The Butte inter mountain. [volume], May 04, 1901, Page 11, Image 11

About The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
IMF« mn MIMIMH I hc Scarch for wealth in the Depths of the Earth
HILO Milt/ ITHillllU Luck of the Prospector and Some Late Strikes
Many New Producers
In the Butte District
The long list of paying mines in the
Lutte district is being increased with
attonishng rapdty. Ten yea s ago there
were not more than thrty-five good
claims in operation here, but since then
tlmt number has been more than
doubled, and the end is a long ways off.
There are mines every where—east, west,
north arsd south and in the center. Por
tions of the mineral zone which years
ego appeared to have no chance for
recognition in the ranks of the ore pro
ducers have left the maiden class, and
ore forgig to the front in the great race
for prominence. This fact is apparent
by the discoveries that have been made
in t' o section known ns the Parrot and
on th? flat which connects the range
of •»nnctalr-s at the east and the Ann
rnr 'fi h>li on the W 'st. Ten years ago
no one thought of looking for pay ore
in etfhpr ri'ace, hut now ail the ground
ern'-vaerd by the two is in demand for
nv"<eg pnrnoses. The tracing of the
fro veins in otb»r directions lias not
been to g-ent. but this can t>e accounted
for in the r a"t that the district rast is
l.nown to be full of copper ore, whi'e
the ground south o fthe center and west
ern vast of the city has not given forth
sn>"-»antial evidence that it contains
this class of mineral. This may be du°
to its undeveloped condition, for with
a few exceptions no very deep shafts
ha>e been sunk. The ore of the BrP
taiio. located in the extreme southwest
comer of th» torn, is the first in that
section, it is c'aimed, to show the ex
istence of copper there. All of the ore
of Hie south and west, however, is rich
in silver and gold, and would pay hand
somely for its extraction If the price of
tlie former metal could be Increased to
the point at which it belongs.
One of the many great mining enter
prises of the present is the work which
the Smokehouse company has begun
right in the heart of the city. So far
its operations have been confined to the
sinking of a shaft opposite the west side
of the McDermott hotel. The company
is working along in a modest way at
present, tout is planning great things
for the future. It intends to sink S00
feet and then cross-cut north and south
to intersect the ledges known to tra
verse the ground east and west. On
en eh of these veins levels are to be
driven, and as the company owns a vast
area of ground the magnitude of the
und linking can be readily understood.
In the sinking of the shaft the ser
vices of only a few men are require'!,
but after the cross-cut and levels are
started the force will be graduallly in
creased as the work progresses, and
t v eve will be no limit to it. That ore
in paying quantities will be struck,
11'ose Interested in the enterprise have
m doubt, and they are therefore not
wn—ving over what it is costing them
i:. the preliminary work.
Tn the district noi tli of Centerville
t!''" 0 is not much doing. Before the
P" 1 "" of s'P-er drifted so low that soc
,v»s full of activity, but outside
o r wrl: being done by a few lessees,
tn' 1 fbe'-e is at a standstill. East
a- 1 t-nuth of town, though, it Is dif
fer "t. for there is where several of th»
gpc-e copper mines of the Amalgamated
com - any are located.
STRIKE IN THE HOMESTAKE
Biown's Gulch Adds a Dividend
Payer to Silver Bow County's
Long List.
Phil Daniels. Charles Strowbridge,
Charles F. Woodman and other large
holders of stock in the Homestake Min
ing company are about to have their
hopes realized in a very handsome man
ner. The claims owned by the com
pany are five in number, and are located
about twelve miles northwest of Buttte
in a section known as Brown's gulch.
Mr. Daniels is president of the com
pany. Mr. Woodman secretary, and Mr.
and Mr. Strowbridge general manager
of the property. On Tuesday the latter
sent word into the city that he had
struck 3Vi feet of rich ore in the cross
cut 64 feet from the 100-foot station, and
that the shoot gave promise of being
extensive. Accompanying the informa
tion were three samples of the ore,
which were assayed on the following
day. Sample No. 1 showed a gold value
of *85.60 and 387.4 ounces of silver per
ten: sample No. 2, $118.40 j n gold and
407.2 ounces of silver, and No. 3, assort
ed on the dump, $83.20 in gold and 402.4
oun"s of silver.
The company began operations on
the property on the 27th eff last Novem
ber. and has worked it continuously
piece that date with a crew of five men.
'JMc stockholders have always had faith
Ip i*s future, but it was not until last
week that Indications pointed to a
strl' e of rich ore in the near future.
These Indications were so good that the
sale of treasury stock was stopped at
onc°.
At present the road leading to the
pronevtv is impassable, which will pre
vent the ore from being shipped just
now. but as soon as the .weather settles
nr'» teams will begin transferring the
pi-n^uet of the property to this city.
There is already considerable ore on the
di'sop.
The strike is considered quite an im
portant one to the public, for It prac
ticnHv opens a new field for ambitious
prospecto'-s. For years a little mining
has he°n done in that neighborhood, and
some shoots of good ore have been
found, but on account of the limited
capital of those engaged in the work,
depth sufficient to demonstrate the per
manency of the ore bodies could not be
obtained.
Rnother drawback to the section was
the absence of a good road toy which
prospectors could get In and out dur
ing the bad season.
Several y^ars ago Peter Kendrick and
othe'-s worked on s ther» with
good results, but found it up-hill busi
a
of
ness on account of a lack of proper ma
chinery to enable them to go deeper.
The Homestake company, however, has
money back of it, and it will be able
to overcome the obstacles encountered
by others.
BUTTE MEN NOW IN ARIZONA.
They Will Operate Large Copper Mines
at Clifton—Ore in
Sight.
The Shannon Copper company of Ari
zona has bought the property owned by
tbe Arizona Copper company, the deal
having been trade by W. B. Thompson
of this city, who went east for that
purpose a short time ago. The area of
ground now owned by the purchasing
company is 600 acres, and it is said that
it lies right in the heart of the mineral
district of Graham county. The prop
Leeching
Veds
of the
Kendall
Mill in
F ergYis
County
erty will be managed by Philip Wiseman,
W. F. Clymo and P. O. Wells, formerly
connected with mining companies in
Butte.
In regard to the company and its pos
sessions a recent issue of the Copper
Era, of Clifton, Arizona, says:
"There is by actual measurement
over 600,000 tons of good grade smelting
and concentrating ore blocked out in
the mine. Of course this quantity will
be largely augmented by further and
deeper development. The deepest work
on the Shannon is 300 feet, but by con
tinuing tunnels on recently acquired
ground into the Shannon mine the ore
body will he encountered at a depth of
about 1,000 feet, which will double the
quantity of ore in sight, and furnish a
reserve sufficient to run a 500-ton smelter
a great many years. The company has
been so greatly encouraged by the de
velopment of the Shannon mine that it
has decided to enlarge its field of opera
tion, and has acquired the Yankie group,
consisting of eight claims, and the
eleven claims from the Amalgamated
Copper company. The number of claims
now controlled by the company Is thirty
three, upon several of which develop
ment Will toe pushed at once. Since the
commencement of operations, including
recent purchases which added to the
amount necessary to erect the plant,
railroad connections and the purchase
of other property, the company has ex
pended an amount approaching $1,500,
000 .
"Grading for the Shanjnas, road from
the line of the Arizona ... sw Mexico
■railroad to the smelting £ ,nt of the
company was commenced tills week and
will be finished and the road in opera
tion within three months, when machin
ery for the plant will begin to arrive,
and it is safe to say that the company
will be making copper before the first
of the year. The management of the
company will be in the hands of P.
Wiseman, an experienced mining matt
formerly of Butte, Mont. W. F. Clynad
will continue as superintendent at A.e
mines, and P. O. Weis, who has bwi|
lately connected with the Anaconda and
Boston & Montana companies, will be
in charge of the smelting and concen
trating operations.
THE DIAMOND HILL COLLAPSED.
Hassel Group Closed Down—Big Statefc})
Mill bold For
Junk.
The Diamond Hill mines at Hassel,
Broadwater county, this state, have re
ceived a terrible set back and ijt is doubt
ful if they will ever recover from it. Ulte
big 140-stamp mill, which a Scotch com
pany erected on the property for the
purpose of demonstrating the value of
the mines when worked on an extensive
scale, has been sold and will soon be
1 ulled down and disposer! of In pieces to
whoever desires to buy.
The property has certainly had a
checkered career. In the early days of
Harry T. Kendall of Fergus county is
demonstrating lo the mining world that
the cyanide process of extracting gdl
from rock is easy enough when ;L is fuliy
understood.
A little over two years ago he bought
two mining claims in the Forth Moc
casin district of Fergus county, paying
$G50 for one and $1,000 for the other,
The first is known as the "Leaking"
claim and the other as the Klondike.
Knowing that the ore could he tx-eated
successfully by the cyanide process, he
built a plant costing $25,000 and began
operations. His anticipations soon blos
somed into a reality, and along about
January 1 he bonded the entire property
to an eastern syndicate for half a mil
lion dollars. One of the conditions of
the bond, however, was that he should
manage the property during the life of
the bond, and this he is now doing.
When the property was bonded thei'e
were about 150,000 tons of ore in sigixt,
it being shown up by means of shafts
and open cuts.
The ore averages from $3 to $1 per
ton, but the ease with which it cart be
taken out and placed in the mill reduces
civilization the hill on which the mines
are located was found to contain gold,
and locations were made, but the loca
tions were abandoned many times be
cause the locators did not consider the
ore in them rich enough to suit their
purpose. Some of the ground was final
ly patented by John S. Miller, John B.
Wilson and Thomas Cooney of Helena,
who erected a 10-stamp mill on It. The
mill was operated during the high water
season for several years, and it is claim
ed that the returns paid a little more
than expenses.
In 1895 Mr. Miller went to Scotland,
organized a company and got it to buy
the property at a figure said to have
been $250,000. The company erected a
40-stamp mill and made Miller general
manager, but Miller and the workmen
fell out with each other, with the result
that operations were suspended. At the
time of the shut down it was given opt
that a larger mill would be required to
treat the ore at a profit. Accordingly,
an additional 100 stamps were added, the
work being in charge of Col. H. H.
Erving of San Francisco. Mr. Erving
built a fine mill, but it was done at ap
enormous cost to the company. When
the work was complete the company
placed Andrew Urquhart in charge.
During the rest season there was plenty
of water and It is alleged that a con
siderable amount of money in excess of
the expense of operation was realized,
but the water finally failed and steam
had to be substituted for electricity as
a motive power. Then it was learned
that the ore was of too low grade to meet
the expenses and the works were closed
down last July for good.
The purchaser of the mill was H. I.
Keene, an eastern junk dealer; and
while the price paid has not been made
public it is said to have been very low.
THE DISPA TCH IS PRODUCING
A Large Quantity of Ore in Sight
When the Siump of 1893
Occurred.
The Cleveland company now in
charge of the Dispatch mine, which is
situated in the southern part of tSvvn,
is making good progress in the pre
liminary work of developing the prop
erty. The company took hold of the
Dispatch on April 1 and on the 10th be
gan pumping the water from the old
workings, which extend to a depth of
400 feet. Stoping is now in progress
between the 180 and 120 foot levels. The
vein at this point is from 18 inches to
3 feet thick and carries a silver assay
value of from 19 to 111 ounces, in addi
tion to which there is some gold. The
property is in charge of Thomas Bar
ton, formerly foreman at the Gagnon.
Ten men are employed, but as soon as
the water Is all out of the lower levels
the number will be increased. A new
boiler is being added to the power.
The Dispatch is one of--the mines of
this district which the slump in silver
in 1893 closed down. For a year or two
prior to that time it was operated by
George W. Farlin of this city and Noyes
B. Allen of Connecticut, but when the
'93 crash came they became disheart
ened and suspended operations. It is
said that they then had in sight, blocked
out and ready to be hoisted, about 11,000
tons of $20 ore. It was then supposed
that the drop In silver would be only
temporary and that a better price would
prevail in a short time, in which event
work on the px-operty would be resumed,
but before the hopes of the owners were
realized Mr. Allen drifted to other fields
and never returned.
The miixe contains about 800 feet of
levels and was bought by the Cleveland
company for $30,000.
THE BRITT AiNIA I S A MINE
It Has Paid Its Owners $42,000 in
Dividends—New Strike Made
In It.
The Brittania mine, situated In the
southwestern part of the city, has been
developed into a dividend payer or no
mean pi'oportions. Eighteen months
ago a Milwaukee company took hold of
it and since then enough money has
been extracted from its veins to pay for
the mine, Its operation and leave $42,
•Xto to be distributed among its own
ers. It is being managed by Mr.
Tickey, who keeps 25 men at work. The
workings are only 230 feet deep. Last
Monday the night shift struck a new
shoot of ore six fet thick on the hang
ing wall and, strange as it may seem,
the rock carries 2 and 3 per cent, cop
per, something unusual for ore in that
neighborhood. The product of the prop
erty Is alt shipped to Northport, Wash
ington for treatment.
The Home Copper Mining company,
which has a $25,000 bond on <the Oanters
group of mines in Newmansville, is
meeting good results and making exten
sive improvements in machinery.
I
i
;
!
I
i
IIEINZE IS THE STUMBLING BLOCK.
Kidder, Peabody & Peabody, have
notified the Boston Stock Exchange that
more than two-thirds of the stock of the
Boston & Montana and Butte & Boston
Mining companies has been voted in
favor of a consolidation of the two com
panies with the Amalgamated company,
the brokers have requested that receipts
for the stock turned over to them be
placed on the unlisted department of the
Stock Exchange.
This makes the consolidation a sure go
provided the injunctions obtained by th »
Heinze forces in New York and Butte
do not hang on too long. One of the
large shareholders in the Boston & Mon
tana is ci'edited in the east with the fol
lowing remarks in favor of the proposed
consolidation:
"The situation at Butte Is very com
plicated, but the Boston & Montana
settlement, so far as stockholders hav
ing the opportunity to get a good price
for their stock is concerned, will be
found, in the very end, very simple.
"Nobody in New England should ob
ject to the Boston & Montana stock
holders getting a very good price for
150,000
Tons of
Ore in
Sigkt.
A Plaint
Costing
$ 25 , 000 .
their stock. New England investors
were frightened out of a good deal of
their stock at 225. If now more than
twice this amount Is offered for Boston
& Montana, even though offered tln-ough
the stock market, should any one object
to New England taking it? Nobody
has ever talked of Boston & Montana
as intrinsically worth beyond from
four or five hundred dollars per share.
Now, If anybody wants to get his
money out of Boston & Montana he
has an opportunity to do it, and he has
not got to consider any questions of the
relative value of Boston & Montana and
Butte & Boston.
"Allowing that Butte & Boston has
no great value intrinsically, it should
be stated that the same people own
both Amalgamated and Butte & Bos
ton. and ai - e responsible for both, and
that they have right to put these two
properties together, so far as Boston
& Montana stockholdes are concerned.
Now, what is the position of the Boston
& Montana man who claims that Butte
& Boston is worthless, and that Montana
is the only gx-eat thing on the mountain?
Certainly Montana has got a consider
able fight on its hands with Mr. Heinze.
Its property is heavily enjoined at the
present time, and its legal warfare must,
from the present outlook, go on increas
ing. Allowing that it wins out and gels
free of its injunctions and litigation,
there must be a limit to its value, and
that value depends largely on the price
of copper.
"Now, the Boston & Montana peo
ple have not. It must be conceded, made
the price of coppex - . The Standard Oil
people have made the price of coppe-.
and they are making It 17 cents to
day, and they are fighting an Interna
tional battle upon it and are winning.
Very few people know the extent of this
international warfare over the price of [
copper. Two of the big foreign bears
have recently settled, and there will
be more of them to settle. It Is perfectly
true that copper is going both ways on
the Atlantic at the same time, and that
the foreig nbuyers are holding off in
hopes to break the price of 17 cents
per pound. But the situation is entirely
different fi'om what it was formerly.
The selling of copper is centralized, and
the best evidence of whether the Stand
ard Oil people can hold the copper mar
ket is in the fact that they have held
it. and while they have been holding it
Montana has been able to pay quarterly
dividends at the rate of $40 per share
per annum.
"Now. if there is not an amalgama
tion of copper interests in this coun
try, the price of copper will not be
held up, and Boston & Montana will
not be able to pay $t0 per share, or
the $50 per share it is now earning.
But if the price of copper is held up
and there is a fair trade with the Amal
gamated Copper company, Boston &
Montana stockholders will see a very
the expense of the work to a minimum',
which is 25 cents for miniti gand placing
it in the mill and $1 for treating It after
It Is delivered there. Two men extract
all of the ore and five convey It to tho
mill. About 100 tons are treated eacB
day. The ore body is 125 feet wide anj
1,500 feet long, but just how deep lnta
the ground it extends has not been deni*
onslrated. It may crop out in China»
Eo sorting is necessary. * 1
In extent and value the ore Is similap
to that from which the Homestake corr\J
pany, operating in the Black Hills of
South Dakota, has been poundig gold
for twenty-two years, and is likely t9
keep right at it for a century more.
Mine Location Law Changed. 1
Tho last legislature changed the laws
relating to mining locations in this
state. By the law as it now stands,
work must be done within sixty days
(old law ninety days) after location.
The locator, if he makes a defective lo
cation, or desires to alter the bounda
ries of his claim, is now permitted to fils
an amended declaratory statexnexxt. pro
vided it does not conflict wüh interven
ing l'ights or other locators.
fair price for their property under the
new regime, and they will have an op
portunity of getting out or staying in.
on very much better terms, I think,
than they had expected some time ago.
"Since the stock was pegged at 225.
they have received about $100 per share
in dividends, one-half of which is due
to the maintenance of the price of cop
per, and if they get four shares of
Amalgamated for one share of Mon
tana. and Amalgamated remains at 125.
making a practical stock market tender
of $500 per share for Boston & Mon
tana, can they ask for more, or can
they quarrel further with the people
who have made the Amalgamated Cop
per company, held up the price of cop
per. and propose to pay themselves by
taking into themselves their own Butte
* Boston, at a higher price titan that
at which anyobdy else would value it
In regard to the Clipper-Boss Tweed
In regard to the Clipper Boss Tweed
mine deal, the last issue of the Pony
Sentinel says:
"To all appearances there is some
thing doing in regard to the Clipper-. '.usa
Tweed deal. W. \V. Morris went over
to Butte Sunday and returned Tuesday
accompanied by John Berkin, Charles
Molsen. who represents the London Ex
ploration company, and others, but noth
ing regarding the deal can he learned
for publication Mr. Molson and asso
ciates are at the mine, and it is under
stood they are supervising the taking
out of a ear or two of ore for a mill teat.
Mr. Berkin returned to Butte Wednes
day and is reported tc be on routr to
cape Nome. Mr. Morris started for Vir
ginia City Wednesday and W. C. fjc
Kaskle. another of t.u- owners, left an
Thursday foi :tte. 11 these move
ments would in .cate that there is some
thing in th tin d.