The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-08-08
THE ONTARIO SHUT Down.
Superintendent Chambers
Talks of the Situation.
CANNOT MAKE EXPENSES WITH
SILVER AT Coo. AN OUNCE.
No One Regrets the Necessity of
Closing More Than Mr.. Chambers
The Feeling In Park City Is
Very Gloomy.

r. c. Chambers, superintendent of
the Ontario and Daily mines, came
down from Park City last evening. He
was not in his occasioned cheerful
state of mind The situation at the
Park is such as to preclude any condi-
ton other than that of depression.
mo, SIR" he said in answer to an
interrogatory from a Herald repre-
sentative, 1.-The mines will be closed
down. They will not start up at the
present price of silver We cannot
make expenses even when silver is SELL
ing at 60 cents an ounce, and under
the existing conditions no other course
could be pursued"
He reports the feeling in the Park as
being most blue. Said Mr.. Chambers:
THE effect will be a partial stagnation
Of business there, fror/ the fact that
by the closing down of the Ontario and
DAILY over 900 men will be thrown out
of employment. Besides these men,
many of whom have families, it is safe
to estimate that fully 400 other men,
who have or are pursuing vocations
which depend for support upon the
mines, will be affected. This means
that fully 5000 people in Park City
and Summit county will feel the effect.
Farmers in Utah, Salt Lake and Davis
counties will also have occasion to
curse the blight which has, been placed
upon silver
The mere announcement of the
shutdown" continued Mr. Chambers,
has caused a spirit of retrenchment
to seize upon the business men of the
Park, and already they are reducing
the number of their employees. Many
of the single men among the miners
who have been drafted are seeking new
fields and many of them have selected
Montana and Colorado points. With
the married men the situation is diff
ferent. Many of them-in fact, the ma
jority of them-own their homes. They
are happily situated, and prior to this
were happy and contented. They are
10th to leave their homes. and upon
them the blow falls hardest"
How many men have been drafted
in the Ontario and Daily mines?'' Mr.
Chambers was asked.
Il have not the exact number handy"
was his replw, but at the present time
only Is men are employed in the DAILY
and in the Ontario the force has been
reduced considerably more than one
half. The actual shutdown of the
mines will not take place for two
weeks yet; neither will the mills shut
down until all the ore now on hand
is worked up. Ihe tunnel, TOO, VIII be
closed. The work now going on in the
mines is in the nature of putting them
in good condition for a rest"
Mr.. Chambers then became reflective.
There was a tinge of sadness in his
tone when he said: The Ontario has
not looked as we'll or better in the past
year than it does now. The develop
ments in the new and lower levels are
showing better than ever before
The Ontario mine was discovered on
June IS, 1872, by a prospector named
Herman Buden, who accidentally
struck with his pick a cropping no
larger than a mans hat. Soon after
Al Garwich and John Wallace got on
option on it, but allowed it to lapse.
On Aug. "a of the discovery year the
late Senator Hearst and associates
purchased the claim of Buden for $685.
900, he receiving $4,000 and Garwich
and Wallace $4,000. On Sept. / of the
same year Mr.. Chambers, as superin-
tendent, began the work of develop
ment, and for % years he has had the
satisfaction of knowing that he was
at the head of one of the greatest silver
mines in the world. In that time it
has produced bullion to the value of
over S31, 000,0 900 and has distributed
over $4,000. 900 in dividends among its
stock holderc