bansomb.] EAELY HISTORY. 19 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 
Deeply covered with snow for a great part of the year, and stand- 
ing remote from lines of transportation and points of supply, it is not 
surprising that the rugged San Juan Mountains should, until a com- 
paratively late period, have discouraged the advance of prospectors 
into their lonely ravines. Prior to 1860 the area now included in the 
Silverton quadrangle had been visited by bat few white men, and at 
a time when every gulch of the Sierra Nevada was a scene of pictur- 
esque activity the Indian and the mountain sheep were as yet undis- 
turbed in their possession of the San Juan. But no natural obstacles 
have ever long withstood the restlessness and indomitable persever- 
ance of the seekers after precious metals. In 1860 (according to some, 
L861) a large party of miners, under the leadership of John Baker, 1 
penetrated to the little mountain-rimmed "park" where the town of 
Silverton now stands. They had hoped to find profitable gulch min- 
ing, but, overtaken by the heavy winter snows and harassed by the 
Ute Indians, many of the party perished miserably and the remnant 
escaped over 1 lie mountains only after suffering great hardships. For 
•several years the memory of this nniort unate expedition seems to have 
liscouraged further attempts at prospecting in the neighborhood of 
Bakers Park. It was not until the early seventies that reports of min- 
eral wealth again began to draw the more advent iirous miners into the 
^an Juan region. Some gold was early obtained by washing in Arras- 
ia Gulch, and this Led, in L870, to the discovery by a party of pros- 
pectors sent out by Governor Pile, of New Mexico, of the first mine 
vhich was successfully operated, the Little Giant, on the north side 
>f Arrastra Gulch. 2 This produced a gold ore, of which some 27 tons 
vere treated in arrastres, yielding $150 a ton. The first shipment of 
>re from the district is said to have been from this mine. In 1872 
roops were sent into the region to keep out the miners, as their pres- 
nce constituted a violation of the treaty of 1868, by which the Utes 
vere secured in sole possession. In the same year a commission was 
ppointed by Congress to negotiate a new treat}^ with the Indians to 
educe the extent of their reservation. The Little Giant Company 
ras organized in Chicago in 1872, and in 1873 the arrastres were 
eplaced by an amalgamating mill equipped with a Dodge crusher, a 
►all pulverizer, and live stamps. Power was furnished by a 12-horse- 
>ower engine. The mill was built 1,000 feet below the mine and the 
re was brought down on the first wire-rope tramway built in the 
egion. This year the mine produced about $12,000 out of a total of 
bout $15,000 for the entire region. The pay shoot, however, began 
1 Accounts differ as to the Christian- uame of this pioneer. Thus Bancroft (History of Nevada, 
olorado, and Wyoming, San Francisco, 1890, p. 495) refers to him as John Baker; T. A. Rickard, 
i his paper on The Development of Colorado's Mining Industry (Trans. Am. Inst, Min. Eng., 
ol. XXVI, 1896), gives his name as Jim Baker; while Frank Hall, in his History of Colorado, 
akes him Charles Baker. 
2 According to Rickard, opened by Miles T. Johnson in 1871. 
