Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-11-16
LITTLE PILOT KNOB.
A Gigantic Speculation Which Psrtakes
Very Strongly Of the Nature OF
Barefaeed Fraud.
A Nicely Baited Hook for English In.
Vestors-An Alleged Bonanza in
Southeast Missouri.

ST. LOUIS, November 15.-1he Globe
Democrat publishes the following:
1t is going q long way from home TO learn
news about the Missouri Estates Railway
and Iron Company (limited) in the London
Pail Mall Gasctte. The company, according
to this source>of informati has a capital
of 100000, divided into 10000 shares of
GlO each.
''Subscriptions," the Gs.ette says, "will be
received for not less than FIVE shares or
multiples OF that number, and S400 900 in
6rst mortgage six per cent. gold bonds of the
Little Pilot Knob railway described in the
accompanying prospeclps) will be sppor-
toned among the subscribers to this first
issue, every five shares subscribed for, on
payment of the last instalment, receiving
without further payment, 800 bond"
This speculation, of which, perhaps,
ninety-nins out of every hundred Globe
Democrat readers will now learn for the first
timesis backed up by long list Of English
gentlemen whose addresses and business con-
nections would mark them as solid men.
THE BoNANzA's WHEREABOUTS.
But it is the prospectus which contains the
interesting reading. That announces that
this company is formed 10 purchase 13, Sl2
acres of freehold land and mineral estates in
Missouri, seventy five miles from ST. Louis,
containing hills of iron ores, large deposits
of lead and valuable forests of timber, and
for the purpose of securing the construction
OF railway through the property"
The prospectus goes into details in a man.
ner 10 make the investors eyes bulge out al
the thought of the returns. "These estates
contain practically inexhaustible deposits of
red and brown hematite iron ores, towering
in mountainous masses above the ground,
and containing, according TO the analysis of
Messrs. johnson, Mathey & Co., respectively
69.2, 59.S and 55.3 per cent. of metallic iron,
entirely free from phosphorous or sulphur.
The famous Iron mountain, whose ores
closely resemble those on these estates, is in
the immediate neighborhood. (The net re-
ceipts of the Iron mountain exceed 81 ,000,-
900 per annum). 1t is estimated that after
the completion of the railway the output for
the first year from this company's estates
will be 10000 tons, and give net profit of
el0s,O00, or equal to
DIVIDEND OF THIRTY. SIX PER CENT.
upon the shares of the company from its
iron resources alone, and a yearly increase
may be conhdently relied upon"
That ought to be enough for the COM
pany's expectations from the iron deposits,
but the projectors go on to say: "The de-
mand for ore in the United States for steel
making is 80 great that large quantities are
annually imported. These have to pay the
cost of over 5000 miles ocean transportation,
twenty per cent. customs duties and upward
of 1000 miles OF railway carriage before they
reach the markets where they have to COM
pete with the ores of this company"
But the good things do not stop with the
hematite deposits. "a portion comprising
soma 1000 acres of these estates contains
rich lead ore or galena in surface deposits
and fssure veins OF great depth. Their
working, it is expected, will add largely to
the dividends upon sharee. The st. Joe
Lead Mine on a neighboring property OF 400
acres paid last year in dividends Sl35, 5,OOO."
GET YOUR MONEY ALL BACK, BESIDES.
The danger that their prospects might
themselves to investors as the
castor oil did TO the sick boy, as too rich,
seems never TO have occurred TO the Missouri
Estates Railway and Iron Company. "These
estates are heavily timbered with Norway
or yellow pine and oak, and this is the near
est large body of pine lands TO 81. Louis,
where there is a constant demand for it.
The value of this timber is estimated at
f402, $50 net, sum more than sufficient 10
pay the whole capital.
"Ihe agricultural value is slso worthy of
the larger portion, after re-
moving the timber, being we'll adapted for
farms or cattle raising.
"The geographical position, seventy-hve
miles from ST. Louis "a city of over 100000
and the center of the largest
81 stes), is most advantageous for the de-
velopment of all the resources of these es-
tstes.
Hitherto the great wealth of these es-
tates has lain comparatively dormant for the
want of railway facilities. To supply this
want
THE LITTLE PILOT KNOB RAILWAY
has been organized under the laws of Mis-
souri,. 1t will be about twenty-five miles
long, and connect the estates with St. Louis.
The contractor undertakes to complete it
within twelve months, and expects it to be
in working order to one of the principal iron
deposits within six months from date of
allotment, 20 as to begin the transportation
of the ores. Its traffic ia estimated at $780,
900 tons per annum, yielding a net average
profit Of E13,500, sufficient to pay six per
cent. interest and one per cent. sinking fund
on the $500, 900 frst-mortgage bonds (Which
are distributed without additional payment
among the shareholders of this company,
and leave dividend of six per cent. on its
sh ares, three-6fths of which will also become
the property of this company, and secure to
it the complete control of the railway.
"Intereet on ihe railway bonds, together
with FIVE per cent. on the shares of the
Estates Company, the vendor guarantees by
deposit of each. thus securing dividend of
more than seven per cent. for the first year"