The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1898-07-29
STAMPEDE TO THE GAS BELT.
The Smelling of Zinc rlust Hereafter
Be Done By the New
Process.

The following article from the X.
&. Journal concerning the disruption
of the Cherokee. Lanyon Spelter SYN
dictate Is of interest to all Lola aud
Allen county people rs IL Indicates
the future course Of the zinc industry
which means u general rush here:
JOPLIN, Mo-, July 25.-Tne Chero-
kee- LauyOn Sprlter Company, popu.
larry known rs the spelter combine,
Is no more, and the different elements
which composed it VIII sour be Oper.
ating Independently The combine
was organized in the fall OF 1894, aud
the companies comprising IL signed
contracts OF association tor five years
They stated that the purpose OF the
com binatiUu was to maintain more
unhO, IN price for -pelter aud to elm.
mate from the market the ruinous
competition when constantly de.
mOrallzvd the market. Another pnr.
pose was To- secure foreign market
in order To- unload the 1900 tons
of surplus spelter that annually bur
dened the domestic market. They
succeeded i'm doing all they set out
to DO, aud both metal and ore mar.
of the Imbiue.
At the tims the combination was
formed the company owned the
RUhert LanyOn works at Nevada,
Mo. and Pitt-burg, kaus the works
at Weir CITY, Has. the CnerOk ee-
Lanyun smelteres at Pittsburg and
the works at Sc4mmons, Kas. In
addition to these big properties they
la a 10 fNI L
yon and the Pittsburg Il 1t. Loui
works at Pittsburg; the works at
Girard. Kas.. the smeltery at Rich
Hill, Mo-, and the Columbia works
at Marion, Ini. In order to curtail
the output OF metal most of the leased
works We're shut down and remain
40 to this day. notwithstanding this
the combine purchased every week
in the Joplin district siXty.five to
seventy-five carloads Of zinc ore and
during the existence of the com bna-
ton 1t has succeeded in maintaining
prices at remunerative rates for the
miner. The smelteries outside the
combine fought 1t hard and the de.
mand for ore kept the output closely
cleaned up, so that prices gradually
climbed toward the $50 mark.
w TN OIb at go u -t.OU per ION
spelter could not be exported and
with the natural gas sme te lies able
to greatly undersell all competitors.
it became apparent to all who under
stood the situation that the cost Of
carrying great quantities of ore and
metal in order to force prices OF
spelter up, at the same time con-
stantly adding to the amount in
sight, and paying more TOR ore than
ii was worth, could have but one out
come, and that as the dissolution
of the combine.
The net result will be that the
company will turl back the leased
works to their owners and continue
to operate the smelteries that belong
to themselves. The leased smelteries
will then probably be put in opera
tion at once, or left idle until the five
years expire, for the combine must
pay the rent for the full time stipu.
lated in the contracts, and the owners
OF the leased plants may decide that
they can make more money nv leav-
ing their works idle than ny Oparat-
ing them, Or there may he a whole
sale exodus from the coal fields to the
fias fields, and this latter will in air
probability come 10 pass very speed
lily. 1t il also rumnred that the
Cherokee Lanyon people will go into
the gas fields at once.