THE  NEGLECTED  MINE  AND  NEARBY  PROPERTIES,  DURANGO 
QUADRANGLE,  COLORADO. 
By  William  IT.  Emmons. 
LOCATION. 
The  Xeglected  mine  is  situated  on  the  east  slope  of  the  La  Plata 
Mountains,  near  the  head  of  Junction  Creek.  It  is  in  the  small 
area  of  mineralization  locally  known  as  the  wi  Oro  Fino  district,^ 
which  lies  in  the  western  part  of  the  Durango  quadrangle.  Pros- 
pecting for  gold  and  silver  has  been  carried  on  in  this  district  for 
number  of  years,  but  until  recently  operations  have  been  confined 
mainly  to  development  and  assessment  work. 
Mr.  C.  W.  Purington  made  a  visit  to  this  region  in  1896  incidental 
to  a  study  of  the  economic  geology  of  the  La  Plata  quadrangle,  but 
ater  developments  of  some  of  the  properties — especially  at  the 
eglected  and  Durango  Girl  mines — appeared  to  be  of  sufficient  im- 
ortance  to  warrant  reexamination  in  connection  with  the  economic 
ction  of  the  text  for  the  Durango  folio,  which  is  now  in  course  of 
reparation  by  Mr.  Whitman  Cross. 
The  mining  district  is  only  about  15  miles  from  Durango,  where 
he  American  Smelting  and  Refining  Company  operates  a  thor- 
ughiy  modern  smelter.  It  is  not,  howTever,  so  accessible  as  at  first 
ippears,  since  the  rise  to  most  of  the  mines  is  more  than  :>,000  feet, 
Ind  roads  in  this  rugged  country  are  difficult  to  construct  and 
xpensive  to  maintain.  Transportation  to  and  from  the  present  pro- 
ducing mines  is  for  the  greater  portion  of  the  distance  by  mule  trains, 
plough  wagon  roads,  built  for  the  hauling  of  machinery,  are  still 
p  a  more  or  less  serviceable  condition. 
GENERAL    GEOLOGY. 
Character  of  the  rocks. — The  mines  are  located  in  an  area  of  sedi- 
lentary  rocks  intruded  by  sheets  and  dikes  of  green  porphyry,  which 
i  turn  are  cut  by  dark  basic  dikes.  The  sedimentary  rocks  con- 
st of  red  calcareous  clay  shales,  red  sandstones,  and  conglomerates. 
he  strata  grade  into  each  other  horizontally  and  vertically,  no  single 
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