THE SAN JUAN MINES. 645.. 



paying condition. The reader will naturally say, "if the mine pays a divi- 

 dend, why will the owner sell?" Well, this is a conundrum that I for one 

 am bound to give up. But it seems to me the ruling passion among San 

 Juan miners. They who are fortunate enough to get possession of a lode 

 that will produce pay ore from the first shot, or nearly so, immediately lay 

 down their tools and go to work to try to sell it, apparently losing sight of - 

 the fact that the mine would probably be a large annual income to them for 

 life, and to their children's children. There are, of course, many reasons 

 for this. A majority of the preseijt mine owners are the pioneers of the 

 country ; men to whom $10,000 is a fortune and all the money they want. 

 Another reason is because of the multiplicity of partners in the best mines 

 and consequent dissensions. Another, because they are too lazy to work. 

 Another, because they are lunatics. I maintain that the man who owns a , 

 good lode here and sells it, is nothing else ; but their name is legion who 

 will do so gladly. 



Third: Young men, miners of grit and muscle, who are not afraid of 

 hard work, and are possessed of a few hundred dollars — say a thousand 

 dollars each — they can come here and get a lode to work, either by finding . 

 one, buying one, or getting an interest given them in one for doing a certain 

 amount of work on it. Five hundred dollars will put up a cabin and stock 

 it with grub, powder and fuse for eight months. But they must be pre- 

 pared to undergo toil and hardship, heat and cold, and be able to be their 

 own builder, carpenter, stone mason, cook, washer-woman and tailor; all 

 these as well as miner. 



. None others need apply. There are no book-keepers v^anted ; no clerks, 

 no artisans; loafers are soon starved out; gamblers have none bjut their 

 own kind to prey upon and an occasional "tender-foot ;" and "kid gloved" 

 gentry generally, et hoc genus 07?ine, had better stay away. The San Juan 

 working miners as a class are sober, hardworking men, and hospitable to a 

 degree ; pistols ar§ never carried here, except by " tender-feet, " whom you 

 will generally see coming in with their loins girt about with no end of ord- 

 nance. Drunkenness in the mining camp I have never seen (except on the 

 Fourth of July,)aud, in fact, our miner is, unlike those in most other mining 

 districts, "a solid man." If any of your readers would like any further 

 information about this wonderfully rich mineral belt, I shall be glad to give 

 it through the editor of this periodical. 



Imogene Basin, Interior Snefpels' Mining District, Nov. 25, 1877. 



