DISCOVERY OF CARBONATES. 1 1 



though it is difficult to obtain actual data as to its production. Estimates 

 place its total yield at $603,000 to $800,000. The "5-20" vein was also 

 opened at this time on the opposite side of the gulch, and also an extension 

 of the Printer Boy, called the Lower Printer Boy. The working of these 

 mines, which was earned on more or less continuously until 1877, imparted 

 at times a fitful prosperity to the region. Meanwhile the location of the 

 town of Oro had been frequently changed. It was first scattered along 

 California gulch, then concentrated at the mouth of the gulch, near the 

 present city of Leadville, and later moved up to the vicinity of the stamp 

 mill, which still stands among the few cabins to which the name of Oro City 

 is yet applied. 



During this time the Homestake mine in the Sawatch Range, near 

 Homestake Peak, opposite the head of the Arkansas, had been opened and 

 was yielding rich silver ore. In 1875 a smelter was built at Malta, west of 

 Oro, to treat the ore from this mine and from others which it was expected 

 would be developed in that region. This smelter, like so many others built 

 before any permanent production could be counted on for its supply, has 

 never been successful. 



To Mr. A. B. Wood and his associate, Mr. W. H. Stevens, both experi- 

 enced and scientific miners, is due the credit of being the first to recog- 

 nize the value of the now famous carbonate deposits of Leadville. Mr. 

 Wood came to California gulch first in April, 1874, to work the Star placer 

 claim. While examining the gravel in the gulch he was struck by the 

 appearance of what the miners call "heavy rock," some of which he 

 assayed. His specimens were not rich, yielding only 27 per cent, lead 

 and 15 ounces silver to the ton; but the matter seemed to him worthy 

 of investigation He put prospectors at work to find the croppings of the 

 ore deposits, and in June, 1874, the first " carbonate-in-place " was found 

 at the mouth of the present Rock tunnel, on Dome hill About the same 

 time ore was discovered in a shaft sunk by Mr. Bradshaw near the bed of 

 the gulch on the present Oro La Plata claim ; but it is maintained by some 

 that this ore was not in place, but simply "wash," accumulated from the 

 abrasion of the adjoining croppings. Prospecting was quietly continued by 

 Mr. Wood, but no claims were taken up, as the old placer claims which, 



