APPENDIX SS. 1821 



of national statutes being annually required to prevenfforfeiture. It therefore follows 

 that while a large number of locations may be indicative of promising mineral deposits, 

 that fact alone does not decide the wealth of the district. Without thorough develop- 

 ment the richest vein is as valueless as the most worthless prospect hole. 



The facilities for reducing the immense quantity of ore mined in the Animas district 

 were found to be as follows : 



The smelting- works of George Greene & Co., located at Silverton, have been highly 

 successful, owing to the efficient business management of the proprietors. Their works 

 have, without doubt, greatly aided in the development of the district, and have an 

 assessed value of $25,000, their probable worth being $75,000; the original cost, it 

 was stated, having been $60,000, owing to the great expense of transporting machinery 

 over the range at the time of their erection. They were employing in all 35 men, 

 working night and day shifts, with a daily reduction of 10 tons of ore, which is less 

 than the full capacity of the works, producing therefrom 4 tons of bullion. The bull- 

 ion, as is generally done, is run into bars of an individual pattern, those of the Greene 

 stamp varying in weight from 70 to 85 poimds each. The bars are then placed upon 

 mules or burros (jackasses), and packed over the range, via Cunningham Gulch, to a 

 point on the Rio Grande road, whence they are conveyed by Avagon transportation to 

 the railroad at Garland City. Shipment, therefore, is by freight, to renning-works at 

 Saint Louis or some point in the East. The bullion is silver and lead, the latter pay- 

 ing for the transportation of the precious metal. 



The iron and limestone, essential for the flux in the usual roasting process followed, 

 are found near by. No coal being convenient, charcoal is solely used. With the 

 opening of the Wightman road through the Grand Canon of the Animas, Mr. Greene 

 stated that he could draw his supplies of fuel from the coal-banks of the Florida or the 

 Animas. The working season is seven months in length, during which the expenses 

 attendant upon smelting, wages, and ore supplies involved an outlay averaging 

 $1,200 daily. 



On account of the absence of a good road down the Rio Grande and the expense 

 attendant upon packing, no ore was being purchased at the Greene works which was of 

 a lower grade than 75 ounces. For some time these smelting-works have been in pos- 

 session of a comparative monopoly of the business. The proprietors were Boston 

 capitalists and own a number of valuable mines in the district. 



Melville and Summerville's Reduction Works were noticed upon Mineral Creek, 

 below Silverton. The main building was a tine four-story brick, about 100 feet by 

 75, with extensive sluicing. The building was idle and not subject to examination. 



The building was generally known in Silverton as the " Lightning Amalgamation 

 Works," and on account of their being unsuccessful were apparently public laughing- 

 stock. The estimated cost was given at $25,000, and, in all probability, considerably 

 exceeded that figure. The intended capacity was 20 tons daily, the ore to be largely 

 or entirely drawn from mines owned by the company upon Sultan Mountain. The pro- 

 cess was by desulphurization without fluxing. In the trials made with the sulphurets 

 it was said that while the excessive heat drove off much of the baser constituents, the 

 separation of the sulphur was not wholly complete. In Philadelphia, we were also 

 informed, the same company had in successful operation works of similar nature, and 

 to the great altitude was attributed in part the resulting failure. 



Subsequent to our visit, we were iuformed the works were to be remodeled and put in 

 working order for the season of 1878. 



Dow & Waters Reduction Works, located on Cement Creek, at the junction of its 

 forks. These works were being finished and were not yet in operation. Their esti- 

 mated value completed was $30,000. The mode of reduction was to be by lixiviation 

 or chlorination, commonly called the "leaching" process, with a reported capacity of 

 20 tons per day. 



The above includes all the various enterprises for operating upon ores below How- 

 ardsville. This town, upon the Animas at the mouth of Cunningham Gulch, possesses 

 a small cru slier and reverberatory furnace, belonging to Mr. limes, the proprietor of the 

 Highland Mary. 



The Neigold Concentration Works, locally so called, are situated in Cunningham 

 Gulch, not far distant from Howardsville. This property consists of five frame build- 

 ings with extensive flumes and connecting sluicing; the structure containing a small 

 crusher and a five-stamp battery for the concentration of ores. These works are the 

 property of the Las Animas Mining and Reduction Company, a stock company about 

 one-half of which is owned by the Messrs. Neigold & Roedell, and the balance by 

 Philadelphia capitalists. In their construction $22,000 was expended, which would, 

 be deemed extravagant were it not for the excessive price of labor and material and 

 the exorbitant cost of machinery, which had to be brought over the range by pack- 

 trains. 



The Messrs. Neigold & Roedell possess in addition to the above works large in- 

 terests in several mineral deposits in the vicinity, of which the most important is the 

 Philadelphia lode. Their property is as a whole valuable, and large profits would 

 be realized to the stockholders if a more energetic management were pursued. 



