The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-05-18
SAPPHIRE AND RUBY CO.
General Manager Wood Actively
Pushing Operations Out At
Eldorado Bar.
What a Trade Publication IL Do
Ing to Retard the Success
Of the Company.
Promising Mining Section Tributary to
Rcd Lodxe-Granite and Bi-Mettallic
to Use Electricity.

General Manager Wood, of the Sapphire
and Ruby Company of Montana. has quite
a force Of men at work on EldorRdo bar.
getting ready for The seasons work. A
number of teams are kept busy hauling
lumber to be used in the construction of
houses for the employees, while surveyors are
at werk preparing for the construction OF
fumes. The operations of the company
are being watched with a great deal OF i-
terest, not only in Helena, but all over the
country. The jewelers. OF New York esps-
oially seem to take an interest IN every
move by the company. as we'll as the
doinps of the Montana men Interested III
it. The jewelers. Weekly. published in
New York, and devoted especially to the
iewelry trade, in its last issue repuhllshes
an item from The INDEPENDENT announcing
the formation of a company in which ). Il.
Hauser and F. d. Spratt are mentioned as
the incorporators, the objects Of the incor-
p%oration being set forth to be the mining
of gold and precious stones. Commenting
editorially on the item the Weekly says:
elsewhere in this issue of tho Weekly il
printed a dispatch from Helena. Mont, in
which it is asserted that Frank D. Spratt.
one of the brothers who recently sold Edo.
RADIO bar to an English syndicate, is one Of
the i~ncorpo-ators Of o rival sapphire and
ruby mining company. As the Weekly IN
derstands the purchase Of J1ldorado bar the
Epratts have a half interest il the English
company which expects to mine sapphlres
in Montana. These two facts. II facts
they be, inspire wonder on the part Of the
Weekly. Is MIR. Spratt striving to lnJure
BY competition the company IN which ne
-or 6 ~& - Anr,,$rjC 49, Va fanI thnG ha
has received for half his interest in Edo
RADIO bar all the land was worth and nope
to repeat the operation il regard to other
lands. or is he seeking to protect
the English syndicate by buying up
all lands which may produce sapph1res 70
dorado bar? This last mentioned purchase
is thoroughly consistent with the English
syndlcate's view Of the value Of Montana
sapphires; but the other two are more con
sistent with the belief that MIR. Spratt has
greater faith in the profits Of organizing
stock companies than in those of mining
sapphires in Montana. Which is the cor
rect explanation of the millionaire's con-
duct?''
Mr.. Spratt was shown the above yester-
day, and commenting on it, said: Tho
company referred to is simply an auxiliary
to the Sapphire and Ruby company of
Montana. and was organized for the pur-
pose of making certain transfers OF land to
the English company legal. Az to the
statement that I have organized or contem-
plate the organization Of q rival company
to the one organized in England, it is tbs
veriest bosh. All my interests are with it,
and / have such full faith in its success
that I have increased my original holdings.
The diamond merchants Of the east have not
given up their fight on the Montana
sapphire, but they will DO compelled to
capitulate TO public opinion after a while"
The same issue of the Weekly contains .
three-column interview with Geo. F. Kunz,
the Tiffany expert, in which hs attempts to
explain his favorable mention of the Mon
tana sapphire in an article in Harpsr's
Magaziy > by saying that it was a general
article, which the editor took the liberty of
cutting down. thereby changing the mean
ing he intended to convey. In the interview
Mr.. Kunz puts an Interpretation on the re-
ports of the English scientists and experts
who reported favorably on the Montana
sapphires hat he has no License for so do
ing. All the way through the interview
MIR. kunz's bitter opposition to the Mon
tana gem as a marketable article is shown,
and it will reach the people he most desires
to have hear his side of the story-the dia-
mond dealers. As a counter to Kunz the
leading jewelers. of London are the warm
supporters of the Montana gem interest,
and may be depended upon to do the stones
full Justice across tho water.