The Tombstone epitaph., 1882-03-27
The Lake Valley SIfues.

the rounds of the mining press, at.
 tributing to George D. Roberts, Esq,
 of New York, the controlling inter.
 est in the stock of the Sierra mines,
 located at Sierra City, Dona Anna
 county, New Mexico. The informs.
 ton was meagre and unsatisfactory,
 since it was undoubtedly based on
 mere conjecture. To learn the truth
 or contrary of these assertions, an
 associate of our editorial staff inter.
 viewed one of the presidents of the
 companies at the main offices. His
 attention being directed to the re.
 port, he replied:
 "Tnis statement is misrepresent- ation. Philadelphia capitalists own controlling interest in the stock of these companies, and 1 think it will be many years before they part with it. There is no need of disguising the fact that MT. Roberts is perfectly willing to acquire control in all of the properties, as he has been doing his utmost to accomplish this pur. pose, without particle of success, l assure you, thus, far. l think his efforts in that direction will preve unavailing.'
 Reporter-"I I see mentioned in a New York paper that you have pub, lished glowing prospectus to bull the stock. Will you kindly favor me with copy ?"
 "All nonsense" replied the presi- dent, laughing. "We have never issued any prospectus, circular or card whatsoever, glowing or other wise. And further, we do not pro. pose to issue any. The stock of these companies is controlled by con- servative Quaker City capitalists, who have bought it for investment, and intend to hold it. We are satis- fled that Philadelphia has secured in these properties the richest mires in the United States, if not in the world, and we propose to pocket tho large and regular dividends, which we are satisfied can be paid. The correspondence and notices of the mines that appear in various publica- tions do not originate in this officc. They are simply voluntary contribu- tiors, obtained and published in the same manner as other news. We do no advertisln. whatever, except in one mining publication in Philadel. phia and one in New York. We present our cards in these simply to save answering innumerable ques- tions as to the names of the com. panies, the number of shares, loca. ton of mines, etc.
 Reporter-"ln last weeks issue of the Mining Journal was published an extract from the Leadville Herald, stating that Ex-Governor Stafford of Arizona offered one of your com panies fifty tho sand dollars t, work twelve hours in one of the mines with a pick and shovel, and have the min- eral he should mine by his own per- sonal labor. Was this report cor rect ?"
 "You can judge for yourself" re- piled the president. "Here is the letter in question, and by reading it you can bear evidence that the state. ment is absolutely correct" An examination of the. contents proved them to be exactly as reported. Further, here is specimen of the ore itself, that -ex-Governor Stafford is partial to. You will observe that in cutting it the saw passes through pure native silver, and that portion which is not pure native silver is solid chloride of silver. Extravagant as the proposition seems, the com pany would have lost considerable money had they accepted it. It is also true that we have been offered half a million dollars cash, for the privilege of working the mine thirty days, and we did not for moment entertain that proposition either. l honestly believe that fully million dollars can be easily produced from the mine in thirty days. We have already several hundred thousand dollars worth of ore sacked from de- velopment work alone. Not pound of ore has been stopped. You can now readily understand why we have issued no prospectus and published no reports; and also, why Geo. D. Roberts is anxious to obtain control. I doubt however, if control could be obtained from present owners, even if sl00 per share were offered for the lot."
 Reporter-"Speak,ng of dividends, when do you expect to pay them?"
 President-"As soon as possible after our mill and waterworks are completed, which we hope will be early in May"
 Reporter-"What do you expect to pay per share?"
 President-"Not less than fifty cents per share, per month, and possibly as high as $l per share, month y.--Philadelphia Mining Jour. nal, March 4.
 Tho folln,vtu~ ,a,.,r. na.aoa Col,on