MINEBK01020

• County: TOC
• Document: TOC
• Suffix: A

GUZVNISOId COUNTY
Denver, Colo. Dec. 1, 1902
P~Ir. H. A. Lee,
State. Bureau of Mines,
Denver, Colorado.
Dear Sir:
Herewith something about the work in Gunnison County which you
asked.. me to furnish you. It strings out longer than I thought it
would but there are two operations included and the v:=ork is really
very important to Gunnison county. Your ovm experience in the loca-
lity will help you to appreciate what our outfit is doing.
Fours tr~:1y,
Lute H. Johnson.
2do vaork bearing on the future of Gunnison county undertaken in
years.oan compare in importance with that of the Standard i~tining
Investment Company through .its tvao operating companies, the Augusta
Tvietal TyTining Company and the Black queen Gold mining Company. It
is the_fzrthest advanced of any serious deep mining r~ork in the.
ceun~y.and the results so far attained promise to do much toward
reestablishing the Gunnison countrp in popular favor.
Encouraged by tl'ie disclosures of immence bodies of silver-lead
and gold-silver quartz ores in an adit level 320 feet deep or_ the
-Augusta vein, the Augusta company has been engaged all year in dri-
wing a cross-cut tunnel from the Poverty guloh slope that will cut
the lead at a vertical depth of 1,350 feet. This working is now
1,900 feet on its way and should reach the ore early in the coming
pear. A tramway and milling plants have been planned to afford zd-
ditcnal transportation fzcilities for ma.rY.eting the lower grades _,;
of ores. During `the summer regular shipments were made to the smel-
ters from the 320-ft. working, the ore packed by burros to Anthra-
cite station. Two characters of ore were shipped. That frcm the
lead-silver shoots averaged during the year 69 per cent lead and
~5 ounces silver to the ton--an extremely high percentage of lead
fo^ raw .ores. The quartz ores carried an average of 1.81 ounces
gold and 53 of silver to the ton. Portions of the lead bodies carry
considera:ole zinc which is finding a ready market to the new zinc
smelters a.t -0anon^.ity.
Thy slack G~.zeen company controls the excelsior, another famous
old producer of the section and with it a large group of claims of
more recent location. ~! tunnel is being driven to open the big Ex-
celsior vein at a depth of 1100 ft. and several hundred ft. were
driven during the year. nTO production has peen made.
Both tunnels are driven with air drills from a common plant.
A Leyner 16 x 17 compressor is installed at the old. Augusta mill in
Poverty gulch and the supply lines to the tunnels r•un from a main
4-inch air line 6000 i`t. in length thrown up the hill and supply-
in power to points 600 and 900 ft. above the plant.
1The standard Company is officered by C. L. Arzeno, General
1klanager, Lute H. Johnson, Assistant 1'~ianager, & fieldman,_J. A,
• Sma11; secretary and Treasurer. Cincinnati, Ohio, and Charleston
S, ~., capitalists complete the 'directory.