The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-06-08
THE DRUM LUMMON MINE.
OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE SHARE
HOLDERS, MEETING IN LONDON.

HOLDERS, MEETING IN LONDON.
The History and Condition Of "The Mon
tana Company" rs Stated by the
Chairman.
From the BuHionist, London, tEng.) May IL.
MONTANA COMPANY.
The statutory general meeting of this COM
pany was held on Wednesday last, ut Saint
MichaeI's Hall, George-yard, Lombard street;
Ir n. Story Maskeleyne, NJ. F., In the chair.
The Secretary, Mr.. James Johnston, read
I he notice converting the meeting.
The Chairman said that he was sorry one
of the directors-Lord Castletown-was not
present, as he knew the country well, and
would have been able To tell them great
deal from his own knowledge. What he,
however, proposed to do was to reassure any
who were in doubt As TO the character of the
undertaking-to tell them, first, something
about the nature of the property, and then to
mention the proposals they had before them
for developing the mine-the steps, in fact,
that they were taking for its management
and development-and then he could say
something about the present and future finan-
cial positions. With regard to the nature of
the property the prospectus which was issued
had been gone very carefully into by himself
and his contractors, who had cut it down, so
that what was a very brilliant and promising
account was tsrned into a matter of fact doc
ument. Hear, hear.) He stood practically
before them in the character of mineralo-
pist and as knowing something about mines,
rather than as a tinancier, and he would like,
in the first place, to point out the LOCALITY OF
the mine. He believed it was 100 Oh aO miles
from the frontier of Canada and perhaps the
same distanc to the west of the great Yellow
stone district-a place in which volcanic &C
ton is active, and, in fact, there were all
those conditions under which mines were
deposited. 1t was neighborhood around
which within a certain distance considera-
BILE mines existed. This Montana district
was at present comparatively unopened, and
it might seem a bold thing to embark In Sill
yer and gold mines in such district, and es-
pecially with the traditions of certain Amer
lean mines before them The lode was what
was called fissure lode, that was to say, not
one of those lodes in which there were no
large pockets and where they never knew
when they came to mine or not, such as the
famous Emma mine. 1t was rather like the
great Comstock, and was an enormous quartz
lode about 80 feet thick. Mr.. Atwood, their
manager, confirmed the reports of Mr. Oar
lngton generally, and he felt justified in say
ing that this was lode 80 feet in thickness.
containing near the foot wall great deal OF
gold and when they went further into the
lode toward the hanging wall, which was
granite, they cut some ores containing silver,
and amongst those silver ores were sulphide,
chloride, and what was considered TO be
copper ore, but which was, in reality, one of
| the best silver ores. 1t was to this that he
looked in future for any particularly bright
| returns when they came to realize the great
| wealth of particular parts of the mine. AS
he had said, IL was assure vein, running
| probably a mile or two, 80 feet wide, and
| probably varying in width. The direction
was northeast TO southwest. 1t was what
was called contact lode, the rock on the
| one side being of one kind, and on the other
| of another description. No doubt several OF
| the gentlemen present knew something about
| mining in Cornwall, and If so they would
know that contact lode of this kind was one
which made miner break up his ores. This
had directed his attention to the mine. The
| foot wall on the southeast side was granite;
| and on the other side it was a fine mica rock
He would say a few words about the ores.
The rock was quartz, and it contained gold
| alleged heavily with silver, probably native
silver. Some of the ores were very rich and
some unquestionably very poor; but they had
got enough rich ore, he believed, to keep
| their mill going for some years to come. He
had sent round the results of q preliminary
| examination by Mr.. Atwood, in which he
| assayed specimens of ore taken in different
parts of the mine-taken not rs representing
| the rich parts, but rs representing the poor
| and average portions. The result OF these
| when totted up gave result higher than
| that stated in the prospectus. He was not
| going to attach very much in portance to this
| but he would have something TO say present
| ly about fuller analysis which had been
made. He would next say few words rs to
the manner in which the mine came to be
brought to light and how ID had been hither-
| to worked. The discoverer was a remarkable
person named Thomas Cruise, an 1rishInan.
| He was n miner and seemed to be person
| of intelligence and sagacity. He believed
| Mr.. Cruise began by prospecting ami wash
| ing gold and on one occasion he seemed to
4 hao ha MqrySyilIa a
| found the lode. Instead of leaving it to
| other persons he went and got some men to
| help him, and sent down shafts into the lode
| and got out ore. He went in about $50 feet
low the dip. There he SINK his expert men
| tai shaft and drove a level along the length
| of the lode. Then he drove the cross-cuts,
and the interesting results given in the pros
| pectus were found The whole of the stuff
| extracted from the NINE he passed through
the mill. and got as much as four pounds a
| ton on the average. These facts were certain,
| because Mr. Darlington had seen n return
| from the Government department, and in the
tailings from this mill there was n quantity
of metal unredeemed from the ore, so that
| there was good foundation for the belief
| that If they took all the ore they would get
| n good deal of bullion out of it. With this
| lode they had 800 yards in length, and a
width of 600 feet; they also had certain prop
erty in the valley below, and little stream
Il
sites. As q good many shareholders had
Joined the company through his name hap
pening to be in the prospectus, 1t might be as
| well to say how he had become connected
| with it, He was asked at first II he would
| Join such thing, but he refused; he was then
| requested to look again at it, and he began
| to see that the lode was rather remarkable
one; and when he inquired into the results
| of the ore they struck him as being very re-
| markable. At the same time he thought it
L int fhEE1t
| advice. So he asked Mr.. Warrington Smyth,
about the best authority on mining, to look
| at the matter. This gentleman said IL was
extraordinary, and that it was not often they
| saw mine with the whole OF the purchase
| money in sight; that he did not see any OBJ
lection to il, but that he would recommend
him (the speaker) to apply to a imam he would
mention He was told that there was one
man he should 60 to rs being man of the
largest experience in gold mines, and es-
pecially in American mines. and therefore he
was advised to go to Mr.. Atwood. He sent
| a check to Mr. Atwood as fee, asking that
gentleman for official information as to what
| he thought of the mine and as to whether
gentleman of his position and respectability
| could ioin Mr.. Atwood wrote back and
said he had look into the matter and he
| though Int they were giving long price for the
mine, but that he could see no reason why he
| should not go into IL as director; and what
| was more, he added that though he was do
Ing good business, III III WeIc uidue WoFtn
| his while he would like to 60 out and man.
| age such mine. That rather took his breath
| away but they talked the matter over, and
| the result was that he went on the board.
| He was invited to take the chair, and Mr..
| Atwood was now their manager at the mine.
| He had therefore shown that this was not n
| thing he had gone into without fair consid-
| Grafton and without taking the best advice,
aud he believed that they would find that all
| the grounds which had made them 60 IN for
| it would be borne out hereafter by the great
results which would ensue. They appointed
Mr.. Atwood, who went out on one of the
| last DAYS in February, but was very much In-
| terrupted in his progress. He found the
place deep IN snow. Mr.. Atwood had two
great qualities, one his immense caution,
and the other a certain logged perseverance,
He had been out in the whole of the snow
| and had surveyed the country, and he had
| no doubt that the reports from Mr.. Atwood,
| now on the road, would give them great
| deal more information than he could give
| them. The kilograms they had received and
one or two briefreports confirmed everything
| thew had yet stated and all he was saying
now. tApplause.l When he got to work he
found the five stamps were of an in
ferior character and were out of repair, but
he nut them in repair, and soon got them
into working order. He also borrowed an
iron amalgamator, took out ores from differ
ent parts ofthe mine, and treated them. He
took out from England an office-keeper, n
book-keeper, n second captain, and timber
man, and first instructions given by the board
were 10 select good mill site. He deter
min ed also to drive another level lower
down, and finally he gave them plans and
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