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in 1857, in the mountains of the northern part of New Mexico, 

 near Santa Fe. 



The vast extent of country in New Mexico, which remains 

 unexplored, precludes the possibility of presenting even a fair 

 outline view of its mineral resources as a territory. The few 

 facts which I offer must therefore be regarded only as an addi- 

 tion to what has already been discovered, and an indication of 

 what yet remains to reward the labors of the diligent explorer. 



First in interest at this time, as bearing upon the extent of the 

 Rocky Mountain gold field, is the gold field of New Mexico, 

 which has been known and worked since 1828. It is confined to 

 the Placer or Gold Mountains, about twenty miles from Santa 

 Fe, towards Albuquerque, and although worked continuously 

 since its discovery, its limits have not been extended by explora- 

 tion far from the place where the gold was first found. The 

 yield of gold has been chiefly from the placers or washings, and 

 not from veins, and was estimated by Wislizenus, in 1847, to 

 vary from 30,000 to 250,000 dollars a year ; but it soon after 

 greatly diminished, until counted by hundreds rather than thou- 

 sands. 



T found these placers to be on the slopes of subordinate or 

 outlying ridges of the eastern ranges of the Rocky Mountain 

 chain, and to be true hill-deposits, affording coarse gold like that 

 from the high placers of California. The " pay gravel " lies deep 

 below the surface, from twenty to sixty, and even one hundred 

 feet, and is generally very rich. Owing to the almost total 

 absence of water, mining and washing have been but imperfectly 

 conducted, and a larger amount of gravel remains untouched. 

 The Mexicans sink circular shafts, like wells, through the soil 

 and alluvions to the gravel, then tunnel upon the bed-rock and 

 take the good gravel to the surface in sacks, cart it two miles to 

 water, and then pan out the gold in wooden bowls or hateas. In 

 the winter, water is sometimes obtained by melting snow with 

 heated stones. There are two principal placers, the " Old " and 

 the " New," and at the former there is a small stream or rivulet 

 for a part of the year. These placers are about five miles apart, 

 but there has been very little prospecting to determine their real 

 extent. New Placer is known to be about ten miles long, for 

 the workings or pits have ^tended over that distance. The gold 



PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. VOL. VII. ' 5 JULY, 1859. 



