The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-03-19
From the Daily Of Sunday.
BUTTE MINES,
Their Relation to the Business
Of the City,

Their Relation TO the Business
Of the City.
Not before in the history of Butte
have our mines so fully justified the
predictions of the past, or the hopes
of the present, as they do to-day.
Never before has the output Of
bullion been so large, or the quantity
of ore developed and in reserve been
as great as now. The shipment OF
both Gre and bullion increases per-
ceptibly from week to week, but the
development of new ore bodies and
the increased yield Of those already
developed more than keeps pace
with the quantity extracted. The
mines OF Butte long ago ceased to DO
doubtful or problematic. AS long as
the theory prevailed that the mines
lacked depth, and did not extend
below the water level, so long doubt
and distrust as to their permanency
and value Was inevitable.
The sinking of the Alice shaft to
the five hundred foot level and be-
low resolved all there doubts, and
fully reassured the most skeptical Of
the depth and durability of our Min
eral deposits, and to the Alice Com
pany and its forerunners, the Walk
er brothers, of Salt Lake City, belong
the special merit of having the pluck
and enterprise to go ahead and risk
at once their capital and future value
of their property in determining that
fact. Others have followed in their
footsteps until now it has nearly or
quite ceased to be matter Of uneer-
tainty as to the depth of any mine
having fair surface indications. We
have no Ccmstock lode or great bO-
nanzas-no mines that will enrich 8
few capitalists at the expense Of all
others, but we have a great numter
of mines that do already and will
more ia future afford fair return to
capital aud give remuaerative EN-.
ployment to great numbers Of miners
and those engaged in the reduction
of ores.
Perhaps in no camp that to-day
exits or that ever has existed on the
continent does the miner secure as
steady and good wages as he gets in
Butte. Certainly in no other can he
More confidently rely on getting his
pay when the monthly 'pay day''
rolls ,und.
These are the unmistakable signs OF
q furnishing mining camp, but it is a
prosperity not to be misunderstood or
with that transient and
often deceitful prosperity which lures
the miner into camps where few
only succeed and the great Inass meet
only with disappointment. Here
there is no boom and 20 excitement
and no foundation perhaps for hope
of suddenly acquiring wealth, but
there is what is much better: there
is any number Of good mines prom
ising, as we have said, fair remunera-
ton for both capital and labor. Sud-
den fortune is in store for none Or
only the favored few, while prosperi-
ty is in store for all who are willing
70 labor here as eiseW here for what
they obtain.
Pluck, labor and perseverance have
made the camp what it is, and these
qualities must sustain its future
if it is to be sustained.
We are all embarked together. Our
mining and business interests are ia
'eparabie e-whatever promotes ono
promotes the eother-Whatever injure3
me injures lhe other. The fortune
md SUCCESS of each is much more
closely connected than We are apt to
uppOse with the prosperity Of the
vhCle. No vital interest or leading
enterprise can be assajled without
eacting to greater Or less degree
IN all kindred enterprises, and In.
Iced on all other interests in the
amp. If a leading mining company
Re charged with mismanagement or
it will naturally produce
utsi0e distrust, whatever its
fleet may be at home.
sot that corruption or mismanage-
lent s9ould pass unLoticed or un-
hecked when either is kno1vn to
x!st, but such charges should be
lade only on undoubted evidence
nd on sure proofs. But when
harges against a mining company
re over and over again repeated, after
eing over and over again contra
icted and refu ed, as has lately been
le case wi, ii the Alice Mining CON-
any and ourevening contemporary.
ASiA Chs@i S0o lave u ldT greater teu~
ency to injure the camp at home
nd abroad than they do the lom-
any Immediately assai!ed: and
ewspaper circulating such charges,
istead of being promoter of the
of the community in which
is published, becomes and is. the