ARTESIAN WELLS IN COLORADO. 303 



PITKIN COUNTY. 



Independence District. — This camp is only thirty-five miles from Leadville 

 on the opposite side of the Continental Divide, and at about the same elevation. 

 The discoveries already made and the geological features of the region give prom- 

 ise of similar results. The Farwell Company has stamp mills full of ore and is 

 making some excellent strikes on the Mt. Hope side of the gulch. The Minne- 

 haha Company has made a very rich strike between the Farwell mines and the 

 Hamilton Company's lands. The Hamilton Company is still delayed by conflict- 

 ing surveys, but as soon as these points are settled and the property actually pat- 

 ented, active operations will be commenced and heavy work done all through the 

 winter. 



PUEBLO COUNTY. 



Colorado Coal and Iron Company. — This Company is now turning out 

 125 tons of Bessemer steel rails per day on a contract made last year for 30,000 

 tons, the contract price being $70 per ton for a part and $65 a ton for heavy sec- 

 tions. It is expected that the product will soon be increased to 150 tons per 

 day. 



SUMMIT COUNTY. 



Robinson Consolidated. — A dispatch dated August 9th says: Work was 

 begun to-day on the Robinson Consolidated mine. Three great pumps are hand- 

 ling the water splendidly. 



ARTESIAN WELLS IN COLORADO. 



Commissioner Horace Burch, who was appointed by the Agricultural De- 

 partment, at Washington, to select the sites for two experimental borings for ar- 

 tesian wells in Colorado, made a trip to the prairie land in the eastern portion of 

 the State to-day. He was accompanied by Senator Hill, the originator of the 

 artesian well bill, and several railroad officials. The party went to the plateau 

 divide between the headwaters of the Republican River and the South Platte, 112 

 miles from the city, on the line of the C, B. &. Q. Railroad. The geologist com- 

 missioner of last year reported this section of country as giving the most promising 

 indications of a high-water strata. One well will be sunk about a mile from Akron, 

 in a country heretofore dry and arid. Contracts will be immediately let for 2,500 

 feet. It is thought that a strong flow will be tapped within 1,000 feet. The 

 second well will probably be located near Kit Carson, on the Kansas Pacific 

 Road. The contracts on both wells will have been completed by snow fall. 



It will be remembered that the original $30,000 appropriations for artesian 

 well explorations in Colorado was squandered under LeDuc's management. He 

 started a well near Fort Lyon, and paid a heavy royalty to experiment in sinking 

 with a diamond drill. When a depth of only 800 feet had been reached by the 



