Colorado Paper - The Smuggler-Union Mines, Telluride, Colorado

In offering some data relative to this property, and the treatment of its ores, it is proper to say that a purely scientific article has not been attempted. It is hoped, however, that the economic conditions presented may be of interest to the members of the Institute, and that a discussion upon the concentration of the ore may throw some light upon a very unsatisfactory part of the work. The Smuggler-Union mines are located at the head of the San Miguel river, just south of the water-shed between Ouray and Telluride. The latter town, reached by the Denver and Rio Grande railway, is most picturesquely situated, at ail altitude of 8500 feet, in a narrow valley, the lower portion of which exposes only the sedimentary rocks. Along the sides of the valley, large masses of coarse alluvial deposits are left high above the present channel of the stream. Although much placer-work has been done, and some very rich material has been found, the limited extent of the isolated tracts has made placer-mining in this locality generally unprofitable. The valley terminates two miles above Telluride in an amphitheater around which walls rise abruptly several thousand feet. Here the company's mill is situated, being reached by a Bleichert tramway from the mines and also by a spur of the Rio Grande railway from Telluride. At this point, not only are the reddish sandstone and conglomerate beds exposed, but the contact between the conglomerate and the overlying gray volcanic breccia is plainly in view, even at a distance of many miles. A marked stratification is noticeable, indicating the successive layers of igneous breccia, locally termed trachyte. Throughout the entire region this is the favorite name among the miners for the rocks composing the igneous cap of the San Juan