Arizona silver belt., 1896-07-09
OLD DOMINION COPPER co.
A Reply to a Derogatory Statement
 Made by a Correspondent,

| pcared unuer the caption 'Ine Ol0
 Dominion Copper Company" com
 munication signed 70. F. B." and dated at Globe, Ariz, purporting to be written with the laudable desire to give authentic information to an inquirer as to the condition of the company's prop. erty here, and ''partly for the benefit of those who may be either directly or indirectly concerned in its welfare" as the writer puts it. Truly, commend able motive, were 1t sincere, and did 70. E. B" possess the knowledge of the Old Dominion company's affairs which he professes.
 The animus of the writer is so apparent that the article would scarcely merit attention had it not been pub lished at time when the Old Dominion company was involved in serious trouble with some of its employees, resulting in the suspension of work, and "C. F.. B's'' real intention was evidently to further cripple the company by discrediting it among eastern stockholders and invest ors in copper stocks.
 If that was the only pernicous result of this defamatory publication, the company could be left to deal with it as might to them seem best, but the insinuation that the life of the Old Dominion company's mine is measured, and the assertion that "the seventh level shows very little ore and the eighth is altogether barren, is serious disparagement of Globe as q copper district, and no one who has the pros. perity of the district at herat but will condemn statement palpably false. The effect of its publication in repu- table mining journal cannot be other wise than injurious to Globe, since the excellent reputation which the camp enjoys abroad is due largely to the past success of the Old Dominion Copper company.
 That the mine is rot deteriorating is we'll established fact. The ore bcdieG on the seventh level are equal to those above, and if the eighth level is barren, IS 70. E. B. asserts, then he must possess the power of seeing into the ground further than other mortals, and does not require the use of divining rod to locate mines. The fact Is that the eighth level has not been sufficiently opened to determine the extent of the ore bodies, or to prove the alleged narrowing in wedge form of the walls. The work has been confined almost exclusively to drifting. Two cross-cuts have been run, one tapping the foot wall short distance from the shaft on the east; the other started towards the foot wall on the west side of the shaft, and in this latter cross-cut there is very favorable occurrence of ore. Aside from this there are ct least four occurrences of ore in the dfifts of only less importance than the cross-cut because not followed up and developed as fully. There is no reason 10 believe that the vein will pinch below the seventh level.
 When the sale of the Old Dominion was made the property remained in charge of the former superintendent, x. s. Berray, and, for brief period, of his assistant, Louis B. Walker, until Mir. Parnall arrived, in August, 1895, and assumed charge, and the assertion that "the mine was retimbered, put in good shape and in condition to ship before Mir. Parnall was sent down, is wholly false. No timberihg of any consequence was done for some time after MT. Parnall's arrival here. The first important work of this description was the timbering of the shaft, which was undertaken only when it was found that the shaft could not be sunk deeper without first enlarging the facilities for handling the increased flow of water.
 70. E. B." exaggerates greatly the difficulty encountered in running the furnaces. When smelling began, as we are reliably informed, two of the furnaces employed were old and leaky, and gave the management considerable trouble, and for 8 time the third fur mace failed to do satisfactory work, owing to the substitution of a new crucible Gan experiment. for the old one burnt out. |. These defects were soon remedied aud for some time before the shut down three furnaces were con- tinuously in blast, and with satisfactory results The furnaces were not blown in on 5000 tons of ore, neither was it run through at dead loss of tens of thousands of dollars, as 70. E. B. |" asserts. There was something over 4600 tons of ore in the ..bins when the furnaces were blown in and no loss was sustained in smelling it.. There ie scarcely statement made by '.C. E. B." which is not either false or mis- leading.
 If 70. E, B.'s" identity has been correctly divined, he has never beer in the Old Dominion company's mine and