The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1889-10-19
FRH1eHr RATES on ORES

we cali the 0ttent1o0 OF our READ
ers to the following article, upor
freight rates on ores. from the Flu
reka New Sentinel of Oct. 18th
Every interest in Eureka was doomed
to decline and decay from the momsn
the Richmond and Eureka Con. Mininf
Cos. formed the Smelling Trust here
The Trust made it impossible for the mi
ner to realize q single farthing for ORE
working $50 ton. There is no othel
mining camp under the sun where go
ore is not regarded as big ore. In every
other section men are amassing great Tor.
tunes out of ore going at much Lover
figure. But in this camp the Trust would
not give the miners enough out of 3O-dol.
lar ore to pay for the hauling. In certain
classes higher grades were renderedworth.
less to the producer. A one miner ex-
pressed it he considered himself lucky to
get his sacks back on 40. dollar ore. And
this is the kind of business that has been
going on in Eureka since the formation
OF the Smelling Trust. Still Mr.. Blaine
says "a Trust is largely . private affair
with which the public has nothing to do
But Mr.. Blaine when he said it was doubt.
less throwing an 'anchor to windward's. u
As q matter of fact Trust is the most
oppressive thing that the devlish ingcnu-
ity OF grasping monopoly has been able
to invent in modern times. The Eureka
Smelling Trust simply destroyed and de-
populated what had hitherto teen hour
ishing mining center. ALI business, all
value to town property, all hope of our
people earning livelihood here, were
dissipated in q day. It's disastrous effects
were more blightening than would be q
hard frost on half matured crops. When
the Eureka & Palisade railroad had been
almost starved to death along with the
rest OF ", its worthy Superintendent Mr..
B. Gilman undertook tie task of estab.
fishing cheap transportation rate for
ores between this point and Salt Lake.
Three railroads had to be brought into
accord on the proposition-the E. and P
TO Pa!isade, the e. P. TO Ogden and the
d. d Il. G. to the smelters near Salt Lake.
II is with great pleasure that we are en-
abled to announce the success of Mr..
Gilmsn's efforts, for which he is entitled
to the highest appreciation of this COM
munity. The rates are as follows:
Ore going $50 per ton, So 25; ore 60
ing from $50 to $50 per ton, S. 25; ore
going from $50 to 500 to the ton, $40 rs:
ore going from 500 to $500, $l3 SO per
ton.
1t would seem from the above
that the mining industry Of Eureka
had succeeded at last in throwing
off the incubus which has been re-
tarding the mining interest of that
locality for long time, in the form
of the oppressive Smelling Trust
formed by the two grasping mining
companies above named. The es-
tablishlng of rates Of freight on
classes of ore from Eureka to Salt
Lake City is very suggestive of
what ought to be done for the ben
eft of the hard working miners of
the Wood River mining districts,
who have lots of $50 and $40 ore
which they are not able at present
to realize anything upon, owing to
the excessive freight rates upon
that particular class Of ore.
If the miners of Eureka can re-
alize a profit on $50 and $40 ores
by shipping them to Salt Lake, why
can not our owners of that kind of
ore also make a profit upon them.
provided they are given a similar
rate of freight. The distance from
Eureka to Salt Lake City is 1873
miles greater than that from Ketch-
um to Salt Lake City. It certainly
seems reasonable to conclude that
the class of ore enumerated in the
above schedule could be transported
as cheaply from any point on Wood
River to the smelters at Salt Lake
as from Eureka to the same point.
If it were possible for the Wood
River miners to succeed in getting
as reasonable and just freight rates
on the same ores as the Eureka peo-
pie have, it would prove of almost
incalculable benefit to this region of
mining country. It would instil
new courage into the hearts of own
ers of low-grade mines, and give an
impetus to mining, the benefits of
which would soon be felt in every
branch of business.