number of in- stances of men killed, or badly used up, by i of the best in the State. All the other mills bears. Young Vance was killed, in 1868, by a bear that he had mortally wounded, and which was found dead beside him, near his father's ranch, about ten miles south from Idaho Springs, and near the head of Bear Creek. William Yule, of Gunnison, was badly used up by a bear which attacked him without provocation, on the head of Rock Creek, Gun- nison County, in 1877, and several Mexicans have been killed by bears around Sierra Blanca and the Spanish Peaks, and along the Sierra Mojada.

REDUCTION WORKS.

In addition to the 40-stamp wet-crushing- mill and the sampling works, managed by F. Dillingham, at Silver Cliff, and the Penna. re- duction works, dry crushing, 10-stamp-mill and Bruckner roasting cylinder, is the Hav- erly reduction works, roasting in reverberatory furnace, and the experimental lixiviation works, of six tons capacity per day, at Rosita, all of which have been previously mentioned. There are, near Silver Cliff, the dry crushing 40-stamp-mill of the Silver Cliff Mining Com-

pany, and its duplicate, the Plata Verde 40- stamp dry crushing and amalgamation-mill, the Adelia 10-stamp amalgamation-mill, near Westcliff, on Grape Creek, the St. Joseph Smelting Works, reverberatory and cupola fur- naces, of twenty tons per day capacity, about two miles northwesterly from Silver Cliff on the east bank of Grape Creek, the Bull- Domingo Concentrator, making twenty tons of concentrates out of sixty tons of ore per day, on Grape Creek, two and a half miles from Silver Cliff, and at Dora, the Chamber's Smelter, twenty tons capacity per day, with concentrator attached. There seems to be something wrong about these reduction works. The only mills that have run successfully were the Penna. Reduction Works, for a year and a half, at Rosita, and the dry 40-stamp- mill, first used in treating Racine Boy ore, and the new wet crushing 40-stamp-mill, which has been treating 100 tons of Racine Boy ore per day for the last four months, and which is still grinding up 100 tons per day. It may be said to be the only mill now in suc- cessful operation in the county, and it is one failed after a few months (or weeks) of " suc- cessful" running; for whoever knew the man- ager of a quartz-mill, smelting works or new process, to acknowledge it a failure until cold, stubborn facts compelled him to submit to the inevitable and shut down. The smelters hardly got started before they were shut down. And yet it pays to ship the higher grades of ore from Custer County, for treatment, to other counties in this State. The concentra- tors and the sampling-mill (at which ores are bought for shipment), do a good business, while every mill and smelting works in the county is idle, with the exception of that 40- stamp wet-mill at Silver Cliff. It is merely a repetition of the old experience, that milling on a small scale will not pay, and that the ores of one section must be mixed with those from another section, to make a good smelting ore, the different varieties of rock and ore helping to smelt each other, and saving the expense of artificial fluxes. Smelting is the cleanest method of reduction known (excepting lixivi- ation for some special classes of ore), saving from 95 to 98 per cent of the precious metals;

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.

while by roasting with salt and amalgamating (the mill process), on about 80 per cent of the assay amount can be calculated on, and by raw amalgamation it is oftener under than over 70 per cent of the assay value of the ore. In all cases, reduction on a small scale is very wasteful.

NEW PROCESSES.

We have now three new processes being constructed to utilize the low grades (25 and less per ton) ores of Custer County, which have to be removed in getting out the higher grade ores, that will bear assorting and ship- ping abroad. Prof. Waitz has commenced experimenting, at Rosita, on a working scale with his new process, and, if successful, of which he has no doubt, intends to erect reduc- tion works of fifty tons per day capacity.

The Duryea process, which will soon be running at Silver Cliff, consists in applying a hot blast and burning coal oil spray, to a charge of ore in a cylindrical furnace, thirty feet long and six feet in diameter, revolving, with a slight incline to it. It is lined with asbestos and plumbago, to prevent the intense heat from sublimating the whole concern. The theory is, that all the metals will be vol- atilized and driven out of the furnace, into salt water and fresh water-chambers, where the metals will be precipitated and washed off in sluices, for separation, which completes the process, at the rate of $3 per ton of 2,000 pounds. The ore, as the metals are volatilized and driven off, runs out of the lower end of the furnace in the form of bar- ren slag. -

Dr. Fawcett's process consists of a furnace, with secret chemicals and mysterious patent attachments, for desulphurizing, freeing and generally "fixing the ore up," to yield its all and a little more, at the usual new process rate.

Experience, that cruel but reliable teacher, has demonstrated that, while carefully selected ore can be treated successfully, on a small scale, and with all the conveniences of a com- pletely equipped laboratory at hand, when the same principle applied on a working scale won't work. Those who have watched the successive attempts to revolutionize the art of treating ores, and "pay off the national debt "

with the surplus saved above the amount taken out by the "old-fogy processes," and at "less than half the cost," will still smile, as they hear of another, and still another, new-process man, fresh in the field, as sanguine and "absolutely certain" as all the previous fail- ures have been.

BANKS.

The well and favorably known banking firm of Stebbins, Post & Co., for years in the same business in Cheyenne and Laramie, in Wyo- ming Territory, and at the noted gold mining camp of Deadwood, in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory, established a bank at Silver Cliff in February, 1880, with J. V. Jillich, Cashier. Though only in business a year and a half there, they seem to be doing the most of the business. They have the custody of the county funds, and return considerably more capital for taxation than both the other banks in the county.

The Custer County Bank, F. A. Raynolds and F. W. Dewalt, proprietors, with Fred S. Hartzell, Cashier, was established at Silver Cliff in November, 1878. Its officers re- turned $2,500 capital for taxation, in May, 1881.

The Merchants' and Miners' Bank of Rosita is the successor of the old Bank of Rosita, which was started by Stewart & Boyd in 1875. After they had "burst up," in their attempt to jump the Pocahontas Mine, H. A. McIntyre bought the fixtures, and kept the bank going a year or two, with W. T. Blake as Cashier, until he (McIntyre) got in- volved, by some indiscretions in connection with a bank at Lake City, Colo., in which he skirmished beyond the bonds of legal safety and was doomed to pine behind the prison bars a couple of years. The Bank of Rosita collapsed through sympathy, and Raynolds Bros., of Canon City, Colo., bought out the fixtures and good will, and kept it, under man- agement of F. Dewalt, Cashier, for a year or so, when he became a partner in the concern, and afterward, President, the name having been changed to Merchants' and Miners' Bank, with P. J. Sours as Cashier. We learn from Mr. Sours that both Raynolds Bros. and F. Dewalt have no further interest in the bank, having sold out to Ohio friends of Mr. Sours,

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who still remains as Cashier; $5,000 was re- turned for taxation, in May, 1881.

TUNNELS.

Custer County furnishes additional proof that a tunnel is all right when run to strike an ore body already found, and which can, by tunneling, be worked to much better advan- tage; but that tunneling for blind lodes is very uncertain. It generally happens that, if the blind lode is found at all, it is struck in a "lean place," by the tunnel. There are a doz- en tunnels in this county, based on fine calcula- tions that were founded on rich float, and the supposed course of prominent veins, that are, to a certain extent, failures; that is, they are failures to the extent that they have found no "pay," but establish the facts that "indica- tions are favorable," and "further develop- ments might result in something,"

The Michigan Tunnel has been pushed 900 feet into Tyndal Hill, near the Bassick Mine, about two miles northeasterly from Rosita, with, so far, only favorable indications. The Nemaha Tunnel, the Centennial Tunnel and the Indian Tunnel, all in the same section, were equally unsuccessful, while the Bassick Tunnel, to work the mine, which was already opened, is some 280 feet long. taps the mine about 200 feet deep, and saves hoisting and pumping to that extent. There is a tunnel also into the Pocahontas Mine, tapping it at a depth of 180 feet; there is also a tunnel, about 500 feet long, on the Silver King Mine, in Verde District, which taps the mine 300 feet deep.

Among the many ventures of tunneling for blind lodes, the Custer County Tunnel, running into Robinson Hill (about a mile and a half northerly from Rosita), stands alone, a par- tial success-at least, not a total failure, so far as finding profitable ore in quantity is concerned. At the distance of 360 feet in, the First Chance lode was struck, which carried from a few inches to two feet of ore, averag- ing seventy ounces of silver per ton, some of it yielding as high as 250 ounces per ton. This vein has been worked by drifting fifteen feet easterly and eighty-five feet westerly, from the tunnel, and also by a fifty-foot shaft at the west end of the west drift, from which

another drift has been run fifty feet westerly -- all on an ore vein of gray copper and chlo- rides, in decomposed quartz and soft gouge. At the distance of 650 feet into the mountain, another vein has been struck, and some good sulphuret ore taken out; but development has not yet been sufficient to determine its extent or value. The officers of the company are W. A. Offenbacher, President; George S. Adams, Vice President; R. N. Daniels, Treasurer, and Dr. D. M. Parker, Secretary. This com- pany was organized in January, 1879; the stock is divided into forty shares of the par value of $100 each, being a total stock valu- ation of $40,000, which is a decided improve- ment on the "ten million " stock companies, without any development.

DIAMOND DRILL.

The Custer County Prospecting Company have arrangements with the American Dia- mond Drill Company, of New York, to use their drills in Custer County. The result of their search underground, as we learn from their Superintendent, Mr. J. H. Taylor, are: At the depth of 465 feet in the Ben West claim, near Silver Cliff, the ore showed pyrites and sulphurets of iron, and black sand, containing a little silver and less gold, about twenty feet thick. On the Augusta claim, near Querida and the Bassick Mine, three holes were sunk -- 393, 408 and 420 feet re- spectively. It is claimed a body of rich ore, similar to the Bassick, was found, but the claim is not sustained by subsequent workings. A prospect drill hole has also been sunk, about 400 feet deep, between Querida and Rosita, which resulted in nothing like pay.

FIRE DEPARTMENT.

Silver Cliff has the only fire department in Custer County, which is a volunteer depart- ment, composed of the G. B. McAulay Hose, the H. M. Zeigler Hose, the W. J. Robinson Hooks, No. 1, O. Guiles, Foreman, and Hooks No. 2, J. Nugent, Foreman. This department has done good service since its organization, and hardly receives the support it deserves from the citizens. An indignation meeting was held lately, at which there was some talk of disbanding, but wiser counsels prevailed,

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.

and the organization still continues to be on hand when duty calls.

At a tournament held at Colorado Springs lately, the McAulay Hose team, in competi- tion with the best in the State, took the first prize, beating the time of the celebrated Bates Hose team, of Denver, previously the best record in Colorado.

There is a fire association, also, at Silver Cliff, of which H. E. Austin is Chief, J. J. Mitchell, Assistant, and W. H. McKoy, Secre- tary.

The Western Union Telegraph Company carry messages from Silver Cliff to the out- side world. Between Silver Cliff and Ro- sita, the Union Telephone Company have stretched a wire, and do business on a basis that makes the former grasping monopoly seem like a benevolent institution. The charge for transmitting messages over the seven mile line, is 65 cents, nearly as much as the coach fare between these two places. Rosita will not be content until she has railway and telegraphic communication with the rest of the civilized world, the absence of which can hardly be explained when we consider the importance of her business and the value of her mines. A survey is now being made for the extension of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway to Rosita.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 97

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 1080

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080