The Montana post., 1868-09-18
DOES QUARTZ MINING PAY


are now being made by our mills have,
sthus far. failed to dissipate It. The fact
I is that quartz has been so made the
shuttlecock OF speculative battledores,
has been so worked up and fixed up for
the purpose of ''effecting a sale" has
been so lied about and has formed base
for so many swindling operations, that
the community at large seem TO have
come 10 the conclusion that il must be
! entirely bad in itself The reported re-
itarns of mills are looked upon. by a
large number of persons as so many
bids for purchasers of the property be-
4 ing worked. and by still larger NUM-
3 Der il is knowingly limited that if the
expense of mining and crushing the
quartz were given, ii would be found
that the company was making money
out of pocket. We know of no better
manner in which TO correct this impress
sion than by laying before our readers
few facts and figures. We shall,
therefore, take the case OF one mill and
slow what it has done, what its ex-
penses and receipts have been, and cali
culate the profits. At our request Capt.
Chas. Hendris has furnished us the data
for doing this, and we shall, for the pur-
pose of showing that quartz can be
made to pay, Instance the Hendrie &
Woodwork mill, located in the hoches-
ter district and now running on ore
from the Watseka lode. The ground
on this lode was purchased last spring
and did not have single particle of de-
velopment upon il, although shafts
twenty feet in depth had been sunk up
on other portions of the ledge The first
outlay OF money preparatory to working
the mine was made in June last. since
which time $4,000 has been expended
upon it. This includes $3.50
paid for the mine. $500 tor teams, and
the expense attendant upon the sinking
of shaft 12S feet in depth, and the
erection of ten stamp mill, dwelling
house and the usual out buildings. Now
let Us look at the receipts. For the nine
weeks since the mill fairly commenced
running, they have been $15,2S6. The
property is now worth and could be sold
IN its developed condition for $4,000 or
$4,000 more than it cost. This added TO
the $l5,2SG, gives us sci ,2S6, the net
profit from this quartz mining operation
since the first money was expended upon
it three months and half ago. When
dividends of between sixty and seventy
per cent. can thus be declared for the
first quarter of company's operations,
daring only nine weeks of which time
its mill has been running il certainly
seems as though quartz mining paid
above all other kinds of business. But
if We look at the weekly runs of the mill
since it fairly started up, the profits of
quartz mining are still more apparent.
During those nine weeks the total ex-
penses of the mine and mill have aver
aged $500 per week, while the yields
have been from 1l0 to 136 ounces of
gold or over 50 200 per week, leaving a |
clean profit of about $1,000 per week.
quartz mining does pay if properly con-
Quoted. The parties interested in the |
mines of which we have spoken did not 4
prepare formidable looking maps of their
mill sites and splendid locations" and
did not send an agent to New York to
herald the merits of their fabulously
rich possessions in Wall street They
went to work and developed their prop
prty. and put energy and muscle. in
stead of dickering trickery. into all
their movements. The result is what
we have stated And this is not an ex>
ceptional case. Although the Territory
Is still young, and to great extent un-
developed. we could refer to a number of
other instances where like results have
been obtained. We could refer to one
man who has made thirty-two thousand
IN actual quartz mining. not speculat-
ng. in the last four months. We could
refer to mill which is now netting its
owners between two and three thousand
dollars per week, regularly, and we
,ould mention many other instances In
which quartz mining is paying almost
,rineely dividends.
1t must be put down, then, as settled
~ incontrovertible facts. that quartz
mining does pay, and pay we'll. in this
Territory. This being the case. the fu-
ure of the country seems plain. {
Gems plain that in proportion as placer
mines become exhausted, the gold con-
dining lodges will be developed, and I
he prosperity of Montana permanently
on n basis as firm as the
oeks themselves. those rocks which c
eed but TO be smitten by the rod of en-
rgv and perseverance. in order to send 3