Arizona weekly citizen., 1885-08-29
MODERN sIINING

1 '--O H-auf great mining cOmpanies
 that have came into existence and ar,
 heard of no more, he naturally arrives at
 the conclusion that very grave u:istske
 had been made and he usually attrib.
 utes the mistake to the absence of prof.
 liable working ore in the mine. Nine
 times out of ten this conclusion will ba
 erroneous, and the history of nearly
 every company that has failed in Arizo-
 na VIII be illuetrated with some Of the
 most unique pictures of rascality. stu
 pldity or honest error that an artist can
 outline. An imaginary case may Illus
 trate some of the causes that bring dis
 aster to honest investors, and a "black
 eye to a mine and camp. We wil take
 say, the Sirius mine, and treat it in the
 most serions manner. $ forty-foot
 shaft has shown four-toot ledge of
 good ore, somewhat rebeliious, averue-
 ing forty ounces in silver to the ton as
 its principal nietalhc value. An eastern
 company has been organized and fifty
 thousand dollars for development pur-
 poses is placed to the credit of Q spright-
 y drygoods clerk, in whom the company
 have the most implicit confidence,
 to superinteDd the mine. He
 comes with a smattering of the differ
 ence between sandstone and syenite.
 but can hardly distinguish qdartz from spar, and especially delights in estimat- ing how many gold dollars a given lump of iron pyrites will coin. The best car riage the frontier livery stable contains wlll bear him seventy miles into the rough mountains, where hls heart sinks at the utter lack of hotel facilities. He then begins his lRbors with q view to the greatest good to the greatest num- ber-No. land causes lumber to be brought up at SlG0 Der N. for a con- fortable house, and office, and assay office, and stable, and boarding house, l and blacksmith shop, and store, in which the keeper will be a partner, and | 6 dozen other requisites for 8 well de- ! veloped property. Perhaps the road is pretty rough. and a big contract is let, ] with Q contingent interest in the profits, ! and so on until about the time he gets | ready to began work CD the mine the I money Is exhausted. 1T another demand | is honored, the work Of development ! goes forward, just after the fashion that | a druggists clerk would construct | 6 locomotive, aLd after a few hundred | tons Oi ore are on the dump mill is | wanted. From forty to eighty thousand | dollars goes to the manufactures and | builder for B fine quatrz mill with engine. l. IS erected | at great cost and a trial-a very unsuccessful trisl-is rlade. The ore Is not free milling and other works and other machinery Is required. The component elements of the company | about this tune find that something Is wrong and they begin to lose co5fi isnce in each othe- snd ia ihe mine and resolve to stop right there, without even Day ing off the h7lancs of wages owing to the workmen. The mine is a failure and in after years its valuable alJuncts are absorbed by litigation and ihe whole district Is regarded with extreme dis trust. In some eases, the superlntend- ent IS not SO badly wrecked as the com pBny is, and becomes thereafter Gn ex- pert m mines through the valuable ex- perieDce acquired.
 But mining superintendents are not responsible for the failures of mining companies oEning good prop erties. Their judgment, often derived from a lifelong devotion to m;ning, is fre- quently ignored by the directors of con- pany, and their duties become irGsome because they know that failure Is inevit- able. The rupture finally comea and the GU rse is laid at the door of bad mine
 These are but few instances leading to the wreck of mining companies out of many of the real causes that do not originate in the lack Of good mine. MisDanaCement is a subject upon which volumes could be written, and the conclusion would inevitably show that mining Is in itself an industry that is learned only by long experience, and that the most successful mining com pRnies have first selected a thoroughly skilled and honest supenntendeDt; placed ample means at hIs disposal and held him personally responsible for the rest. Is there much wonder that so few succeed?