Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-12
Both Sides Need Them For
Dumping Purposes.
THE SMELLING PLANT OF
The NJ. 0. P. Company Is Valuable
B0ycOtting on Custom Ore
In Progress.

Judge Clancy held another night ses-
sion of court last night, but did not get
through with the business before him.
The matter up for consideration was the
hearing of the order to show cause in the
condemnation proceedings brought by
the Montana Ore Purchasing company
against the Butte & Boston. 1t was COM
menced Monday evening and will be re-
sulned again this evening.
The substance Of the action can be
summed up in very few words-the plain
tiff wants the use of 81 acres of ground
belonging to the defendant for dumping
! purposes and the defendant does not
want to let the plaintiff have it and is
making a fight against it's condemna-
ton.
During the session last night some
interesting matters We're brought out,
one of which was the fact that the Mon
tana Ore Purchasing company had spent
$500, 600 in the equipment of a smelling
plant and concentration to treat the
product of it's own mines and handle
some of the ore mined by lessees and
others in the district. The number of
witnesses on Zach side was limited to
five. but the plaintiff used only two,
Messrs. +. A. Heinze and George H.
Robinson. The former testified that he
was president of and general manager for
the Montana Ore Purchasing company.
The plant of the company, he further
said, treated certain ores. In speaking
of the percentage of waste material as
tailings from the concentration, he said
it varied according to the quantity of
copper and iron the ore contained, but
at the present time it was about IS per
cent. The larger portion of the ore mined
~ ID,,t3 ~ rnl o,,1 t-a 4:~-, -, 4i,
use of water, as that was the only way
the gangue could be successfully separ-
ated from the metal.
"What is necessary with reference to
the establishment of a dumping ground
at the concentrator?' asked Attorney
! Cotter.
Under conditions as they exist it is
necessary to have a very large area of
/ ground on which to dump tailings, for
all the water used has to be pumped back
and used over again; and the only way to
do this is to dump tailinss and water on
some area and then collect the latter.
This has to be done on account of the
shortage of water"
Referring to the length of time it would
take to cover the 81 acres of ground, Mr..
HeinZe said the life of a mine here at
the present rate of production would be
about ten years. The ground sought to
be condemned would not be sufficient for
dumping purposes, for at least so per
cent of it vas already covered with tail
ings and water.
At this point in the proceedings the
judge asked the witness if he thought
the entire 81 acres would be necessary
for his use.
Yes, sir was the answer
Mr.. Heinze was then cross-eXamined.
He said that under ordinary circum-
stances the company's plant treated 5000
1 fntnc ~ II r AN n,n Vn ,oriI 1h,t r,,-A
= now the outside purchase was not so
large because of a boycott that prevented
persons having ore for sale from Offering
it to the company. Under other circum-
stances the plant would be treating more
of the custom product. Asked if he had
not inserted an advertisement in one Of
the papers to the effect that no more
custom ore would be bought by the com
pany he said he had not. and, further,
the company was neither responsible for
such a publication nor did it authorize it..
- map of the proposed dumping dis
trict was produced and referred to and
Mr.. HeinZe was asked if he could not do
certain things that would answer his
purpose instead Of taking all the ground.
He said he could, but they might not be
practical. The tailings, he said, could be
put in railroad cars and delivered in Ana
conda, but it would not be practical to
do it.
On redirect examination Mr.. HeinZe
was asked how much money the COM
pany had invested in the reduction plant.
The answer was $500. 900.
George H. Robinson. consulting en-
gineer for the Montana Ore Purchasing
company. stated that he had spent 70
years in the mining business and his OBJ
SeryatiOns here had been such as to ave
no doubt of the necessity of concentrate
ing the ore. The ground the
was after WAS 1,aceEcarx- r., tho c,,ooaro
full operation of the plant, as the water
could not be reused without having first
gone through the settling process; and
for this purpose the ground was as nee
essary as a reduction plant to a mine.
The witness further said he was famil-
lar with the mines belonging to the COM
pany and if the result of the development
in other mines of the district was critic
rion by which to judge, the duration or
life of the mines owned by the Montana
Ore Purchasing company and the Johns
town company would be a generation to
come. The tailings at the present time
were being dumped on the ground sought
to be condemned.
This closed the plaintiffs side and tes-
timony for the defendant was introduced.
1t was simply to show that the Butte &.
Boston company wanted 10 hold the
ground itself. William Warfa, one of
the witnesses, WIS asked # the Amalga-
mated Copper ompan was Operating
Butte & Boston mines. He said the work