Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1891-01-28
If either of these

silver and the ether excluding foreign -
lad ore, had been pas ed alone, the
. feet might not have been SO a'sas, !,
erous, but q e two have operated one d
apaIr st he tn n, and have led to the :
pr. ene .onditi IN OF the or. market.
With the ra. ii increase in the price A
Of silver " hich immediately followed i
the. passage of the silver bill, the pro-
Of silver ores, particularly OF
siiicious ores. was greatly
d, is shown by the largely
increased output OF the San Juan
silver district, ani the smel'ers. tak>
ing all offered, were soon g lut'ed with
ore. Of this character. The production
OF Lead ore, however, dill not keep
race ~ 18th this, hut on the contrary
de .iInei- The last OF the great lead
carbonate ore bodies OF I-eadv'iie
which had been the mainstay of the
smelsers for s" long a time were
rapidly being exhausted. and the in
cre.sed price Of al failed to discover
new deposits capable Of taking their
place Me xican fuxing ore which
had paid duty on the lead contained
had TO be impor: into Leadvile,
.he home of the carbonate ores, to
keep the snelters going.
As we have already pointed out,
the production of lead in the United
States i'm 1890 was less than in 1889
by } 800 tons; but thu fact that the
falling off no more marked, was
due co the activity and increase in out
puts Of the soft-lfad districts OF
Missouri, kansas and Wisconsin. In
the great arsentiferons lead ore
States Idaho and Montana, there
was a decrease Of G, 900 tons, and in
Colora do OF 5000. With the partial
exclusion Of the Mexican ore, amount
ing TO about Is 600 tons of lead, as
com pared with the previous year.
there arose great scarcity OF the
necessary silver gathering element
furnace CHARGES.
The result of this and OF the &C.
curnss3 ated stocks OF siiicious ore was
that IT became necessary for the
srneleers to run with smaller pro
| charC o. with tho consequent greater
| loss of silver in dirty slags.
intellectually, the cost of smelling
was still further increased by the
! scarcity Of rlch argentife'ous IRON
| auxin- ores of Leadville, and the
| smaller margin upon those ores con
! tair,rny less silver, which the smelters
were Obliged to use. The exclusion
OF the NJ xican ores was not without
influence upon this point, either, Tor
they are mostly so rich in iron as to
| be more than self flu xirg, and IN
Keeping the lead out of the country
the. iron was kept out as we'll.
With the cost Of smelling thus IN
creased, 1t was necessary to raise treat
ment charges, and to cover the greater
-
m.ne for the silver contents OF ores
was reduced from % per cent to ~
or 90 per cert even less, OF the
New 4ork price of silver
In this situation, them with great
Recommendations of rich, silic,ous silver
ores II fh- bins, and correspondlngy
large debts at the banks, the smelt
/. q fpanI"S were caught oy ire
! in IN in the money market. Inc
banks called their loans; the smelters
hoyr st
enough on account OF the lack of lead
ore and the consequence was that,
while the stringency lasted, they were
TO cease buying and to sell
lead at "A sacrifice. Silicious ores I'M
neaiat.i~ became such glut in the
market fhnt even the Boston y Col
orado Smelling Company, which Is
entirely independent of the lead>ore
question. ised its treatment charges
from one dollar per ton upon low
grade ores t. three dollars upon those
with more than 80 ounces of silver.
All <il..nce goes to show that the
causes OF the present situation are al
we have outlined them The talk O
it, peipg due to combined move
.ue:4t or the part # the smelters i
sheer nonsense. They have simpi.
been Obliged Co act as they have, t.
secure their own salvation. 1t Is un
d.niaoIe ,ha, the smelling compaue
Of this country. the unwilling paitici
pants in w all street and Congress
-Soual scheme OF silver speculation
+ have lost large amounts OF none
j throE gu site Hictuati@ns of tie silve
market, and 1t Is certain that tircnn
stances have demanded diff rel
stand toward the ore producers.
/ the latter may expect the maln'enaAe
of the present prices as long as II
! presene CON itions continue. lhfi
NAV be some talk of the estab!ishmeI
of small smelling works, TO be owne
AMI operated by svndica'es OF min'r
comp is, bat venture to asse
that Sn~h schemes will be ahandons
upon sober second thought II
miners viii have to face the prese