F »»tfi- ':^-x i:< 'T*:- Cripple >^\y'l Creek ^* (^ (JW Illustrated <,>v^^ Cripple Creek Illustrated S S- S- 3 ^ J^ ^t■ ^t jt Issued by the Passenger Department Santa Fe Route 1896 in POOLE BROS. CHICAGO. jt J* .* e^ e^ ^ e^ RIPPLE CREEK is a gold field second to none in the world. Discoveries are made there every day that make poor men rich; but if the visitor expects to see the old miner "bearded like a pard," feasting his eyes on nuggets of gold, he will look in vain; and if he expects to see the revolver, the bowie-knife and the Winchester, as furnishings for men, he will be disappointed. The Cripple Creek crowd might have wandered out of Chicago for all its dress and manners tell of it. It is a hustling crowd, and all sorts of old friends are in it. The faces in the hurrying throng are clean and quick, the clothes are well cut and well set. The stage settings are sometimes rude. The seamy side of many a pine structure is visible to the naked eye. But the actors themselves, like the dukes and ladies who stalk across the boards where "Uncle Tom" hobbled the night before, are so well kept that the contrast is distinctly apparent. The town is equipped with water-works, electric lights and sewers. A street-car line has been surveyed, and cottages, with all the comforts that plumbing can bring, are going up every day. The hotels and restau- rants spread as tempting tables as those of any place in the Mississippi Valley. Venison, lobsters, pheasants and quail, and fresh mushrooms, strawberries and tomatoes are among the delicacies that lie in the windows of the markets. The old-time "grub" of the mining camp is not heard of in Cripple Creek. The town is up-to- date. There are two daily papers. A telephone system and the two commercial telegraph companies con- nect the district with the outer world. Two bookstores sell the latest phantasies in decadent art and literature. The dry goods stores have "linen sales" and "silk sales" every week. The bargain counter greets the economical family man who thought he was fleeing to "some vast wilderness." The caprices and whims of latter-day civilization are seen at every turn in this new yellow-pine town. The Ki2?isi!s Citv Star says: " The man who comes to Cripple Creek looking for the picturesque, will have to look beneath the surface. The most picturesque sight in Cripple Creek is the sweet thing in corduroys, leather leggings, white hat and hunting jacket, and immaculate linen, stumbling down the street, reading the CRIPPLE CREEK — VIEW ON BENNETT AVENUE uncut magazine, and jostling against the crowd." That is the short of it all. There is no frontier. The railway has abolished it. Cripple Creek is as civilized as towns whereon the moss of centuries has gathered. Yet where the town of Cripple Creek now lies crumpled in a pocket of the mountains, a cattle ranch, five years ago, occupied the land. For twenty years the ranch was undisturbed in possession, save when the Mount Pisgah boom (a salted boom) broke the solitude for two days in 1884. In 1889 an occa- sional prospector, with pick and drill, strayed into the camp. P"or years Robert Womack had been digging holes all over the ranch looking for mineral. But no one paid any attention to him. As the other prospectors kept coming in so many holes went down that cattle fell in, and the cattle upon that creek were shipped to market maimed and crippled. From this circumstance, it is said, the name "Cripple Creek" was derived. To keep out prospectors the cattle men laid off the place into town lots, which they put on the market at ^50 apiece, as a prohibitory price. The prospectors gobbled up the lots and called for more. DUMPING AN ORE CAR (^ ^5* From 1 89 1 the district may be said to have a place in mining history, but not until 1892 was the output sufficient to be recorded. Then it amounted to S6oo,ooo. Following is a showing of the output for four years: 1892 1893 1894 FIRST YEAR'S GOLD OUTPUT, $600,000. SECOND YEAR'S GOLD OUTPUT, $2,100,000. THIRD YEAR'S GOLD OUTPUT, $3,000,000. J 895 FOURTH YEAR'S GOLD OUTPUT, $8,000,000. That diagram is a pictorial history of Cripple Creek. Its details would make a book. The history of one of the score of hills in the district — an area six miles by ten in extent — is the historj' of all the hills. It is a story of pluck and luck and providence. Here is a typical tale told of the Portland mine — one of the most valuable in Colorado — as it was written by a staff correspondent of the Clikago Trib- une. It is a story to make your blood tingle: "Another of the pitiful stories of the camp that partakes of the nature of a romance is that of the Portland group. It is a tale of a minimum of luck mixed with a maximum of pluck and perseverance in the face of moneyed odds. Here we have three ENTRANCE TO A TUNNEL young men, James Burns, James Doyle and John Harnan, all poor and living at Colorado Springs. Burns was probably the most fortunate of the trio because he had learned the plumbers' trade, and he had had some experience in working about mines in Leadville and other places. By means of grubstakes and a little money earned at odd times they had spent some time in prospecting. "One day they came across rich ore in the Port- land, so called because two of them came from that Maine city, and they saw fortunes ahead. But they had only a fraction of a claim — less than one-sixth of an acre — and they realized that they must get more ground if they were to be genuine bonanza kings. The ore developed unexpected richness and they determined to secretly take out enough to buy out their neighbors. Above all they must not excite the suspicions of the wary prospectors who surrounded them. The story of how they packed the rich stuff out of their mine at night on their backs has often been told. They toiled incessantly, but the weary climb up the steep hill tired them after a time, and they decided to try the experiment of getting a wagon to haul away the mineral that was bringing in such handsome returns, even though they were taking it out in such small quantities. On the first trip the wagon broke down within a short distance of the shaft, and in the morning the early prospectors were astonished at the sight of it perched high on the side of Butte Mountain, where there was no road. Curiosity excited, it was not long before they had satisfied themselves where the ore came from. To trace the wheel tracks to the Portland dump was easy. "Then ensued a scramble for locations that lapped and overlapped the poor little Portland fraction to a discouraging degree. But the trio did not lose heart. They knew that with time they could get enough money out of their mine to make the legal fights that came down like an avalanche. So they industriously worked away with forty-seven law suits hanging over their heads. Some they fought to a successful finish, others they compromised, and it all ended in their getting possession of 130 acres of patented land immediately ftf wlaf^II ^ ..4' ^fl^H PUMPING STATION— 310 FEET BELOW SURFACE surrounding their original location. And the money with which to prosecute these expensive suits, with the best (Colorado legal talent employed on both sides, came out of the hole of which it was sought to deprive them. "Arrayed against them were such men as D. H. Moffatt, with the influence of millions in his hands, and other enormously rich persons. Throughout the long fights in the courts discouraging obstacles not originally counted upon were thrown in their way. One of these was the great strike of '93, and it came near making dough of their cake. They had agreed to buy one of the Moffatt adverse claims and had §285,000 to pay in a few weeks. The strike was declared in opposition to a demand made by certain mine owners that the miners work nine hours a day instead of eight. The conflict, with its dynamite and militia episodes, continued for months, but through the bull-dog determination of 'Jimmie' Burns the Portland continued to take out ore. "The miners were given everything they wanted and more too — in fact, anything to keep the hoisters going. When the day of settlement came Mr. Moffatt and his friends were given a check for the quarter of a million or more, and every cent of it had been taken out of the ground in dispute. It was one of the most remarkable transactions known to mining. "After that progress was easy, though before all the troubles of the trio were over J. R. McKinnie and Stratton, of the Independence, found their way into the company and gave it strength. All the fights, however, were not in the courts. Burns and Doyle, who kept guard over the property with their own eyes, were often obliged to sally out with shotguns and rifles and drive away would-be jumpers and con- testants who thought 'possession was nine points in law,' and tried to gain that coigne of vantage by force. "Not fifty feet from the main office of the Port- land, on the mountain. Burns one night drove away six armed men who had started to sink a shaft. There were profane words and many threats, but the intruders finally withdrew with the promise of com- ing again. The gaping mouth of Burns' weapon ~ " accelerated their movements down the hill. When it was all over Burns discovered his rifle was not PROSPECTORS STARTING OUT FROM CRIPPLE CREEK MATTS. -'- i A uie,ri(i)iiKit^1o.\ — *'s,2;j(t.l in ,1 11 nil I VI IV ■ UULAR MtALS,; loaded. He felt much like the tainting woman who collapses when the danger is over. His hair has silvered in four years. Yet 'Jimmie' Burns is a young man. '^ ^ J- J, The early records of the camp are full of similar episodes; that was before the railroad brought in civilization. The great strike of 1S94, with it's for- tification on Bull Hill, its intrigues, and its threat- ened rebellion against the state troops, is an incident in national history. They show you now "where the battle was fought." They point to the place where the deputies marshalled their forces, where .rsx ho... ,. c.p... ck... people speak of the year ,894 as "a early dav "vet T u" °'^^^>'^' ^' ^-^^ strange to hear events move rapidly hLory .'rites a b:ok Iv'ery I^y 'ti'IIZ -^Ttt^ "^"^ '" Cripple Creek. Where say. in the "eighties "-is now almost forgotten ^ ^' ^ ^^' °^ '^"^ prehistoric period- Greater events are now upon the boards Thp «.^vM i .. ^ • "a million a month" is a slo<.an tha^ wHl not nern > " '''' "P°" ^"^^^' ^'''^ ^^ '^ '^- ^he cry of providing work for thousands of mi .e Three' e"h hr"h-ft"'°T '° '^ -T"'' '"^'"^"- ^'^^^ ^^°^-" ^ Electric lights in the depths make work as safe as ft t above^ -a^e midmght ,n the mine as busy as noon, eight hours. The Union rules everything B^isin s s Irif T". '^'^'^ '°'' "'"^''^ ^^^ ^^ree dollars for dollars a day, and carpenters and nJasons fin^TI^J I T ^^^^ ST^;. n::^' .Jrr '" 1^™ ^^J 10 living is reasonable. Flour sells at Si.io to $1.25, and meat at Missouri River prices. Vegetables are plenty. Rent only is high. That may be avoided by owning a home, as taxes are reasonably low, and outside the business part of town building lots may be purchased on excellent terms. t^^ t^^ tjy' t^^ It is proper to state that a speculative boom is under way in Cripple Creek mining stocks. No one pretends that this boom will last forever, but the success of Cripple Creek does not depend upon the market price of its stocks. The existence of a phenomenal deposit of gold has been conclusively established. The fact that there may be worthless Cripple Creek stocks in eastern markets has no bearing on the actual and permanent values of the numerous rich strikes. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of outside capital are being sent to Colorado to be used in almost indiscriminate mining-stock speculation, and the price of nearly every stock on the market has steadily and rapidly risen. Of course a day will come when the wheat will be sifted from the chaff, but at present every stock that represents an actual property in the district is regarded as possible wheat. At the present writing there are 980 mining companies incorporated in the Cripple Creek district. Less than fifty of these have been listed on the Colorado Stock Exchange. Some are regarded as so valuable Jay the original owners that none of the stock is offered, but the greater number represent properties either of unknown or undeveloped value. Only seventy of these stocks, out of nearly one thousand, are "on call" in the E.xchange at Cripple Creek. FIRST NEWSPAPER OFFICE IN CRIPPLE GREEK. 1892 11 STEAM HOIST IN SHAFT HOUSE The moral is, not that the unlisted stocks are worthless, although some are undoubtedly "wildcat," but that the wise investor will personally visit the camp before investing his money. Of course the producing mines are known. Their stocks can generally be purchased, but the price is much higher and the speculative range nat- urally less than is possible with less developed mines. To the reader who is not familiar with modern mining methods, a glance at the amount of machin- ery used in lifting the gold-bearing rock to the surface will be of interest. The best equipped mine in the district is the "Independence." Over this mine is a large shaft house filled with machinery. A dynamo provides illumination under ground. The system of signals is electrical. Steam pumps bring up water by the thousand gallons. Steel cables hoist the cages in the shaft, and the foreman, sitting by an electric keyboard, with a lever in his hand, directs the work that brings millions of dol- lars worth of ore to the world. It is a triumph of mechanics. Danger of loss of life is minimized, A PROSPECT — SOON TO BE A MINE 12 , labor is saved and the miracle of producing wealth goes on day and night. Shaft houses similar to that of the " Indepen- dence" arc dotted all over the group of hills that comprise the district. Every week a new shaft house goes up. ^ J* jt ^* There arc now over two hundred mines that are lifting ore in paying quantities. Most of these are owned by private parties or by close corporations. Here is a list of the Cripple Creek mines that have HOME, SWEET HOME" IN GOLU FItLDb shipped ore in paying quantities or have it in sight. This list is agreed upon by the Cripple Creek Times, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Denver News and the Republican, and most of the mining journals in this coiuitr)' and England: LIST OF PRODUCERS. Alie Lincoln Alice Alsa R. American Eagle i American Eagle 2 American Eagle 3 Anaconda Anchor Anchor No. i Anna Lee rSadger Boy Beacon Ben Harrison Bertha B. Big Banta Bison I Black Belle Black Diamond A TrplCAL MINER'S BOARDING HOUSE 13 o \ " ""''^ ^ '-S/^.^m^^^' VIEWS IN WEST CREEK DISTRICT LIST OF PRODUCERS— Continued. Blue Bell Blue Bird Blue Jay Blue Stocking Bobtail Bodie Bogart Bonanza Chief Brooklyn Buena Vista Burns Caledonia Captain Chance Chesapeake Chief Christmas City View Climax Climax No. i Climax No. 2 C.-O. D. Colorado Boss No. 3 Colorado City Colorado City No. i Colorado King Comet Comstock Dante Dead Pine Deerhorn Delmonico Devil's Own Doctor Dolly Varden Doubtful Eclipse Eclipse No. i Elkton Elkton No. 2 El Paso El Reno Excelsior Favorite Galena Garfield-Grouse Geneva Gladstone Globe Gloriana Gold Coin Gold Dollar Gold King Grace Greenwood Grand View Granite Gregory Grouse Half Moon Hidden Treasure Hidden Treasure 2 Hillside Home Run Homestake Hoosier IdaB. Ida Belle No. i Ida Belle No. 2 Independence Independence 2 Ingham Ironclad Jack G. Jennie Sample Joe Dandy John A. Logan Jolly Tar Katharine Keystone King of Diamonds Kismet Kittie M. La Belle Lady Locelia Lady Stith Lafayette Last Dollar Lee Lillian Leland Lincoln Little May Londonderry Lone Star No. 2 Longfellow No. i Longfellow No. 2 Los Angeles Lottie Lucky Belle Lucky Gus Mabel M. Maid of Erin Mary McKinney Mattie D. Mattie L. May Queen Midget Mineral Rock Minnehaha Minnie S. M. K. & T. Mollie Kathleen Monument Moose Morning Glory i Morning Glory 2 Morning Glory 4 Morning Star Morning Stars Mountain Monarch Necessity Nellie Nellie V. New Moon New Zealand Nightingale North Star Ocean Wave Ocean Wave No. i Omega Orpha May No. i Orpha May No. 2 Orphan No.j Orphan No. 2 Pharmacist Phcenix Pike's Peak Pinto Plymouth Rock No. Poorman Portland Prince Albert Princess E. Puffer Queen of the Hills Ramona Raven Red Umbrella Republic Rhinocerous Rigi Rose Maud Ruble Sacramento Santa Rita Scranton Sheriff Smuggler Snide Snowy Range Specimen Spicer Squaw Mt. Tunnel St. L. & C. C. T. Strong Superior Theresa Tom Bigbee Tornado Trail Twin Sisters Vanadium Victor Vindicator Viola Volcano Walter Washington Whi[)-poor-will White House Wichita Wide Awake Wilson World's Fair Yellow Jacket Zenobia 15 A CRIPPLE CREEK STAGE— THE OLD WAY It has already been stated that most of the produc- ing mines are in the hands of private owners. There is good reason for this. Good mining stock is valuable. It is taken up rapidly in Colorado. A mining company on an established paying basis soon becomes practically a close corporation. It is the best investment in the world. «^* t5* (^* e^ Here is a list of the stocks called on the Cripple Creek board. The capitalization is given with the price per share. The last column gives the value of the mining property as estimated by the stockholders in their daily dealings: Name Alamo Anaconda Anchoria-Leland . Aola Atlanta Bankers' Ben Hur Blue Bell Bob Lee Boston, Colo Brother Jonathan , Buckhorn C. C. & M C. K. & N Columbine Columbine Victor . Copper Mountain . Creede & C. C . . . Cripple Creek Con Croesus Currency Elkton Enterprise Favorite Franklin Garfield-Grouse- . . Golden Age Golden Dale ...... Golden Eagle Gold Globe Gold King Gold Rock Gold Standard . . . . Goldstone Capital Price Shares OF Stock Value Si, 250,000 SO. 091^ $ 118,750 1,000,000 .69 690,000 fi00,000 3.05 1,800,0(X) 1,(3(X),000 .04% 48,750 1,(K30,000 .01 10,000 1,250,000 •23M 293,750 !IOO,000 ■lOM 92,250 500,000 •131^ 67,500 1.200,000 .03% 45,000 300,000 .02 2i),0( )0 1,000,000 .03J-4 35,500 1)00,000 ■OIK (i5,25() 2,000,000 .01% 155,000 1,250,000 .02 25,000 i,ooo,oai ■OoSg- 56,250 2,000,000 .0714 145,000 1,000.000 .03 30,( 100 s(X),ixio • 07J4 58,()()0 2,000,000 .24^s 437,500 1,000,000 .03 .30,000 1,250,000 .10 125.1100 500,000 .65 325,000 800,TO0 .241^ 194,0)10 1,200,000 ■ 1314 l);-.i.000 1,000,0)0 .0214 22.5( i( ) 1,200,000 .061:^ 78,0)10 1,000,000 .041^ 45,1 )) 1) ) 2,000,000 ■OlH 10.) Mill 1,000,000 •03>^ 35,11011 750,000 .251^ 191.2.'i)l 100,000 .70 700.))) 10 100,000 .011^ 15,0)))) 1,000.000 .131^ 135,000 1.250,000 .021^ 31,250 16 Name Gould Granite Hill Grotto Hallett & Hambur Ironclad Isabella Jack Pot Jefferson Keystone Lodessa Lottie Gibson .... Magna Charta ... Matoa Mohawk Bell .... Mount Rosa Nugget Ophir Pappoose Pharmacist Portland Ramona Raven Tunnel ... Reno Sacramento Silver State Squaw Mountain . St. Louis, C. C. T. . .Summit Temonj T. F. T Union Virginia M Work World Capital Price Shares OF Stock Value $1,000,000 $0.19 $ 190,000 720,000 .02 14,400 1,500,000 .03I4 52,500 200,000 .34 68,000 1,000,000 .09 90,000 2,250,000 .44 900,000 1,250,000 ■m-i 156,25(_) 1,100,000 .16 176,000 1,500,000 .10 l.jO,000 1,000,000 .O2I4 22,500 1,000,(JOO .03>8 31,250 1,000,000 •0318 31,250 i.aji 1,000 .24 240,000 1,000,0(10 .04 40,000 i,()oo,(joo .20 2OO,0(J0 1,000,(JO() .15 150,000 750,(100 .lOi^- 71,750 2,O(0O,O()O .O8I4 165,000 1,200,(»0 .16 192,000 3,00t),000 I.96I4 5,8«7,500 1,000,000 .06 60,000 i,50o,oa) .051.,' 82,500 1,000,000 .10 100,000 1,000,(X)0 •0918 91,2.50 700 000 .03 21,(J00 2,000,000 .11 220,0(» 1,000,000 ■ Oi^i 45,000 1,000,000 •24M 245,(JOO 1,000,000 .16 160,000 500,000 .O3I4 15,625 1,250,000 .3518 439,062 i,0(:k),ooo .03 30,000 1,250,000 .I9I4 239.061 1,5a 1,000 .02 30,000 The careful editor of the Cliicago Tribune calls attention to the fact that: " Here are sixty-eight companies, most of them listed, with a total capitalization of §82,220,000, the stock of which is selling for $17,039,650. This is more than one-fifth of the capitalized value. There is a vast difference between this and Johannesburg, where non- dividend paying mines are selling at four times their capitalized value. Many of the mines quoted above, upon careful examination, could not sell for the figure their stocks bring, but there are others which are worth much more." MIDLAND TERMINAL RY. — CRIPPLE CREEK — THE NEW WAV 17 CITY OF VICTOR — FROM BATTLE MOUNTAIN Every day the territory is enlarging. Hills that were considered worthless are found each month to be veritable quarries of gold. Prospect holes are transformed into ore-shipping mines. Is it a wonder that those who have seen this miracle are enthusiastic? Here is the way the Rocky Mountain News — one of Denver's conservative daily papers — looks at the product of these 203 mines and the possibilities of the "camp" for this year: "The Cripple Creek district is the richest and most promising gold field in the world. During the past year the district has attracted the attention of two continents. Gold has been unearthed in such quantities, and the veins have been of such surpassing richness, as to astonish prospector and investor. In the much- vaunted gold fields of South Africa, ore is treated that yields not to exceed gi2 a ton. In the Cripple Creek region, Colorado, the average value of ore per ton is from S75 to Sioo, and some of it runs as high as ^20,000 per ton, reaching in isolated cases to ^40,000. What is considered excellent product in the Kaffir mines is thrown upon the waste pile as not worthy of the expense of extraction in the fields that lie upon the slopes of Battle Mountain. Results speak for themselves. Thousands of people from all over the civilized world have, during the past few months, walked these hills, and what they have seen and heard will form the pages of history. Eighteen ninety-five, with its surprising finds, will, when the eventful history of Cripple Creek is closed, be conceded as the red-letter year, from which the renewed prosperity of Colorado received its greatest impetus. It is probable, it is certainly possible, that this New Year, at its death, will show a record of over 815,000,000 in gold taken from the earth in Cripple Creek. But the old year that has passed from the stage will be reverenced as the period in which the greatness of the future was made known, which attracted to these mines the men of the civilized world, and which invited, by the worth of the product, capital from sister states and from abroad. In the day when the output of Colorado's yellow metal shall equal that of all the rest of the world, the past year will be remembered as the father of all the grand result." t^^ t5^ tj5* e^* That is from the West. The reader may think it too roseate. Take with it this from the London Miiiuig Journal, under the caption of "Gold in Colorado." That paper says editorially: "At the present moment Colorado is occupying the attention which should have been bestowed upon it years ago. At that time opportunities presented themselves to the English capitalist which he might have 19 seized with considerable advantage; but, unfortunately, these he resolutely ignored, to the corresponding great benefit of others more acute and farseeing. Colorado, as we have stated several times of late, is a marvelously rich country, a fact which no well-informed individual, no matter what his prejudices or predilections may be, is audacious enough to dispute. This knowl- edge, however, has until recently been principally confined to the 'states,' and of it the astute Yankee has taken full advantage. But it is im- possible that he should monopolize this informa- tion ad infinitum. Re- ports of its wonderful richness have been com- ing over to this country, and the Mining Journal has done not a little toward disseminating them. Feeling assured that it was a country destined to attract in the near future the English cap- italist, we at once established a reliable correspondent in the district, and the publication of his articles has already astonished, if not astounded, those in our country who would have us believe they knew a thing EL PASO REDUCTION WORKS — GILLETT or two. Seemingly, however, they were unaware of the remarkable progress made by the gold mining industry of Colorado. But now their eyes have been opened, and it is their intention to take full advantage of the knowledge which they have been so late in acquiring. "Up to the present the mines of Colorado have been worked by Ameri- can capital. There are indications, however,that such capital shall no longer have the monop- oly. There are any num- ber of other properties, rich and promising, which may be acquired by English capitalists, and that they intend to hasten to acquire them we have little doubt. If not, they will lose another opportunity, which else will be quickly seized by their 'cousins,' who will reap the reward awaiting such enterprise. This wonderful progress has been due to two chief causes — in fact, the two causes which have been instru- mental in pushing forward the gold-mining industry all over the world. These are the depreciation of silver and the improvements in the facilities for 20 mining. The first led to a more general and fever- ish search for the metal; the second has enabled it to be extracted profitably, where years ago the cost was too great. Colorado, especially, has profited by this, and to-day gold-mining there is the rage. Cripple Creek, perhaps, displays the greatest activ- ity — in fact, this is the richest district, and it is from here that the principal increase is likely to come in the near future. It is believed that this year the output will value gi 5,000,000. The shipments from this district last year have removed all doubt as to its future. Leadville probably comes next, and this will also show a considerable increase. Some of the mines in this region are very productive, and, as we showed last week, besides gold, silver, copper, lead and iron are also to be found." These words are not fanciful. Since they were written the new district of "West Creek" has opened up. A town is building there and prospect holes are being sunk all over the hills. Its promoters have the same indications for ore that are found near Cripple Creek and their faith is hot without works. Gold is being found all over the "silver state," and new mines are going down and bringing results where a few years ago even the enthusiast did not deign to walk. e^** (^* *^^ (^* It IS marvelous that in a state over which for a quarter of a century the prospector has tramped, new and fabulously rich gold fields should disclose themselves to the eyes of the merest novices in the business of mining. For Cripple Creek, and all of Colorado's gold fields are monstrosities in the mind of the scientist. TIMBERING A TUNNEL 21 SCENE IN TOWN OF ANACONDA "Gold," says the Cripple Creek miner, dryly, "is where you find it." Then, commenting on the fact that most of the theories about locating gold which miners have accepted for centuries are inoperative in Cripple Creek, perhaps the best plain statement of the case has been made by a miner in a Chicago morning paper. He says: "Geologically Cripple Creek is a freak. It is erratic, eccentric, and full of whims and caprices. That is, it is so to the man of science and the miner of experience. It is a vast crater bed in which the elements once were wont to make merry with nature and play unexpected pranks that must have caused the systematic old dame many a vexatious hour. But after careful research it is found that every caprice had its just cause, every prank its true method, and every eccentricity its undeviating sys- tem. The blemishes and freaks were only skin deep. At the bottom everything was right, as it should be. "Still the blemishes existed and that is why farmers found gold where miners could see none; that is why claim owners begin their mining opera- tions with a plow and sigh discontentedly because the refractory nature of the ore does not permit them to treat it with a thrashing machine. "It is the unique formation at the surface — an overflow that forms veins radiating like the ribs of an open fan — that causes the miner to dig long trenches instead of boring a hole. He knows that if he extends his trench far enough he will find the vein he seeks, and by following this he will come to the fissure that is supposed to bring him wealth. "There are no outcroppings, for the fan-like veins run laterally and for centuries have been buried under a loose 'wash.' The surface of the Cripple Creek hills, therefore, since prospecting began, presents a vast network of ope " Men who mine know that the greatest and most enduring ore deposits are found oldest geological age have been disturbed by eruptions in a later stage of the formation SMUGGLER MINE n ditches, where rocks of the earth' of the s crust. 23 The prospector seeks for a country which has been subjected to a convulsion, or one where the old and new rocks have been thrown together. For reasons the scientists and experts can talk learnedly about in language they pretend to understand, deposits of mineral-bearing rock are almost invariably found at the contact, and that is the point the miner seeks. "Experience has established as a rule that where the old granite has been cut by the new porphyry, ore can be expected. "What made Cripple Creek the great mining field it is, was some unusual disturbance in the bowels of the earth that sent bursting through the plane of granite a great eruption of molten rocks that in cooling took the form of porphyry and phonolite. This molten mass settled down in the cracks made in the granite and was itself cracked in the cooling operation. In the filtering process these cracks became filled with deposits of quartz-bearing gold, and at the same time the granite plane was shaped into hills and valleys. " How the gold came there is for the scientist to say. The layman has his choice of two theories. One, that the water on the surface filled the seams with the silica or gold-impregnated sands that afterwards became solidified into quartz. The other is that the veins remained as blow-holes for the gases of the inner earth and were finally closed by the precipita- tion of these gases upon the walls of the vent. "Exactly how the gold got into them the pros- pector, finding porphyry and granite in contact, did not stop to argue, but set about to hunt the veins. He found them running here, there, and everywhere, cutting in all directions, and even violating his old theory that to have real value the vein should strike toward the poles of the earth. Radiating from all directions about, through, across and around the core of that upheaval of prehistoric days are found veins more or less filled with deposits of gold-bearing rock, and the e.xperience has been that the deeper down into the earth the shafts penetrate the richer is the ore, and the wider, more solid and enduring the deposits. 24 SCHOOLHOUSE IN ANACONDA "Had man come upon the scene immediately following the disturbance he would have found this network of rich veins cutting in all directions over an area of ground about 346 miles in extent and would have found no difficulty in putting up countless numbers of stakes on veins easily distinguished at the surface. He would have found Cripple Creek an uninviting place in which to live at that time. Where now are rolling, grassy hills topped with pines, and valleys coursed by timid streams, would have been only bare, rough, harsh heaps of lava. Nature has been busy in the ages that have elapsed in spreading a mantle of beauty over the barren mounds and ugly gashes that resulted from the eruption. "The effects of air and water have rounded off the protruding rocks, scored off and softened them, covering the country several feet deep with loose earth and finely-ground rocks, which nourish the vegetable growth, but at the same time cover over and hide from the prospector the vein he seeks. "To find the vein he must dig down through the eroded covering of the rocks. In this covering called 'wash' he finds bits of the quartz filling which has suffered the same process as the country rock, and thc^t encourages him to dig the harder. He knows this detached quartz did not come from below and that he must dig up-hill to find the vein it came from. He follows up these bits of 'float' in the 'wash' until often he must dig a trench from two to twelve feet deep to get below the effect of the erosion and into solid formation, and any length until he finds his vein in the unaffected country rock. "The effect of the elements on the \'ein he gen- erally finds has extended even deeper. Water makes of the softer vein a channel, and percolating through the quartz filling generally carries out or 'leaches' the quartz for a considerable distance down into the earth. So that after finding his vein the prospector has only begun his work. "He must next have an ore chute or find that part in his vein where the gold is in the quartz. There may be a vein without an ore chute or the chute may fill the entire crevice from wall to wall STATION AND TOWN OF INDEPENDENCE 25 and b and from end to end, as a sandbar in a river from bank to bank and for miles along its course. "A peculiarity in the structure of ore chutes in the Cripple Creek district has been noted in some of the veins. "In most camps these chutes run from the sur- face down perpendicularly toward the center of the earth, but here the\^ appear to lie horizontally, so that the shaft sinking down encounters one after the other, and finds them increasing in size and richness. "The geological difference between Cripple Creek and Leadville, where a similar intrusion of porphyry occurs, is this: In Leadville the intruding porph}Ty from below found a hard capping of rock to resist it, and instead of breaking to the surface it elevated the cap and flowed under it, spreading out as a blanket below. ere in Cripple Creek the eruption was greater and more forcible, spread over a wider area of country, ke and seamed into more veins." ti?* f^" t^* t^* GOLD HILL— ABOVE MIDLAND TERMINAL RY. DEPOT In a monograph prepared after a geographical survey of the country for the United States government, Mr. R. A. F. Penrose, Jr., of the University of Chicago, has written the following: "The ores of the Cripple Creek district are almost exclusively gold ores. A little sil\er occurs in most of them, but usually it is insignificant. No other metals occur in quantities of commercial value. The ore consists usually of country rock more or less impregnated and replaced by quartz and other minerals, among which the most abundant are fiuorite, opaline, silica, kaolin, iron pyrites, and other iron minerals, manganese oxides, and more rarely small quantities of galena, cerrusite, malachite, acanthite, tetrahedite, stibnite, spalerite, calaverite, native gold, oxidized tellurium minerals, gypsum, calcite, and numerous other minerals in still smaller quantities. 26 "The ores often consist simply of country rock, either eruptive materials or granite, containing sec- ondary quartz and associated minerals, instead of, as in many gold districts, and, in fact, as in parts of the Cripple Creek district, consisting of well defined bodies of these materials. A characteristic ore of the district is an intimately mixed mass of quartz and fiuorite, prominent on account of its brilliant purple color. "The gold occurs in the ore as native or free gold, and telluride of gold. The usually superficial mode of occurrence and the physical condition of the native gold indicate that it has been largely derived from the telluride by oxidation. Most of the gold at a depth is in the form of a telluride which has been determined to be calaverite. "Superficial alteration has caused the o.xidation, hydration and leaching of certain minerals in the ore deposits, as well as the formation of sulphates, phos- phates, hydrous silicates, tellurites or tellurates, and other oxidized compounds. The value of the ores at present shipped from the mines varies from S20 to S400 per ton. The district is at present essentially a shipper of only high-grade ores. "The gold of the Cripple Creek district occurs both in vein deposits and in placer deposits derived from the decay and erosion of the veins and country rock. The placers are not considered in the output. "The existence of numerous dikes in the region indicates the presence of pree.xisting fissures. In some places the veins occupy these early fissures, but in a general way the vein fissures do not seem to have been the earliest ones formed, though many of them were produced before the dike action ceased. In most cases which have been examined, however, the fissures occupied by the veins were formed after the intrusion of the dikes, as is shown by the fact that they intersect the latter. "The Assuring action affected both the volcanic area and the surrounding granite, so that the whole region is much broken by numerous fissures intersecting each other at various angles. In any single locality HOISTING PLANT OF ANCHOR MINE — CRIPPLE CREEK IN BACKGROUND 27 ALTMAN — HIGHEST INCORPORATED TOWN IN THE WORLD — ALTITUDE 10,200 FEET one general course is usually prominent, though intersecting fissures of less prominence are always present, and in some places there are two or more systems of parallel Assuring. The general course of the fissures carrying the veins of the district, like that of the dikes, varies from northeast to north- west; often it is nearly due north and south. Some of the fissures occasionally strike more nearly east and west, but in most of the important veins the more northerly trend is distinctly characteristic. " The fissures are usually represented by one main fracture with numerous subordinate parallel or approximately parallel fractures, though sometimes two or more main fractures occur close together, and frequently there is no one specially well-defined break, but a number of closely parallel fissures of about equal magnitude, giving the rock a minutely banded or sheeted structure and forming a fissured zone. "The fissures are usually the result of movement probably accompanied by a certain amount of faulting, as is proved by the occasional occurrence of fragments of rock in the better defined fissures and the abundance of grooves or slickensides on their faces. The evidence so far obtained indicates that the faults in the vein fis- sures have throws varying from a fraction of an inch to several feet. Outside of the immediate Cripple Creek district, however, faults of much greater magnitude occur, sometimes with a displacement of over i,ooo feet. "What has been said of the general mode of occurrence of the fissure holds true of the veins, which are simply bodies of secondary minerals filling the fissures. Sometimes the veins are single, well-defined bodies of ore and sometimes they are thin parallel seams filling the fissured zones. They occur in all the rocks of the district — breccia, massive eruptives and granite. The general character and mode of occurrence of the ore make it evident that the veins are, largely at least, a replacement of the country rock along ver\' narrow fissures, which were hardly more than cracks, though occasionally the ore appears locally to have filled small open places along them. Every gradation can be seen, from country rock slightly impregnated with ore along a fissure to country rock completely replaced and converted to a well-defined vein. HORSE WHIM HOIST 29 "It is notable that the veins often follow dikes, either throughout their course or, more commonly, for short distances, and that when a vein meets a dike, though it may cross it directly, it is likely to be deflected and to follow the dike for a greater or less distance. "It is often noticeable that near the surface both veins and dikes dip at angles different from those seen at a depth; while sometimes veins that occur in one well-defined fissure at a depth fork near the surface. The fissures occupied by the dikes orveins were confined to the original line of breakage at a depth, on account of the superincumbent pressure, while nearer the surface this pressure was relieved, numerous traverse breaks of a more or less superficial character were encountered, and the fissures were more easily deflected or divided. "Sometimes cracks or sheeted zones occur in dikes at their contacts with the country rock, and follow all the curves in the meanderings of the dikes in a way that would not be likely to characterize independent and subsequent fissures. The sheeted structure here is probably caused by shrinkage of the dikes along the contact with the country rock during cooling. The shrinkage cracks are probably not so deep-seated nor so far-reaching as the fissures caused by the later dynamic disturbances, and, therefore, when unaffected by such fissures, they probably have rarely, if ever, become the repository of important ore bodies. "The concentration of gold in fissures requires not only a source of gold but also the re-agents (gen- erally hot solvent solutions under pressure) necessary to dissolve the disseminated metal, to carry it into the fissures, and there, by one or more of the many methods, to deposit it. It is a noticeable fact throughout the Cripple Creek district that the rich- est veins occur in eruptive rocks or in granite in the vicinity of the vent or vents from which the eruptives were ejected. In such positions, as the result of subsiding eruptive activity, the rocks were subject to the action of hot waters impregnated with various solutions; and these waters seem to have been the re-agents that dissolved the gold and caused its con- centration in fissures. Hence the veins are rich in GREAT DUMP OF VICTOR MiNE 30 and near the areas of the vents and become poorer as distance increases; and hence also the eruptive rocks probabi}' suppHed most of the gold, while the immediately adjacent gran- ite may have supplied a certain part. " t?* vy* t^ t^ Mr. Harry Lee, State Mine Com- missioner for Colorado, has written the following: "In the number of producers pro- portioned to the amount of develop- ment done, Cripple Creek district excels any camp before discovered in the state and possibly in the world. It does not follow that all prospects will develop into paying mines. In area the district already exceeds the expectations of the most sanguine. It will doubtless extend still farther, [■J /'''*^"~~^>-^ ^^^l^A but it is well to bear in mind that there H^»^35?''^:s.A5;^-=^»>v^i^'^^^3^i:^:J' is a limit to the boundary. The ten- oozY CHIPPLE CREEK COTTAGES dcncy of the prcseut time is posses- sion of any mining stock bearing the name of Cripple Creek or that vicinity. Many good stocks exist, and may be had at fair prices. The best interests of legitimate mining and the ultimate welfare of the district demands, that the placing of stock upon the open market, the value of which is entirely prospective, should be deprecated. The enterprise of this bTMPE I.IF ,^r.i. Hi i|;i^-Lt L^NU l.llt FROM 3u() FEET LEVEL 31 STRATTON'S INDEPENDENCE MINE — PORTLAND GROUP TO RIGHT camp, the state press, and the various mining exchanges have kept the public well advised as to the actual conditions and values. So thoroughly and conscientiously has this been done that no legitimate investor need be deceived. To those who enter the mining arena and invest their money as a 'flyer, or a gamble,' little can be said. Having determined in their own minds to gamble, warnings are of no avail. If successful, which may be among the possibilities, it will demonstrate the superior wisdom of the buyer or gambler. If unsuccessful, it will prove to liis mind, at least, that mining is an unsafe business. "In addition to the high percentage of producers in the Cripple Creek district, for the amount of exploiting done, the gold produced is exceptionally high grade, some being worth as much as S20.25 per ounce— which is unusually fine. The district produces a large amount of high-grade ore in the form of tellurides. This character of ore is much sought after and a small quantity yields large cash returns. Eventually the greatest commercial value of the district will be found in what is now termed the low-grade ores. A number of reduction plants have already been constructed and are being successfully operated. Plans for construction now known to be under consideration will by next summer care for a tonnage of from 750 to 1,000 tons per day. Even this will prove inadequate to the demand, for with present development there is no doubt of the ability of the large mines alone to produce this amount of ore. With ample milling facilities it will be found that ore having a value as low as S8 to Sio per ton will be mined and treated at a profit. The great importance of this to the district, and the great value to the owner, to be able to develop property with this grade of ore, cannot be overestimated. Finally the frequency of ore occurrence, the strength of ore bodies, demonstrated by actual development in various places, fully establishes the permanency of the mines in this district." (^™ (^^ t^"* e^^ The thirty-five thousand people in the Cripple Creek district on January i, 1896, were distributed in a number of small towns. Cripple Creek town is the metropolis of the district. Victor, with 5,000 people, is the next largest. The remaining towns and villages are scattered around groups of mines or reduction works, and each is connected with the other by a chain of shafts and prospect holes, so that the entire place is a scene of life. There is no spot in the district out of earshot of the blasts that thunder all day and all night on every hillside. Some of these little towns are notable. The famous bull fight was at Gillett, one of the towns four miles 33 from Clippie Creek. Altman is the highest incorporated town in the United States, even higher than Lead- ville. The other towns, Mound City, Independence, Goldfield, Grassy, Anaconda, Lawrence and Elkton, have each a population of from 300 to 500 people, always supporting a school-house, a general store and a church. These are miners' towns exclusively. Civilization has not marked them for its own, as it has the larger places. Yet the little towns are filling up, perhaps, more rapidly in proportion to their size than is Cripple Creek. For the men who are looking for work, and prospectors looking for gold, and investors looking at mines, and capitalists looking over their developments, find that they must get out into the country where the actual work of the district is going on. The hills cover the wealth, and it is to them that the man in the Cripple Creek country must go. As to the hills, it was Dr. Johnson who said: "We have seen this field — one field is like all other fields, let us go walk in hleet Street." That ma}- be said about the hills. One hill is like all the others — to outward view. Yet when you come to buy a mine, the hill on which it is located determines the price it brings. Every week a new hill is coming into market. On Battle Hill are the marvelous "Independence" and the priceless "Portland" prop- erties, the "Strong," the "Scranton," the "Anna Lee" and their neighbors. " Bull Mountain," " Grouse Hill," "Tenderfoot Hill," "Gold Hill," "Carbonate 'Hill," " Mineral Hill" and half a dozen others, are conjuring words among miners and investors to-daj'. Before the grass is green upon the hills beyond these magic mountains, other hills will have names to command res[ject. «.?* f^y t^ (.5* The bounds have not been determined. To- day's ruck pile is to-morrow's treasure house. It is END OF WATbUN TUNNEL 34 all strange and unnatural in the commonplace order of things. This may seem like a fairy tale. Here is the way it appeared upon the record of the Colorado stock exchanges. Note how stock after stock has risen: Name of' Stock Anaconda Anchoria-Leland . Argentuni-J I?en Hur Blue Bell Bob Lee Buckhorn C. C. Consol Colo. C. & M Copper Mountain Creede &. C. C Enterprise Golden Age Golden Eagle Gold King Goldstone Gold & Globe ... Gould Granite Hill Jack Pot. Quotation May 15, 1895 Bid Asked mi 32 97 002 0055 0075 007 0105 003 7?« 3^' 00375 2 39 34 99 008 006 m 01 1*1 5?8 008 Oil 13 0035 1% 4 004 2M Quotation Dec. 15, 1895 Bid Asked 3 00 42 9M 11 2-8 7 19M 24 3 60 2oM 13M 69 3 15 44 12 Sig 19H 28 4% 3M 64 2 26M 22 ^H 14 Total Number of Shares 155,121 36,850 109,801 ■ 767,740 319,780 1,052,850 1,176,591 1,906,325 2,087,040 1,371,909 988,150 263,525 3,039,400 627,833 28,325 2,056,988 533,910 812,971 1,437,300 1,235,158 Name of Stock Keystone Magna Charta. Mollie Gibson. Mount Rosa. . . Mutual Nugget Ophir Orphan Belle. . Pharmacist . . . . Portland Sacramento . • . Santa Fe Silver State. • . . Star of West.. Summit Union Union Leas'g. . Virginia M. . . . Work World Quotation Quotation May 1 5, 1895 Dec 15, 1895 Bid Asked Bid Asked 1% 2 8 9 0075 008 3 3« 98 100 40 42 4i8 4M 17 19 3H 3;'8 7 8 Wi 10^2 15k 15J^ 2?8 3 9J'B 10 . 13 141^ 4 m 14 14'.< 68 69 18212 187 3 W2 81., 9 005 007 1 ll8 005 0055 2^4 2^8 0055 006 lU' 2'« 6 fi>4 25>4 25>'3 13?4 13^8 32?4 33 62 65 31 35 1 IM 3,^8 31-3 IM 2 18i„ 19 . 2J4 3 Total Nu.\iber OF Shakes 603,000 792,500 51,875 328,6fK) 484,788 313,151 294,400 294,180 1,878,900 285,743 1,800,370 545,550 1,093,493 1,435,700 394,729 799,530 33,140 935,433 314,425 149,3.'?3 The story of the hills could not be more graphically told than it is told in the records just quoted. Is it ging and the miners and laboring men a wonder that the gambling rooms in the saloons of the district go beg; 38 TOWN OF PEMBERTON — WEST CREEK DISTRICT buy mining stock instead of red and blue and white chips on the green cloth? Is it a wonder that even the newsboys speculate? Is it a wonder that the Colorado exchanges are crowded day and night, and that the constant buying has forced stocks up, up, up, until there seems no limit tn the fascinating game? (.?*' t^ (.?*' «,?• Cripple Creek is the poor man's camp. None of the big strikes of mineral have been made by rich men. It has been developed by the gold that has been taken out of it. Foreign capital has done a very small proportion of the work. The man with a pick and pluck has been the most successful man in the camp. Mr. Stratton, the most successful opera- tor, was a. job carpenter in Colorado Springs when the camp opened. The man who located the " Phar- macist " was a drug clerk before he came to Cripple Creek. Four years ago thirty-five men came up to Cripple Creek in a party. To-day, thirty of them are worth $io,ooo, sixteen of them can clean up Sioo.ooo, and four of them are worth Si,ooo,ooo. EPISCOPALIAN CHURCH AND FREE READING ROOM - CRIPPLE CREEK 37 PORTLAND GROUP OF MINES ON BATTLE MOUNTAIN One, Mr. W. S. Stratton, is probably worth ^15,000,000. There was not money enough in the party, when they landed, to buy a burro. The opportunities which these men found were e.xtraordinary. Yet every day sees men finding and improving similar opportunities. But the gold has not all been located yet, even though every foot of land within four miles of Cripple Creek is under patent or in contest. There are hundreds of claims still unworked. There are scores of holes that may be had at a nominal figure, but every day sees the number of these purchasable claims shrinking. "Three hun- dred people are going into the town every day," says the Chicago Tinics- Hcrald. The man who goes there with a few hun- dred dollars finds three business opportunities before him — mining, real estate and storekeeping. The boom makes new stores a necessity. There will be CRIPPLE CREEK HIGH SCHOOL twice as many people in Cripple Creek next June as there are now. These people must be fed and housed and clothed and doctored and entertained. The busi- ness of making homes for the great influx of people puts a price on real estate, and values are going up daily. As for mining, R^^S' hs may buy a presuma- bly worthless hole and "strike it," as dozens of others have done. He may go outside of the district where no one believes there is any gold — just as it was be- lieved last year that there was no gold where one of the best mines is now located — and stake a claim. He may lease a partially developed hole in the neighborhood of a good mine. He may take what is known as a "bond and lease," which carries an option of purchase at an agreed price within a specified time. 9^^ t2^ t^^ t^^ 39 THE GREGORY MINES ON RAVEN HILL A word as to the geographical h)cation of Crip- ple Creek. It lies in the backyard of Pike's Peak, within a few hours' ride of Colorado Springs and Manitou and the beautiful Ute Pass summer resorts, b' way of the Midland Terminal and Colorado Mid- land Railroads. The traveler from the Hlast, via the Santa Fe Route, may enter a sleeper at Chicago or Kansas City and go through to Colorado Springs or Denver, getting a day's rest, and then step on a sleeper and wake up in Cripple Creek. The passen- ger who is in a hurry may step from one sleeper to another on the same platform at Colorado Springs and complete the trip without delay. He may take his family to any of the delightful mountain resorts near Colorado Springs, spend his days in the mines and be with his family as often as he may care to snatch a few hours from business. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe Route), in connection with the Colorado Midland and Midland Terminal, forms the only standard gauge line into the Cripple Creek district. t^ *^ t.?* t.5* THE BOGART MINE 40 What Prominent Publications Say About Cripple Creek, «^ «,?* tH* t^ There are at present over 200 shipping^ mines in the Cripple Creek gold district, which now is about twelve to fifteen miles long, with a width of from eight to ten miles. In fact, gold is being discovered in paying quantities in every direction around Cripple Creek, and it is the opinion of experts that gold-mining in this district is still In its infancy. Besides the 200 shipping mines, there are over 3,000 prospects in which new discoveries of gold are being made daily. In fact, the entire country around Cripple Creek for miles seems to be mineralized, and there is no saying where gold may not be discovered. Not infrequently gold-bearing rock is discovered cropping out on the surface of the hills, varying in richness from two to hundreds of dollars per ton. Experi- ence, however, has demonstrated that as the mines are developed deeper the per cent, of gold increases, promising beyond controversy that gold in this remarkable district will be continued to be mined by " generations yet unborn." Cripple Creek, the chief city in the great gold district, is situated in an undulating gulch or basin, about half a mile wide and about the same length, at an altitude of 9,300 feet above the sea-level, and about thirty miles west of Colorado Springs by wagon road and sixty miles by rail, at the termi- nus of the Midland Terminal Railroad. The city has several churches, school house, a water s)-stem, electric light system, two good hotels — the Portland and Palace — which are always THE "JACK O"— ON RAVEN HILL 41 crowded to overflow, a number of second-class hotels and a great many rooming-houses and restaurants. While the two principal hotels charge from $3 to $4 per day, a comfortable room for a mining town can be obtained for from $4 to $6 per week, payable in advance, at a private residence, which consists of three or four rooms, kitchen included, constructed in the most expeditious style, with weather-boards on the exterior and paper used on the inside as a sub- stitute for plaster. A room in one of these modern constructed houses, with a common stove and a large scuttle of coal, can be kept quite comfortable during sleeping hours. One of these residences generally can be erected in about two days at an expenditure of say $200, and as a rule is rented before completed for from $20 to $40 per month, according to location. Outside of rooms and hotel accommodation, living, generally speaking, is very reasonable; a fair can be had for from 25 to 50 cents at the restaurants. — The Illustrated World, J a imary, iSg6. SPECIMEN AND AMERICAN EAGLE MINES— BULL HILL meal e^ (5* (^* «^* Cripple Creek, during the year, has certainly made a remarkable record in everyway; a record of which not even its most enthusiastic admirers ever dreamed; a record that has had no equal in the West since the days of Leadville. The population has nearly doubled, the number of producing mines has increased nearly one-hundred-fold. The postoffice is now third in the state, the telephone is the busiest in the United States, and the rail- road companies have all the freight they can handle. — Engineering and Mining Journal, January 4, i8g6. 4Si Such discoveries tend to confirm a statement made some time ago in your paper, namely, that the producing area of Cripple Creek, which is four miles from north to south, and three miles from east to west, is but one tithe prospected. — Engiiiccring mid Mining Journal, Dec. 14, fSgj. J» ^ FREIGHTING ORE IN WINTER West Creek becomes a permanent mining camp for sylvanite. The ore, which made Cripple Creek, has at length been discovered in the seventy-foot shaft of the Hoosier claim in that camp. It is asserted that a central vein has been traced across the country, from Tyler through Pemberton, West Creek and Woodland Park, almost to the town of Cripple Creek. This would give a continuous ore field where mines may be located for more than forty miles through the mountains. A coal dealer living in this city was compelled, several years ago, to take a deed for 160 acres of land in payment of a debt of S150. This week he had an offer of $25,000 for forty acres of this land, which he accepted. After the sale he was told that the forty acres lie in the heart of the West Creek district. — Ne^c York Sun, Jan. 2j, i8g6. e^* e.?* (^ <^* Cripple Creek keeps up a hot pace of sales, leases, strikes and the formation of new companies. It cannot be too often repeated that stock speculations should not be undertaken, until something of the 43 ONE OF THE 200 NEW BUILDINGS IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION. FEB cerns are hazardous at best. To select, then, investigation.— A^'^-a' York Sun, Jan. 20, iSg6. those condition of a company is known. When possible, the standing of the individuals composing the com- pany their practical knowledge of mining operations, the titles of the properties owned, the debts and the locations should all be inquired into before invest- ments are made. In too many instances the new stock companies are organized expressly for the purpose of selling stock and not with a view to developing the claims Already some of the new stock companies organized to operate in Cripple Creek have shown unmistaka- ble evidences of fraud. The claims in Cripple Creek to-day all have a value because of the deniand, but the intrinsic value of many of them will be found eventually to be nil. Stock companies cannot all expect to be successful even when honestly man- ased. and investments in stocks of prospect con- of the least hazards requires no little amount of J* ji ^ 0* It is impossible to believe that the example of South Africa will „otbe^ o^^^^ ment of the mines there has been 1'^<^°-Plf^d;v.th unlimited c^piUU^^ stock-jobbing which that capital could command. And despite the :^'ld I^^^^*^ /^^ut o? gold, derived from a little area anothei- ten years, perhaps less, reach $100,000,000 annually. 44 It would be absurd to attempt a similar prediction as to the yield of other portions of the earth ; but certain facts remain. A very pregnant one is to be found in Colorado. For years the Centennial .State talked and schemed and dreamed of little else than silver. .Silver-mining was MADE AT Si HF rJ^i T.-.ny L'^iCOMOTIVE works Ft.R MIDLAND TERMINAL RY. SAMPLE 'JF ENulNES UbED BETWELN DIVIDE AND CRIPPLE CREEK. CYLINDERS, 21X26 IN.; WEIGHT, 97 TONS: COST, 312,000. its chief industry. It cared little for gold. No one looked for it; it was almost impossible to obtain capital to develop a gold mine when it was found. This year Colorado turns from chiefly a silver state to chiefly a gold state. — Review of Re7>iezvs, Feb. iSg6. t?*' t^^ t2^ t^* The development in Colorado continues to go forward with unabated energ\'. The Cripple Creek field is increasing in area and population, and it is estimated that by the first of June that camp will contain 40,000 people, four-fifths of whom will be practical or theoretical miners. — Editorial in Ka/isas City Star, Jan. ig, i8g6. MIDLAND TERMINAL DEPOTS AT GILLETTAND DIVIDE 45 m m i I NATIONAL HOTEL. CRIPPLE CREEK-TO UE OPENED JUNE I, 1896. ©®©©©©QO0©0O©©O(D©®0e)©6XD(D©©o^ XViP sVinrt<> rl n t fU h broad-gauge line from points in the East and South to Cripple Creek. Pullman Sleepers, Free Reclining Chair Cars, Harvey Eating Houses. Apply to nearest ticket agent for maps, folders and other detailed information regarding time of trains, cost of tickets, etc. t^^ 9^^ (^^ ^7^ t2^ ^ ORE TEAMS UNLOADING AT VICTOR THE FAMOUS INDEPENDENCE MINE 47 CHICAaQ^.» PUEBLO CRIPPLE CKEKIv GOLD FIKLDS