The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-11-10
.NERcUR MINERS SUBMIT
To the Reduction Made il Thei,
Wages.
THEY GO BACK TO WORK,
LATEST NEWS FROM THE GREAT
SILVER CAMP.
Reported Strike in the Alliance
MIR. FarnswOrth Returns From
Austin-A Great Cyanide Plant
West Mountain Placers-At the
ChampIain-aIininE Notes.

For a short time Thursday afternoon
things looked rather squally at the
Mercur mine, all on account of the re.
duction in the wages of the employees
| to $3.50 daily. 1t was a question wheth-
er or not the mines of the company
would continue to be operated for the
present, at least, but President bern
was firm, and his ukase was to the
effect that if the men did not care tC
work under the new schedule Of wages
the mines were to be closed. The men
went back to work and the continued
development of the big ore deposits is
again in progress. President Dern stat
ed yesterday that the company is still
taking out ore from the upper work
ings of the mines, and experts estimate
the supply at not less than $4,000 tons
of high grade ore. The great strike
was made in the Ruby, and this prop
erty will become very heavy producer
upon the completion of the road and
mill.
The Mercur Mercury, of yesterday
gives the following news of the dis
trict including an account of the labor
strike:
The most important development that
has been made in the camp for some
months is the ore body in the Mercur
mine, the discovery of which was re-
corded last week in these columns. II
has been pretty thoroughly demonstra-
ted that it is either an entirely sep
arate vein, which lies under the pres
ent workings, or that it is the lower
no I'd Of f7o,a yoir diXyi6 n6
from the upper part by only a thin
strata of barren ground. In that case
the company have thus far only skim
med off a portion of the surface of the
vein, leaving untold wealth yet to be
extracted, and in either case the life
and value of the mine have been i'm
tmeasurably increased. The credit for
the discovery is due to Superintendent
Charlie Howard. After making an ex-
haustive survey of the mine, taking the
dip in over seventy places, he deter
mined that there should be ore where
the discovery has been made and men
were put to work to demonstrate his
theory. The result will add new lau-
rels to his reputation as mining en-
gineer and geologist. The ore is as
good and perhaps better than any yet
taken from the mine.
The Mercur company Wednesday
notified their employees of a reduction
in wages to $3.50 a day, with cut in
the price of board to rs cents a day to
take effect November 1. A meeting of
the miners of the camp was held in
the evening, at which the reduction was
discussed, and a vote was taken as to
whether the men should accept the cut
or quit work, none but the men
employed in the Mercur being allowed
i,a fox- If
work, and the day shift went to work
as usual yesterday morning.
Yesterday noon the men who went
on shift in the morning quit work and
sent for Superintendent Howard in
order to hold a conference.
In the afternoon Superintendent
Howard telephoned President Dern that
the men had quit work and asked for
instructions. The latter replied that
the mine owners of Park City and
Bingham, as we'll as the smaller mine
owners Of this camp had long COM
planned. because the Mercur paid such
high wages, and they had at length
yielded; that the company would abolish
the boarding house and pay $3.50 day,
allowing the men to board where they
chose, and that if the men refused those
terms to close the mine until he came
down.
A meeting was held last night at
which no definite decision was arrived
at The men went to work again this
morning.
1t was reported last night that the
Marion would not follow suit. They have
always paid the highest wages in the
camp, taking it all around. and claim
that results amply justify the policy.
The heaviest grade on the line is AZ
per cent.
Miss Arcena Crandall and Miss Nora
Smith took ride on the engine of the
Mercur & Salt Lake railroad the other
day, in order to have the distinction
of being the first ladies to ride over
that line.
But two miles of grading, and that
the highest on the route, remains to be
done, and those connected with the road
inform us that it is confidently eX-
pected that trains will be running into
Mercur inside of thirty days.
Booth and Edwards. who are leach
ing the Mercur tailings dump, are
meeting with excellent success.
Considerable work is being done on
the Matte No. 4, and with excellent re-
suits.
Matt Osborn, one of the Geyser COM
pany. paid visit to the camp during
the week.
President Dern, of the Mercur, in
forms US that it is anticipated that the
of the mill will be COM
pleted inside of three weeks, when
everything will he started up again in
full blast The work on the mill is now
rapidly.