, 1889-01-15
NOT As EASY AS 1T LOOKS.


The Trouble Encountered in Openin: Up
n Cold Mine.
Working a gold mine sounds very
nice, but very few people are aware of
the difficulties and expense attending
this operation.
There arc plenty of men in this city
who have been bitten" in small min
ing schemes and who do not now
understand why they were failures.
II is a very common thing for some
hopeful prospector TO stumble across
groupings" that show free gold, and
that, from all appearances, could be
worked to advantage with the expen-
diture of n little money.
The first thing the prospector does is
to think up" some capitalist friend
whom he thinks would be willing to
invest in the enterprise. He then
writes a letter something after this
fashion:
Il have one of tho finest proposi-
tons you ever heard of. / have dis
covered groupings that indicate the
presence of a ledge eight feet wide and
which l am certain will be found per
mancnt.
The groupings show that the ore
Will mill at least $25 per ton. Let us
say then that the ore will only Weld
one-half this amount.
This mine (sic) can be worked-that
u, the ore can be mined and milled-
ut a minimum cost of SO per ton. This
viii leave n net profit of, say, IS.
now the groupings show along the
surface for POO feet, and are so situated
that a tunnel could be run 200 feet be-
lnNU Thor Sc ~ l-,lA Il.
will hold out, and after the tunnel is
run there will be in sight practically
$4,000 tons of orc, which, at IS n ton
will, as you will readily see, Weld n
profit of 5000, 900.
"Al | need is enough money to run
this tunnel. | can then haul the ore
to a custom mill there is one about n
mile distanD, and after that the mine
will pay for itself. Ionly need SO. 600
at the outside, and if you will put up
this amount you may have n half in
tereSt in the property"
On paper this is IA fine proposition.
a sure fortune for 50, 900. The capital
LIST is caught and up goes his SO, 600.
The hrst thing to be done is TO drive
q tunnel into the solid rock some eight
Feet square and a distance of 200 feet.
a double shift of men, say eight, are
hired, also a blacksmith TO sharpen the
tools, men to clear away the ground,
etc. This can easily be accomplished
for $50 u day. A house or cabin has
to DO built, but this will only cost some
$500 Powder, tools, timbers, lumber
and provisions will make the first
$1,000, to use a popular expression,
look awful sick"
For the first few DAYS the work pro-
crosses f~avorably and the capitalist re-
ceivcs the most encouraging letters
from his mining friend. After that
the letters are less frequent and not
near so encouraging.
The miners have struck a horse. 3"
This is generally some rock about as
easy TO drill through as so much cast
steel. A hole six inches deep NAV be
drilled into the rock in about ten hours
and when the giant powder cartridges
are put into this hole they shoot out as
II II cannon.
There may be ten feet of this sort of
work, there may be fifty; Mt any rate
before the difficulty has been over
come some 1900 or more will have
e sunk in the enterprise and the
ground scarcely scratched.
Or course, more money will be de-
manded, and then still more, until
the capitalist becomes disguised and
quits the thing altogether. This is
the way it generally works.
Difficulties are not only encountered
IN running n tunnel or sinking ashaft,
such as the caving in of the work, re
bellious rock and others too numerous
TO mention, but it is often discovered
after the tunnel has been run the de
- rsaI Ia,,gtI, t1.4 - 1-