MINES OF POVERTY GULCH. 
273 
The Proper vein cuts through breccia about 200 feet above the C. O. D. on the 
south side of Poverty Gulch, and is developed by an incline shaft with a vertical 
depth of 100 feet. A dike of latite-phonolite about 30 feet wide is exposed on two 
levels apparently trending southwesterly toward the Gold King mine. The vein 
strikes northeastward and dips to the southeast. A small shoot from which a car¬ 
load of 2-ounce ore has been shipped outcrops near the shaft. Stringers of galena 
and zinc blende occur in the ore. 
GOLD KING MINE. 
The Gold King mine, also known as the El Paso Gold King, operated by the 
Gold King Gold Mining Company, is situated a few hundred feet north of the C. O. D., 
on the northwest side of Poverty Gulch. It was the earliest regular producer and 
has been actively worked up to a recent date. In 1904 it was idle and not accessi¬ 
ble, but a reopening of the mine was under consideration. The dividends distrib¬ 
uted up to July, 1901, are given in Hill’s Manual as $262,000. The ground owned 
comprises 40 acres. 
The mine is developed by a vertical shaft 1,007 feet deep; the elevation of the 
collar is 9,852 feet. Nine levels are turned and extend chiefly northward from the 
shaft. The total length of drifts and crosscuts is about 2 miles. Level 9 (the 
deepest) is 840 feet below the collar. Water has been a great source of trouble and 
expense. The operations have been suspended until the El Paso tunnel (elevation 
8,790 feet) shall have drained level 9. The water level stood 875 feet below the 
collar in March, 1904. 
The country rock is normal fine-grained breccia, with some disseminated 
pyrite and carbonate (ankerite). The main vein is said to follow a plionolite dike 
trending N. 10° E. A very persistent basic dike, probably a monchiquite, also 
exposed in the Abe Lincoln workings, lies 250 feet west of the shaft and has been 
drifted on for several hundred feet on levels 3, 5, and 8. It is 3 to 5 feet wide. 
Three ore-bearing veins are known on the property. The first and most important 
trends N. 10° E. from the shaft and has a very steep east-southeast dip. Drifts 
are extended on it on all levels for about 400 feet north of the shaft; south of it 
some exploration has been done on levels 1, 5, and 8. A second nearly vertical 
vein, trending north-northwest from near the shaft and intersecting the first just 
south of it, has been developed on the adit and first levels for a distance of 300 feet, 
but has not been found productive. Four hundred feet north of the shaft it would 
intersect the third vein, which follows the basaltic dike mentioned above. Like 
the dike it strikes N. 30° E. and dips 70° west-northwest. Some fluorite and cala- 
verite ore occurred on it, but the vein proved productive only down to level 5. It has 
been opened on levels 3, 5, and 8. 
The ore is of the usual kind, the calaverite being accompanied by quartz and 
fluorite in all of the veins. There is little oxidation, unaltered tellurides being 
found close to the surface. Galena, zinc blende, and tetrahedrite are reported 
absent. A small vein in the northern part of the mine, 40 feet east of the basalt 
dike, contained much galena, but no work was done on it. 
