Show PARADOX VALLEY A colorado paper a few days ago made the statement that seventy two carloads of vanadium uranium and ore valued at had been shipped out of paradox valley montrose county colorado during the past twelve months so very little is known in a general way of this locality and of its deposits of the rare metals that the statement should arouse widespread interest in the possibilities of this section in which but few companies are operating at the present time but which in the near future should become famous for its production of uranium and other metals from which radium is produced in the december issue of the en gi and mining journal thomas F V curran of baltimore md president of the general vanadium company has an article on in paradox valley colorado which will be read with interest by those now investigating these metals and who are looking for deposits of the same mr curran says is the lodestone drawing attention to the paradox valley in southwestern colorado nor could fortune beckon more luringly for is the word shell of the triple treasures radium vanadium and uranium nestling west of the uncompahgre plateau plat elau in montrose county the valley for the greater part is at right angles with the course of the dolores river which flows along its western border hence the name paradox its east I 1 ern entrance is at dry creek six miles west of the hamlet naturita Na turita and 46 miles west of the nearest railway station placer vine ville paradox valley is seen from the table lands around norwood and redvale redvald as a void between gigantic sawtooth saw tooth ranges running westerly until they merge into the bisecting lasal mountains it is three miles wide and over 50 miles long and as a whole is an expanse of sandy loam dry and dusty most of the year but yielding abundant crops when favored with the infrequent rains As yet it has no irrigation on the north and the south the valley is bounded by mesas having a mean elevation over the valley of about 1200 feet INN M UA A V at A iiii A ah ap 7 71 W 1 k e g A I 1 ly K W 51 R ewt ea Z 11 dmn typical scene in the paradox region Ore bodies of blanket form the ore bodies outcrop from the sloping sides of the mesas about feet above the valleys level these ore bodies are in blanket form varying in thickness from 12 to 40 inches the ore may be mined much like the pennsylvania bituminous coal beds are worked by horizontal tunnels driven in from the surface the ore is roughly sorted and plated placed in canvas sacks holding about 85 pounds each and is hauled by wagon to placerville erville over a stage road which is in fairly good condition during the dry season at a haulage cost of 18 per ton placerville erville is about feet above sea level and is important notwithstanding its population of only for it is the distributing point of over square miles of country and from it are ar e shipped thousands of fat cattle and quantities of of iron the latter reduced from its sandstones at the nearby village vanadium on the road from placerville erville to the paradox the ranch town norwood is 18 18 miles west thence 5 miles is redvale redvald Red vale which boasts an interesting weekly paper the soil is fertile and well irrigated and gives bountiful crops of alfalfa oats barley and wheat forty miles from placerville erville is naturita Na turita which is as its name implies a veritable and delicious touch of nature through it dashes the san miguel river at a normal flow of seven miles an hour the stage road follows the river for about three miles cesi west of naturita Na turita and then swings at right angles along dry creek and over the hills at the coke ovens where there are deposits of good bituminous coal down into the paradox valley in ili the east paradox valley there are no streams the suns rays are unrestrained by clouds and the alkali dust is carried along the stage road in blinding swirls with mystic and determined hope a few families have taken up homesteads and yearly year ly wait for the completion of the irrigation project that is to convert this desert into a paradise mine best known the mine best known in the paradox is the dandy Jo it is 12 miles west of ita and has an elevation of about feet above sea level on an eminence below the main tunnel is a permanent camp with an office and complete laboratory the ores are of variegated colors and richness from vivid canary yellow with from 10 to 15 per cent uranium oxide to the somber greenish black Kent or the red hydro calcium having as much as 90 per cent vanadium oxide it is the center of a group consisting of the susquehanna valley view blackburn johnny C good luck hummer broker simplon Sim plon yellow bird fifteen exploration tunnels and numerous open cuts have been made and from here over a thousand tons of ore have been shipped the ore outcrop can be followed along the surface contour and has been uncovered almost two miles the operations afford cumulative daily proof of the permanency great volume and richness of these deposits the thunderbolt group of lode claims is on the same or southern side of the valley and about two miles east of the Jo dandy the ore is similar in nature content and quantity one of the tunnels here has been driven feet in excellent shipping ore below this tunnel is camp hequembourg established a year ago with offices telephone connections laboratory etc the camp employs a force of 40 miners in mining and development work immediately to the west of the is the monogram group and camp employing from 35 to 40 men and operated by the thunderbolt owners the original monogram lode is about exhausted and was evidently a slide from a long wide bench feet above it in this bench are the anna may A no 1 black diamond wilson little torn tom happy thought holiday junita great hesper greenback gray and sunnyside Sunny side which are handsomely repaying the work expended on them A unique feature of the anna may is a 35 foot exploration shaft by means of which the vein three feet thick was discovered camps hequembourg and monogram each are favored with a large spring of clear cold water to the east of this bench group are the acoma and opera box lodes the latter is picturesque appearing from the valley as an immense opera box in the sheer walls of the rocky cliffs the ore veins here are so unmistakably in place as to have offered the first nature lesson in refutation of the theory that deposits are mere surface pockets many claims in bull canyon bull canyon lies four miles to the south it is in fact a series of canyons 15 miles in length the southwestern part being in san miguel county and is bounded on the west by the dolores river which slowly wends bends its serpentine course northward A lone cabin belonging to an indian miner and rancher henry huff is in the canyon nearest the deposits last named east of the cabin and about feet above it is a bench which shows a continuous blanket of ore covered only by a sandstone cap not over a foot thick in places the lode claims here are known as the little joe rosebud lookout and sunday scattered through the canyons are the sundown saunders gingle buttermilk old mexico new mexico uranium bellet belle cabin huff ibex rainbow and wedding bell lodes many of which look as though they will be good ore producers A wagon road connecting redvale redvald with the canyon can be built at small cost still further south near cedar is the district where 10 or 12 good claims are being worked and a large camp has recently been established in the northern mesa or tableland of east paradox valley is long park where many fine claims are being worked here in saucer basin is the cliff claim from which three carloads of averaging 6 per cent uranium oxide were extracted during the last few months the present exposure shows the claim to have a large mass of high grade ore nearby is the steadier Sw Swe eadler adIer or swindler lode from which a carload of ore equally rich was mined by two men during the last month it is predicted that this lode will yield fully 2500 tons of shipping ore the copper prince mine at the western end of east paradox valley on the dolores river is the hamlet bedrock the valley now swings abruptly toward the north and this northern stretch is called the west paradox valley eighteen or twenty miles north of bedrock is paradox a small town close to it is the copper prince mine said to contain a fissure vein of more than a decade ago agents of doctor and madame curie operated this mine and a small factory at uranium over tons of averaging 10 per cent uranium oxide were taken from the mine which was abandoned owing to the failure of the extracting process employed the coper prince is on the side of a steep hill and has a shaft about 1 3 feet deep three levels were run from the shaft to the surface the first about feet long the next feet and the deepest feet and all these levels are said to be in ore it is suggested that th atthe the solutions from the upper strata bravi 9 F N A A U C va ir Y N 6 WN k 7 AL E wa A 0 1 7 horizontal formation of the paradox region bated into a vertical cleft in the rocks and that the shaft is not in a fissure vein quite a number of other ore claims are being operated in this vicinity much of the ore contains 10 to 12 per cent copper ten miles southeast of paradox is a sheltered valley housing an important cattle ranch known as the club ranch in this vicinity is an abandoned placer mine that has hydraulic machinery etc costing a half million dollars and the district is called hydraulic on the sloping hillsides hill sides and benches are the lode claims club north star paradox bell maggie C little basin wright ruth allen alien tabe quachi old salt lick valentine blackbird bluebird big dick little dick ranch view truscott and B M showing well in richness and volume through the valley here flows the san miguel river which empties into the dolores a few miles further north about ten miles west of paradox post office is the yellow bird group of claims situated along la sal creek the country here is generally exceedingly broken and only superficial work has been done ore from two holes gave 3 per cent vanadium and 2 per cent uranium four miles beyond are the kent and bonanza claims which show much better in one a tunnel sixty five feet long was driven in a threefoot vein of shipping ore from this on through sinbad valley with its ore of combined copper vanadium and uranium through valley through richardson to cisco utah on the rio grande western railway is a belt of ore that has been prospected but little this hasty sketch only hints at the resources of the paradox the prospector has simply scratched the surface here and there and when the work is done properly and the district has adequate transportation facilities it promises to be one of the greatest mining centers of this country A survey has been made of an automobile truck road with a moderate grade connect ing the paradox with grand junction and active steps are being taken to build another road to montrose ore shipped to pennsylvania and england the demand for ore as a source of employed in medi medicine cinet dyeing and improving iron steel and copper of uranium salts for tinting etc and for the extraction of radium is increasing rapidly it is universally conceded that vanadium toughens and strengthens the metal in which it is incorporated armor and protective deck plates propellers and crankshafts crank shafts machinery parts locomotive bacol flotine f frames rames and other castings in short all metal requiring great resistance to shock and vibration with high degree of strength and durability are greatly improved by vanadium fully 90 per cent of the present ore production is shipped to either liverpool england or to canonsburg Canons burg pa at the latter place it is converted into radio active materials from a manufacturing standpoint p is the most desirable of all ores for its content is cheaply and quickly extracted and with simple and inexpensive plant equipment in a solution flon containing 10 per cent sulphuric acid 86 per cent of the vanadium content may be extracted in fifteen minutes and the whole of the vanadium content in one half hour henceforth much of the future of both the radium and the vanadium industries will he be interwoven in the story of the development of the ore bodies of western colorado |