USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 44
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The company owns from seventy-five to eighty mines, including the Town of Sunrise. The amount of ore in sight is estimated at two hundred and fifty million tons in the eight or ten claims that have been prospected and worked. A conservative estimate for all the ground would be at least five hundred million tons, making it probably the largest body of iron ever known within such limited area.
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HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
Hartville first came into prominence as a copper camp in 1881. The Sunrise was then located as a copper claim, and for several years was worked for copper, which was found in rich pockets near the surface. When these gave out, the camp was abandoned.
In October, 1887, Mr. I. S. Bartlett, the editor of this history, and Hon. W. F. Hamilton, of Douglas, located and filed on ten claims as iron properties. These were the first exclusive iron claims located in the district. Mr. Bartlett, who was then living near Hartville, made a study of the district and its iron resources and wrote an account of the same in the Cheyenne newspapers. In the spring of 1889 he received a letter from Mayor Chamberlin of Denver, enclos- ing a check for $50 and asking him to come to Denver and give the Chamber of Commerce further information regarding the Hartville iron deposits. He accepted the invitation and a special meeting of the chamber was called in the daytime to listen to his report. The meeting was largely attended and a committee appointed to report the next morning at another special meeting what action Denver should take in establishing iron and steel works based on a supply of Hartville ores. They reported that such an industry would add 50,000 to Denver's population and give at least one hundred million dollars increase to the city's wealth.
The outcome is a long story, but the publication of Hartville's iron riches went far and wide over the country, and there soon came a rush of locaters and investors to the camp.
Mr. Bartlett soon after made a contract to supply the Grant Smelting Works of Denver with 10,000 tons of ore for fluxing purposes, and thus was the first man to establish the iron mining industry in the district. The ore had to be hauled fifteen miles by wagon to the railroad at Wendover.
About this time Mr. C. A. Guernsey, agent of a Chicago syndicate, began to buy up iron claims, finally securing the Sunrise group, which was later leased by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company and afterwards purchased by the company.
The Hartville iron belt extends from Guernsey north to the head of Whalen Canyon, about ten miles, and will vary from three to four miles in width, covering an area of about thirty-five square miles. The potential amount of ore in this area is almost beyond calculation.
VARIOUS OTHER IRON DEPOSITS
In addition to the four great iron fields described in this chapter, there are numberless iron deposits in various parts of the state that have not been pros- pected so as to determine their extent.
Large deposits of chromic iron are found in Deer Creek Canyon, fifteen miles southwest of Glenrock, in Converse County. Limonite is found in considerable quantities on the Little Popo Agie in Fremont County, and at Jelm Mountain in Albany County. Hematite ores are found in Crook, Johnson, Fremont, Big- horn, Albany and Sheridan counties, and their prevalence is so common as to excite very little attention in the out-of-the-way places where they are discovered. An extensive body of manganese is being mined on the southwest side of Laramie Peak. the ore being hauled to Medicine Bow Station on the Union Pacific Rail- road, for shipment.
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WYOMING THE FUTURE IRON STATE
That Wyoming is destined to become one of the greatest iron producing states of the Union is as sure as the West is expanding in population and industrial greatness, and as sure as the progress of civilization on this continent.
The state not only has the tremendous ore bodies mentioned, but in close connection therewith all the factors necessary for unlimited iron and steel opera- tions, such as oil, coal, electro-hydro power, limestone, abundant water supply and transportation facilities. All these elements existing in such enormous quan- tities, comparatively undeveloped, must eventually be utilized to supply the press- ing and ever-increasing industrial needs of the world, which are even now straining the resources of the old states and foreign nations.
Comparing Pennsylvania, our greatest industrial state, with Wyoming, we have an instructive object lesson. Pennsylvania has less than half the area of Wyoming. It has less than one-eighth the coal, iron and oil area of Wyoming. In fact, this state's native resources are incomparable with any other state, and that these resources will be developed in the near future is as certain as the run rises and sets.
The states of the mountain West will naturally be the arena of our future national expansion in population and industry, and nature has so richly endowed Wyoming that it is destined to be the greatest of them all.
OTHER IMPORTANT MINERAL DEPOSITS
As this chapter gives in tabulated form an account of all the useful minerals found in Wyoming, as reported by the United States geological survey of 1917, we will now refer only to deposits of special interest and importance, such as soda, phosphates, potash, gypsum, mica, etc., with a general review of the metallic ores which were not fully described in the table.
THE SODA LAKES
One of the most unique features of Wyoming's mineral deposits is the lakes of crystallized sodium sulphate, and carbonate, found in various parts of the state, coming under the general name of "soda lakes." These lakes are located in Albany, Carbon, Sweetwater and Natrona counties and contain millions of tons of natural soda in a crystallized form resembling snow and ice. Scientifically, these lakes are the result of evaporation of mineral springs highly charged with soda, the source being generally subterranean. The lakes will vary in surface extent from twenty to two hundred acres and the deposits from two to sixteen feet thick.
A Government report on the Downey lakes, nine miles south of Laramie City, says :
"The deposit on one lake covers an area of about one hundred acres, being a solid bed of crystallized sulphate of sodium about nine feet thick. The deposit is supplied from the bottom by springs whose waters hold the salts in solution, and they are rapidly crystallized. When the solid material is removed, the rising water fills the excavation and crystallizes in a few days. Hence the deposit is
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practically inexhaustible, as it contains 50,000,000 cubic feet of chemically pure crystals of sulphate of soda, ready to be utilized."
This description will apply generally to all the soda lakes, although they may vary in chemical composition, as, for instance, the Rock Creek lakes contain a large percentage of sulphate of magnesium or epsom salt. Others contain car- bonate and bicarbonate of soda in varying percentage.
Near Laramie are the Union Pacific, the Morgan and the Downey lakes. North of the Platte River, near Independence Rock, are the Gill lakes.
The Rock Creek lakes, twenty-six in number, have an area of about twelve hundred acres and are located in a basin ten miles from Rock Creek Station.
An analysis of the Gill lakes soda shows:
Sodium sulphate
74.50
Magnesium sulphate 2.52
Sodium chloride .54
Water 1.61
Undetermined
.83
100.00
All these immense deposits of natural soda can be used commercially and industrially, as caustic soda, salt cake, soda ash, concentrated lye, etc. They are especially available for the manufacture of glass, as good white glass sand and limestone are found in nearby formations
POTASH DEPOSITS
A recent discovery of a rock formation in the Leucite Hills of Sweetwater County is attracting much attention, as it is reported to contain 11 per cent potash and 12 per cent aluminum. A company has been organized to work this rock and tests are being made of the best methods of extracting the potash. The United States Government is co-operating with the owners of the claim. The geologist estimates that twenty million tons of the caustic can be extracted from the exposed outcrop of this deposit, and its successful working would relieve the great world scarcity now existing in this important product.
PHOSPHATE BEDS
Several years ago the United States geological bureau reported the existence of immense phosphate beds along the western border of the state in Lincoln County. Part of the phosphate area extended over into Idaho and Utah, but it was estimated that Wyoming had one million five hundred thousand acres of phosphate rock, and this area was withdrawn by the President.
Mr. F. B. Weeks of the geological bureau, who made the examination and report on this deposit, estimated that it contained from ten to twenty billion tons. This is interesting as pointing to a great industry in the near future, when these enormous deposits will be needed and utilized as a fertilizer. Indeed, the industry is already being developed and during the past season thousands of tons Vol. 1-26
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have been shipped from this county to California and other states, Sage and Sublet being the present shipping points.
MICA
Mica has come into prominence since the world war began, the demand being much greater than the supply. The United States Government sent out its geologists and agents in quest of some source of supply, and in May, 1918, a group of six old mica mines in Whalen Canyon, near Hartville, owned by Messrs. Stein, Lauk and Frederick, was found to be available for immediate operations. Indeed, it was reported by the Government officials as one of the greatest mica fields discovered in this country. The location of the mines is on a section of state school land.
A force of men have been put at work on the properties and they will be developed as rapidly as possible.
MARVELOUS COPPER POCKET
One of the riches bunches of copper ore ever found in the world was uncov- ered by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company in the Sunrise district, near Hart- ville, in their mining for iron in 1917. It lay in a matrix of hematite iron ore, in one solid mass, surrounded on all sides by walls of iron, and was gradually exposed as the iron ore was worked out. The ore was a wonderfully rich com- bination of carbonate, oxide and glance, running from fifteen to sixty-five per cent copper. Over one hundred carloads of rich ore was taken from this pocket and the official report of the company shows a shipment of 5.585 tons, having an estimated value of over one million dollars! The small space from which this ore was taken, as it lay in a compact body, makes it one of the marvels of mining history.
LIMESTONE FOR SUGAR FACTORIES
The superior purity of the limestone rock found in the Hartville district makes it an ideal stone for sugar factories, and at the present time the rock is being mined at the Bartlett quarries, close to the Town of Hartville, and at the quarries of the Great Western Sugar Company, near Guernsey and at Horse Creek. These quarries employ over two hundred men and the industry is con- stantly increasing. I. S. Bartlett & Sons were the first to open quarries and establish the industry in this section.
METALLIC ORES-A GENERAL VIEW
Wyoming lies centrally in the Rocky Mountain range, and is bounded on three sides with states rich in metallic ores-Colorado on the south, Utah and Idaho on the west and Montana on the north. The great ranges extending through and overlapping this state are mineral-bearing, and the Black Hills of Dakota, extend- ing through the entire state along its eastern border, is noted for its deposits of gold and copper, as well as iron and tin.
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Millions in gold have been taken from Wyoming placers in territorial days, and in recent years large copper deposits have been discovered and worked.
The fact that this state is sparsely populated and is offering fortunes in the sheep and cattle business, and great financial prizes to investors in oil and coal enterprises, accounts for the fact that scientific mining has been greatly neglected for the last ten years. A sheepman, for instance, who is making from fifty to one hundred per cent annually on his investment, would not accept a gold prospect as a gift, or undertake a mining venture requiring expert knowledge and manage- ment, no matter how rich or promising the veins or deposits. Also, when the first lode claims were worked the cost of mining, transportation and ore reduction was so great that many rich mines could not be worked profitably, and after struggling through these adverse circumstances, the claimants turned their atten- tion to other opportunities that offered them sure and quick returns.
The time is now most opportune to develop the great metallic resources of our mountains. Modern mining with labor-saving machinery, cheaper scientific methods of reduct on, new and improved transportation facilities, have given mining investments a security and permanency they never had before.
At the present time, therefore, Wyoming offers rare inducements to the pros- pector, miner and investor, especially in gold and copper.
EARLY GOLD MINING
Gold is found in various sections of Wyoming and has been mined from the earliest settlement of the territory. The first mining in the state was gulch mining, as in all frontier sections. Raymond, in his report on the mineral resources of the Rocky Mountains, issued in 1870, says :
"Gold in the Sweetwater district was first discovered in 1842 by a Georgian who came out with the American Fur Company for his health. Thirteen years after, a party of forty men arrived, who found gold everywhere in the river as well as tributary streams. The river was turned from its channels and the old bed worked with good success."
In 1860, a band of gold hunters worked on Strawberry Gulch, and the remains of their old sluices, rockers and toms may still be seen. South Pass, however, became the scene of the most extensive placer mining in the state. The first miners there, in 1861, were driven away by the Indians. In 1866 parties came in from Virginia City and organized a mining district. In 1869 there were 2,000 people in the camp and South Pass became the second largest town in the territory. Before that time the Carisa and other m'ning lodes were discovered and worked. There were three stamp mills in operation and five more mills on the way and under construction. Up to 1870 Professor Knight estimates that over five million dollars in gold had been taken out.
The next most extensive placer mining was on Douglas Creek and its tribu- taries, especially Moore's Gulch, where the claims were so rich that miners were willing to stay and fight Indians.
In the northern part of the state many gold seekers came in from Montana and Dakota and found rich placers along the tributaries of Powder River, where the famous Lost Cabin placers were found.
All these placer fields are evidences of gold veins in the adjacent mountains,
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as they are formed from the disintegration and erosion of such veins, but little exploration in the high ranges to locate the gold mines could be done because they were so far away from railroad transportation and working facilities.
COPPER
Copper is found in nearly every section of Wyoming. Its prevalence is so universal that it may well be called a copper state, although it has not been extensively mined, for reasons given heretofore.
The leading copper districts of the state are Grand Encampment in the Sierra Madre Mountains, the New Rambler district in the Snowy range, the Hartville district in the Black Hills of Wyoming and in the Sunlight and Kirwin districts of the Shoshone range in the northeastern part of the state. At Tie Siding, Albany County, native copper has been found in large quantities, but no deep mining has yet been done there. Copper mining began at Hartville in 1881 and has been carried on there and at other camps in the district continuously. Last year the district produced over one million dollars' worth of copper.
The scene of the greatest development in copper mining has been in the Grand Encampment district, which had produced about two million dollars when numer- ous subsidiary companies were organized, as wheels within wheels, and a wild stock jobbing speculation began with capitalizations of twenty million dollars to thirty million dollars, so that the affairs of the various companies became so involved and complicated that they were thrown into court and all operations suspended.
The Ferris-Haggerty mine, discovered in 1898 and purchased by the North America Copper Company, was the basis of the extensive operations that ensued in the building of large reduction works at Grand Encampment and an aerial tramway over the mountains sixteen miles from the mine to the works, and the construction of subsidiary plants, as well as the equipment of the mines and houses for employees, etc.
The Doane Rambler, the Portland and various other mines contributed to the ore supplies handled at the smelting works.
The great extent and value of the Ferris-Haggerty group is well established and undisputed, and when the present litigation is over, that section will become one of the great copper producing districts of the country. The ores consist of yellow copper pyrites, brown oxides and blue carbonates.
Another noted copper mine is the New Rambler, in Albany County, dis- covered in 1900. This mine has produced about one million pounds of the richest copper ores known, containing a small percentage of platinum. The ore is a covellite, a beautiful blue sulphide, with brilliant crystallizations. The company lias a small matte smelter in connection with its mining plant.
Silver Crown, twenty-five miles northwest of Cheyenne, has been the scene of copper mining at different periods during the past forty years, and several large deposits have been penetrated there by the Fairview, Ferguson, Louise and other mines, and few districts in the state have better prospects for future devel- opment in copper production. At this camp there are also several low-grade gold and copper deposits of great magnitude.
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USEFUL MINERALS FOUND IN WYOMING
(As Reported by the United States Geological Survey of 1917.)
Agate (moss). Carbon County, has been mined near Sweetwater River; common in other localities. Fremont County, head of Long Creek and on Sage Hen Creek, north of Granite Mountains. Natrona County, on Sage Hen Creek, northeast of Granite Mountains. Platte County, Wilde and Deercorn mine, two miles northwest of Guernsey, moss agate, also red and banded; mined inter- mittently.
Allanite. Albany County, near Albany Station. Occurs near line between sections 3 and 10, township 14, range 78 west, in pegmatite.
Anglesite (lead sulphate). Carbon County, at Ferris, with galena, cerusite and quartz.
Argentite (silver sulphide). Laramie County, with other ores, Laramie Peak. Asbestos (chiefly chrysotile). Albany County, Laramie range. Carbon County, in Seminoe Mountains. Converse County, occurs ten miles south of Glenrock. Crook County, Black Hills. Natrona County, mined on Casper Moun- tain, eight miles south of Casper, and on Smith Creek, twenty miles southeast of Casper; fair quality ; associated with serpentine; two mills erected in 1910; small production. Atlantic district, Fremont County, operations pending.
Asphalt. Fremont County, occurs four miles northeast of Fort Washakie at a depth of 1,500 feet in wells drilled for oil, and in nearly all of the oil dis- tricts as maltha or brea. Bighorn County, west slope of Big Horn Mountains in sections 28, 29, 32, 33, township 52 north, range 89 west.
Azurite (blue carbonate of copper). Albany County, Rambler, and Blanche mines at Holmes, Grand Encampment district, Carbon County. Occurs but not mined in Seminoe district. Crook County, Warren's Peak. Johnson County, Big Horn Mountains. Platte and Goshen counties, in Hartville Uplift in many prospects ; mined in Copper Belt mines.
Barite (heavy spar). Albany County, Medicine Bow Mountains ; not mined. Crook County, Black Hills. Park County, at Kirwin.
Bentonite (medicinal or paper clay). Occurs in Albany, Bighorn, Carbon, Converse, Crook, Fremont, Hot Springs, Johnson, Natrona, Park, Sheridan and Weston counties ; used for weighing paper, as an adulterant, for hoof packing, and in the manufacture of antiphlogistine. Albany County, extensive deposits well developed on Rock Creek in eastern part of county; deposits also occur respectively at eight and twenty miles southwest of Laramie; has been shipped from Rock Creek and Laramie Basin. Bighorn County, thick deposits in northern part of Big Horn Basin, near Hartman and the Montana boundary. Weston County, near Newcastle; has been shipped from Clay Spur and New- castle. In Hot Springs County it occurs in beds three feet thick.
Bismuth. See Bismuthinite and Bismutite.
Bismuthinite. Albany County, occurs near Cummings City ; not mined.
Bismutite. Albany County, has been mined on Jelm Mountain.
Bornite (purple copper ore). Carbon County, mined at Encampment district. Platte County, formerly mined about Hartville.
Brown iron ore (limonite). Albany County, occurs at Jelm mines. Con-
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verse County, near Douglas. Fremont County, on Little Popo Agie Creek; not mined.
Cassiterite. Crook County. Stream tin has been found sparingly at various times in the gulches around Nigger Hill, S. D., on state line.
Cement material (Portland ). Albany County, fifteen feet of pure marl in Niobrara formation, eight miles southwest of Laramie. Laramie County, Nio- brara and Minnekahta limestones and Graneros shale member of the Benton, near Cheyenne. Weston County, near Newcastle. Not used.
Cerargyrite (horn silver). Crook County. Black Buttes mines, Warren's Peak. Fremont County, associated with other ores in Wind River Mountain mines.
Cerium metals. See Allanite and Monazite.
Cerusite (carbonate of lead). Albany County, in schists and diorite at Ester- brook; has been mined and shipped. Carbon County, with galena and quartz at Ferris. Crook County, Black Butte mines, hard and soft carbonates ; argen- tiferous : has been mined.
Chalcocite (copper glance). Albany County, in gneiss and schist at Jelm; gold and silver values ; Doane-Rambler and other mines. Carbon County, impor- tant ore of Encampment district. Platte and Goshen counties, important ore in Hartville Uplift ; carries gold and silver at some mines.
Chalcopyrite (copper pyrites). Albany County, in granite and schist at Jelm mines ; gold values. Carbon County, important ore of Encampment district ; Seminoe Mountains. Fremont County, South Pass City, with other ores. Lara- mie County, with iron ores in quartz at Ulcahoma mine, near Hecla ; carries gold and silver. Park County, at Kirwin. Platte and Goshen counties, important ore of Hartville Uplift.
Chromite (chromic iron ore). Large deposits in the southern part of the state. Converse County, mined at Deer Creek Canyon, fifteen miles southwest of Glenrock. Natrona County, similar deposit occurs on Casper Mountain.
Chromium. See Chromite.
Chrysocolla (copper silicate). Platte and Goshen counties, Hartville iron range. Mined at Green Hope, Silver Cliff and Copper Belt mines.
Chrysotile. See Asbestos.
Clay (brick). Abundant throughout the state. Brick made in the following localities : Albany County, Laramie; Bighorn County, Basin, Cody, Park and Worland; Carbon County, Encampment; Converse County, Douglas; Crook County, Gillette ; Fremont County, Lander and Thermopolis; Natrona County, Casper ; Platte County, Wheatland; Sheridan County, Sheridan; Sweetwater County. Green River : Laramie County, Cheyenne. Also in other counties.
Clay (medicinal or paper). See Bentonite.
Coal. Estimated tonnage of coal in the ground second largest in the United States ; about fifty per cent of the area of the state is underlain by coal-bearing formations.
Coal (bituminous). Laramie Basin-Albany County, mined for local use at Rock, Dutton and Mill creeks.
Coal (bituminous and sub-bituminous). Green River Field-Carbon, Fremont, Sweetwater and Uinta counties : contains 4,800 square miles of available coal and 20,000 square miles of coal deeply buried. Carbon County, bituminous coal
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mined at Hanna and Rawlins. Sweetwater County, Rock Springs. Uinta County, Cumberland, Diamondville, Kemmerer and Spring Valley. Henry's Fork Field- Uinta County, coal widely distributed ; little developed.
Coal (bituminous coking). Cambria Field-Weston County, large mine at Cambria ; about twelve square miles of workable coal; has been coked.
Coal (sub-bituminous). Big Horn Basin-Bighorn and Park counties, mines near Basin, Cody, Crosby, Gebo, Meeteetse and Thermopolis. Powder River Field-Largest in the state ; lies between Black Hills and Big Horn Mountains ; extends from Montana line south to North Platte River; Upper Cretaceous and Eocene ; beds have a maximum thickness of forty-five feet; 11,000 square miles underlain by workable beds. Mines in Converse County at Glenrock, Big Muddy, Inez Station and Lost Spring; Johnson County, Buffalo : Sheridan County, Car- ney, Dietz, Monarch and Sheridan. Small quantity for local use taken at many places. Wind River Basin-Fremont and Natrona counties. Mined in Popo Agie Valley, eight miles northeast of Lander and near Hudson; eight feet.
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