the greatest gold-yielding camps in the world. The following are some of the biggest gold mines in the Cripple Creek district: The Portland, Stratton's Independence, Gold Coin, Last Dollar, Strong, Gold King, Golden Cycle, El Paso, Vindicator, Ajax, Mary McKinney, Isabella, Elkton, Gold Sovereign, Findley, Anaconda, Theresa, Modoc and Wild Horse.
The two chief cities in the district are Victor and
20 The Pinkerton Labor Spy.
Cripple Creek, the latter city also being the county seat of Teller County.
The Telluride District, located in San Miguel County, is also an important gold camp; the Tom Boy, Smuggler Union, and Liberty Bell being the biggest mines in this district Telluride, the county seat and largest city in San Miguel County, also plays an interesting part in the study of the "only and real Inner Circle."
The immense production of ore has been the means of building up the great mill and smelting industry, so that at the present time Colorado has some of the finest ore-reduction plants in the world. The largest of these plants are located in Leadville, Denver, Pueblo, Florence and Colorado City. However, these mills and smelters do not treat all the ore that is broken in Colorado, as some of the largest properties are equipped with private reduction plants.
With the exception of these private and independent smelters, the rest of the smelting and ore-refining industry is in the firm grip of as vicious a trust as any that distress and plague our country; and it is to this mill and smelter trust that Colorado is to a great extent indebted for the many woes and trials it has suffered since 1903. But, as the doings of this trust will be fully aired in another place, we will continue with the description of things of more immediate concern.