The history of the great Anaconda mine reads like a romance and mainly for the reason that in the early days the very surface was literally shoveled up and shipped to the smelters and good returns received. It was more like shipping the scenery than mining.

1900 Map showing location of Anaconda G.M. Co. Properties in the Cripple Creek District

1900 Map of Anaconda G.M. Co. Properties in the Cripple Creek District

The surface of Gold Hill, on which the Anaconda company owns an estate of about one hundred acres of territory, is so literally torn up that it makes one think a cyclone has gotten in its awful work.

The great mother vein of the property was opened right on the surface and the stopes from the tunnel level have been carried upward, until now, from the surface one can look down into a darkness that is awful in its grandeur.

Immense stulls hold the great dark slabs of rock up tight so they will not fall. From below one can see the bright rays of light and the change from day to night.

The Anaconda company owns one hundred acres of territory, which is operated by lessees. At the present time twenty sets of lessees are working on various blocks of ground and some of them are breaking a good grade of ore.

The present production from the lessees that are producing, twelve in number, amounts to all of 1,000 tons of ore that has an average value of about $25.00 to the ton.

The royalties from the lessees' production amounts to considerable each month and is rapidly building up the company's treasury reserve, which now amounts to about $30,000.00.

The showing on the various parts of the company's estate is very encouraging and the prospects for the future are exceedingly bright.

The development, by lessees, during the year just closed was of a most satisfactory character.

Recently an important find was made on the Grace Greenwood claim. As development proceeds the showing is better and the improvement of the kind that warrants the belief that it will eventually prove to be a great thing for the company and add considerable to the treasury reserve in royalties.

An important find has also been made on the Kittie M. claim. There has been opened the extension of the famous old Half Moon ore shoot, that on the adjoining property, years ago, yielded ore to the extent of close to a half million of dollars.

This find is being developed rapidly and energetically.

Anaconda lode in Andesite Dike, July 1897

The development of the property has been very extensive. There is a tunnel driven from the Anaconda side a distance of a mile and from it has been run a great number of laterals. In the tunnel, quite a distance from the portal, the company has sunk a winze 400 feet or more, where the water level of the camp was encountered.

There the work of sinking had to be abandoned. Now that the drainage tunnel is to be driven the prospects for the company is still brighter, for when the water level has been lowered the company will undoubtedly commence work if sinking and open up rich virgin territory.

What the future will bring is conjectural, but the indications from above are sufficient to warrant the belief that as good ore will be found below what is now the water level as was found above.

The Anaconda company is officered by mining men of ability. All of them have been successful in mining operations and know just how a mine should be run, which is a very important item that many people overlook.

The affairs of the Anaconda company are conducted as the officers conduct their own private business, which, of course, assures the stockholders that their interests are looked after the same as they would conduct them themselves.

The officers of the Anaconda Mining company are:

F. L. Sigel, president

G. S. Wood, vice-president

A. E. Carlton, treasurer

F. J. Campbell, secretary and general manager.

Scene at the Anaconda Mine in Squaw Gulch with an Ore Bin and an Ore House Seen in Foreground.