Show MAI ERB TO THE COAST I 1 I 1 rio grande western getting ready to move THE SAN JOAN JUAN GOLD PLACERS I 1 causing more ExcIte excitement me nt than ever I 1 first reliable report from the fields in denver 11 I 1 utah may reap immediate ands and lasting benefits from tho the great excitement caused by the discovery dincov cry of f gold in tho the san juan country it t is 13 now stated in railroad r circles that should the placers hold out the bio rio grando grande western will build at once to the coast starting from green river station blurting skirting the gold fields and making a direct cut for pioche and then to log los angeles pioche is is the strate strategic V e point of eastern I 1 N evada the union nion pacific has been extending its line from milford beaver county its former terminus to that point it is is a thriving ali riving town and the centre of untold mineral resources the result of tho the western extension will bo be to open up an area of utah rich in in resources now barred to the world it will also place that young giant on a good war footing looting with its hottest rival the union pacific that this is the desideratum idera ide ratum turn to be aimed at is is seen in in the tile recent outbreak that has taken place hacebe between the western and its feete feeders r sand and the overland route tho the gold excitement continues unabated and recent reports from the san juan are equally as rosy and much more reliable tha than it those received at first the tile rocky mountain news I 1 aws of denver in in its issue of friday contains a splendid account of the return to denver denv er from the gold fields of 0 E pursell mr is is a veteran prospector well w ell known on the western slope iio ile has for the past two years been engaged in in placer mining at dandy crossing on the colorado river river the place where cass imite has been operating ope in his statements 1 mr 1 pursell is exceptionally guarded and not at all inclined to bo be sensational the tile fact is he lie deprecates that tendency tho the truth he lie thinks is good enough ho ile does not gay say he be thinks the san juan river placers will rival these jhc thc of the argonaut days of california or the unsurpassed richness of the gravel bars found ili in alder gulch montana twenty years ago but he lie firmly believes believes there are ato placer mines on the san juan river which will pay splendid w aS ages this is based based on tho the panning he did all along the stream and in the talks ho lie had with w etli prospectors who were working all of whom claiming clai mins to make f good pay pa 1 I saw with my own eyes said mr pursell to a reporter and handled with my own hands one nugget of gold which weighed over five ounces this was taken out of a bar about fifteen miles above the junction of the san juan with the colorado river by two miners who were working a claim there the same miners had several more nuggets vara v arbing ing in size from a kernel of wheat to 0 o pieces weighing an ounce or a little over ov or all the gold found along tho the river mr air pursell says is exceedingly coarse and there is is no difficulty in in saving in it mr fr pursell started for tho the san juan placer lacer excitement five weeks ago from bandy dandy crossing his companions were john P hite IN william Tilliam shaffer Shaff cr joo joe burgess and another old prospector nicknamed scotty scott their route was down tho the canyon of the colorado rivera river a distance as near as ho lie could estimate of ninety miles to the mouth of tho the san juan the journey was made by boats the river at tins this point not being very rough only two or three rapids are encountered and they are by no means dangerous when hi his parly part arrived at the mouth h of the es san kan juan they found many adventures advent uns there before them nearly all of them had gotten down to business and were doing well they claimed As an evidence of tho the truth of their statements they exhibited bags of dust I 1 miners were wm found scattered all along the river nv er as far as mr purssell and his party 41 ascended about twenty five or thirty miles it it was judged jude that there were some men all 11 told 1 engaged in w ashing some of these claimed positively to bo be making no less than 16 a day and none were seen who did not claim to be making better than wages these prospectors had been working from two to four weeks there were more coming coining in every day from all parts of tho the country but not in such armies as had been stated by the tile dispatches at tho the time mr air pursella party started on their return trip however the excitement was increasing 19 rapidly and hundreds were flocking in the ban san juan river runs through a box canyon at places the banks batiks are not more than feet high butin but in others they rise 1500 to 2000 feet above tho the bed of the stream at many points along tho the river the canyon widens out into what aro are known locally as a Rin cons sl that is is a sort of am phi theatrically shaped basin where hero these ring cones are found tho the bars are always heavier and tho tile gravel richer up to this time no attempt lias has been mado made to sluice the gravel all tho the gold that lias has been taken out bung being the result of panning there is no reason why sluicing would w not bo be immensely profitable only eliat no lumber can boob be obtained to build sluice boxes with F or this reason all of the operations have been confined to w ashing washing tho the gravel gray el close to the edge of tho the river none of the bars found along tile mesas above the river have been prospected and in in none of the claims visited by mr pursell paris w was is tho the bedrock disclosed there thero was no noway way of determining cither either how deep the bedrock was buried As far as the party ascended the stream there was no vacant grou ground along its banks all having been appropriated by tile prospectors who w ho bad gotten in m ahead ot of them whether or not the second line of claims would prove to be fertile no opinion was vouchsafed A number of bogus tickets were presented at the ball given in jolo bal I 1 it night borne fellow had bad them to un suspecting as tickets of adais slon but L ey were in reality for a dance to be civen under the aus T i acs of the og den mens social c ab I 1 not aft materialized I 1 |