Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-04-28
WORKED FOR CENTURIES PAST.

London Sketch: Time was, and not so
many years ago, when there was upward
of $50 mines in Cornwall from which a
rich harvest of copper and tin was reap
ed. OF all the industries in Great Britain,
| Cornish mining is probably the Oldest.
There are some who claim that in the
time of Ezekiel, Cornwall was famed for
it's tin. 1t is certain that, long before
| julius Caesar visited these shores, the
Phoenicians had discovered the rich min
erals in the Western Peninsula, and they
were not in a hurry to tell any other peo-
pies of their discovery.
In all the succeeding centuries Cornwall
has been famous for it's tin. it's "copper",
and it's fish. These three commodities
form the county toast-the three Cornish
| minerals, they are still styled. More for
tunes have probably been made and lost
in the mines of Cornwall thai in any
famous mine hat in years gone by had
yielded rich profits have had to shut
down, after running man of the share
Observation-Disclosures they are called,
since until quite recently the limited
liability principle was scoffed at, and the
unlimited liability (and unlimited profits
ofttimes) of the cost-book system per-
severed in. Many Cornishmen can re-
member when there We're $50 mines york.
ing; now there are less than a dozen. You
may often chance across an old adven
turer who will tell you, in the pleasant,
soft dialect of his birthplace, of the
romance of earlier days before the easily
gathered tin of the Straits Settlements
flooded the market. To take one instance.
There was once a little group of mines
/ known as the United Mines. When first
started, the Adventures divide mons
them $500, 900; then they exhausted the
rich copper ore, and a time of depression
followed, with the result that $50, 900 was
lost before hope was abandoned and the
mine shut down.. Work was stopped, but
only for a time. After other not very sue
cessful attempts to initiate the prosperity
of the early Adventures, a capital of
els 600 was obtained in 200 shares Of ESQ
each, and work was again started. The
adventures We're fortunate; good, profit
able ore was found and the profits We're
fabulous. The market alu Of the COM
pany rose very quickly from less than
G16,0 900 to $50, 600, and at one time the
fortunate shareholders were dividing as
much as $4,000 a month between them.
Of course, the lode was eventually ex-
hausted and today the mines are 1oode
with water.
Cornishmen-good Methodists that they
are-love a mining gamble, and they have
recently had one reminiscent of old days.
In January, 1897, tin was selling at be-
tween G56 and $50 a ton and throughout
that year it remained depressed and
never reached G63, but last year the pro-
duction from the Straits settlements fell
off and the consumption of tin increased.
Gradually the price crept up, month after
month. from under e63 to cS3 15s, which
was the price in December last. Then the
upward movement, thanks largely to the
great speculations of French and English
fianciers, and the falling off in the pro-
duction of tin in the Straits settlements,
continued in leaps and bounds, until the
tin that was selling two years g at e56
is now fetching nearly twice hat sum.
At the same time, owing to improved ma
the market has decreased by nearly one
fifth. COrnishmen of sanguine hopes who
held on to their shares through the dark
lays of depression have experienced all
the old joy of the successful adventurer
of prosperous days, and it would be rash
to conclude that even clio is the top
price. This sudden rise, it is hoped. may
prove more or less permanent-until the
next period of depression casts it's shadow
over the county. Meanwhile the return
on every ton of tin is so good that gradu-
ally the mines are again taking their
places on the dividend-paying list, mines
recently closed down are being reopened
and old workings are being examined
| with a view to renewed operations.
One of the difficulties that CorniShmen
had to contend with, so long as the price
Of tin was low, was the cost of bringing