ALTHOUGH I have come to Colorado to look at scenery rather than at gold and silver mines, it is impossible to remain in the centre of mining operations without feeling a desire to learn something concerning their character and prospects. Indeed it is quite necessary to acquire some general knowledge of the peculiarities of the ores and the technical terms describing them, in order both to understand three fourths of the conversation one hears, and to avoid the enthusiastic explanations which would be immediately proffered if one should confess entire ignorance. One would soon "cap out," or " peter out," socially, if he did not yield so much to this community.

The region hereabout first drew miners, and afterward capitalists, from the rich discoveries made by Gregory, in the spring of 1859, and from its greater proximity to Denver. It is but one of a long chain of gold-bearing districts, many of which are still but half explored. Many more, no doubt, are yet undiscovered. Here, however, the most has been done in the way of development, and we can therefore better judge what dependence can be placed on the promise of the precious minerals. The deserted mills, the idle wheels, and the empty shafts and drifts for miles along this and the adjoining ravines — the general decrease of population everywhere in the mountains — indicate a period of doubt and transition, which is now, I believe, on the point of passing away. Colorado has been, alternately, the scene of exorbitant hopes and equally extravagant disappointments. Out of these violent reactions a new order of things is gradually being evolved. Great mistakes have been made. Ignorance has learned (at an enormous expense) to recognize itself. A terrible deal of swindling has been perpetrated, and the natural result is, that the country now has a worse reputation than it deserves, in most parts of the Union. As I do not own, or propose to own, one foot of any lode in the Territory, my own opinions on the subject — whatever they may be worth — will be at least unprejudiced.

In the first place, gold is found here under very different conditions from those of California. "Free gold," as it is called (native or virgin gold), is much less abundant. Owing to the conformation of the mountains, there is but a limited space for "gulch" or surface washing, and the rush of miners to the country in 1859 and ‘60 soon exhausted the best of these. The "blossom-rock" (partially disintegrated quartz, with the gold mostly in a "free" state) gradually followed, leaving the great storehouse of the mountains still untouched, but containing the gold in such stubborn and difficult combinations, that by the old processes from fifty to eighty per cent. was lost, or, as they say here, "went down the creek." Then came discouragement, despondency, failure of experiments, and a general collapse, the results of which are everywhere apparent. Yet new lodes were all the time being discovered, and each succeeding assay showed the richness of the mineral.

As a general rule the gold is found in combination with copper, and the silver with lead. The silver ore, in fact, is simply a very rich argentiferous galena. Some mineralogists say that the ores are copper and lead, in reality, holding the nobler metals in combination. It is immaterial which name we give, provided the latter can be completely extracted by some cheap method. This is now the problem which is vexing Colorado — which suspends enterprise and holds back emigration, for a time. Out of the many processes proposed, two only have been put in operation —Keith’s and Lyon’s. Monnier’s and Kenyon’s have not yet been actively tested. A few of the old stamp-mills are still running, and those companies which can afford to mine their ores a considerable time in advance of crushing them, will still make a profit by this method. The yield of gold is said to be fully doubled, by allowing the ore to be exposed to the air for the space of a year. Probably two thirds of the companies, however, are waiting the result of experiments.

Another cause operates, though in a less degree, to check enterprises on a larger scale. Labor is scarce and very dear. Mechanics demand from six to ten dollars, and the commonest miner five dollars per day. Iron, lime, chemical materials, and even fuel, are also very expensive. Moreover, nothing is more certain than that when wheat is supplied at three cents per pound instead of ten (as it probably will be this fall), and when freight from the East is reduced from fifteen to six cents per pound, the expense of mining and separating the metals will be less than one half of what it now is. For this good time, which is not only coming, but is actually near at hand, the whole mountain population is waiting.

The descent into a mine is one of the inevitable things which a traveller must perform. It is a moist, unpleasant business, but no one can speak authoritatively of "capping out," "wall rock," "flukin’s," &c., who has not been down and seen the articles from beginning to end. Mr. Hayes, the Superintendent of the "Gregory Consolidated," offered to pilot me to a depth of three hundred feet, which I considered would be as much as a strict sense of duty could exact. I have no subterranean tastes, and honestly confess that I would have been glad of any valid excuse to omit the descent. But there was none: so I repaired to the engine-house and business office, high up the steep hill-side, put on stiff brown boots, a clayey coat, and a bespattered slouch of a hat, received my tallow candle with a sigh, and inspected with a new interest the photograph of Speaker Colfax and his party, taken after their return from the realms under my feet.

The steam-engine was undergoing repairs, and two hundred and fifty feet of perpendicular ladders, beside the pump-shaft, furnished the only means of descent. Mr. Rule, the never-tired Cornishman, led the way; then Mr. Hayes, with his tallow candle, while I, with mine, brought up the rear. Through a little trap-door we passed from the blazing noon sunshine into a square, upright box of damp darkness, filled, somewhere far below, with sounds of dropping and trickling water. The ladders are about sixteen feet in length, separated by narrow platforms, where we can now and then take breath. On one side is the well, with its iron tubes, vanishing above and below. I cannot pretend to describe the operation of the machinery, and will only say that the work is of the most massive and durable character. There was plenty of leisure to inspect it before we reached the bottom.

Having accomplished the descent, I found myself in a horizontal drift, which followed the direction of the lode, into the heart of the mountain. Moving lights in the distance, and the sounds of pick and hammer, guided us to the further end, where the workmen were busy tunnelling into the stubborn rock — the design being to carry the drift to the limit of the Company’s property. A new drift, seventy-five feet below this, has been started, and will be carried, horizontally, to the same point; after which, the crevice will be worked out from below upward. Its width, at the depth I reached, is from four to six feet. Contrary to the experience of other mining countries, the ore becomes richer as you descend, though at the same time more refractory.

The lodes, in this region, appear to be nearly vertical, and are so much alike in their features that a description of one will answer for all. The vertical crevice, sunk to an unknown depth in the primitive rock, has sides more or less curved or waved, so that one side, from irregular upheaval, sometimes overlaps the other: the granite, or gneiss, meets, and cuts off the streak of ore. This is called "capping out." The first discovery thereof occasioned a good deal of consternation. It was supposed that the lode was at an end, and that, in all probability, the Rocky Mountains were only rich on the surface. Now, however, when a lode caps out, the owner strikes through the isthmus of "wall rock," certain of finding his "pay streak" below. Sometimes the lode is only "pinched," not entirely cut off. Of course the crevices vary in width and the ores in richness, but there is great similarity in all other conditions.

It was easy to track the glittering presence of the sulphurets and pyrites along the walls of the drift. When a light was held near the rock, it brought out sparkles of golden, scarlet, pink, and bright blue lustre, equal to any peacock coal. This ore, which is accounted very rich, is found in large masses, and it required a vigorous handling of the pick to get off a few specimens. I found it difficult to obtain any clear estimates of the yield. The ore is absurdly measured by "cords," — an ordinary two-horse wagon-load being called a quarter of a cord — and one cord may represent from eight to twelve tons. Fifty dollars a ton may perhaps represent a fair average yield —but this is a guess rather than a calculation.

Crossing a gulf on a suspended ladder, we climbed into an upper drift, communicating with a part of the crevice which had been worked down from above, and gave us a distant glimpse of daylight. Here we found the lode again, and could make some estimate of the value of the ores packed between us and the bottom of the mine. The way in which the lodes are cut into claims, which fall into the hands of different companies, is a great obstacle to the economical working of them. A horizontal drift, from the point where the lode strikes the bottom of Gregory Gulch, would be a self-acting drain; but the Company, since it does not own this portion of the lode, is driven to the enormous expense of pumping from a depth of nearly four hundred feet. Moreover, when one company suspends operations for a time, and the water collects, the companies above it, on the same lode, are unable to work. These are some of the inevitable, yet very unpractical, features which still belong to Colorado mining.

As we were returning to the lower drift, there was a sudden smothered bellowing under our feet, the granite heart of the mountain trembled, and our candles were extinguished in an instant. It was not an agreeable sensation, especially when Mr. Rule informed me that another blast would follow the first. However, the darkness and uncertainty soon came to an end. We returned to the foot of the ladder, and, after a climb which, in that thin air, was a constant collapse to the lungs, we reached the daylight in a dripping, muddy, and tallow-spotted condition.

Mr. Hayes was kind enough to accompany me to the smelting-works of the Company, and point out the principal features of the Lyons process. I shall not attempt to give a technical description. The process, I believe, is imported from Wales, with very slight modifications. The ores are ground, washed; released from the rock, desulphurized by heat, smelted, the gold and silver separated from the lead and copper, and finally delivered in cakes which contain about seventy-five per cent. in weight, of silver, and some eighty per cent. in value, of gold. The lead and copper are not saved, except so much of the former as is used in smelting, in the form of litharge.

I believe this is the only process, at present, in operation, which saves the silver. Whether the amount gained thereby is sufficient to balance the greater expense of reducing the ores, I cannot say. Professor Hill, who has just returned from Swansea, in company with Mr. Hermann, of the firm of Vivian & Co., brings a proposal, I am told, to send "mats" of the metals, unseparated, to Wales, the value of the copper alone being enough to pay the cost of transportation and smelting. Mr. Hermann considers the ores immensely rich, and has commenced a series of assays, the result of which, I presume, will not be immediately made public.

The only objection I have heard urged against the Lyons process is its expensive character. In other respects it must be satisfactory, since the Company is now buying the "tailings" of the stamp-mills, at the rate of fifty dollars per cord, for the purpose of smelting. Statements on either side must be received with a certain amount of allowance, and many communications are made to me which I forbear repeating. I can only say that the energy and activity displayed by the Lyons Company indicate success.

Mr. Lathrop took me to-day to Keith’s Mill, which is in the Clear Creek Valley, about a mile from Black Hawk. The process here is very simple. The ore, after being ground, is placed in hollow cylinders, where a number of small iron balls reduce it to powder. After being desulphurized by heat, it is placed in the cylinders and pulverized a second time. Finally, the usual treatment, by water and quicksilver, is employed to take up the gold alone, silver, lead, and copper being lost. Mr. Keith claims that by the process he obtains one hundred per cent. more than the stamp-mills — probably eighty to eighty-five per cent. of the whole amount of gold. The advantage of his method is its cheapness. The handling of the material, from first to last, is done by machinery, and the different stages of the process are so conveniently connected that four men can reduce two cords of ore daily. Mr. Keith seems to have great faith in the success of his method, which is certainly destined to supersede the stamp-mills. The loss of the silver, however, strikes me as an objection to its use in many parts of Colorado.

The stamp-mill of the Black Hawk Company is still at work, pounding out the less refractory ores from the Bobtail Lode. It is a model mill of the kind, admirable in its arrangement, thoroughly regulated, and with a refreshing air of permanence in all its departments. I am told that its average production is two hundred and twenty-five ounces of gold per week, whereof twenty-five ounces are profit. I suspect this is only a guess.

One thing is certain: the mines of Colorado are among the richest in the world. I doubt whether either California or Nevada contains a greater amount of the precious metals than this section of the Rocky Mountains. These peaks, packed as they are with deep, rich veins — seamed and striped with the out-cropping of their hidden and reluctantly granted wealth — are not yet half explored. They are part of a grand deposit of treasure which will eventually be found to extend from Guanajuato and Real del Monte to the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers, and which, if properly worked, will yield a hundred millions a year for a thousand years! Colorado, alone, ought to furnish the amount of the national debt within the next century. The gold is here, and the silver, the copper, and lead, — possibly, platina (there are already rumors of it), —and all that is needed is invention, intelligence, and properly organized enterprise.

There is an immense number of fools in the world, and many of them either found their way to Colorado, or invested in mythical mines of fabulous productiveness. More than the usual amount of folly and swindling was located here for a time — hence the reaction, the effects of which are still felt.

Before leaving Central City, I must say that it is the most outrageously expensive place in Colorado. You pay more and get less for the money than in any other part of the world. I am already tired of these bald, clumsy shaped, pock-marked mountains; this one long, windy, dusty street, with its perpetual menace of fire; and this never-ending production of "specimens" and offer of "feet," and shall joyfully say good-by to-morrow morning.   NEXT