Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-28
HERE is RICHNESS.
Interviews With Pittsburg's
Miners of Mexican Tin.
SANGUINE FOR THE STUFF.
Durango Ore May Knock the Tin
Plate Tariff Topic Out.
WEALTH OF ORMCS AND THE IND
To be Outdone at Less Than the Price Of
Song, in Mexico,
SANGUINE FOR THE STUFF.
OF ORMUS AND THE IND
PALING THE GLOW OF MONTEZUMA GOLD

Mention has been made in THE DIS
PATCH of the Pittsburg and Mexican Tin
Mining Company, bought out by Mr.. j. R.
Williams, of Durango, Mexico, and Mr..
George H. Thurston, of this city. Mr..
Williams is one of the original locaters of
the tin mine and largely interested in 1t and
other mining enterprises, and Mr.. Thurston
is the Secretary of the company.
Frank W. Smith, Esq, tells some inter-
esting facts in connection with the history of
this mine and tin mining in general. He
states that one time Mr.. Thurston was de-
puted to gather information on the subject
of tan mines in Durango. The first thing
he did was to consult Appleton's Encyclo-
pedia. and there he found reference to a
deserted tin mine. This was slightly worked
half century ago, or thereabouts; but one
day Indians swooped down on the camp,
and when they departed the buzzsrds took
what the savages had left and the mine was,
in a measure, forgotten. The knowledge
derived from the encyclopedia gave consid-
cradle impetus to the project.
Mr.. Smith states that four assays have
been made of the ore; one in New York,
two in Durango and one in Pittsburg, and
they yielded from 35 to so per cent of tin.
This, he says, is not pretended to be the run
of the mine, but is enough to show the ore
to be
UNPARALLELED IN RICHNESS,
the richest hitherto found being in the
island of Malacca, worked by the Dutch
and from which place ''straits" tin is pro-
cured, while the mines in Cornwall, En-
gland, yield but seven-eighths of per cent
and yet pay largely for working. Mr..
Williams said:
"After careful investigation of the min
ing laws of Mexico, and five visits to that
country in the past year, seven months of
which were spent in the State of Durango
and other sections, the object being to ex-
anime mines with the view of their being
worked proftably and without interference,
it is nv opinion that capital can be invested
in Mexico better than in many portions of
our country. The Government of Mex
leo of to-day must not be judged
bv those of the past Instead of
interference, they are now doing, and
propose doing, all that is possible
to assist foreign capital in developing the
mines of Mexico They have recently en-
acted laws on this subject. They have taken
off all tariff duties on machinery for work
ing mines, and removed all taxes except
per cent tax on money expended. There
are no real or personal taxes; in fact no
other tax whatever. The law is made and
passed, and cannot be repealed for so
years.
MExICANS VERY MODEST.
"I have found the officials always ready
to give all the assistance possible to actual
mining investments, and the people quiet
and inofensive, only wanting to work, and,
of course, to be paid promptly for their la
Dor. 1 have made investments for my asso-
ciates in three different silver properties,
and am also interested in the tin property
of the Pittsburg and Mexican Tin Mining
Company.
''I have visited the mine in question four
different times. There are, without doubt,
large bodies of tin ore on the property.
During the time was in Mexico develop
ment of the deposit of tin ore on the prop
erty in question was made by corps of
workmen sent from Pittsburg, and shaft
sunk to the depth of 45 feet, showing true |
hssure vein of from six to eight feet between |
walls, a vein of very fine ore of from Is to
to Is inches wide on the foot wall, increas- |
ing in width as depth was attained. Sam |
piles of this assayed from 40 to so per cent |
metallic tin, and the main body of ore will |
ubtedly give a practical result of 10 |
per cent of all the matter of the vein. / |
found this the condition of the mine on nv |
second visit Being at that time accom- |
panied by an expert in smelling, for per- |
sonal satisfaction 1 concluded to try my |
hand at smelling some of the ore.
"The exploring party having built crude |
furnace, and there being charcoal at hand, |
we obtained some of the ore from the vein, |
charged and fired the furnace at o'clock in |
the morning, and by IL o'clock were run |
ming tin. Our experiment showed there |
was metallic tin in large quantities IN the |
ore, and demonstrated the huxes to be used. |
Samples of the tin so obtained are now in |
Pittsburg. The mine has been put in the |
condition required by the Mexican law, and |
possession and title given
ANOTHER INTERVIEW.
Mr.. Thurston said: "We have organized I
q company and are going to work in prae-
tical manner to open uB the mine. The first /
thing we propose is to go down in. the shaft |
from 100 to 200 feet, and run such levels |
along the vein as may seem best, with view |
of exposing the greatest possible body of ore 1
before expending any money for smelter or |
other machinery. This will necessitate the |
expenditure of but 81, 900 or s., 900, and will |
at the same time enable us to take out a |
large tonnage of ore ready for the smelter.
latter we have sunk our shafts and run |
our levels we shall then erect our smelters |
and other machinery. We know we have a |
large deposit or rather vein, of tin ore. A |
peculiarity of this ore is that the veins are |
vertical and continue to great depths. We |
are not carried of our feet, so to speak, with |
our prospect but are going to work in |
very sedate, methodical way to take out the |
ore and produce the metallic tin. We do |
not look upon the mine as a speculative |
property, but legitimate, methodical bust |
ness, requiring but few weeks to get in |
shape to produce our tin as Systematically |
as blast furnace does iron.
fsThere is no tariff on metallic tin nor does |
the Government propose to place one. A |
tariff is proposed on tin plate, which is COM
posed of nine-tenths iron. Ofcourse, if tin
plate is made in the United States, it will |
be the better for us as producers of metallic /
tin; but our working of the mine in no way
depends on tariff on tin plate, nor is it neces-
sary to practical and profitable result"
From what the projectors say, tin ore |
does not give the trouble In smelling that |
gold does, but is run out of furnace much |
as pig iron from blast furnace. Mr.. Smith |
states that there is plenty of wood in the
vicinity of the mine, so that charcoal can lie
cheaply obtained,