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<br /> <br />~^ expected to hit mineralization at a predetermined depth. The hole did <br />{• not hit mineralization at the target depth, but knowing it could be <br />the last hole, drilling was arbitrarily continued and the edge of the <br />Henderson ore body was encountered. Excitement increased as each <br />subsequent hole further delineated the extent and quality of the ore <br />until the decision that mining was feasible. <br />Ore-Haulage Railway <br />The Henderson tunnel runs directly under Jones Pass (the <br />Continental Divide) which connects Clear Creek Valley with Williams <br />Fork Vallee. The pass was named by a very interesting person in <br />Colorado history. John S. Jones was one of many colorful entrepre- <br />neurs fathered by the boom days in Colorado. Time after time he <br />organized costly ventures, obtained financial backing, did fairly well <br />• up to a point and invariably ended bankrupt far short of his goal. <br />According to Harrison (1964), Jones once made $700,000 in New York <br />speculating mining claims which he and two others had accummulated. <br />Then, trapped by the lure of speculation, in a few short months he was <br />able to lose not only his share but the others' shares also. History <br />does not record why his partners failed to shoot him on his return to <br />Empire. <br />The Jones Pass wagon road was another of Jones' ventures. <br />Jones' promotion of the venture in 1866 was the first of many attempts <br />to prove the feasibility of a road over the Continental Divide in <br />hopes of enticing the Union Pacific to construct the transcontinental <br />railroad through Denver. The wagon road was never completed. It <br />dead-ends in the upper reaches of the Williams Fork Watershed and <br />3-2 <br />