The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1889-01-02
Non as EAsy As Il Looks.
The Troubles Eneounfered IN Opening UP
q Gold Mine.

ne zrousise xneounserei IN Opening up
Gold Mine.
Working gold mine sounds very
nice, but very few people are aware Of
the difficulties and expense attending
this operation
There are 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.
It IS ia very common thing for some
hopeful prospector to stumble across
'tcroppings" that show free gold, and
that, from all appearances. could be
worked to advantage with the expen-
diture of 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:
al have one of the finest PROPOSE
tons you ever heard of. ] have dis
covered groupings that indicate the
presence Of a ledge eight feet wide and
which am certain win be found per
manent.
THE groupings show that the ore
viii mill at least $25 per ton. Let us
say then that the ore viii only yield
one-haH this amount
This mine (sic) can be worked that
is, the ore can be mined and milled-
at Q minimum cost of So per ton. This
VIII leave a net profit of, say, So.
Now the groupings show along the
surface for 200 feet, and are so situated
that tunnel could be run 200 feet be-
IS,r~- I-A
viii hold out, and after the tunnel is
$4,000 tons of ore, which, at So ton,
win, as you will readily see, yield O
profit of $200, 600.
stAll 1 need is enough money to run
this tunnel. / can then haul the ore
tea custom mill there is one about a
mile distant), and after that the mine
viii pay for itself only need s., 600
at the outside, and if you will put up
this amount you may have half in
terest in the property"
On paper this Is a fine proposition.
A sure fortune for 50, 600. Tho capital
ist is caught and up goes his 50, 600.
The first thing to be done is to drive
q tunnel into the solid rock some eight
feet square and distance of 200 feet.
A double shift of men, say eight, are
hired, also n blacksmith to sharpen the
tools, men to clear away the ground,
etc. This can easily be accomplished
for $50 a day. A house or cabin has
to be built, but this will only cost some
$500. Powder, tools, timbers, lumber
and provisions will make the first
81 900, to use popular expression,
''look awful sick.
For the first few days the work pro-
crosses favorably and the capitalist re-
ceiyes 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.
This is generally some rock about as
easy to drill through as SO much cast
steel. A hole six inches deep may be
drilled into the rock in about ten hours,
are put into this hole they shoot out as
If from a cannon.
There may be ten feet of this sort of
work, there may be fifty; at any rate
before the difficulty has been over
come some 50, 900 or more will have
been sunk in the enterprise and the
ground scarcely scratched.
OF 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 tunnel or sinking shaft,
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-
sired length that it should have been
run in some other place.
To estimate the actual cost of the
opening up of mine from the t.gTass
roots would be very difficult mat
ter. Under the most favorable cir
cumstances, however, unless pocket
or bunch of very rich ore is encoun-
tered, from $50, 600 to SIS, 600 may be
set down as a very close figure to put
mere prospect" in paying condition.
AS much sometimes as $500, 600 is
spent IN opening up mine before any
money" is taken out. All this refers
merely TO those little" mining propo-
sitions or flyers" as they arc called,
In which the uninitiated, in tho hope
of becoming millionaires on dol
lar" investment, come out in almost
every instance at the small end of the
horn.-New York Herald.