News from Routt County

On this page, I would like to include newspaper articles which appeared in various Routt County newspapers.
If you have any newspaper articles which you would like to contribute, please send me an e-mail!

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100 Years Ago in the Steamboat Pilot

WHAT THE NEW YEAR'S PAPERS SAID OF ROUTT COUNTY
The New Year's edition of the Denver News said,
Routt county has had more substantial improvements than in any previous two years. Among the resources may be mentioned the wonderful mineral springs, the gold, silver, copper and lead mines just developing, the largest body of coal land in the state, comprising one and a quarter million acres, with coal of every grade, from the best anthracite to lignite; springs of crude petroleum, highly vitrified Dakota sandstone, a deposit of onyx, the largest on the continent and of fine quality; marble, undeveloped, but known to cover a large area; grazing lands, wide and fertile valleys, with plenty of water for irrigations and water power, scenic beauty and a health giving climate. The past year has witnessed an influx of desirable citizens. Each year sees a larger area brought under cultivation. Wheat is becoming a popular crop, and with two flouring mills there is a cash market. Hay is always a good crop. There are about 60,000 head of cattle, but the rand is sufficient for many items that number.

Many of the first settlers were an adventurous lot, who proved up on their land and mortgaged it for as much as they could get, and then left, or have been struggling under a load of usurious interest. These ranches can be bought for a very reasonable price, the cost being far below that usually obtained for similar property in other places. The value of the stock sent to market this year has been in excess of half a million dollars.

The mineral resources of the county are held back by lack of transportation facilities. There are a dozen mines opened to a considerable depth. The Tom Thumb and Elkhorn have been shipping by wagon with sufficient profit to develop their properties. Their ore runs about $100 per ton, although they are piling on the dump hundreds of tons of a lower grade, which must await transportation or local treatment facilities.

The gold placers at Hahns Peak have been put in shape for work on a large scale and will start up in the spring.

The Colorado Onyx company, which owns the onyx deposit at the edge of the town of Steamboat Springs, has been employing from five to fifteen men the greater portion of the season, and they now have piled on the dump onyx valued at many thousands of dollars. They have the largest continuous deposit ever discovered. They recently shipped a carload to New York and another to Chicago. Of course, with transportation facilities, this quarry would be a heavy shipper, but the price obtained is such that a profit can be realized for wagon transportation.

J. H. Crawford, the discoverer of the onyx, also discovered this summer an immense deposit of marble within three miles of Steamboat Springs. The croppings can be traced for over half a mile. A peculiar feature is that the marble is found in an Achaean granite formation, a very rare occurrence and one regarded by experts as exceptionally favorable.
 

from The Steamboat Pilot Wednesday, January 11, 1899