The San Francisco call., 1898-06-26
Indications That War and Drought Are Not
 Like Wine to Mining.
Uncle Sam Is Down on Sul- phur Fumes at KeSWick. Oregon and It's Gold
 and Silver.

|
 feet on the mining industry in general. 1 though no very good reasons why this
 should be so are discernible. This effect | is partly real and partly apparent only. l Men and newspapers are not talking about mines as much as they did because l the war has an overshadowing popular
 interest. Established mining operations
 proceed as usual, and others planned or
 begun develop steadily, but without at- 1 tracting so much notice.
 i There Is noticeable however a slight
 and temporary depressing effect that Is
 real. It is most noticeable in the field of
 investment. Men who would ordinarily
 put some money in a fairly promising
 mining enterprise that came along will
 now often say, Well, wait until the war
 Is over." Promoters often do not find it l so easy to enlist capital and float mining arily interested in mining as a business. There is no good reason why this should
 pc so. Promising. opportunities are no fewer, and practical mining conditions are not affected by the war. It Is just the way people are built and the way the
 thing works This effect was early noticed to some extent in mining stock specula-
 ton before the stamp tax was fairly threatened. In California the exception
 ally dry year combines with this m vague vague | booms. As before stated, this influence IS almost wholly exerted on new enterprises
 Mining In California nevertheless, is in as healthy a condition as ever in it's history. Except where water supplies are. snort, operations are booming along as usual, and great number of important new aee
 velopments are under. way. The chief stimulating effect of the war Will De Ieit in copper, lead and iron production: The present year will show r g great at aovafSe ou nee whole, as great one as would nave oc- cured but for the war.
 The war tax has apparently dealt an
 almost fatal blow to stock board specu-
 lation in low-priced mining stocks and
 those interested are trying to figure out
 where they are "at." The tax is cents
 for each transfer of a lot of stock of the and the shares which provide the bulk Of
 the business in mirdng stock exchanges
 in Los Angeles, Denver and elsewhere
 are generally of the face value of s100 and sell for few cents, often less than
 cents If the stock is worth only cents
 the tax is 100 per cent for each 2 transfer 1S
 ever woes may come to the stock gam blers the legitimate interests of the min
 ing industry will not be affected.
 The immense new pipe line and asphalt
 refinery built in Santa Barbara County by the Alcatraz Asphalt Company, at a
 cost of $500 GOO, was put into operation for the first time a few days ago. One feat
 ure of the plant Is a double pipe line
 thirty miles long from the mines in the Sesquoc district to the coast. The asphal- tum is transferred through this pipe line after being liquefied with naphtha. The great extent of this company's operations and the promise of great future for the
 asphalt industry in California are little The company's production will now be greatly increased. Large developments in other asphalt fields are being planned. The Alcatraz Company is now laying two
 miles of pavement in London, has paved
 miles of streets in Edinburgh and Glas- gow and has very large market in New
 York.
 The great Mountain Copper Company, which is operating on so large scale at it's mines Iron Mountain and its smelters at Keswick, Shasta County, has
 got into trouble with Uncle Sam, and
 Bedding is worried with a fear that
 operations may be checked. The trouble Is all due to the sulphur fumes from the
 smelters. These fumes spread over the
 country and kill nearly all vegetation
 for miles around. There is hardly po-
 tato patch in the region affected and the vegetation injured Is mainly the small ago, on complaint from somewhere, a
 special agent of the Government went there and made an investigation. Since then results have been awaited with in- terest. The result has now come in the
 shape of an injunction suit brought by
 the Government to restrain the com pany from operating its smelters without putting in condensers to take care of its deadly sulphur fumes. The people gen. orally up there tolerate the fumes and the square miles of dead scrub pine very
 which attends the expenditure of so
 much money and the support Of so large Readings business depends on these cop per operations. It is not likely that oper- ations will be checked, even if an tnjunc-
 ton were inforced. The company would simply be at a considerable extra ex- pense to keep it's sulphur to itself.
 The mining situation in Oregon Is de-
 scribed in the report of Eugene B. Braden in charge of the assay office at Helena, Mont, to the Director of the Mint, and now given out in advance. In the course of his report MT. Braden says: "The value of the gold and silver pro- | duced in the State of Oregon during the calendar year 1897 was s1,354. .593 43 and
 s109,642 6S respectively. Corresponding
 values for the year 1896 were s1,290, ,s63 6S and $71, ,S11 37. The increase In gold dur
 ing 1897 was s69, ,629 75, and in silver $37,-
 Ssl 21, total of slO1 .46Q @ 9S. The percent per cent;- silver, 213 per cent; total pro- duction, IF per cent.
 "The mining of precious metals was
 confined to two districts. These are com
 prised in Northeastern Oregon and Southwestern Oregon. Of these two dis tricts the northeastern is the more inn
 portant, because of larger output from 1 both quartz and placer mining. In the southwestern almost the entire output is
 
 i efforts been put forth to develop and
 work the quartz lodeS.
 Prospecting is being earnestely prose-
 cuted in both the mining regions. In the
 northeastern part of the State the ex- 1 ploitation of many meritorious claims was | vigorously prosecuted last year and a
 number of new properties are included in | the list of producers. It is only recently l that any attention has been given to
 prospecting for quartz lodes in South western Oregon. The output from this 1 source last year was very small Con ! siderable new machinery is being in 1 stalled and the future output from veins
 must necessarily increase"
 1 In an action brought in San Bernardino l County by the County Recorder against 1 the Recorder of the mining district to de- i termine whether or not the County ne | corder Is entitled to fees for recordine | mining claims, Superior Judge Camnhei1 l last week rendered a Judgment holding
 that the State law of March 27 1897 nra,
 scribing the manner of locating mining
 claims, etc, was constitutional Work Will be commenced irnmedia tel,, l In installing an immense new comnressad
 air plant at the Plumbago mine above
 Moores Flat The plant will be located | on the Middle Tuba River, about 4000 feet l below the mine. The air will he tranS
 mitted to. and relocated at the mine It ia estimated that 1t will cost in the neieb