The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-01-31
ON THE COST OF SILVER.
H. M. Beadle Objects to the Figures
as Furnished by Dr..
Ivan Miehels.
Things Which He Says Were Not
Taken Into Account
at All.
The Mines of Montana Taken As n Basis
for Axcsrtaining tho True Cost
of Production.

To The INDEPENDENT: Senator McPher-
son, OF New jersey, in All argument in
favor of ,epsaling the Sherman silver law,
under which the government IL purchasing
$500, 600 ounces of silver q month, quoted
figures from the report of Dr.. Ivan C..
Michela, who was in charge of the statistics
of mineral industries in the census bureau.
showing that the cost Of producing silver in
1889 was 81 cents An ounce. If Senator Mo-
Pherson is correctly quoted, DR.. Miohels
obtained his estimates of the cost OF pro-
ducing silver by taking the returns of the
mines producing silver in 1889 and dividing
the actual reported expenditure for work
ing such mines by Al, 0O0,O 600. the total
number of ounces produced. To 60 into
detail. Arizona silver costs 50 cents an
ounce; California silver costs nothing. the
gold paying all expenses: Colorado silver
costs a fraction over so cents an ounce;
Montana silver costs Al cents. anu Utah
silver ~ cents an ounce
If DR.. Michels obtained the cost of pro-
duoing silver as stated. he only exhibited
his incompetsncy anu unftness for the po-
sition he holds in the census bureau. He
has not taken into account the cost of pros
psctinR and developing mines, or the cost
of machinery, buildings. ETC.. to work
them. Neither has he taken into consider
alton the cost of prospecting and develop.
ing mining properties which have pro-
duced little OF no silver. He knows moth
ing about mining or wilfully attempts to
mislead those who consult his report.
Over thirty thousand mineral locations
have been made in Montana, moro than
one-half of which are on veins carrying q
greater proportion of silver in value over
the other metals. Who can determine the
cost Of searching for the veins upon which
these 10, 600 or 20. 600 locations are made.
It is not far wrong to say that each of these
locations cost $500 to find and locate, and
az no more than 5000 are patented the osdi-
nary development work has cost 800 a year
on each one. II costs about $500 to survey
and patent each claim after the $500 worth
OF development work has been done upon
it. There are not 100 silver mines now in
Montana which are producing enough sill
yer to pay their expenses at present prices.
If the people of the country understood
anything about mining, they could not be
deceived by this foolish writing as to the
cost of producing silver. They seem to
think that all that is necessa y Is to md a
V6lu OIL 6llV0F o4o AIN oAk Sus - y
They do not know that when q vein is found
that the ore has to be found also. The ore
in veins generally lies in "shoots." These
shoots are not perpendicular, bat are In
clined towards one or the other end OF the
vein. They may be only a few feet long,
that ia in the direction OF the strike or
course OF the vein, and il is not often that
their length is over seve al hundred feet.
Their continuity in depth is worry Irregular.
One may be ten times as long on one level
as it is on another, and frequently they
cease, or become verJ poor, at depth. There
10 no way of determining their extent or
value except By exploration.
This ia done by sinking shafts or driving
tunnels. The prospecting shaft is oftenest
sunk on the ore and is continued several
hundred feet in depth, and levels or drifts
run from it into the ore and along the vein.
If the ore body 10 found to be extensive a
working shaft will be sunk in solid ground,
and q hoist sufficient to work the mine at
depth be erected, with pumps to drain the
mine Over all must BE- u building to pro-
tect the machinery and the workmen.
II a tunnel is decided on it is started at
consider able distance down the hill 80 as
to reach the vein at considerable depth and
from it levels or drifts are run.
Levels are run at various depths from
fifty to 120 feet apart. Wines are sunk or
upraises driven at various distances apart
to connect these levels. When the devel-
opments have been extensive air shafts
reaching to the surface must be provided to
ventilate the mine.
This preliminary work is called dead
work by the miners. The cost of preparing
to take out ore is far greater than the cost
of breaking and lifting the orc. Yet DR..
Michels estimates the cost of producing sill
Yer at the expenses incurred after the mine
Is ready for stopping ore.
Sinking shafts is very expensive work,
costing from $40 & foot in the prospecting
shaft, sunk in and roughly timbered sofs
ground. to $12Q a foot for n tirst-class
three com partment shaft. Levels and up
raises cost from S. to $2b a foot, $50 being
about the average whe 9 timbaring has to
be done. Wines, which are small shafts
sunk from levels, cost about the same as
shafts. The machinery for operating q
shaft costs from u few Thousand to a quar-
ter of a million dollars. and the cheapest
shaft house will cost $l00 0 Roads have
to be constructed, often at great cost, to
enabls thu aupplies and machinery TO be
brought in and the ore to be marketed.
LII it is best to leduCe tho ore al the mine,
the smallest mill will cost $4,000, and some
of them cost over 500 GOO. 1t costs in
Montana from - to SIS to bteak ard mill
Il ton Of ore, tGe averag- cost being about
IS. If ores are shlpI ed on cara to smelters
the freight and reduction costs from SD to
49, r ton, Iva making up their
accouE;s companies seldom includs
the cost OF trtlgEt and IeduC-
tion OF ores sent 10 smelte's The puce
the ore brings ana the amount Of sliysr,
gold and lead III il Is all that 10 reported.
Therefore,, 1t ls very p]ro.nble, that Dr.
MichGls did not incIu.e the expenses OF
freight and reduction o: tie ores shipped,
III ascs aiming the cost of producing silver.
Mining In more uncertain than any other
business. and when it dots pay it ought to
pay better than any other business. The
cost of developing a mine so as 80 asceI-
tain whether 1T Will pay to erect machinery
and work it, IS alway gent.
The Bi-Metallio company, OF Granite,
spent over q million of dollars
upon that property before they had
any return, and the average cost of oeyel-
oplng mines, great and small, is not lssa
than SO, 600, and where one mine becomes
a paying property, fifty will wholly fail to
pay the cost Of deys opment, and fifty more
will barely return the money expended upon
them. In most ocou atoms she cost of
conducting any business may be closely APP
p!o4imhted, and the feceIUts be forstold
with considerable eIHctness: but in open
luG mines neither can he anything more
shan guessed at. In such q business il
must be expected That tbs returns. when q
property does pay, wall be- In greater ,ro-
portion to the outlay thun in any other bus
lness.
From the facts given il will be- seen that
the cost of reducing silver cannot be mr.