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Show 105 Districts,- At present the mineral- bearing region is divided into six mining districts. On the Animas are the Animas districts, extending along the Animas from 2 miles above Howardsville to the south and including the southern and southwestern portion of the rim of the Upper Animas basin, and the Eureka district, adjoining the Animas district, and including all the country in the northern portion of this basin as far as the divide. On the Uncompahgre, the Uncompahgre district includes the drainage- area of the Uncompahgre above its gorge. The Blames Peak, or Mount Sneffels district, the lower mineral region, of which Ouray is the town. On the Lake Fork is the Park district, extending from the headwaters of the fork to Cottonwood Junction. The Lake district, including the Hensen Creek Mines, and those upon the Lake Fork north of Cottonwood Junction. In the Animas districts the ores are mainly argentiferous galena, with, in some cases, traces of gold, assaying from 40 to 60 per cent, of lead, and from 60 to 400 ounces of silver per ton; assays of culled ore have been made far up in the thousands of ounces. The ores are contaminated by iron and copper pyrites. The Little Giant Mine and others in Arrastra gulch are gold- bearing, the matrix being quartz with a streak of manganese in the form of ripidohte, which seems to be richest in gold. Gray copper ores are also frequent along the Upper Animas. On the Uncompahgre the veins are of immense width, with pay- streaks varying from 10 inches to 4 feet; the ores on the southern side of the district being smelting, while those on the northern fork are in great part free milling ores. Petzite. gray copper, bromide of silver, ruby- silver, native silver, and autiinonial silver ore, and various sulphurets assaying high in the thousands of ounces, have been discovered. Many of the lodes here show traces of gold. On the Lake Fork of the Gunnison and on the Hensen Creek are about 800 locations, the ores being, as a rule, of lower grade than in the Animas, Eureka, and Uncompahgre districts, but of the same general character. Several of the mines, however, give very rich ores, as, for instance, the Hotchkiss lode gold and silver assays from $ 200 to $ 12,000 per ton, averaging $ 1,500; Ute lode, $ 200 to $ 1,200; Little Chief, gray copper ore, $ 200 to $ 15,000 ; Lone Chief, petzite and black sulphurets, $ 150 to $ 800, and perhaps a dozen others of high- grade ore. The above veins are mentioned only for illustration. I personally know nothing about them, except from information which I consider reliable. Below Lake City are several lodes of gold bearing quartz assaying from $ 20 to $ 1,240 per ton. Up to October, 1874, the following assays have been made in the Uncompahgre district, and will show what is considered a fair average of all the lodes and claims in the San Juan country, near the surface. The ores are generally low " rade, but an unusual number of very rich mines have been discovered, when we consider that one good lode where transportation can be secured is sufficient to assure the prosperity of a mining district. Witness Pioche and other mining districts in Nevada: 46 assays, from 5 onnces to 25 ounces per ton in silver. 19 assays, from 25 ounces to 50 ounces per ton in silver. 47 assays, from 50 ounces to 100 ounces per ton in silver. 16 assays, from 100 ounces to 300 ounces per ton in silver. 9 assays, from 300 ounces to 500 ounces per ton in silver. 11 assays, from 500 ounces to 1,000 ounces per ton in silver. 5 assays, from 1,000 ounces to 2,000 ounces per ton in silver. 2 assays, from 2,000 ounces to 3,000 ounces per ton in silver. 3 assays, from 3,000 ounces to 5,000 ounces per ton iu silver. 1 assay, from 6,300 ounces per ton in silver. The above may, of course, be regarded as results of assays of picked ores near the outcrop. Ores worth less than $ 150 a ton at present prices for milling ( averaging $ 75 per ton) and for transportation ($ 100 to $ 120 a ton to Del Norte) will not pay to work, and ibr this region are classed as low grades. New discoveries are still being made almost everywhere in this group of mountains, and the known area covered by the mineral croppings and lodes is continually widening. I found float galena and cupreous ores of silver near the head of the San Miguel, and picked up several small nuggets of gold from the rocky bed of one of its tributaries. Doubtless there will be found rich lodes of gold and silver here also. The veins throughout the region are well defined, with good walls, and give, by their persistency along the surface, every outward evidence of permanency. They trend northeast to southwest, northwest to southeast, and near the head of the Lake Fork in the " American basin n nearly east and west, there seeming to have been several injections or systems of veins which upon Mineral Mountain have intersected each other, creating thereby quite a confusion, which, if the mines situated therein turn out as expected, will necessarily provoke quite lively litigation. The veins are in great number, and in many cases of enormous width, containing wide pay- streaks of oftentimes very rich ore. All that is needed for the success of the |
