i ea aa 
DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 17 
which to make further explorations for new ore bodies. Few veins 
are rich through their entire extent, and one company may ex- 
haust its resources in exploring lean parts and its successor may 
continue the exploration for only a short distance and strike rich ore. 
A number of the mines that are now idle, especially those near 
Lawson, Empire Station, Georgetown, and’ Silver Plume, were 
worked mainly for silver and have produced fabulously rich ore. 
Its unusual richness was caused by a process termed “ downward 
enrichment,” by which the silver in the upper parts of the veins was 
dissolved by surface waters and redeposited farther down in the 
earth. The ores so enriched do not persist to great depths, and on 
their exhaustion the mines working them are forced to shut down, 
for the unenriched ore below is too lean to be mined at a profit. 
At Georgetown the train begins to climb the well-known “ Loop ” 
by which the railroad loops back over itself in ascending the steep 
mountain side. 
Above the Loop lies Silver Plume, shown in Plate 
VIII, which has been one of the most active mining camps in the 
State. It is reported that more than $29,000,000 in silver has been 
taken from the mountain north of the town.® 
The traveler’s interest in the things he sees above Silver Plume ™ 
centers mainly in the engineering feat of scaling the steep mountain 
side and in the fine views he obtains during the ascent. After 
‘According to Bastin, the discovery 
of a gold-bearing vein near the presen 
* 
or 
covered. One of the most productive 
of these veins was discove by 
George Griffith in the vicinity of Eliz- 
Aneiee (now Sergey on 
capped by the lack of 
Means of trans- 
portation, both for bringing in sup- 
nike and for sending out the products 
of the mines. This lack was supplied 
will have no opportunity to 
to a great extent in 1870 by the build- 
ing of what is known as the George- 
town branch of the Colorado & South- 
ern Railway. from Denver to Golden, 
but it was not until 1877 that this line 
reached Georgetown, and it was sev- 
eral as! later before it reached Sil- 
ver Plum 
Clear Heat County, of which George- 
town is the county seat, reached the 
peak of its metal production in 1894, 
since which time its output has 
steadily declining until in 1914 it was 
worth only $884,615. In the next year 
the district began to feel the effect of 
Be: ibe war, and the value of its 
metals jumped to $1,124,225. 
9 an pe metal output was valued 
at $1,631,219, in 1918 at $1,126,440, in 
and 
g 
/1919 at $644,332, in 1920 at 
Since the description of the trip to 
Mount McClellan was written the line 
summit of the mountain except by pri- 
vate conveyance. 
