The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-01-26
DER MINERAL LANDS.
,osrANr IMPORTATION FE0M
v4gIOUS SECTIONS.
,,, committee Appointed Under JOINT
RESOLUTION OF the Legislature mas
Made Very FULL Report.

The committee appointed by inc 'ass
,-.,sian,rc 20 report as to the real ana
..,ahle value Of the mineral lands oil inc
s..,. has made the following report:
,,o General Assembly OF Virginia:
az ,,..,,,t,,ca Amounted under the fol-
,,esoiution. Resolved by the
49,, ~ delegates Uhe Senate concur
~, Tbot a committee OF eight ne APP
'e,.5 1--we from the House and three
,bc Senafc-to investigate and report
.tc next General Assembly the real
I'd me assessed value Of the mineral
s.ris In the State. In order that the same
..,v be reasscsscd and taxed according 10
.to real value. said committee 10 report
b., bin or otherwise. BEG leave 10 mdhe
thc following report:
Having visited and made personal ex-
..ination. and having taken the test-
.,onv 81 witnesses In various counties IN
,te mineral section Of the State. we OBJ
,,inel much important information rela-
,ive ~ the matter referred t. us In the
foregoing resolution
August Is. lSc we visited the Iron
Mountain mines ia Allegheny county;
found there a very extensive opening
and a large number OF men at work min
ing iron orc and shipping 1t TO the Low
Moore Iron Company's plant. We eX-
amlncd the managers and proprietors OF
nc mines and furnaces. and obtained
many facts relating 20 the subject from
these practical men.
The Tons Per Day.
Tho output Of the Allegheny lion Noun
s.ir Mining Company. OF Allegheny coun-
80 amounted 10 about "A hundred and
fftv tons per day, and they We're pre-
~a~ed 10 make the output two hundred
TONS per day. This property Is leased
rr,n the Hon. Peter McLaren, OF Cana
Ola. and is "A portion Of a tract OF lUz'yVV
acres OF highly valuable mineral lahu
Ivnr in the counties Of Allegheny ana
Bath. which Is regarded as one OF the
finest mineral properties in the state.
These mines have been worked very sue
cossfully FOR the past nine years. From
su examination Of the assessor, VINO re-
assessed these lands in 1892 we believe
that this property was not assessed at
anything like fits true value. considering
the output OF the mines on further ex-
animation at the Office OF the county clerk
az Allegheny county. we learned that
this property had recently been bought
ly Mr.. McLaren at s. per acre. Its as
eossed value in Allegheny county was
N75 per acre. A tract Of 2.Sl0 acres was
asseSsed at $3.50 per acre. but greater
portion OF this tract. already referred TO,
was assessed at Sl.7j per acre. The total
assessed value OF this property, including
the buildings and the mineral land. was
Si51G1.dO. The deed showed that McLaren
paid So per acre for this property in 1883,
amounting I'm round numbers TO about
$1,000. We ascertained that the amount
derived from the tax of ten cents on the
500 on this property for free school pur-
noses amounted TO SSH. We found these
lands thinly settled and largely held by
nOn-rcsdents.
The total tax on this vast body Of land
in the county OF Allegheny was $lS061.
The whole tax on them for county pur-
poses was S225.3i. This property is known
as The p0uthat Survey. The owner has
quite a large income from the iron ore
mined az Iron Mountain lie being q
nonresident. Of course there is no income
tax derived from him by the Common
wealth.
The Allegheny Company.
the Allegheny Mining Company IS ope-
rated by a joint stock company. On ex-
animation of the books at Allegheny
courthouse we found that no income tax
had ever been paid by the owner Of the
prOperty.Or the lessees. The books of the
commissioner Of the revenue showed that
for the previous year s., 200 had been stated
as the product Of these vast mines. The
amount Of tax derived on this was 1854.
10 show what has been lost to the state
in the way Of taxes, IL il only necessary
% call your attention to the fact that
by the statement OF the manager of the
Iron Mountain mines. which are the mines
operated by this company, the output of
these mines. for years back, has aver
aged 80 tons a day for working days
say 80 days a year This would make the
annual output about 1850 tons, WORTH
az the least, $50 per ton, making total
~ NG,S75 on which the state should have
received taxes.
The committee took evidence as TO the
relative assessed value of these mineral
lands as compared with that OF agri-
cultural lands in the same vicinity The
agricultural lands were assessed at from
81 20 $50 per acre, some as high as $40 per
acre. including buildings while alongside
of these farming lands a large tract Of
mineral land was assessed at 81 per acre.
a small acreage Of this land assessed at
81 was also used FOR agricultural pur-
poses.
During the examination Of the commits
aon0r u the revenue he was asked why
DE assessed the vast tract of mineral
land alluded TO above, at S1.75 per acre.
which is known as the DOuthat Survey
ana his answer was, 1T was a mere
guess arrived at the value Of the
Douihat Survey by the price paid which
was per acre. IL was formerly as
sessed AZ fifteen cents per acre but / as
s'esed IL al $40 per acre" This land is
now held at much higher figure than
me price paid for IT, and could not be
bought for great deal more than S. per
acre.
Your committee found that almost in
farably where large tracts of mineral
lands have changed hands the considera-
lion stated In the deed was nominal. say
from 81 10 so. In many cases the clerks
had not been informed as to the actual
consideration, and the State was cut out
II the revenue TO which il was entitled as
% tax upon the transfer OF the property.
Chambers survey.
This tract. embracing $3.50 acres. Is
situated IN the county of Allegheny. and
rad been returned as delinquent from
time 90 time. IL is claimed 10y three dill
ferent parties. all non-residcnts, and no
taxes have been paid by any of them. A
portion OF this is farming land. some Of
which is assessed as high as SIS per acre,
while the mineral portion Is assC sSed down
., low as fifty cents per acre. The clerk
of Allegheny county said that quite
large amount Of mineral lands in that
county had changed hands during the
past few years. His answer TO the question
ss 70 the price for which these lands sold
was this. HE expected where the farm
ana mineral lands were all taken together |
ty the pure hasers. the average price |
would be something like so per acre"
Rich Patch Iron Company.
The property OF this company was visit
~ by your committee and a very salts |
factory interview had with one of the |