The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-03-14
FORCES CONSOLIDATED
Bi-Met and Granite Companies
Bunch Hits for Business.
NOW UNDER A NEW NAME
Agreement of Shareholders in Both Com
panies to Pool Capital and Concen-
trate Operating Forces-Proba-
BILE Effect on Philipsburg.
Special Dispatch TO the STANDARD.

cally, far as all outward appear
ances have shown the Granite and BIZ
metallic mines have been operated by
one company of capitalists, technically
| the Granite Mountain and Bimetallic
mining companies have always been
| two separate and distinct companies
Large shareholders in one company
are also on the list of shareholders in
the other. The Granite and Bimetallic
were forced to shut down after the
crash in 1893, and this burg was one
of the severest sufferers in Montana by
the sudden fall in the price of silver in
that year. The mines were soon de-
serted by the hundreds OF men that
had worked in the Slopes and levels at
the town of Granite on the hill four
miles above Philipsburg, and after a
while there remained in town few
persons besides Watchmen and others
about the Granite mill and mine and
shaft house of the Bimetallic. The lat
ter company kept its mill, near Philips
burg, running for some time after the
fatal announcement from India in June,
1893. Part of the mill was kept in OPP
Grafton for several months by the re-
milling of the tailings
Later work on the big Rumsey tun-
mel was resumed. This gave employ
ment to a considerable force of min
ers. 1t was the intention of the COM
panies to tap the Bi-Met and Granite
mines at a great depth ana thus drain
them of the water that was a serious
obstacle in the profitable development
of the properties In various ways the
Bi-Met has found employment for a
number of men here at odd times.
An arrangement that has been pend
ing for several months in st. Louis,
headquarters for the directors of both
companies, between the two corpora
tions has at last taken the form of an
agreement. This is to consolidate the
capital stock of the Bimetailic and
Granite Mountain mining companies
and operate the business under the
name of the Granite Bimetallio Consol-
idated Mining company. The purposes
for which the corporation is to be
formed are to acquire and thereby
consolidate into one company all the
rights, franchises, property and inter-
ests aforesaid, and to hold, manage,
use and operate the same for mining
and milling ore, and making such 9th
err use or disposition thereof as may
be authorized under the existing laws
of Montana or which the said Granite
Mountain and Bimetallic mining COM
panies, or either of them, might make
under the rights and franchises now
owned by them respectively" The
list is 30 years.
According to the articles of agree
ment there are to be Ii trustees of the
new company. With the exception of
j. NJ. Merrill, trustee of the old Gran
lite company, every member of the
boards of both the Bmetalic and
Granite companies is included in the
new list of trustees for the consolidated
company. Those appointed for the first
II Ratin
f. Boyle, Charles Clark. August b. EW-
ing, w. III. Lee, Charles ID. Mcclure, II.
J. McKellops, Nj. Rumsey, l.. NJ. Rum
sey and j. G, Van Blarcom of st. Louis,
Mo. and Paul A. Fusz of Granite.
One evident object of the consolida-
ton is. the concentration of working
forces, both underground and clerical.
The shafts of the Bi-Met and Granite
are in close proximity, and it is be-
lieved that the new arrangement will
make the shaft Of the Bi-Met the main
exit. Whether the pooling and recapi-
talization of the two big companies will
solve the problem of economy to the
extent of resuming operations and the
milling of ores is a question that the
citizens here are not in a position to
answer However, taking the an
nouncement of the new board into con-
sideration, it may be inferred that re-
sumption is a part of the programme
now being arranged in st. Louis. The
announcement is in part as follows:
THE several boards Of trustees of the
Granite and Bi-MetalIic, after careful
consideration, have determined ii to be
for the best interest of both companies
that they be consolidated into one or
ganization.
THE fact is familiar to all of you that
because of the low grade of ores then
being mined, and OF the decline which
had then taken place in the market
value of silver bullion, the mills of both
companies We're shut down more than
four years ago and have remained idle
ever since. The trustees have fully
realized that this condition of inactivity,
If long continued, would necessarily re-
suit in serious damage both TO the mills
and mines, and yet, as the price OF sill
Yer has continued to decline still fur
Their, they have feared that any attempt
10 resume work would result in loss
rather than in profit. unless they could
adopt some plan for lessening the ex'
pense Of operation.
The Bi-MetaIiic. by reason of having
a much larger fund in its treasury than
the Granite, and a more assured pros
neet of higher grade ore Immediately
at hand in its mines, seems better able
than the Granite To undertake the
chance of what the result might be OF
resuming work. Nevertheless, the trus-
tees OF the company, as Well as the
trustees of the Granite feel il would be
attended with no little hazard for either
company To undertake the expense Of
general resumption Of work with only its
own ore bodies To depend on for sup
plying its mill. Al the same time the
trustees of both companies believe that
il the properties Of both could he COM
hined. and operated by and under one
organization, one SET of officials and Of
office and other employees, and working
through one shaft. with one set ot
pumps, one mill, one assay office, and
in many other ways mourning but one
instead of double expense. a Subsfan-
tial profit to the shareholders in both
companies could be obtained Added 10
this saving of expense would be the FUR
Their advantage, which the contiguity 81
both properties and their similarity III
formation readily suggests, oT hdsthN
the development from time TO time Of
either studied and planned with refer