The Livingston enterprise., 1889-12-25

in most smelling ores, and which is the
great source Of profit in many mining
regions, is SO abundant in these ores as
to make a bullion SO low in grade that
the cost OF transportation takes too large
per cent of it's value for profitable re.
sults You can scarcely pay two cents
freight on lead and eeu it for less than
four cents and make it's production pro-
titable. Hence the mines of Cooke City
rs those Of similar character in many of
the camps removed from railroad facili-
ties remain idle aud will remain uppro-
ductive until cheaper transportation is
provided.
The discoveress and owners Of the
Cooke City mines belong to the true
pioneer class of Americans. who have
civilized the Mississippi valley and devel-
oped its vast agricultural resources, and
who have opened tbs mines Of the Rocky
Mountains and the Pacific slope in the
face of the most daring hostile tribes,
thousands of miles away from the near
asst supplies of food and clothing and
mining implements and the protection
they might need from their government.
These pioneer miners and their asso-
ciates. who have furnished the needed
supplies food, clothing, tools, machin-
cry, furnaces, mills and transportation
when the freight was more than the
original cost these men have worked
our mines with pan, rocker and sluice
box, with mortar and arastra; they have
made expensive experiments with fur
naces and mills which have often proved
disastrous, because the machinery was
not adapted to the ores, or because the
processes Of working were not what was
needed, or because the management Of
distant directors WIS not inspired by ac-
curate knowledge OF the enterprise
These pioneer miners and their helpers,
full of enterprise and manhood, and
quick to learn, are now masters Of the
situation at Cooke City, at Neihart, at
Barker, at Maiden, ut Castle, and many
other mining camps. They believe in
their mines and are determined to hold
them and wait for the railroads, which
alone can give them cheap transporta-
ton and make their smelling ores profit
able
Ores that would be much sought for
ut Butte, Wickes, Helena and Great Falls
have no present value or sale at Cooke
City, at Maiden. at Barker, at Castle and
ut Neihart. But the railroads will fill all
these waiting camps with life and activ-
ity, and give electric force to their picks
and dynamite. These men have worked
out hundreds of tons of gold and silver
bullion. but SO diluted with lead that
the freights exhausted all the profits of |!
working. ."-.a.
When Cooke City has railroad which
will furnish cheap freigbts she will fur
nish the bullion to keep trains in con.
stant motion to eastern markets for the
next hundred years. These idle mines
and cold furnaces will be all aglow with
vital energy. A thousand miners will
take the ore from Il hundred mines, and
the furnaces will pour out glowing
streams of golden bullion.
But how shall the railroad come!
Men are ready and have been ready for
years to build, but their chosen route
has been blocked by congress. /
The way up the Yellowstone and Soda
Butte creek is the natural route. But
some congressman have been inspired
with sentimental notions that such a /!
road will destroy the symmetry and the
wonders of the Park. We have shown
this road will interfere with neither the
symmetry of the Park nor pass within
many miles of it's advertised wonders.
No tourist ever saw or ever will see the
boundaries of the Park and admire it's
symmetricf II proportion of four straight
sides
Artists tell us there is very little beauty
in rectilenear boundaries. But II the
above named streams above Gardiner be
made the boundary, the artistic taste OF
all tourists will be cultivated and graft |
fed by endless curves and lines Of beau