SURVEY OF COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO. 123 



ern base of wMcli occur several coal seams. The nearest and most 

 recently opened is a coal of fine quality, and, like all the coal observed 

 along- the flanks of the Eocky Mountains, breaks up into small paraUelo- 

 l^ipeda or rectangular prisms. 



IS'ear the entrance to the southwest oi^ening of this coal bed are two 

 irregularly-shaped masses of carbonaceous clay and gypsum, which re- 

 semble, at a superficial glance, small dikes. Neither of these appear to 

 be continued above the roof or beneath the sole of the mine, though 

 they appear on both sides. 



Another bed of coal was visited, near which was a large basaltic dike, 

 the heat from which appears to have altered the former to a modern 

 anthracite. This coal is harder, blacker, and more lustrous than that of 

 other veins I have seen in the vicinity of the Eocky Mountains ', nor does 

 it exhibit that singular cleavage which characterizes these beds. 



Ores were given me from the San Dia Mountains and mines which 

 looked well, but proved by a quantitative analysis to contain very little 

 silver. The ore was a quartz containing lumps and flakes of galena. 



Colonel Anderson gave me also a tine specimen of native copper, 

 found in the bed of the creek, at a short distance above the Eeal Do- 

 lores. 



Quite fine-looking specular iron, hematite, and some small crystals of 

 spathic iron ore,were seen on the North Mountain, half a mile or so from 

 the Ortiz mine. Specimens of the former were obtained. 



TAOS, SEPTEMBER 19. 



Twelve miles north from Taos, in the Arroyo Hondo, is a mill erected 

 quite recently by the " Arroyo Hondo Mining and Ditch Company," 

 under the superintendence of Mr. Stuart, of Taos, but not yet roofed 

 over, nor in complete running order. There are twenty 430-pound stamps 

 constructed to drop thirty-five times per minute. 



The quartz of the ore is partly a ferruginous and reddish, partly a 

 white mixture of quartz and mica. The red variety prospects the best, 

 ("shows the best color.'-) On the road from the mill -to the shaft from 

 which the company expects to derive most of its ore, is a lode which 

 occurs in the granite and bears iron pyrites,' green, and a little blue vitriol. 

 A second opening has been made higher up the mountain into a deposit 

 of reddish and whitish clay, which shows good color in the pan, but is too 

 sticky to wash well in large quantities. The company is at present ex- 

 ceedingly puzzled to know how to treat this material, and is considering 

 the feasibility of baking it into bricks and then running- it under the 

 stamps, which in its present condition it would only clog. In any case 

 these gentlemen hope that by sinking deeper they will strike a true 

 crevice and good wall -rock. "Quiensabe!" 



A mile or two around the edge of the mountain is situated the princi- 

 pal mine of the company, which is being opened by a shaft and tunnel, 

 the former about twenty-five feet in depth, and opening some two hun- 

 dred feet above the tunnel, which latter has been driven already 180 feet 

 and will eventually intersect it. 



The dip at surface is 35°, more or less, strike about east and west. 

 A level has been run in at the shaft mouth 65 feet, and drilling pros- 

 pects well all the way in. The ore is the same as that mentioned in 

 connection with the mill. 



SAN LUIS PARK, OCTOBER 1. 



In the course of a long day's march from the Sawatch to Homan's 

 Creek, in Homan's Park, or the Eincon, we passed a region where a 

 great number of hot springs boiled up. The first of these (and the larg- 



