Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-07-25
Highland Miners Mourn.

there think they are Disseminated
against. 1t costs 1925 per ton to de-
liver zinc ore at the works in this
city from Highland The highest
price paid miners here for the best
ore. delivered at the furnace is $l4
per ton, netting the miner about
$3.50. From that sum deduct 1925,
(the cost of transportation from
Highland,) and it is seen that the
offer OF $ll for ore there is fully up
to the best price paid here. 1t is
said that the Missouri bone which
completes with ours, and which Is now
commanding at the mines there
about $lS per ton, while richer than
ours, is ltAs tractable, requiring a
certain per cent. of the Wisconsin
product to oxidize readily by the pro-
cess employed. The Missouri bone
delivered in Mineral Point probably
costs $2l ton. This alone, it Is sus-
picioned, cannot be utilized profit
ably. The Wisconsin product, to
insure profit to the manufacturer,
must therefore be obtained at a less
price than its Individual value, for
mixing with the over-expensive
Missouri ore. II Highland is n vic
tim Of this circumstance, she is only
more so than Mineral Point to the
extent of the cost of transportation
between the two points. Following
is the Highland complaint:
"There was a time only few years
back when the fame Of our mines was
known far and wide. Thousands
of tons of ore We're annually eN-
trac}ed from the ground and shipped
u outside points. Good prices was
the rule and orr little homes smiled
with the blessing Of plenty. The
past three years have seen all this
destroyed and the hand Of desolation
hangs heavy over our community.
Thousands of tons of ore now lay
stacked up ON the ground; hundreds
of thousands more are ready to be
hoisted, but il we lived on the cold
cliffs of Iceland or on the sandy area
of the Sahara desert, we could not be
more accommodated by the bust
ness world. We are not asleep. We
read the reports of our daily papers,
and we learn with rising hope of the
advance in all kinds of manufactured
products; Of advances in the COM
modify We produce. In other years
with our markets little better than
now, buyers came here almost every
day. Now il Is matter Of months.
Reports from Southwest Missouri
show sales of great quantities Of ore
ut exceedly good prices. We do not
claim that our ore is az good. 1t has
been proven better, and as we are
closer To market the difference in cost
Of transportation ought to certainly
be a greater indueement to the pur-
chase of orr ores. We are willing
during the panieky times to stand
hard times, but the world is again
awake and we are not being treated
fairly for some reason. Our miners
are all intelligent, honest men, and
the years of prosperity gave them
good homes and saw little families
growing up all around us. Those
same babies now cry for the bread
that gives them life but they cry ii
vain
MI. n. IL. snow and his assistant
buyer for the Mineral Point Zine and
Oxide Go. visited our town this week,
and Inspected the huge and valuable
piles of ore stacked ut our mines.
which it seems they Intentionally
avoided for the last three years. The
prices bid for zinc ore all grades
considered, were below all reasonable
bounds, Sll.0o per ton being bid for
the very choicest ore, and that only
for sample load. This Sll does not
by any means give the standard price
OF the hest ore Ii is only sample
load to he used rs a criterion. Eleven
dollars Is paid for this one load in
lump. Ii is doubtful whether Mr..
snow would offer more than So or S6
after il was crushed. 70 prove how
unreasonable this appears on cheaper
grades. | desire to state only facts.
We have u pay j royalty u land
owners of II III the whole, clear ne
expense. The very best miners are
required u take the ore out Of the
ground, and i ct Of experienced
men to clean It after hosting, and
then pay - per ton to deliver il to
the nearest line Of rail. How is it