Ellsworth American., 1879-10-23
n. Y. Tribune Oct. ist.1
Copper In Maine.

New Mi,es which Ysela Fair R,oass.
-Desaals 81 . Nv lsA.sssy - valoe
- sAe ssase.
lfrow SsAd Corr esponient OF the rrtbune.l
BLUEHiLL. Haneock CO.. Me. Sept Is.
The voyaycr ai"ng the coast ot Maine.
| whether he cruises among the islands
which TORN vast archipelago. shelteriny
the main land from the rude assaults of the
| waves. or sails upon the open sea. wiIl no
, tice all the way iron PeDobscot Bay to
Mount Desert, bold blue height rising on
the northern horizos. and will wonder why
SO conspicuous y Isndmsrk should be
| called HUI instead OF getting the title II
| plainly deserves. Ii gives a name To the
nne broad inlet between Penobscot Bay
; and FrerchmsnS Bay, IL is seen far inland
IA Well As tar out To sea, and yet II Is after
| all only hill, tor IL you sail UP the bay or
| drive across country to the trim little vii
'Age nesting by the water-side at its loot,
| you will see that IL Is not very high after
all. and that the pastures run up Its sides
almost tO its summit. In fact. IL gets its
prominence from the lack of other conspic-
uous elevations In irs vicinity. like some
statesman who loom up immensely before
the public eve, but who would be found to
be quite ordinary mortals il there were any
really great men within the radius of their
inhuence with whom comparisons could be
Instituted. The village of Biuehill was "A
contented. sleepy little hamlet. given to
fishing. hay-msking and trading In small
way and gossip on a larger scale until
about two wears ago. when a returned Cal
ifurnia miner startled ITS inhabitants by
the assertion that there was a rich vein of
copper underlying stony ridge close by.
The miner was Mr.. b. o. Gutter, who, ,sfter
spending twenty years In California and
Nevada, had been driven East by his doc
tors, who told him he must get down from
the high latitude of the mining regions or
get ready TO die in a few months. Hap
pening To be In Bangor he saw some spec
linens of copper ore that had been picked
up on the surface near Bluehill. The
miners passion had not been extinguished
In him by change OF longitude. He has
tened To the spot whence the specimens
came. spent weeks in prospecting, and
made up his mind tha, he had hit upon a
rich and workable vein Of copper.
The next step was TO interest Boston
capitalists In the discovery and to form a
company tor developing the vein and re-
ducng the ore. This Mr. Cutter succeeded
In doing. aud the Bluehill Copper Mining
and Smelling Company. President :. c.
Blanchard. OF Boston. began work by sink
ing shaft, drifting into the ridge in two
pisces about n quarter of mile apart. and
erecting mil for crushing and condens-
ing the ore. The vein does not lie under
Bidehill. but under a low ridge two miles
"astwnrd. on the surface Of which a forest
of dnarfed trees struggles for existence
with countless great bowlders OF all sizes
Further examination showed that the vein
extends for the distance OF three miles.
from pond westward To Blgehill Bay.
|, dips under the pond and does no, come
up on the opposite shore, aud IL sinks under
the granite as 1t strikes the tide ater OF
th" bay. Further explorations may show
that the vein crops out again at some point
many miles 10 the eastward or westward,
but a. far az Ia now known IL appears a,
the surface only IN the little three mile
strip Of country above described. shonld
have ssid veins Instead OF vein, for there
Are three copper-bearing strata of the thick
ness respectively Of six. pine and twelve
feet. tilted mp a, an angle OF 30 degrees,
and lying about four feet apart 10 decom-
posed rock. Tte one Is sui pheret OF COP
per and the yield averages between and
per cent OF metal. The ore 10 ~ good a,
that of the famous Calumet and Hecla
mines. IL costs 81 30 ton 10 get IL out OF
the ground, and 90 cents to concentrate 4,
the concentration. Thus the cost Of ton
OF concentrated ore is sl5 for mlniry and
s. for milling, making $50. IL sells for
$40. leaving the handsome profit Of $50
AT the mill the ore Is Hrst run through a
Blake cru.her. Then the bulk Of the COP
per Is separated from the taliings by anew
machine recently Invented in ST, JOINS
bury. Vermont. which works by the prin-
ciple Of specific gravity. The coarse dus,
which comes from the crusher Is agitated
on sloping plane covered with cloth and
traversed dlagonally by q large number
of steel rios. The heavier ore sink. 10 the
hot iasa and tho Lighter raoL ,.~--ss,, .v,u-.
over the top OF the ribs, so that NJ the end
OF the machine each comes ont In seps-
rate trough. The ore goes directly into
barrels. and the tailings are run through
an ingenious water separator which gets
out good deal OF ore that escaped The
mechanical process. Naturally, the sue.
cess OF Mr.. Cutters pioneer company slim
ulated the organization OF others, and the
whole country Is now taken up, with the
exception OF single small tract The fol-
lowing companies are now at work sinking
shafts or taking out ore; The Bisbee, which
began 10 work last July and Is now getting
out ore; the Atlantic, which began work
June !, and Is taking out some ore; the
Stoyer. which is now working through
iron ore and has not yet struck the copper
vein. These companies nine. are west Of
the Bluehill mines aud mill Eastward
are the Douglass, which has sold some ore
since II was opened In Decembe. last; the
Freddy, opened eighteen months ago the
Storer and the Gray Farm-the two latter
being new companies not vet operating
There is said TO be room for only one more
company on the vein.
The pei manent success OF nearly all min.
Ing, and especially OF copper and silver
mining. depends upon the ability to get out
and reduce low grade ores ct a prof
II. High grade ores are seldom found in
large quantities. and usually occur 10 small
streaks or pockets. but those Of lower value
are much more abundant, and exist In
large fissure veins. A special merit OF the
Biuehill deposit Is, that, while In contains
much rich ore, 1t has also an apparently
inexhaustioie stock OF low grade ores,
which can be taken out so cheaply that
they AFFORD certain source Of profit Two
per cent ores here leave a handsome mar.
gin, and even one per cent ores can be
worked with small adv sntage Then the
proximity to tide-wster and the nesrness
10 Eastern cities IL agreai point in favor OF
these mines All the ore thus far taken
out contains more or less silyer-usually
only trace, but sometimes enough to
yield $50 to the ton Of condensed ore.
There is little gold. too. Where the sill.
Yer and gold exceed a certain value In q
ton the smelters ia Baltimore TO whom the
concentrated ore is shipped make an allow
ance for it in their payments.
Like the silver mines OF Sullivan and
GouldsborO', described in my last letter,
the copper mines OF Bluehill are legitimate
business enterprises. There are 40 signs
Of speculative fever at either place. The
people Of the surroundin. country look
upon the mines with some incredulity as to
their being sources of wealth, but hope
they may prove successful In order that
they may furnish employment to labor,