kansome.] DESCRIPTIONS OF INDIVIDUAL MINES. 185 
LODES OF MINERAL POINT. 
General. — There is probably no area within the quadrangle where 
outcrop so numerous and such conspicuous lodes and veins as in that 
immediately surrounding Mineral Point, at the headwaters of the 
Animas and Uncompahgre rivers. The general trend of these lodes 
is roughly northeast and southwest, but they are not all parallel. A 
radial disposition of the fissures is plainly discernible south of Min- 
eral Point, recalling the similar arrangement at the head of Placer 
Gulch and in Silver Lake Basin. From the knob south of the deserted 
town (from which the latter takes its name) the croppings of many of 
the lodes can be followed with the eve for long distances to the north- 
east and southwest. Unlike Large quartz veins in some other regions, 
the prominent veins here do not stand up uniformly as topographic 
ridges, but thej'are, nevertheless, often easily traceable as long white 
lines stretching away over the uneven country. The summit of Min- 
eral Point knob is formed by a heavy vein of nearly solid white 
quartz at least 60 feet wide, which dips about 75° to the southeast. 
Toward the northeast this vein divides into three. The middle branch 
is that upon which the San Juan Chief is located, while the Bill Young 
pine is on the eastern branch. Toward the southwest this vein passes 
over the eastern spur of Tuttle Mountain. The triangle between 
Houghton and Tuttle mountains and Mineral Point is occupied by a 
most complicated network of fissure veins. ( )nly the more prominent 
ones can be shown on the map, and their representation on a map of 
this scale and character is necessarily somewhat diagrammatic. Some 
of them follow curved courses, as is well shown by a large vein which 
crosses the road just west of Mineral Point town and extends south- 
west toward Lake Co mo. 
Although so numerous and persistent, the lodes in the vicinity of 
Mineral Point have been productive of more disappointment than 
profit. Excluding the Old Lout, which will be described with the 
Poughkeepsie Gulch mines, there has not been a mine in this vicinity 
which can be said to have yielded a substantial profit over and above 
its total cost. The Polar Star, on Engineer Mountain, was formerly 
extensively worked, and produced some rich silver ore; but the ore 
shoots apparently had little depth, and the net profit of this mine was 
probably not large when it was finally compelled to close. In 1899 
and 1900 the work in this vicinity was practicall} 7 limited to prospect- 
ing or the extraction of small amounts of ore from shallow workings. 
The prevailing country rock of the Mineral Point area is andesite, 
belonging in the Silverton series. There are also considerable bodies 
of rhyolite, which are intrusive in the andesite, and some latite. 
Red Cloud mine. — This claim was first worked about 1874, and in 
1881 is reported to have had about 1,200 feet of drifting and to have 
taken out some 800 tons of gray copper and galena ore in the progress 
of development. The present workings consist of three shafts, a 
