Mohave County miner., 1883-08-12
Gold Qaarix Mining.

udIkeQ success III SOIU IHiD1nSs AOl only to many joint stock companies, but several private mine owners who have been exceptionally fortunate IL striking rich reefs in their claims. have become millionaires. and are still in receipt of enormous incomes.
 The system inaugurated for devel- oping the resources Of the distrcl was in the early days such as tended to ret ard rapid development, ana caused much waste of time, capita and labor. The claims were too small, and consequently caused the sinking Of more shafts than was nee essary Tor efficient working. In many places 1 have seen ten or twelv, shafts sinking on ol for a lode where there only Uug ht to have been one a good man shaft, a suitable size fol goIng down to great depth. Many companies were in existence fol years sinking a shaft to depth ol 300 to 400 feet dawdling over the work ty only employing a few men, where with energy and less cost tut same work might have been done IL year.
 When progressive or prospecting lahor is determined on. 1t should bt pushed on with all expedition possi ble. as the quicker the results are proved, lhe' better and cheaper will Il be for those who have to pay for 1t. Thus in shaft sinking as many men should be kept below as can con veniently work. There IS no more surface labor required for four, nve or six miners working iu a shaft than there is for two, while more than double or treble the work gets done during the same time.
 In quartz mining, 1t is generally necessary that the main shaft shoulC be kept continually sinking, whiit levels should be opened for develop ment at intervals of from sixty tC one hundred feet, as experience may guide the manager. The need ot keeping progressive wolk well ahead IS oftentimes attended with mucE loss, not only in time wasted, but IL depreciation of the value of the mine.
 One tf tbo greatest wonders il connection ni.4 @old mining indus try, when aGy new discoveries nave been made, and a rush sets n for in- vestment, is the surprising rapidlty with which mushroom authorities spring into existence. Men who hy fuke have made a lucky specula tion in shares, or obtained a conces- sion or claim in or near a locality where gold might have been seen or expected to be found, arrogate to themselves the position of oracles CT authorities on the subject of gold mining, and impudently assume knowledge of an industry that caD only be acquired by long practical experience and intelligent appljca tion.
 Men who never saw q gold mine, and know nothing of the proper method of working one, will write re- ports and undertake the control oi works of winch they are completely ignorant. The natural rcsultToll0ws that large sums of money becomes squandered in the purchase of mine. at fabulous prices, and afterward. wasted in disgraceful management. At the expense of the shareholders and their unfortunate dupes, these mushroom authorities enjoy a but terfy existence during brief period of sunshine fwhile the money holds | out), when they suddenly collapse, and fall into the obscurity from whence it is pity they ever emerged ! The mischief created by these new chum authorities on gold mining, is, however, incalculable, as 1t is not merely the money they waste in gain ing experlence and making a muddle of everything at other peoples ex- pense, but their utter incapacity brings discredit upon the industry of gold mining generally, and retards the development of legitimate mines by experienced persons,
 The reports which have appeared from some of the so-called managers of mines in India and west Africa from tune to tune since the rush set in for mining in those places have been enough to condemn the writers as utterly incompetent for the posi- tions they have undertaken, and the shareholders are beginning to fno ! out to their cost the mistake they | have made in their selection ofdirec tors and managers. whose chief quaI ifications have been bumptiousness and entire ignorance of the practical |