In calling your attention to one of the richest districts in the whole Rocky Mountain system, we must say in the first place that the old Spanish and Mexican land grant controversies have greatly retarded the development of large tracts of the richest mineral lands throughout New Mexico, particularly in Taos County; but the United States court of private land claims and the United States supreme court have finally passed upon the validity of practically all these grants, and this has recently thrown open some very rich fields. Among these is the Rio Hondo district in Taos County.
This district contains, without any exaggeration, almost inexhaustible bodies of good paying gold, silver and copper ore. In the year 1680 these same Taos mountains gave up millions in gold and silver to the Spaniards, although worked by the crudest possible methods; and now, after lying idle for hundreds of years they are again about to give up their treasures to a few lucky corporations who have secured property in this vicinity. The Rio Hondo District is situated about the center of the county, a few miles north of the quaint old Mexican town of Taos, the county seat. Plenty of mining timber and streams of the clearest water make this an ideal place for reduction plants and the economic handling of ores.
In speaking of mining, many people think of a mining proposition as a gamble. True it is, that the unscrupulous promoter has been too much in evidence, and it is not surprising that an intelligent public is inclined to look with suspicion at even the legitimate mining enterprise. Mining when conducted along business lines, is just as legitimate and far more profitable than any other enterprise, but the investor must exercise care and judgment if he would make his investments profitable.
