Morning journal and courier., 1880-03-12
MINING IN MAINE.

The mines of Maine are attracting great
 deal of attention, and tits no longer necessary for inhabitants of this part of the country to
 put their money into mining enterprises ir
 the far West in order to get the valuable ex- perienee that is often the return of such in. vestment. They can now encourage 'New England industry" which thus far seems to
 have been carried on in the most approved Arizona or Colorado manner. It is not long | sincs the mineral richness of Maine became | apparent to the formers of stock compa- nies, but there are 63 incorporated and 34 1 private companies in the State, according to the list published by the Maine Mining Jour nal, and this list of 97 organizations by no l means includes all that have undertaken to ex- tract wealth from the Maine rocks and tn @ | number is constantly increasing. The com panies are mostly capitalized at $500, the par value of the shares being $5 Or $1O It is claimed that over $14, ,00O, ,OOO has been in- vested, that the payroll foots up more than $2, GOO day, and that the daily sales of stocks amount to $5, GOO. A few of the shares sell above par, but the great majority are con- siderably below par. The headquarters of
 the business is naturally ct Bangor, where there is already mining stock exchange and weekly 16-page paper entirely the out
 growth of the new enterprise. There is also
 an exchange at Portland where the shares of
 these companies are a specially, and they are
 freely dealt in at Boston.
 Itis impossible to tell how much of basis
 the boom has. It seems to have some. Cop
 per and silver are found in considerable euan-
 titles, and there are traces of gold. In the
 Blue Hill mine State Assayer Hills finds ores
 yielding from 1. "A to 26. 90 per cent. of cop
 per. 4. to11.4 ounces of silver to the ton, and
 .15 to 8 ounce of gold. Prof. Frank L.
 Bartlett, who has published book on the
 mines of Maine, says that the Sullivan lode is
 one of the most remarkable silver-bearing
 veins ever discovered. He also finds the cop
 per deposits of the Blue Hill district very rich
 and bearing marked resemblance to the
 great copper belts of the world. The Acton
 belt. in York county and about 20 miles long,
 bears argentiferous galenas, zinc, arsenical iron and copper Several other regions are spoken of hopefully, including Vinal Haven and neighboring islands, rich in nickel, and the Wakefield belt, partly in New Hampshire,
 bearing gold. Professor Bartlett, who has just returned from Europe, says that in his opinion the silver mines in either England or
 Wales are not as rich as those in Maine. As to copper mines he did not see any copper that equals some of the original ore dug out at Blue Hill in Maine. Being asked what is the greatest drawback to mining in the State of Maine, Prof. Bartlett replied "That is just what I went over to Europe to settle. Our greatest drawback is not being able to sell our ores, owing to the lack of smelting works. In England such silver lead ore as we take out can be smelted and made to pay good profit, as they have carried the smelting process to 8 very high degree of per- lection. In their smelling works they utilize everything connected with the ore, even to the sulphur" In order to make the Maine mines pay well the professor is of the opinion that ''the ores should be dressed at the mines, shipped in bags to Liverpool, and there sold to the highest bidder. Smelling won't pay in Maine owing to the high price of coal, but the low. grade copper and many of the low grade silver ores can be treated here to advantage by some of the wet methods | now in use in England"
 The professor states his belief that fair | proportion of the Maine mines. if managed | right, can be made to pay handsomely, but, | he adds. ''there is a large number of them | that will never amount to anything. This is | the inevitable rule in all new mining districts. It is too early yet to expect great results from | any of the mines in this State. One of the | great drawbacks is the want of skilled laborers | and competent managers at the mines. The ultimate result will be 8 wedding out of all the smaller concerns, and there will come time within the present year when every mine will | have to stand on it's merits. There Is alto gether too much stock jobbing; too many small local companies are formed with little if | any capital and with no competent managers" This is probably the true situation of affairs. | In year from this time many speculative | and trusting people will doubtless know more | about mining in Maine than they do now.