The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-03-06
OPTION GOES BY DEFAULT.
THE CONSOLIDATED DO NOT PUN-
CHASE THE ROUtHLEiU-ElY
PROPERTY ON II, 5s-1S.
The C.wse q Natter Of Conjecture.

The C.wse u Natter Of Conjecture.
The big prospective sale O.
Mesaba iron property by the
Rouchleau-Ray company, is off
This news is the chief topic ir
iron circles at the present time
and it is being discussed every
where that nden do congregate
1t was quite generally expected
that the deal would be- consum
mated by midnight Friday, bu
it was not and there was rumol
that it would surely be conclud
ed yesterday. But last evening
it was admitted by the repre-:
sentative of the Rouchleau-Ray
company in this transaction that
the deal had fallen through.
The Consolidated Mining com.
pany three months ago secured
an option on the Rouchleau Ray
property, paying $l25, 900 there
fore or 10 per cent of the pur.
purchase price which was 81,
250,000. The option expired al
midnight Friday and the 1925,
900 which paid over wr1l consti-
tute "liquidated damages"
The fact that the Consolidated
should adopt such a radical
change of front at the cost OF
forfeiting $125,0O0 furnished
much material for gossip and
speculation yesterday. The rea.
sons given for the failure of the
Consolidated to close the dea7
are many, but it is doubtful il
any of them are more substan
tial than men surmlse. A gen.
tleman very close to- the owners
OF the property in question gives
as his opinion that the several
new and important discoveries
of ore on the Mesaba, the recent
decline in the iron market and
tendency to stringency in the
money market observed Of late,
all had something to do with
the dismelination on the part o1
the Consolidated to close the
deal. Another reason may have
had its influence; is the fact that
the apportionment of Mesaba
ore for '96, which was made since
the option was procured, limits
the range to about one-third OF
it's capacity.
There was a runsor that the
Consolidated had offered to
! close the deal at a reduced ig
! urc, 100000, but this is emphat.
ically denied by a gentleman who
knows. He says the option sim.
! ply lapsed and nothing was said
! or done relative to a compromise
price.
The purchase price Of the
property had been deposited
in the First National bank of
Duluth IN the shape of certificate
checks. There was O. gold clause
in the contract but the owners
of the property agreed later to
tho checks.
Il do not look upon the failure
of the Consolidated to complete
the deal as significant Of. any
thing in particular D saidsa gen
tleman Who is largely Interested
in Mesaba iron properties. Il
can see where it may prove a
good thing for Duluth in the
end. It will have a tendency to
strengthen the proposition
known as the Merritt road.
There are 20 recognized and i'm
portant mining properties on the
Mesaba that are not included in
the two big mining consolida
tions and as the R0uchle au- Ray
property is one of these and is a
valuable one, the situation can.
not be otherwise than encourag-
ing for the new road"
The principal owners in the
property known as the Rouch
leau-Ray are the: heirs of the
late Senator Higgins, of New
York state. Giles Gilbert and
Senator Higgins were the origi-
nal sole owners, and the subse.
quently sold a considerable in
terest to the Rouchleau- Ray
company. It is reliably stated
that the Higgins heirs are MOI
exceedingly anxious to sell their
interests, and unless they gel
their price they will not sell.
From another source it is
learned that the collapse of the
transaction practically assures
the construction of the Merritt
road.