The last long blockade was in February 1932 and lasted ninety days. The slides came down, blocking the highways and railroad almost to Needleton. Supplies and mail were brought up the track from Needleton by mule pack train and men with toboggans freighted supplies from Ouray. The following was taken from a Denver Post clipping of April 7, 1932: “For the first time in history of the postoffice department, it is believed, a ton of hay has been shipped by parcel post. This was revealed Wednesday in a report to the State Utilities Commission. The hay was badly needed to feed dairy cattle in the snowbound town of Silverton and was ordered by the Mullin Lumber Company of Silverton from the Farmer’s Supply Company of Durango. The Durango firm was unable to ship the hay by freight because the railroad stops sixteen miles from Needleton Pass. It was decided to throw the responsibility on Uncle Sam for the delivery of the hay. The hay was pressed into bundles to conform with the maximum size and weight specified for parcel post and offered to the postmaster at Durango. The postage amounted to $14.00. When the hay had reached the end of the railroad it was transferred to Silverton by pack mule at a cost to the post office department of 5c a pound. Thus, the post office department lost $86.00 on the transaction but the cows in Silverton will munch hay for a few days at least, and the children of the isolated town will have fresh milk again.” Silverton’s ore reserves have been only “scratched”. This area is the most highly mineralized area in the United States, for in very few mining districts of the world are to be found the extensive variety of ores that abound in this country. Until 1893 no gold in the ore was paid for except when it was plainly visible to the naked eye or made a good showing in the pan. In the Sunnyside extension several hundred thousand dollars were taken out in free gold. Kendall Mountain and Silver Lake Basin have been the center of free gold discoveries at intervals since 1872. The first free gold in the country was taken from the Little Giant lode, three sacks of which were reported to have been worth $4,000 to $5,000. This was in 1872. In 1905 and ’06 the Old Hundred Mine produced considerable free gold, taking from $30,000 to $40,000 off the plates each month in a forty stamp mill. Many of the mines used aerial trams to transport the ore over the surface to the mills and railroads. Among some of the larger trams are: Gold Prince, 13,000 feet; Sunnyside, 15,600 feet; Kittemac, 10,000 feet; Iowa Tiger, 14,375 feet; Silver Lake, 13,730 feet; Mogul, 10,000 feet; and Shenandoah, 10,000 feet.