The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-31
FROM THE LAKE REGION
Great Activity in tho Michigan
Copper Belt.
RETURNSFR0M THE UINCY
More Railroads Needed-Good OUTLOOK
for the winona-Mass OF Metallic
Copper-Work at the
Franklins
Special Correspondence of the Standard.

special Correspondence Of the Standard.
Houghton, Mich. Oct. 2S.-The sea-
son, which has been one of unparal-
leled activity in the Lake Superior
copper district, is proving all too short
for the work projected. Although
more has been accomplished since the
spring breakup than has ever been
performed in the two most active years
of the past, the full amount of work
planned is far from finished. This is
due to variety of causes, chief among
which have been the impossibility of
securing an adequate supply of labor
and the inability Of the new mines to
secure material and machinery on
time, the latter trouble being due to
the general activity in business, which
has crowded every factory in the coun-
try to the limit of it's capacity
Despite the inability of the promo
tiers to carry out their full programme,
eight to ten millions of dollars have
been expended this season in develop
ment work, beside the enormous sums
paid out by the established mines in
the regular course of business, the pay
roll of the Calumet G. Hecla alone ex-
ceeding third of a million per month,
winter and summer. Perhaps the most
important work of the year is the
building of the Copper Range railroad,
now nearing completion. For SO years
it has been known that there We're
rich deposits Of copper between
Houghton and Greenland, but until
now it has been impossible to develop
mines because of the lack of rail "a
clities. A number of mines are being
opened in the district named this year,
but the initial work has been under
taken in each case solely because CT
the assurance that rail connections
would be afforded before the mines be
come producers. Despite the enormous
profits of copper mining in this district
amounting in the case of the largest
mine to nearly a million dollars per
month-the industry is one which ie-
quires the most favorable conditions
to guarantee success. The enormous
quantity of rock mined and stamped
daily and the great number of en-
ployes required at the producing
mines, ranging from over 800 in the
case Of the smallest to upwards of
5000 on the rolls of the Calumet &
II Hecla, render it imperative that the
mines be given the benefit of the very
Il best machinery, the most modern
methods and the lowest priced trans
\ portation.
The Quincy mine will this season net
a bout $1,500,000 in addition to expenl-
ing another half million on better
ments, showing a total mining profit
of little short of two millions of dol
liars. The Quincy is the richest amyg-
daloid mine in the district and ranks
second only to the Calumet & Hecla
as money maker, yet the percentage
of refined copper taken from the Quin-
cy Is but 1k-SO pounds of copper to
the ton Of rock stamped OF this
amount about four-tenths of / per
nd a RI hoy
per, while but eleven-tenths per cent.
is secured from the stamp rock-at Is
cents per pound, 1896 per ton. This
is a figure which would be scorned by
western miners of gold and silver, yet
DIT returns millions in the lake cop
per district, solely because the mines
are operated upon truly colossal
scale and with every advantage af-
forded by the ingenuity of man and
the employment of unlimited capital
In the case Of the Quincy, which is the
richest amygdafoid mine of the dis
trict, nearly a third of the rock bro
ken is discarded as too lean to be
stretches of lode rock are left stand
ing underground as not worth stop
Ing.
Bearing in mind the case of the Quin-
cy, it will be understood why rail
communication is absolutely essential
10 lHe ueVelopiHeiil ol lle mineral ulS-
trict lying to the southwark OF
Houghton. The Copper Range COM
pany is both a mining and railroad
corporation, owning 1000 acres OF
land in the heart of the mineral rang.
and having several new shafts sinking
all of which are showing copper il
prodigious quantity. The railroad is be-
ing built and equipped on the New
York Central style and when complet
ed will be able to haul rock at very
low figures, yet earn profit for its
owners. The Importance of the line
to the district. and especially to thai