The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-18
SALE OF THE EMr1A.
How This Famous Utah Mine Was
Financiered at London.

Financiered at London.
A correspondent of the Denver Time
! has contributed an article on Gam
bling as an Epidemic" in which he de
scribes the speculative crazes that hav,
shaken financial centers during recen
years. A portion of his letter is de
voted TO the manipulation on the Lon
don market of the Emma mine. To-
Gated in Little Cottonwood canyon
While not venturing an opinion as t
the truth of the statements made. the
apparent desire to create an impression
that the property never possessed any
merit is not justified by its history
However. the story is of local interest
as 1t relates to an era of Utah mining
that is fast fading from public recol-
lection.
The writer saws:
Coming down to a later period there
was an outbreak Of speculative fever
in London between 1868 and 1872. in
| which American and Australian mines
and American railways were the ex-
citing cause. A famous . al in Erie
shares that made money Tor everyone
but the outsiders, had somewhat
checked the progress of the fever when
there arrived in the English stock ex-
change territory two American gentle
men with a mission. They wished to
give the English investing public a
chance to purchase one of the most
wonderful mineral properties in the
world. the Emma" silver mine, in
Utah.
There were features of the Emma
mine deal that made it one of the most
notable transactions of its kind. In
the first place. the American gentlemen,
Messrs. Trenor. William Park and W.
NJ. Stewart. : nited States senator from
Nevada. found that, while they bore
excellent credentials, there was no ap-
parent haste on the part of the in
vesting public to take the property off
their hands A bold stroke won the
recognition they sought. General
Schenck. who was at that time United
States minister at the court of St.
James. was not particularly well off
financially, and an arrangement was
made whereby he was enabled TO pur-
chase an interest in the property with
money advanced for the purpose. and
with a guarantee of a substantial profit
on the transaction in any event.
1t thus happened that the name of
the man who gave poker to England"
figured prominently in the prospectus
Of the new English company. With his
name TO trade on when backed 10y sew
eral English 'honorables and NJ. P's,'
the American gentlemen sold the En-
ma mine for a million sterling. Never
were prospects brighter apparently.
There was a report from Professor Sill
Imam of Yale, dilating with great tech
meal exactness on the richness of the
ore he had seen during a careful in
spection OF the property. Mr.. Park re-
ported in his official capacity that there
was ore and accrued profits aggregat-
ing .e6OO0O0 in sight, and that the ore
previously shipped 10 England had
realized nearly &3S per ton. He men
toned incidentally that the cost of pre-
pairing it for shipment was less than
10 shillings ton, thus showing tidy
little profit. The net yield per annun,
according to his figures, would be not
far from 100000. and if they could |
erect smelters. which they should do |
as a matter of business, it could be |
made to yield eS00,O00.
By the terms of the sale the profits |
above Is per cent per annum were to !
be retained until the interest charges
for II months had accumulated. After |
this e1S0.O00 had accumulated the full |
rate of Sc per cent per anum was to
be paid regularly. Mr.. Park was for
tunate in having the active support of |
a gentleman named Grant, with a well |
earned reputation as market rig
GER" This enterprising expert looked
after the literary end of the enterprise,
and saw that the interests of the COM
pany did not suffer through ny over
sight of the finacial press.
Dividends at the rate of is per cent |
per annum were paid regularly for 10
during which the investing
public had bid the shares up to &23,
and there had been some large trans
actions. Then the payment of divi-
lends stopped, and there were legal
enough to keep her maj
ssty's courts busy for months and
months. Eventually the whole shameful
story was told.
Two strolling prospectors in Little
Cottonwood canyon, in the Wasatch
'ange of mountains of Utah. 16 miles
rom Sandy, a station on Union Pa
life branch, thought they saw evil
lences of silver in a ledge. They gave
eign to their Imagination, fancied it
vas a mine and christened ii the EN-
na." after a mutual female acquaint-
nee. This might have been the end
f it had not James Z. Lyon, mining
peculator. bought third interest
During the first year. while Lyon was /
here. only 100 tons of ore were taken
nut After he went away things i'm
roved. and they tried to freeze Lyon /
ut. He fought them, beat them in the ,
ourts. and then found that in the ,
anne of freeze-out MessrS. Park and /
;axter. the former known as the great ,
xhausting receiver" had acquired an :
interest in the property. The result of
consultation was a compromise, and
he mine, which had been developed ?
nd was then worth at a liberal valua- :
ion $3.50. 900, was prepared for the En- :
fish sale. 1t was artistically and {
Sailed by an expert Z
AIMED Silas Williams, and Professor '
illiman. for some reason, was unable I
} discover anything but the handi- i
'ork of nature in the distribution of S
ealth. Unkind people thought pres t
ut of $1,000 might have had something 7
} do with 1t.
When the facts were all sifted from
he fiction ii was found that the total
utput of the mine for the Is months. 3
uring which dividends had been paid v
ut of the purchase money. had been b
80. 900 worth of silver. of which $4,000 d
orth had been dug out of the prop \
'ty of an adjoining company. and had f
be refunded. The details supplied n
Y Mr.. Park had been fabricated. The C
lares tumbled from e23 to G3 each. a
Id the British public promised itself t
would keep out of Yankee mines in 4
lie future. And it is still difficult to T,
arket an American mining property r
England. n
With the subsequent developments D
this country. the congressional in v
stigation of General Schenck's con- n
.ction with the fraud. and the vote IL
censure passed upon him. the his is
~ of the Emma mine closed. j
ri
Women are good deal like cats Most