The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-06-23
TALES OF TIE TIMES.
Tho Anaconda Mines-A Romance OF the
West.


Tho Anaconda Mines-A Romance OF the
West.
1t is reported that tho great Anaconda
mining and smelling properties In Mon
tana have been sold by J. b. Haggin and
Marcus DAILY to an English syndicate,
backed by the Rothschilds, for s4b, 900, ,oOo
The Developments of these properties is ono
Of the most interesting romances OF the
rapid creation Of wealth In the Rockies.
Somewhere back In the seventies two
miners named Hickey, who came from St
Lawrence county, n. Y, began to sink
shaft ON hill overlooking the little min
ing camp of Butte. In valley hard by
ran the Silver Bow creek, and along its
banks the gold seekers had washed out
about all the yellow metal that could be
found in the gravel and had begun TO turn
their attention to the outcroppings OF sill
yer ore on the faces of the hills A few
paying mines had been opened Edward
Hickey remembered n sentence he had
read in one of Horace Greeley's editorials
when he and his brother were living on
their York state farm-a sentence about
McClellan's army closing in around Rich
mond like a huge anaconda, and he gave
in the ground. A fairly promising vein of
silver orc was struck, but the Hickeys had
no money TO go ON with the mine and
wanted to sell It,
a stalwart young Irish miner named
Marcus DAILY had been noticed about the
camp for sorle time. He would work in q
Iaine for q week or two and then call for his
time, saying that he had the rheumatism
and wanted TO lay off for while. Then
ho would get q job in another mine and
again quit after short spell of work
This young man had been sent out To
Butte by j. Il. Haggin of California TO
pick up some good mining properties, and
he bought the Anaconda for hts principal
for $4,000.
What Haggin wanted was silver mine.
Nobody ao that time suspected that there
was vast wealth of copper ore underlying
Butte, but as the Anaconda shaft was sunk
deeper the silver vein turned into rich
copper vein, carrying besides its phenom-
enal wealth of copper enough silver to pay
all expenses of mining and smeltiog, so
that the copper was all clear profit. DAILY
was superintendent and part owner. He
showed himself to bea man of great bust
ness capacity and OF tlasterful temper. He
developed the mine, bought adjacent mines
on the copper vein, and wanting place to
reduce and sinelt his ores where water and
wood were plentiful he founded the town
of Anaconda in "a valley 4ome 20 miles
away and there established the greatest
copper plant in the world. He was not
satisfied with the rates the Montana Union
railroad charged him for transporting his
ores, so he built parallel road from Butte
TO Anaconda. Tho Anaconda now pro-
duces one-tourth Of the entire copper out
put OF the globe. Its annual product ex-
ceeds that of all the Lake Superior mines
combined. Last year the assets of the
Montana company were figured up ut S37,-
0S7, ,092, and its net profits were SO, S62, ,000
1t has ., 900, 900 tons OF orc in sight In its
mines, and no one of its shafts Is down
farther than I, 500 feet How much deeper
the vein goes into tho bowels of the earth
is matter Of conjecture 1t will no doubt
bc worth to the new owners a great deal
more than the S45, 600 900 they pay for it,
All this vast increase in actual wealth from
the original $4,000 paid the Hickeys has
come out of the ground. Butte now
city of $4,000 people, has many mines be
sides the Anaconda, but none that APP
proaches it iii value.
When fortune came TO him in big chunks,
so to speak, Marcus DAILY did not forget
that he had been working miner himself,
tunneling, blasting and shoveling ore with
the boys. He has always been good friend
TO the miners, maintaining their high
standard of wages and giving generously to
aid those in distress. His tastes are simple,
and his only extravagance is his passion
for fine horses At Hamilton, in the Bit
ter Root valley, he has fenced in great
tract OF pasture land and maintains one of
tho best breeding farms in America His
racers have long been famous on the prin-
cipal courses of the east He is resolute
antagonist in business struggles, and no
has more than once broken the combina-
tions of the copper syndicatcs of Paris