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Show 106 mines is facile communication and cheaper transportation. The shortness of the sum. mer season- if there be such a thing here- and the length of the winter is a serious drawback. The mines, as a rnle, are between 11,000 to 13,000 feet above sea- level. Water freezes nearly every night. Snow may be expected any time after the 15th of September, and by the 1st of November the higher passes into the Animas Basin may be closed until about July 1. July, August, and September, then, are about the only months that outdoor work can be carried on, and almost daily rains during this interval call for the genius of a Tapley and the aquatic disposition of an Aleut to preserve an equable and serene frame of mind. If one attempts to cross a range of mountains, he is tripped by fallen logs or mired in the mud. If out of his tent or hut after half past 1 or & o'clock in the afternoon, he is drenched with rain, pelted with hail, or dredged with snow. If so unfortunate as to be canght upon a high peak aboat this time, he will be shocked by electricity and frightened out of his wits by singing rocks, stinging ears, fingers, and nose, lively hair and beard, loud crashes of thunder, and horribly- uncertain streams of lightning. The manifestations of induced electricity are very interesting, but very unpleasant. Every hair and every projecting member of one's Body becomes a small discharging- point, and continued small discharges, prior to a great discharge of lightning from the clouds above, upon one's nose and ears and hair, are excessively annoying; one feels like a pincushion in demand. Every rock upon a peak becomes similarly electrified by induction, and, the tension becoming too great, minor discharges take place thereto, so that every sto nebegins to sing louder and louder, until finally a stream of lightning, seemingly as large as a man's waist, of solid fire, leaps down to earth, followed by a crash of thunder like the discharge of mighty artillery. One such great discharge generally is sufficient to determine the hasty flight from high peaks of aspiring mules and men, miners and donkeys. The mines are as yet but little developed, but very extensive preparations are in progress now. Several smelters have been and are to be erected in the various districts, and, as soon as miners can begin to make their ores pay for work, the condition of things will be much improved. Capitalists are deterred from investing on account of the inaccessibility of the districts, and the owners have been too poor in ready money to open up their mines in places where they could not receive any immediate return. There can, however, be no reasonable doubt of the future of the districts mentioned, and the great immigration to that region in the spring of 1876 shows the increased confidence ielt in these mines. In 1875 the population of these mountains was about 3,500. Thirteen towns have been founded, viz: Silverton, Howardsville, Eureka, and La Plata on the Animas; Mineral City, Park City, and Ouray on the Uncompahgre: Tellurum, Cottonwood Junction, and Lake City on the Lake Fork; Parratt City on the La Plata River, where veins of gold- bearing quartz have been located and an extensive auriferous bar is about to be worked; Uermosa and Old Animus City, or Elbert, on the Lower Animas River, in the Park. Average cost of mining the ore is from $ 8 to $ 15 per ton. Cost of driving tunnel on main vein, $ 25 per foot. Cost of sinking a shaft in main vein, $ 25 to $ 30 a foot. Points of supply Del Norte and Saguache, Colorado Springs and Cafion City. Freights, $ 160 a ton to Canon City or Colorado Springs, 220 miles. There is no grain and hay in market; the grass is good throughout the mountains. No Indians within limits of the mineral belt except the Weeminuche Utes on the La Plata; the Tabequache Utes occasionally visit the mines, but they have now no claim to the land. Mountain- sheep and bears are about the only large game, and these are becoming very scarce, having been driven away by the blasting in the mines. Grouse and ptarmigan are quite plentiful. The Sam Miguel and Dolores are filled with trout, and also the Lake Fork below the falls. Saw- mills have been erected in nearly all of the districts, and lumber and shingles can be purchased at from $ 20 to $ 40 per thousand for the former, and $ 7 per thousand for the latter. Everywhere is abundant water for machinery of nearly any power required of pure snow wat; er of constant and rapid flow. ROUTES OF COMMUNICATION. At present the San Juan mining region is reached from the last of three main lines of communication. 1st, From Cafion City, via Pleasant Valley, Puncho Pass, Cochetopa Pass, to Lake City, on the Lake Fork of the Gunnison; thence a road leads to the Animas Forks and the mines on the Animas and headwaters of the Uncompahgre. 2d, From Pueblo or Cucharas Station, via the Mosca, Abeyta, or Sangre de Chrlsto Pass, to Del Norte, thence via the headwaters of the Rio Grande del Norte to the Animas miues; a branch road from Antelope Springs also leads over to Lake City, connecting with the first- mentioned line near the lower end of San Cristobal Lake. 3d. From Santa Fe" and northward to Taos a road leads via Abiquin and Tierra Amarilia to the Animas Park, thence a trail to the Animas mines. |