A correspondent of the _Tribune_ describes at length the mining camps about Lake Valley, New Mexico, hitherto thought likely to be the central camp of that region, and then graphically tells the story of the recent "rush" to the Perche district. Within a month of the first strike of silver ore the country was swarming with prospectors, and a thousand or more prospects had been located. The Perche district is on the eastern flanks of the Mimbres Mountains, a range which is a part of the Rocky Mountain range, and runs north and south generally parallel with the Rio Grande, from which it lies about forty miles to the westward. The northern half of these mountains is known as the Black Range, and was the center of considerable mining excitement a year and a half ago. It is there that the Ivanhoe is located, of which Colonel Gillette was manager, and in which Robert Ingersoll and Senator Plumb, of Kansas, were interested, much to the disadvantage of the former. A new company has been organized, however, with Colonel Ingersoll as president, and the reopening of work on the Ivanhoe will probably prove a stimulus to the whole Black Range. From this region the Perche district is from forty to sixty miles south. It is about twenty-five miles northwest of Lake Valley, and ten miles west of Hillsboro, a promising little mining town, with some mills and about 300 people. The Perche River has three forks coming down from the mountains and uniting at Hillsboro, and it is in the region between these forks that the recent strikes have been made. On August 15 "Jack" Shedd, the original discoverer of the Robinson mine in Colorado, was prospecting on the south branch of the north fork of the Perche River, when he made the first great strike in the district. On the summit of a heavily timbered ridge he found some small pieces of native silver, and then a lump of ore containing very pure silver in the form of sulphides, weighing 150 pounds, and afterward proved to be worth on the average $11 a pound. All this was mere float, simply lying on the surface of the ground. Afterward another block was found, weighing 87 pounds, of horn silver, with specimens nearly 75 per cent. silver. The strike was kept a secret for a few days. Said a mining man: "I went up to help bring the big lump down. We took it by a camp of prospectors who were lying about entirely ignorant of any find. When they saw it they instantly saddled their horses, galloped off, and I believe they prospected all night." A like excitement was created when the news of this and one or two similar finds reached Lake Valley. Next morning every waiter was gone from the little hotel, and a dozen men had left the Sierra mines, to try their fortunes at prospecting.