The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-11-16
OUR MINING INTERESTS.
Meeting at Reception Hall Last Evening
Coed Degree of Interest Manifested
Mineral Exchange an Assured Thing.

Last evening there was held at Reception
Hal convention of gentlemen interested in
the mineral wealth of New England. to consd
er the advisability of establishing a Mining
| Exchange, and afterwards smelling works in
this vicinity There was large attendance of
business men and others, and the best of inter-
est was manifested. Among those present were
| representatives, from New York, Boston Hart
ford, Gorham, N. f., Lyman, Portsmouth. Lit
tledon and almost every place of any size in
this state. The gentlemen from this city are
the very first business men we have and when
| they take hold of anything it is sure to succeed
| The representatives from the various places all
agreed with what Mr.. M ison stated at the con-
| ference he held at the Falmouth Hotel recent
| ly, that Portland was the most desirable place
for mining exchange. Thus it is settled be-
You'd shadow of a doubt that next spliug
Mining Excaagge will be established within
mile OF City Hall. 1t is also very probable that
the smelling works will be established very
Speedily. 1t is sure that English capitalists are
ready and willing to furnish the capital if they
can be assured of any encouragement on this
side of the water. This encouragement is now
1
| follow.
| At the time appointed for the meeting Re-
eeption Hall was filled, and Hon. L D. M.
Sweat was called to the chair to preside over
| the meeting, while Prof Bartlett was chosen
Secretary. o. taking the chair Mr. Sweat
briefly stated the object of the meeting to be to
consider the matter of establishing a mining
exchange, where those owning mines could dis
pose of the ore at remunerative prices. Where
all who chose to work mine could feel that
they could always find a market. He said that
several places had been examined carefully and
all things being considered, it was agreed that
Portland was the best place in every respect
AT the close of MI. Sweat's remarks he called
upon Mr.. A. Mason of London, the gentleman
who had taken much interest in this matter to
give his IDEAS
Mr.. Mason stated that he should not 90 Into
the technical science, but he should give such
facts and arguments solely from a business
point of view, as they occurred to him. He
proceeded to speak of the vast minera. interest
which are all about the city. They can be de-
veloped so as to be 1ade productive industry
commensurate with tkeir extent Twelve years
ago he was introduced to the mineral wealth of
New Hampshire, and since that time had
watched the progress. Now the mines at
Gardner Range extend for thirty miles up and
down the liver in both New Hampshire and |
Vermont The result of my recent trips to |
these mines have been to prove the correctness
OF my reasoning years ago, and also to impress
upon me the necessity of organizing some sys-
tenn by which these vast deposits could be eco
nomically utilized, in Other words, to organize
mining exchange, where ores of all kinds
could be received, sorted. assayed and sold by |
public auction, and facilities afforded for the |
Inauguration of works for smelling, refining
and manufacturing the various ores and their |
products.
The conditions which are essential to the sue |
cess OF such an enterprise, are ores in abun- |
dance and variety fuel at reasonable rates, both |
to De united at some point where free access by |
rail and water should be assured.
The supply of ore here is inexhaustible and |
10 quality aud variety not to be excelled in any /
known copper producing country in the world |
he spoke OF the mines at Gardner Range be- |
ing the very richest in the known world, |
some OF the ore yielding more than thirty /
per cert metallic copper in the ASSAY. |
The mines at Copperas Hill 10 Vermont will |
fafnlsh lO0 tons of copper per day easily. Near |
the ABOVE is the mines Known as the Vershre |
mines, which are now smelling their own ores
fhese mines are very successful. He next
spoke of the Essex mines in Vermont and the |
Gardner Range in New Hampshire In the
latter is found Allen mine. main shaft sunk 70 |
and 65 feet; Paddock mine, now working three
shafts, sunk from 165 to 1876 feet with drifts of |
100 feet at different levels; Hariland mine |
with lam shaft sunk 1876 feet; Stevens mine |
now working main shaft 100 feet on the vein
with drifts of 100 feet; Quint mine, shaft sunk
% feet on the vein and tor the entire depth |
samples OF ores from these mines will show |
from to 70 per cent of metallic copper besides |
hayl9g other valuable constituents.
Gold bearing quartz is known to exist large
ThnrA ar all Il
interesting deposits of gold and silver as well as
copper to be found in Maine, and some in the /
i'm mediate vicinity of Portland The Blue /
Hill mines are very promising, as are the |
m1Hes in Newburyport and Merrimac Refer
ence was made to the central location of Port |
land for the products of these various mines, |
the tine harbor and railway facilities for secur. |
ing the ore and coal.
He also read letter from a practical gentle |
q man 10 New York saying that the smoke from |
the furnaces could be prevented as it is in all |
tne towns IN Europe, where the works are stu |
ated near large towns.
Mr.. Mason closed with an elaborate account |
or the necessities of Mineral Exchange to dis
pose OF the large amount of ore these several |
mines ara now and will in the near future pre-
duce.
Prot Hitchcock of Hanover n. H., spoke of |
the rich mines of New Hampshire which he
has surveyed at different times He said that
it used to be thought that the hil.sides of that
state were only fit to raise childrsn and cattle
upon, but of late it had been discovered that
they were capable of producing valuable min
erals. He thought that az Exchange and
smelling works were of the utmost importa nee
and he was of the opinion that Portland was
the most desirable location for the same. He
ttated that 100000 10 gold had been mined in
New Hampshire and put in circulation.
Prof II. T., Rartlntt was nayk intro ond
read carefully prepared paper treating Of the
value of the minerals of New England
After few preliminary remarks in regard to
the lack of interest in mining in the New Eng
land states, he spoke of the minerals of the sew
eral states. In Maine is found itch copper
mine in many localities. At Bluehll are mines
that have been we'll developed ard considerable
ore is ready for market. Still further east to
the boundary of the state rich groupings of con-
per ore are found. The Bluebill copper ASSAYS
from three to thirty-four per cent with about
II in gold, some silver, lead, zinc and antimonv
combined with iron and sulphur The veins
here ara neatly if not quite 200 feet in width
and can be traced for more than three miles
Quantities of ere can be obtained averaging -
to Is per cent, while the average of the entire
vein matter is pronounced by experts to be NOT |
less than per cent This ore is in close nrov-
unity to the wster and can be easily Skinned to
Portland at low rates. One thousand tons ner
day can easily be procured from all these mines.
The composition of our ores is precisely the
same as those of Swansea. There thew work
ores containing only q per cent of metal, and
make it profitable at that. The expense of min
ing here is much less than there In addition |
to our copper ore there appears to be an abuu- |
dance OF lead, silver, zinc and gold ores, Most
of them, however, contain SO small Quantities
OF the metals that they are scarcely workable |
unless we employ some of the methods recentlv
proposed and which promise well The Edge
moggin silver mine at Sedgwick and some 9TH
ers not yet developed, are worthy of notice.
There are great many silver bearing mines in
New England assaying from $40 to SiOO per ton
that provided we had coed smelling works
within a reasonable distance, could be made a
source OF profit to the owners. The Edoemoy-
gin mine is now in fine condition. The Comma
ny has erected magnificent building for treat
ing the ore, furnished with the best and most
approved modern machinery Solar the mines
have proved better than the owners expected
OF the Newburyport Mines of which So
much has been said, the superintendent of
the Merrimac writes that the COMPANY has
oil In mid Aivyda