New-York tribune., 1879-11-25
TILE CONDITIONS OF PROSPERITY.


tai N MINING ENTERPRisEs-sAFE PRINCIPLES.
lERoN STAFF CORRESPONDENT oF THE rRrBuSE-l
SALT LAKE CITY. Utah. Oct. 24.-Mining for the
precious metals is Just legitimate business as
farming, manufacturing. or buying and selling
goods, aud ought to he managed with the same pru-
deuce aud forcthought. From the very nature of
tho business II is necessarily more hazardous than
some other enterprises. because it's success alwavs
depends IN greater OF less degree the character
and extent Of mineral deposits which cannot be
seen when the investment has 10 be made, and the
value Of which cannot be known often until large
sums Of money have been spent for machinery and
in making explorations. 1t is a proverb among
miners that one man see beyond the point of
pick as well as another. by which they mesn that
no learning or experience enables any man 10 know
positively very much about a vein deposit of gold
or silver beyond the point where it has been opened
and actually examined. In broad sense this Is
true; can know with certainty what hes hid
den in the earth until he has dug and exposed it's
secrets to the light: but it Is also true that some
men, either oY study experience, or botb become
able to Judge better than Others. even before mime
has been developed, what it win probably amount
to. and almost anyone can learn something about 1t
if he viii take the necessary trouble.
But If mining IS more hazardous than some other
kinds Of business the returns it brings when sue
readers OF The TRIBUNE the different mining re-
gions visited during the past Summer and Autumn,
have mentioned "A few ventures that with the in
vestment of very little capital in the start, have
paid all the expenses attendant on their develop
nent and are worth millions Of dollars. doubt
II there a single instance the United States IN
which any man or any company Of men engaged IN
manufacturing mercantile enterprises nave seen
a business which they willing 10 sell for hall
million dollars, making more than 100 per cent
profit even at that price, grow TO be worth four mill
ION dollars in about two years. only one hundred
thousand dollars having been put into it in that
time And yet this ls the history of the Homestake
Mine in the Black Hills, and readers Of The TRiB-
rNE ran recall other instances in which the growth
IF values IN mining enterprises has been almost as
great.
The greater risk that attends mining enterprises
makes II much more essential that business pru-
dence and forethought should be exercised by those
who engage OF invest their money In them. An idea
seems TO prevail among the people IN many parts OF
the country remote from the mining regions that
mines are scarce bu- that when one has been found
ne fortunes of all who can get interest In II are
rs good as made. l should suppose. from private
letters have received during the past few months
and from conversations have had with strangers
ID the mountains that it Is pOpulary supposed that
nroSnectOrs spend their lives in hunting for mines
very much as some fOrtune-seekers hunt for buried
treasures along the New-England coast that the
discovery of a mine is the event of lifetime and
makes its possessOr at once a rich man. People
therefore, who would want 10 know all the details
of any ordinary business in which thev were So
licited 10 engage. and would be unwilling 10 rlsk
their money III It unless they were informed all
about the details of the management or could see
Tor themselves Just now their capital was to be in
vested. are often anxious TO put their money into
mining enterprises without any such precautions.
Mines are by no means scarce IN any of the we'll
known mineral regions in the West There are
mines and mines almost without end, and 1t is no
uncommon thing for prOspector 10 " locate naf
a dozen claims IN a single season. bnt good mines
are searce-amOst scarce, to use Yankee com
narison. as bens' teeth-and money invested in
mine that is not gooG might Just as well be thrown
into the
good mine, in the first place. must have ore In
II Id sufficient quantities to keep mill OF snelter IN
operation for least year In order TO make 1t at
ALI safe 10 exoend the money which reduction works
will cost. don't mean that II must be supposed 10
have that amount of ore. but that 1t must either
have been taken out and piled up on top OF the
ground or 50 exposed in the mine as TO be seen and
easily measured | suppose more money has been
lcst by investing 1t IN machinery the reduction
of ores in q aces where afterward turned out that
there were no ores 10 rcduce0r where the machinery
was not adapted to the that were found than
even in the purchase of worthless mines. gentle
man vino visited Montana on business IN 1865 and
caecfed statistics of It's business told me hat there
were at that early day no less than fifty quartz
mills IN the Territory, most Of them small. to be
sure. but that one-half Of them were then IDLE
tor the very reasons above given. The freight
alone on that machinery which was worthless to It's
Il. .tafa
nound. and the labor of setting it up and erecting
bindings was paid for at the rate of from ten to
twenty dollars daS majority Of those mills
have long since disappeared and their sites even
have been forgotten but not only IN Montana, but
aiso in IJiah Colorado Nevada and IN every mining
district that is few years old, there many mIls
or smelters which are idle because they were built
IN places where there no work for them to do or
where the work TO be done not such as they
were intended 10 perform.
Mistakes of this kind are made almost "a fire.
quently to-day as at any period IN the mining his
tory of the country. | relate only one OF several
instances which have sen or heard of during the
mast few months Mr. Wood, whose fame as the
discoverer of the LeaivIle carbonates has reached
every part of the country told me that he met re-
Gently IN Tucson. Arizona, an old California friend
whose business Is the smelling OF ores On ssking
wuaf his business was. Mr. " God found that he had
sold "A furnace 10 a Philadelphia company and had
zone 10 Tucson 10 set it up After his arrival he
went OUT u visit the mine which was 10 supply the
srnelier with ore aud when with some dlihcuity ne
bad fonud H. be saw oniy small hole IN the ground
with about seven tons of lying by Its side. He
saw no signs Of IN the mine itself. and
could rot make up his mind whether the
rock that was piled up came out OF the
,oSne ar from some other place. And even If the
ore lad been abundant, II was not ot auch char-
acter thut Il I'D be reduced ia furnace Inc
genrleman al once communicated win uis GUS
foIners m Pa ladc phla. ysng them To send soDie
one mn whom they had confidence To examine thclr
nropertv before ihey incurred any further expense
-, ~, f,.rn oregon was sent To Tucson, and