APPENDIX SS. 1823 



There was being opened an adit entrance 18 feet by 15, from which a tunnel 10 feet 

 by 10 will be run for 100 feet, giving room for a double T-rail track with switches, 6 

 cars being in use for removing the debris. The work was being advanced by means of 

 six 3-inch Ingersoll drills, the number to be doubled in 1878. The tunnel, which was 

 8 arted from the bottom of the gulch on the Mountain Boy, will cut at 80 feet the 

 Highland Mary and W. H. Nichols, at right angles, when drifts, 8 feet by 8, for a sin- 

 gle track, will be run each way to the east and west on both lodes, the main tunnel 

 going south upon the vein of the Mountain Boy. At 500 feet from the adit entrance 

 the tunnel will be 2,000 feet beneath the surface of the mountain above. Attached to 

 the mines were found a total of 14 buildings, as follows : 



Engine and compressor building, of stone, 46 feet by 32, walls 2 feet in thickness. 

 When the gulch was entered during the spring (1877) to commence building operations, 

 22 feet of snow had to be passed over on snow-shoes ; where the buildings are located, 

 some distance up from the bottom, it was 7 feet in depth. This had to be dug out and 

 the blasting of 6 feet of rock beneath for firm foundations accomplished. The engine 

 building contains in the main part a 75 horse-power Root sectional boiler and a 60- 

 horse-power Clayton air-compressor, the balance blacksmith-shores. The machinery 

 had been lately put in, and presented as handsome and fine an appearance as could be 

 desired by any engineer. The Clayton duplex compressor was driven by a No. 3 

 Blake pump, and operated the Ingersoll drills referred to, through pipe and hose, care- 

 fully wound with manila rope. This was the only point where an Ingersoll was drill- 

 ing in the San Juan at that time ; working at all angles in quartz and syenitic granite, 

 each drill, managed by two men, bored a2£-mch hole to the depth of 6 to 8 feet, rating 

 l-§ inches per minute, aggregating 75 feet of linear holes in ten hours, equivalent to 

 the hand-labor of 30 men. All blasts being discharged by the aid of an electro-galvanic 

 battery, the danger from premature explosion was prevented. 



The other buildings consisted of the owner's residence, a Swiss chalet, two stories, 

 surrounded by latticed verandas, on a commanding eminence, overlooking the works 

 and the entire gulch ; office and superintendent's quarters, refractory, dormitory, 

 dining and cook houses, &c, with stables for the stock, of which there were 12 mules, 

 8 horses, and a number of burros or jackasses. The number of men employed was 57, 

 said to be their winter force, and in the spring (1878) to be increased to 150 men, on 

 the erection of reduction works for reducing their own ore alone ; these, we were in- 

 formed, would consist of 12 furnaces, with total capacity of 120 tons daily. The price 

 paid by Mr. Inness for the Highland Mary was §45,000. The ore is an argentiferous 

 galena of high grade, with gray copper, milling up to $500, some selected ore running 

 to $5,000 per ton. The vein is 15 feet between gangue walls, and contains a rich pay- 

 streak of 15 to 22 inches. 



From the gulch near by this remarkable vein can be easily traced with naked eye 

 up and over the mountain-side. It was stated that a careful test was made of 4 tons 

 of this ore at Greene's works, the pile being crushed, subdivided, and alternate quar- 

 ters taken and subdivision continued in like manner until the amount had decreased 

 to 2 pounds, which gave a null-run of §700 per ton. 



Mr. Inness also possesses the Hoffman lode, a location of the past summer (1877), 

 situated 1£ miles south of the Highland Mary ; an argentiferous galena of 5 feet with 

 the pay-streak, containing gray copper and some sulphurets of quinches, the general 

 galena ore averaging 100 ounces, the pay-steak running as high as 700 ounces. 



The Golden Giant, already mentioned and previously known as the Little Giant, 

 being in the Arastra Gulch, for years in litigation, has been purchased by Mr. Inness 

 entire. From this lode 430 sacks of ore were taken out during tin 1 season, averaging 

 60 pounds per sack, or 25,800 pounds total, which milled nearly §4,200 per ton. The 

 charter for the Howardsville and Antelope Park toll-road, extending from Howards- 

 ville up Cunningham Gulch, over the range and down the Rio Grande to Antelope 

 Springs, was taken out by Mr. Inness in the tall of 1876, and about $2,000 expended on 

 5 miles of the road down the gulch from the site of his works; above this a mile cost 

 $4,000. The intention was to complete the entire road during 1878, the distance from 

 the summit of the range down to the springs being about 40 miles; total cost of finish- 

 ing and perfecting the entire road estimated at §30,000. At the time of the visit 

 (October 1, 1877) the exuenditures of Mr. Inness aggregated, as already stated, 

 $175,000. 



From an outline sketch, herewith accompanying (Fig. 4 of Cunningham Gulch, 

 Plate 6), an idea may be formed of the deeply eroded character of Cunningham Gulch, 

 and the locations of the mining properties at its upper end. 



Within the Animas section, as may be inferred, are situated a larger number of first- 

 class and high-grade silver-mines than are found in any other district of the San Juan. 

 The lack of reduction facilities and good roads has been its drawback. 



The supplies of material reaching Silverton are mainly brought by trains of burros, 

 which are valued here at §25 to $30 each. Freight by burro-trains from Silverton to 

 Antelope Springs is 2 cents per pound; for return freight 3 cents is charged. These 

 trains are in charge of a driver, receiving from §60 to §75 per month; the pack trans- 

 portation being 150 pounds for a burro, and from 200 to 250 for a mule. 



