130 SUKVEY OF COLOEADO AND NEW MEXICO. 



tlie tour as follows: That the valuable ores abound almost everywhere 

 in the granite and gneiss of the Eocky Mountains, and the economic 

 question is not to Hod the material, but the capital and labor with 

 "which to work. That the country over which these investigations were 

 made is replete witb those minerals which by their decomposition are 

 found by experience to most enricli the soil, as it is with the before-men- 

 tioned minerals of commercial value. 



That the climate is healthful and delightful, the country well sup- 

 X)lied with water, which breaks from its rocky reservoir, with few excep- 

 tions, at distances of from ten to fifteen miles, all along the base of the 

 mountains ; the communication with the East and West is becoming daily 

 more easy, and the savages of the i^lains and those whose headquarters 

 used to be the gambling hells and drinking saloons are well nigh, ban- 

 ished from this favored domain. 



That the laud is being tilled and prepared to support the large popu- 

 lation which must soon settle here, and everything smiles on that man 

 who brings to the country intelligence and a pair of willing hands. 



What stands in the way of the country's progress are the greedy 

 speculators w^ho wish to use Colorado and New Mexico as mills for 

 turning money into their pockets, regardless of the interests of the 

 growing community. The system of grants, also, which gives to one 

 man or one comi)any a tract of country much larger than any one indi- 

 vidual or small corporate body can possibly properly improve, cannot 

 fail to exercise a baneful influence on the prosperity of such a country, 

 by keeping back the tide of hardy and industrious settlers who would 

 otherwise pre-empt and settle up the land. And wherever such a grant 

 exists, a backward condition of the country may be expected. To a 

 certain extent this disregard of the interests of these two sister Territories 

 may be observed in the manner in which certain mines have been worked. 

 These mines have been hacked to pieces to produce ore, and the ore bas 

 been rushed through the mill to produce gold. Nothing seemed to have 

 a claim to the consideration of such owners but the most rapid method of 

 realizing^ in order that the shortest possible time might intervene before, 

 their fortunes made, they could quit the Territory and enjoy them else- 

 where. In this way, valuable mines have been ruined, and thousands of 

 dollars of the Territory's gold thrown away. It were easier to detect this 

 fault than to suggest the remedy ; but the remedy will present itself, when 

 Colorado and New Mexico shall be tilled with citizens determined to 

 own and occupy them, and shall have slipped entirely from the grasp 

 of those who wish merely to hire and use them. The observation above, in 

 regard to the remedy for the present losses in dressing tailings, has been 

 made by several persons, and it has been added that even a smaller 

 profit from more thoroughly and carefully worked ore would in reality 

 pay the owners better, give a more healthy tone to mining, advance it 

 as an art, and spare millions of dollars in the end. While the adjust- 

 ment of such complicated questions as these is one which must await 

 the lapse of time and the course of events, it would be well for inter- 

 ested ijarties to consider in what way to manage their i)roperty out here 

 so as to assure themselves against present possible loss, and of future 

 increase in its value. To do this without radiating prosperity on all 

 around them, and building up the wealth and j)ower of the country, is 

 a problem which will tax their abilities to the utmost, however great 

 those abilities may be. 



