LAKE  FORK  MINING  AREA,  COLORADO.  27 
the  granite  stretches  northwestward  to  Lake  Fork  at  Whitecross  and 
wedges  put  a  short  distance  beyond  the  town.  The  granite  is  older 
than  the  complex,  but  their  present  relations  are  rendered  somewhat 
equivocal  through  profound  faulting  and  Assuring,  which  has  affected 
In  greater  or  less  degree  all  the  rocks  of  the  area.  The  fissures  follow 
no  single  direction,  nor  do  they  fall  into  regular  systems,  but  have  a 
wide  range  within  the  northwest  and  northeast  quadrants.  Many  of 
them  are  offshoots  of  fissure  systems  lying  well  within  the  Silverton 
area,  and  in  such  fissures  the  ore  mined  in  this  locality  largely  occurs. 
MINING. 
This  region  was  prospected  many  years  ago  and  has  been  the  scene 
of  more  or  less  activity  ever  since ;  but  development  is  greatly  retarded 
by  the  lack  of  transportation  facilities.  The  nearest  railroad  is  at 
Animas  Forks,  5  miles  west  of  Whitecross,  but  over  a  divide  requiring 
a  1, 500-foot  climb.  The  railroad  at  Lake  City  is  nearly  three  times 
as  distant.  Nevertheless,  from  time  to  time  considerable  ore  has 
been  shipped  from  the  various  mines  of  the  region,  and  active  devel- 
opment is  progressing  as  rapidly  as  the  conditions  warrant.  Many 
prospects  have  workings  of  several  hundred  feet,  and  though  some 
were  inaccessible  at  the  time  of  visit  such  details  as  were  obtainable 
are  given  below.     The  mines  are  taken  up  in  order  from  west  to  east. 
The  Park  View  property  lies  halfway  up  the  southeast  face  of 
Edith  Mountain,  west  of  Whitecross.  Development  has  been  carried 
on  by  means  of  a  tunnel  over  600  feet  long  and  a  60-foot  shaft  some 
distance  above  the  tunnel.  The  rock  at  the  surface  and  underground 
is  granite,  which  is  cut  by  a  main  southwest  fissure.  All  workings  are 
said  to  follow  this  fissure,  which  is  in  places  several  feet  wide.  The 
workings  were  not  accessible  at  the  time  of  visit,  but  the  vein  is 
known  to  carry  chiefly  galena,  witli  smaller  amounts  of  gray  copper. 
Quartz  is  present  as  the  chief  gangue  mineral  and  is  said  to  carry  some 
gold. 
The  Monticello  lode  is  situated  at  the  mouth  of  Cleveland  Gulch, 
adjacent  to  Whitecross,  and  is  developed  by  a  shaft  50  feet  deep,  with 
a  short  southward  drift  at  the  bottom.  Farther  up  the  gulch  a  new 
tunnel  is  also  being  opened.  The  surface  rock  near  both  workings  is 
granite,  and  this  is  the  only  rock  penetrated  underground.  The  shaft 
and  drift  were  inaccessible,  but  are  said  to  follow  a  southwest  fissure. 
The  tunnel,  however,  is  on  forking  lodes,  which  shoot  through  the 
granite  in  roughly  northeast  directions.  The  ore  found  in  the  shaft 
fissure  is  said  to  be  chalcopyrite  and  pyrite  mixed  with  calcite  and 
quartz  as  gangue  minerals,  and  some  of  this  has  been  shipped  in  past 
years.  In  the  tunnel  the  granite  is  heavily  pyritized  near  quartz 
veins,  which  hold  chalcopyrite  in  large  proportions,  and  at  the  face 
ore  was  observed  in  three  or  more  veins,  covering  in  all  about  a  foot 
and  a  half  in  width.     No  postmineral  movement  was  apparent,  for 
