Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1896-02-11
colD MINES OF cRlppLe CREEK.


Cripple Creek, 30 far as Il Is known,
embraces = little area with radius OF
not more than three miles. 1t contains,
all told, perhaps eight or ten square
miles Of ground. This at the outside
would yield six or seven hundred full
claims. On these there would be pos
sibility, do not say probability, OF find
Ing veins rich enough to bear the cost OF
working. There are In the district, so
far, some twelve thousand located claims.
You may Judge OF the probable value Of
the most Of them.
or these twelve thousand claims OF
course the many are merely fractional.
About thirteen hundred are patented,
and have title established. OF these thir-
teen hundred, two hundred are shipping
ore. In other words, there are ten thou
sand odd claims In the district that so far
AZ developed are practically worth
nothing st all.
To put the matter In another way, up
wards Of nine hundred companies have
been organized thus far to operate In the
district, and dozens more are being put
In the field each week. OF these nine
hundred or more companies about six per
cent. or fifty or sixty In all, own pro-
ducipg mines. And Of the latter but
twelve or fifteen are dividend-payers.
OF course. In the clever and seductive
circulars which the countless mining
brokers scatter broadcast, YOU will read
OF this or that company which will be \
dividend-payer the very next week, or
the very next month, or something like
that, and whose stock may be bought
now for a song, and later be worth par
And they point TO numerous instances
to such splendid mines as the Portland,
| for example. just year ago stock In
the Portlsnd was selling at 40 cents, aud
| now Il Is somewhere around 200, and
paying dividend of IL per cent on this
value. There are number OF such In
stances as this, so that IL Is slight won
der that people should lose their senses
and invest In all sorts OF worthless and
"wild-cat" schemes that are thrown on
the market. But II you recall 10 MUD
that the gold kings Of California did not
make their money mining In the hills,
but by manipulation on the stock ex-
changes, you may perhsps conclude 10
keep your money In safe place. / do
not mean that all OF the stocks offered
on the exchanges Of Colorado are worth
less, but do mean to say that most OF
the companies that are being fiosted or
offered 10 the East are the sort that have
no standing, or will bring In Colorado
nothing like the price asked for them
East. IL Is fact that more money Is al-
ways spent on the claims next adjoining
bonanza mine than Is ever taken out oil
the mine itself.
| In Colorado, or for that matter, all
over the mining West, they divide mine
owners into producers and consumers
into the men who put money into a
mine and the men who get money out OF
IL. The meaning OF this Is that mining
has come To be business or science
which requires skill and training, and
technical knowledge, and the same
amount Of shrcwdness and ability which
Is required for success In any other line
Of trade. There may be greater folllcs
than for an Eastern man 10 put his
money into Colorado gold mines. jus,
at the moment think Of one-thst IL,
specializing 10 mining stocks.-Harper's
| Weekly.