bansome.] MINES OF SULTAN MOUNTAIN. 251 
game of chance in which the probabilities are decidedly against them. 
But where the object is to cut a lode of proved value and continuity, 
as was the case with the Virginius lode tapped by the Revenue tun- 
nel, the unertaking involves no more than the legitimate risks incident 
to most large business enterprises. 
MINES OF SULTAN MOUNTAIN. 
North Star mine. — Situated on the northern slope of Sultan Moun- 
tain, about a mile southwest of Silverton, this mine was at one time 
one of the largest and most productive in the quadrangle. It was 
located in 1876, but not extensively worked until about 1881, when it 
became the most productive mine in San Juan County, some 3,000 
tons of ore having been mined. At the close of 1882 the workings 
comprised about 1,700 feet of drifts, and, according to the report of 
the Director of the Mint, over 100,000 ounces of silver and 1,500,000 
pounds of lead had been extracted. The ore at i ha1 1 Lme was shipped 
to St. Louis, and is said to have carried from 70 lo 80 ounces of silver 
and 35 per cent of lead. In 1883 the output is given by the Mint 
reports as $200,000, and in 1884 as 1,100 tons, value not stated. The 
same source gives the product for L888, L890, and L89I as $46,522, 
$206,072, and $337,192, respectively, the silver being reckoned at its 
coinage value The mine was finally closed about L897, it having 
been practically worked out down to the tunnel level. 
The main adit is a tunnel (No. 7) 7 feel in the clear and 2,100 feet 
in length, which has its entrance about 50 feet above Mineral Creek 
and penetrates the mountain in a southwesterly direction, cutting the 
lode nearly at right angles. The latter isa fissure vein in monzonite, 
striking nearly northwest and southeast, but showing considerable 
variation in trend. The dip is to the southwest at from 45° to 60 . 
The monzonite near the vein is decomposed and soft, and when the 
mine was visited in 1899 it was found impossible, on account of 
caving, to reach the ends of any of the drifts or to enter the stopes. 
The vein contains much quartz, and is usually wide, the average width 
according t o one account being about 8 feet. The pay st reak, generally 
about a foot wide, and consisting of galena and tetrahedrite, occurs 
very persistently along the footwall side of the vein. The pyrite 
occurring in the more quartzose portion of the vein is said to carry 
some gold, and small amounts of the latter have been found free. The 
average tenor of the ore is reported to have been about a half ounce 
of gold, 40 ounces of silver, and 50 per cent of lead. 
About 100 feet southwest of the North Star vein is the Crown Point 
and Wheal Alfred lode, a nearly parallel quartz vein carrying some 
gold. The dip of this lode is steeper than that of the North Star. It 
shows pyrite, chalcopyrite, and tetrahedrite. with a little specularite, 
in a quartz gangue. Barite is probably present in both lodes. 
