1886 Autograph Letter Signed from a Colorado Gold Miner concerning the Mary Murphy Gold Strike near Salida, Colorado.

“I am confident I could take out pay ore in one week…”

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Detailed letter in four full pages, from Colorado gold miner D.P. Fuller discussing a new vein of gold associated with the Mary Murphy Gold Mine. The “Mary Murphy” was the largest strike in the Chalk Creek District, employing over 100 workers by the mid 1880s.¹

Writing to William J. Smyth, likely a representative of a gold mining company, Fuller describes the new vein of gold and outlines his plan to buy a claim and begin the work of removing the ore. In part:

...I sent you a Chaffee County [Colorado] paper with an account of the Murphy strike. While I have not been at the mine I am satisfied that acct. is true in the main. I got my information from miners who have worked there. ... I found a very strong and well defined vein in place, the line of which crosses the line of the Tunnel something like from 400 to 600 ft ahead of the present heading… From the outcrop of this vein and what I could see at t he different openings I think this vein to be from 5 to 7 ft wide. On the dumps of the different openings I found ore which without doubt in my mind came from these openings or workings. At one point I am confident I could take out pay ore in one week. I traced the croping [sic] of this vein to the top of the Mt from where can be seen the Murphy workings & I can say I do not think there is a doubt but both are the same vein. (pp[1]–2)

Fuller discusses the company buying this mining claim or another nearby, the “Mason” property, which has already shipped 28 railroad cars of ore. He recommends the former negotiation would be best left in his hands as the current owners of the claim have already made him the offer to manage it. No need to send a “Mine Expert”, he writes, “...but a man who is an owner, a man of good judgment (not an enthusiast) & I think he can make his partners in the enterprise satisfyed…” (p4)

The Salida Mail (Volume V, No. 45, April 11, 1885) shows as a D.P. Fuller in Salida as running for city election as one of the “Trustees-Workingmen.”

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