The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-12-26
Absurd Comparisons.


Amalgamated Copper company OBJ
tanning control of the United States
mining property at Bingham, Utah, the
Boston News bureau says:
THE United States Mining company
represents the greatest undeveloped
copper property in the Bingham camp,
a camp which gives promise of succeed
ing the Butte camp in Montana as the
largest copper producing camp in the
world"
The meaning of this is not clear The
use of the word succeeding" rather i'm
plies the prospective decadence of Butte
and rise of Bingham. If Bingham is to
camp, but not until Butte has gone
into decadence, it is to be feared that
the day of Bingham's glory will be
long deferred. And, moreover if Bing-
ham can only get to the front after
Butte has gone back, the question at
once arises as to how far the Montana
metropolis will have to retrograde be-
fore the Utah camp can take the lead
This is a rather important question, for
it is one thing to surpass Butte as it IS
to-day, and quite another to Go SO Wnen'
it has gone back nobody knows how
far.
If though, the Boston News bureau
means that Bingham is likely to forge
ahead at such a rate as to supplant
Butte without any retrogression on the
path of the latter, then the suggestion
is a little too wild to carry much
weight with any thinking person
Of course it is possible. NO
body will deny the naked possibility.
1t may be that at no considerable
depth the Bingham district will be
found to consist of solid mass of cop
per glance, or even pure metallic cop
per, but it is not very likely.
Nor is there a development no win
sight to Justify a reasonable expecta-
ton of the Bingham district ever turn
ing out one-half of the present output
of Butte. There is simply no sense in
comparing any copper camp with Butte
until there is an actual output that adj
mits of comparison without an in
suit to common sense. There are
thousand mining camps in the West
in which the original copper prospects
were better than were those of Butte,
but where are they now as copper pro-
ducers?
The Standard has heretofore pointed
out the absurdity of comparing every
camp in which there are good copper
prospects with Butte. The fact ought
to he known to all familiar with this
western mining region that the position
of Butte as a copper producer is alto
gether unique. There were, in fact, no
copper prospects at Butte when the
camp was located. The prospects were
first of gold, then of silver, and the cop
per was an underground discovery. in
many cases not made until a consider
able depth had been attained In short
copper mining in Butte was an evolu-
ton. Without any indications of cop
per on the surface, deposits of that
metal were encountered in the depths,
greater in extent and richness than any
others ever found in the world, either
before or since.
AS we nave Sdlu, OtHeFS may De
found equally extensive and valuable,
but until they are and have been ac-
tually proved, it is"worse than idle to
be making comparisons with the Butte
district. 1t is almost criminal, because
it misleads innocent and ignorant peo-
pie.
In conclusion the Standard will in
cidentally remark that every visible
sign in the Butte district indicates that
the copper production for 1899 will be
larger than in any previous year of its
history, and further that there is not
the slightest reason to believe that
there will be any diminution of the out
put for many years to come We wish
Bingham, and every other camp, the
very highest measure Of prosperity. 1t
can do Butte no harm for them to
thrive, but in the absence of actually
proved ore bodies, comparisons such as
the one referred to are unreasonable
and do very much more harm than
good.
Elsewhere in this issue appears an
editorial taken from the Iron Trade
Review