The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-03-01
TUE ALOE
ETesioent w alker's Refuta ton
Oh the Inter Mountains"
Charge,

VI Tue WNE2
DEAR S!R.-I had not intended t
leply tn the articles regarding tn
Alice Company and Walker Broth
err which have appeared in the dali
inter Mountain. Now, however, l
, has gone along from mere a
serticn to making direct persona
attacks on myself as president of tn
f Alice company, and the firm O
Walker Brothers of this city, 80 tina
a reply seems necessary. I am vel
= aware that nothing 1 can say viii
please them ss it is not the fact. the,
desire. The owners of the Znte
Mountain know that there Is no foun
dation in fact for anything the.
nave alleged.
TIL, se attacks commenced by theil
calling for the Alice Company's re
port and financial statement, which
1T that time, was bting prepared
After L. was ready for the printer II
was retained nearly three weeks Ia
their hands for reasons which have
neen explained and on which tt(
Inter M0u mt0in has had several I'm
just articles. When the report was
out, they did moi print any of it bul
claimed that the daily MINER had
been paid for publishing it, which i.
not true, and commenced another at.
tack on the Alice Company, myaell
and Walker Brothers. It is IN I'm,
fair and unjust insinuation to charge,
that of the financial statement, the
intention was to see how many fig.
ures could be got toy -ther without
meaning anything. All the figures,
as they we'll know, simply embrace the
various accounts; and while On this
point I here state that the accounts
of any mining company cannot be
kept 10 better shape.aud the satisfac-
tory part of it is that the company has
vouchers for every dollar spent EN-.
hracing the many figures which the
Inter Mountain writer appears to be
unable tn grasp. .
That the public may clearly under
stand tile origin Of 'e present Alice
Company / will state: That myself,
Samuel s. Walker, Marcus DAILY and
Prof. J. e. Clayton visited the 3 .rn-
NIT Valley Mining district in Octo-
ber. 1875, and after remaining there
some time the Alice, u part of the
Magma Charta and Valdemere. were
purchased for account of Walker
Brothers of this city. Active Oper
atoms we're At Onca c mmenced and
upwards OF $2O0,WO were spent before
M cent "a reallz, I'd out of the in-
vestmen', and nothing until q fifteen
stamp mill was built. At the time
of this visit the camp of Butte had
few Inhabitants and nothing to at
tract q stranger except. perhaps per-
.,1,no 1slxn r,sr r,1r,.o d. s.o,,c - 81
ing good producing mines, The
'urney at that time and for many
suDseq tent visits was not one of com.
fort but was one involving eight to
ten davis stage ride 6 ling and COM
ing. A large majority Of your best
citizens were then far away fir M
your camp and had never heard of it.
After the erection of the Is 8 amp
mill it was increased t'a ~ stamp
mill. W. not only lab ,red under
the great exren.e Of Carrying sup
plies long distsn ,es ny wagons, but
also was met on every side by the
opinion of the oldest Inhabitants
that when we reached water level ia
the mines that disaster would follow,
as the silver and gold producing |
quartz would Re barren below that |
point, they having III view the ex-
perience Of all the companies nearly, !
that had before 1875 invested in Mon
tana mines and had proven failures, |
the evidence. of which were on every |
side, in abandoned quartz mills and
machinery. Alter tue ~ stamp mill
was running successfully and the
Alice vein had been penetrated far
below tue water level, then it was de.
cided to Incorporate the Alice Gold Il
Silver Mining Company, the owners
of the property, Walker Brot ers,
agreeing to build another quartz mill
of 40 stamps without cost to the AL
ice company. After the incorpora-
ton, Walker Brothers, at their own
G. at and expen 9, increased thi, to go
stamps in lieu ut 40 stamps as agreed,
thus giving to the III pany u milt Of
more capacity without any
to the Incorporation. Al
this time Walker Brothers had done
considerable labor on the Magma
Charta and Valdemere claims show-
ing the same to be valuable. These,
other mining properties. We're
sold by them 10 the Alice Company.
These properties could have been sold
for much more money ut that
time on y credit q 4 per cent per
annum. For Overdrafts which the
Alice Company have required at
times they have had The same
from Walker Brothers bank at the
rate Of 6 per cent, per annum, in a
Territory where The legal intere-t is
u per cent. per annum. 1 make
+ - nL~,vo ~,nsk,s tn q - ~ IN SRv h ~ Xv.1s,
# Brothers have done, aud that =
air minded public will be able to
Judge whether they have been guilty
# taking advantage of the Alice
company in any manner.
AS the Inter Mount IN has e fit
o compare The MOulton and Lexing-
and show these comp tnies up in
right colors aud the Alice Conn
amy in q less enviable light ,
nd thereby throw suspicion On :
he integrity of myself and p. !.
be firm Of Walker Brothers, it is !
ut right that I should make the !
comparison which they failed to do :
he original owner of the Lexington !
roperty did not 60 to work as Walk +.
r Brothers have done and spend !.
loney to test the question whether y
re ores continued to carry y fair !
alue in gold and silver below the q
,ater Level, but contented himself =
i b runping a long level on top Of =
he water aud only taking out sufH !,
ent ore 10 run q small quartz null :
uilt out of the old machinery taken y
Montana years before silver wAs = !
nOwn to exist in The Territory, for =
10 purpose of working gold quartz. =
tier the prosperity of the Alice Com =
any was assured, 1t was possible for ~
her companies to be organic I'd and e
'pital obtained. / may safely say -
at the French company, the Lex -
would never have had an ex. : =
tence had it not been for the Alice =,
inc, which at that time was opened :,
Efficiently to enable experts to draw -
'rrect conclusions regarding the dis :.