590 MINING INDUSTEY. 



The district is located in the elevated portion of the mountain range, 

 on the southern and upper tributaries of South Clear Creek. George- 

 town is situated at the confluence of two beautiful mountain streams, 

 which, descending from the crest of the range, through deep and sharply- 

 cut ravines, to their point of junction, unite there to form the South Branch 

 of South Clear Creek, which flows thence in. a northerly and easterly direc- 

 tion, about four miles, where it joins the main stream known as South 

 Clear Creek, at a point about four miles below the town of Empire. Thence 

 the stream flows on in an easterly direction, fifteen miles, to its junction with 

 North Clear Creek, a point still in the elevated mountain region, and twelve 

 or fourteen miles from the foot-hills. Thence, as Clear Creek, and by this 

 time a respectable mountain river, it flows on, emerging from the foot-hills at 

 Golden City and emptying into the South Platte, a few miles below Denver. 



The country about Georgetown is of an exceedingly rugged, mountain- 

 ous character. The town itself is over 8,000 feet above the sea. The valley, 

 from the fork of the stream, where Georgetown is situated, to its junction 

 with South Clear Creek, is narrow and deeply cut. Near the town it is from 

 500 to 1,000 feet wide from the base of the hills, on one side, to that on the 

 opposite side, and its comparatively level bed affords a favorable site for settle- 

 ment. The mountains rise very abruptly, almost precipitously in places, to 

 the height of 1,200 or 1,500 feet above the stream. Although very rocky, 

 their sides are partly covered by timber. Ascending either fork of the 

 stream, above the town, the observer finds a narrow valley, on either side 

 of which the mountains rise steeply 1,500 or 2,000 feet high, cut here and 

 there by sharp lateral ravines. Between the forks of the stream, Burrell 

 Mountain rises directly behind and south of the town ; the crest of the spur, 

 of which this mountain forms the end, turns to the westward, ascending 

 toward the summit of the main range, its successive peaks or higher points 

 beyond Burrell Mountain being locally known as Leavenworth, Pendleton, 

 and McClellan Mountains. On the north side of the right-hand fork, which 

 has an east and west course for three or four miles above the town, is 

 Sherman or Republican Mountain, and beyond that, further west, and sepa- 

 rated from it by a narrow ravine, is Brown Mountain. 



Below the town the mountains are locally termed, on the left hand or 



