THE MONARCH CAMP--JEALOUS MINERS WANTED THE NAME CHANGED.
Forest fires started by the Indians, carelessly or out of pure
deviltry, had swept the hills to the east of the divide in Chaffee
County, and sufficient time had elapsed to allow a pompadour of
pine to grow in the crest of the continent, so thick that it was
almost impenetrable. In July, 1878, having chopped a trail through
this forest, Creede came to the head of the little stream where the
prosperous town of Monarch now stands. For thirteen days the prospector
was there alone, not a soul nearer than Poncha Springs, fifteen or
twenty miles away.
Elk, deer and bear were there in abundance, and the prospector had
little difficulty in supplying himself with fresh meat. In fact, the
bear were most too convenient,--they insisted upon coming in and dining
with the silver-seeker.
Creede located a claim, called it the Monarch, and gave the same name
to the camp. Among the first claims located was one called the “Little
Charm.” It proved to be a good property--but not till it had passed
into other hands. The formation in the Monarch district was limestone,
and in limestone the prospector never knows what he has. To-day he may
be in pay ore and to-morrow pick it all out. Creede had picked out
some promising prospects in the same formation. He had discovered the
Madonna, but had more than he could handle. He took Smith and Gray
up there and told them where to dig; they dug and located the Madonna
claim. They kept it and worked the assessments for five years and then
sold it to Eylers of Pueblo for sixty thousand dollars.
[Illustration: AMETHYST TRAMWAY.]
The ore is very low grade, but was of great value to these men, who
were smelters, for the lead it carried.
By the time the snow began to fall there were a number of prospectors
in the new camp, and having tired of the place, which was one of the
hardest, roughest regions in the state, Creede sold what claims he had
for one thousand seven hundred dollars, but returned every summer for
five years, cleaning up in all about three thousand dollars.
In Monarch, as in his last success, there were a number of jealous
miners who wanted the name of the camp changed.
They were, or most of them, at least, light-weight politicians, who
didn’t care a cent what the town was called so long as they had the
honor of naming it, but the name was never changed.