Show I 1 ASPHALTUM kaines A description of those in the indian reservation Ee THERE ARE THIRTEEN VEINS all are very rich aad some extend foi a distance of twenty five elites oilier fads A 0 hatch ams the following communication muni cation in the wasatch wave there has been for some time past considerable newspaper talk aboud asphalt mines in the eastern part of uintah county in this territory and a bill was introduced in restoring to the public domain two rows I 1 of townships along the eastern side of i the uncompahgre indian reservation and adjoining alie colorado state line the bill was vetoed by the president and now another bill is introduced which is changed from alie original so as to conform to the views of the president having spent the summer on the ranch near the mines and being well acquainted the country in which the mines are I 1 thought a description of readers them would be of interest to bour there are thirteen distinct veins of the asphaltum or gilsonite situated on the strip which itis proposed to restore to the public of the veins commence at or near the line of colorado and extend for eight or ten miles into the reservation and one or two of bliem extend onto the reservation a distance of twenty live miles none of them are los ithan two and one half miles in length the largest vein ie about ten miles lung and in the t place in about twenty feet thick the veins till average about six feet in thickness taking all of them that I 1 know of the asphaltum is ninety eight per cent pure and is in si to be easily mined as in placed it cuts through hills several hundred feet high and in these places it has been discovered at least two hundred and fifty feet 1 below the summit of the hill and in a vein form the same as on the top the aspli alc belt is about eighteen miles wide and much sand asphalt is to be found throughout the entire distance the Gilsonite aa the vein matter is popularly calleris cal ledis in veins almost perfectly straight on the surface and they extend into the earth almost perpendicularly they are readily traced for miles by alio black sinning particles which are brought to the surface by ants prairie dogs and other animals that have homes near to the veins and also in many places the en tire width of the vein is exposed for lona distances the country surrounding alie mines and in fact the entire strip is comparatively worthless except for these deposits as it is a desert rough and rugged with only a very little arable land on it what there is lies along the white river and as the river is in a narrow canyon for the entire twelve miles think that there is not more than three or four hundred acres of arable land there what there is can only be cultivated at a great expense for ditches as it is only in the bends of the river and each bend will require a separate ditch I 1 was told that these veins were fai some tims in the early aties by major oaks who vas sect c chere by the government to locate 0 o white reservation in colorado and that at that time he took samples and sent them to several of the eastern colleges but owing to chri isolated place as it then was and there being no roads of any kind into the country it was considered worthless and nothing more was heard until it was discovered by some cowboys who knew what it was several of alie veins were partially located by bliem and a was made by them when they discovered dis covered that it was the limits of lie indian reservation all work and development was stopped until rome other veins were discovered by some colorado parties who immediately commenced to develop their property as they then thought it to be they biad only fairly commenced operations when they were notified to move off the reservation by order of alie agent and after being showed the lines they at once removed one peculiarity of these veins is that several of them are easily traced to within a few hundred yards of the reservation lines when all trace is lost the vein apparently pinching out one vein was opened just one rod in colorado and then all trace disappeared these colorado parties at once commenced to try to get this part of the reservation restored to the public domain so they renew their labor and develop the mine the sent a special inspector to view the country that it was proposed to and upon his report and the representations of parties who were well acquainted with the country a bill passed congress restoring to the public domain the twelve mile strip above referred to the bill went to the president and was vetoed by him upon representations made to him that the indians were opposed to the bill and that its passage would lead to an indian war and that there was only a vi ry little vein of asphalt there which could be secured by a few men ander the bill as passed another bill is now before congress to restore this strip to the public domain and it will in probability all become a law if so it will add more to the wealth of our territory than any half dozen silver mines within ita borders as it will place us in possession of an article many thousands of tons of which is imported into the united states annually at a cost of about 34 per ton I 1 think aliis strip contains sufficient asphalt to supply our home demand without any more imports some of our home papers have conveyed the idea that the first bill introduced to restore this was entirely in the of colorado speculators and that it was robbing the indians of their land as it made no provisions for paying them now the bill as first introduced provided for the payment to the indians of all money received by the sale of the land aad the clause was stricken out upon the statement by the secretary of the interior that the land did not belong to the andiana ingoing oyer the strip and in examining the records I 1 find that there are at least two utah men located there to one coloration Colo radion and I 1 haye with the indians and with the agency employees and there were none who i had any idea of trouble from the indians 1 on account of this bill all of the emi confident that no trouble could in anyway arise with the indians there is a colorado company located on one of alie veins and there are several veins without any locations |