The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-02-08

1t looks very much as though the
Colorado smelters' clearing house, or
ganized for the purpose of affording
the reduction plants in that state an
opportunity Of making q uniform in
teEchange of ores, will so to pieces on
tlte 18th of The present month. as upon
tE date the agreement between the
shelters viii expire by limitation and
there are not many OF the members
who desire TO continue longer under
the present arrangement. In the event
of reorganization it is more than
likely that an invitation will be ex-
tended TO the Salt Lake valley smell
tiers TO join i'll the organization, and
from what has long been talked of, a
Utah-ColoradO clearing house. The
possibility that such action will be
taken IS creating considerable Of a stir
an mining and smelling circles. al
eAough 1t is hardly believed that the
local plants win enter the eonnbina-
ton Already several plans looking ia
inc consolidation have been considered
ana abandoned. for the simple reason
that one or more of the valley plants
ola not desire to enter into the neces-
sary agreements. after the matter had
been soberly considered,
There are several reasons why the
members of the Colorado clearing
mouse are not satisfied With the work
nss OF the consolidation, but chief
among them is the claim that some of
me Smelters are getting more than
eilelI snare OF The ore handled by the
creating house. In the event Of a rup-
lure all Of the Colorado sineIters will
enter the open market for ores and
t!eir agents are sure 10 enter this ter
Tltory and the country of the local
pltants. 1t Is also possible that a brisk
c9mpetltlon for ores will be worked
W, all Of which might be of some
oeneht TO the producers OF the terri
people have been approached by the
colorado people. or if they have they
are keeping very mum regarding the
SUBJECT The genral sentiment. among
them, When seen yesterday afternoon,
was that consolidation would be in
advisable at this time. AS a matter
o. fact there seems TO be no need for
the clearing house, for the reason that
the local plants have for several years
made friendly interchangeS of ores. ana
this is about all the consolidation Is
10 be effected for. But for this ex-
change OF ores the valley plants would
be unable te handle the entire product
OF any one big property on account OF
the great saneness of ores.
The Colorado clearing house was or
gained last summer and includes all
the operative smelters of the state
With the exception Of the Union and
Bimetallic at Leadville. Its object was
to distribute to the various works the
ores consigned from the mines as the
particular character OF The ore might
be needed by the particular smelier
AT first fash the organization was
viewed by mine owners IS "A combine
10 advance smelter charges, Lut as
the plan became better understood the
objections died out aud the mine own
ers found they had been too hasty in
suspecung a design against them. The
smelter men. on their mart, say they
have profited no more through the OPP
Grafton OF TIE clearing mouse than be-
fore its organization, but at the same
time the association has filed a ser
Tlceable place in the business Of dis
| HAting the ores as needed and pre-
VI&ing the accumulation of certain
grades, While others necessary to the
change were lacking.
The dissolution of the association
seems 10 be due to dissatisfaction of
some of the members over the oDera-
lion of the plan The Pueblo com
panies felt that those OF Denver were
getting more ores than they should
and the strongest opposition to CON
dnue the organization came from the
Philadelphia company of that city.
Therefore, while the management of
the clearing house has been entirely
satisfactory to all concerned, the plan
has its opponents and viii be diScon-
tinued in its present form.
The ore supply of the valley smelt-
ers is still very low and the reserves
are being constantly reduced. But four
stacks are being operated. less than a
quarter capacity. OF these the Ger
mania has one on ores and another on
matte and the Hanauer and Penn
sylvania one each. Contracts for the
year 1898 do not seem to be plentiful
and II is still an open question as to
whether or not a number Of the heavy
shippers viii continue the movement of
any of their ores beyond a certain
period not very far away