20 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



The next important district visited was Salt Lake City, Utah, where 

 a week was spent in visiting the nearby mining camps such as Park 

 City and Bingham Canyon. 



In the Thomas Range, south of the Great Salt Lake Desert, is 

 Topaz Mountain, made up of a volcanic rock, a rhyolite, in which 

 small crystals of topaz are found in more or less abundance. This 

 mountain rises rather abruptly about 2,000 feet above the desert 

 valley, and it is only with great difficulty that its surface can be ex- 

 plored. Most of the exposed surface had to be examined before a 

 site could be selected which looked promising as a source of worth- 

 while topaz specimens. 



On the way to Topaz Mountain a stop was made at Joy, a town 

 located in the Thomas Range. This " town " now contains but one 

 house, with only one permanent resident ; yet two score years ago, 

 Joy was a flourishing mining camp. Today its sole inhabitant is known 

 throughout the surrounding country as Aunt May or the Mayoress 

 of Joy. Aunt May has chosen to spend the evening of her life among 

 those hills which she loves and whose secrets she knows. 



Among other important localities visited were the lodestone dykes 

 near Cedar City, Utah, the vanadium and carnotite districts located 

 along the LTah-Colorado State line, and the celebrated mining dis- 

 tricts of Leadville, Alma, Breckenridge, and Cripple Creek, Colo. 



Accompanied by H. H. Nininger, of Denver, and a guide, I spent 

 about three weeks in the Uinta Mountains in a vain search for a 

 huge meteorite reported as seen to fall about 20 years ago. Knowing 

 the extreme variation of the weather at altitudes of over it, 000 feet, 

 one is likely to get a false conception of the rate of weathering and 

 rock movement. Sharp angular fragments of sandstone, the country 

 rock at this point, may be found in large piles, and near them smaller 

 broken fragments which can be fitted into their original places on 

 the boulder. Often tree roots have grown over the rocks or a small 

 tree has struggled up through them in such a manner as to prove 

 that no appreciable movement has taken place, and in most cases the 

 age of these roots and trees was between 50 and 75 years. I there- 

 fore concluded that the meteorite would not in 25 years be deeply 

 buried by either the soil or rock movements. Tn the few places where 

 there was an accumulation of clay, the presence of closely spaced 

 roots, 50 years old and older, precluded any possibility that a large 

 meteorite could be concealed beneath. 



Space does not permit listing all the other localities visited nor 

 acknowledging the many courtesies extended to me as an official 

 representative of the Institution, but it was most gratifying to experi- 

 ence such widespread cooperation. 



