Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1899-10-26
THEORETICAL MINING.
Without Practical knowledge 1t Re-
suits Disastrously.

Practical miners are not alone in the
never held or struck u drill, or shovclad
a ton of dirt in a sluice box, and vino
can't tell a stull from a stope, viii
speak very learnedly about mines ard
mining and frequently throw out
shingle with the legend mine expert"
lettered upon it. Several years ago
these experts could be found in near
ly every little mining camp in the min
ing regions. They are not so plentiful
these latter days. Men who invest IN
mines are more particular in selecting
their mine managers than they We're
in the early mining days. They have
learned by a dearly bought experience
that book learning while all righl
enough as an equipment, does not fully
prepare a man to assume responsible
positions in mine mana cement. He
must or should have a practical knowl
edge OF mining to acquire the full
measure of success in his calling.
1t is not generally known that the
first copper mining in California was
done over a third of a century ago.
The Western Mining World says that
San Jose company bought what was
thought to be a very encouraging cop
per prospect in Ell Dorado county. A
steam hoist and buildings were erected
over the property, an expert was en-
ployed and work begun. three or
four-inch lead of copper ore was fol-
lowed down through the hardest kind
of granite for something like 300 feet,
and then the whole proposition was
abandoned. The lead wouldn't widen
or get richer, though the expert pre-
dicted, at every bucketful of rock
hoisted, that a few feet more would
show up a wide rich lead of copper ore
that would make millionaires of the
stockholders. He proved his asser-
lions by his books, talked learnedly
about this and that rock indicated, ex-
pressed an additional candle box of ore
to San Francisco, and wrote to the
stockholders for little more money
and, at the same time, assured them
that few more shots would uncover
untold wealth. In the meantime the
eight-irch pump was kept running and
so did the owners money.
y practical miner would not have
sunk a foot on the knife blade seam.
But the book-learned expert professed
eaTth's bowels but was finally called
from the worthless lead" by the dis
gusted company after he had sunk
tens of thousands of dollars in sinking
a 300-foot shaft. And that is not the
only instance where theory was
knocked out by hard facts. 1t is true
that fortunes have been made by in
vestors in mines, who never swung
pick or trod a level, but they employed
practical men, not theorists, to man
age the underground part of the bust
ness.
If the whole truth We're known it
would transpire that the great bulk of
the mining failures is directly charge
able to ignorance-to the failure of
theories to answer expectations raised.
Any theory based upon the working of
4 mine or group of mines may prove
baseless when applied to a different
formation. Mother earth was not built
upon any given plan or rule. She is
full of freaks, and theories never
take freaks into consideration. The
practical miner meets and surmounts
them and goes about his business until
he finds something else unusual to tax
his resources. The theorist may build
a theory from what he saw, but it dies
''a-bornin - for he never finds a condi-
ton to fit it. Practical miners know
when they meet changed conditions of
the earth in shafts or in levels, but
they can't say whether they will make
or break by pursuing the change. A
theory is often followed to financial
ruin; a practical man follows only
what is in sight. Theory and practice
in mining never trot in the same class.