RANsome.] PRODUCTION AND CLIMATE. 25 
one of the greatest producing mines in the quadrangle, and certainly 
excels all others in the average richness and regularity of its ore bodies. 
Placer mining has never been extensively practiced within the 
Silverton quadrangle. In former years a little washing was done on 
the east side of California Mountain, in Picayune Gulch, and in 
Arrastra Gulch, but there are no extensive deposits of auriferous 
gravels in the district, and the total output from placer mining is 
probably insignificant. 
PRODUCTION. 
Accurate figures from which the total production of the Silverton 
quadrangle might be computed are not available. The area com- 
prises portions of several counties, and has shipped ore to various 
smelters. An attempt to ascertain and combine the products of the 
individual mines within the quadrangle has been only partially suc- 
cessful. In the case of sonic abandoned mines no records can be 
found, and in two instances requests to the owners of active mines 
for confidential statements of total out put have met with no satisfac- 
tory response; but by combining actual figures with individual esti- 
mates it appears thai the total production of the Silverton quadrangle 
from the beginning of mining activity to the close of 1900 has been at 
least $35,000,000. The greater part of this has undoubtedly been in 
silver, but during recenl years, largely owing to the activity of the 
Camp Bird, Tomboy, and Gold King mines, and to the lower price of 
silver, the value of the gold output has predominated. 
CLIMATE. 
The climate of the Silverton quadrangle is, in general, somewhat 
rigorous. Meteorological records are lacking for this elevated region, 
and no accurate. data can be given in regard to temperature and pre- 
cipitation. The winters are long, the snowfall is heavy, and the tem- 
perature sometimes falls to 20 to 30° below zero. The first heavy 
snow usually arrives late in October, but heavy falls are not unknown 
in September. This early storm may be followed by fine weather, 
lasting well into December. In midwinter snowshoes afford the only 
means of communication over most of the higher roads and trails. 
Snowslides are frequent and dangerous, and a winter seldom passes 
without loss of life and property from this cause. It is often late in 
.June before the snow has disappeared from the higher trails, and on 
northern slopes, sheltered from the sun, patches frequently linger 
until long after midsummer. The period extending from the begin- 
ning of July to the middle of August is referred to by the inhabitants 
as the " rainy season." During this period in normal years showers 
are of almost daily occurrence, usually coming up early in the after- 
noon and lasting for an hour or more. It is during this season that 
the wild flowers in the upland basins, notably many species of gentians 
