Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1899-12-02
EUREKA Inning DISTRICT.

EDITOR SENTINEL: / spoke in my article
last week Of the Importance of reliable in.
formation on the subject Of mining, and
how eager people are to learn facts con-
corning this great industry. But 1 want
to say that good, reliable information is
like hens teeth, or angel visits, rather
scarce. If any one thinks 1t is an easy
matter to obtain the necessary information
to give the public q frst-class article on
this subject let him try his hand at the
business and he viii have reason to change
his mind. The majority Of officers of min
ing companies, especially large companies.
believe iu maintaining q "close mouth
policy" and when you undertake to OBJ
tain facts from them about their mines
they will "shut up like . clam" and you
can absolutely get nothing out OF them.
The owners Of smaller mines are more in.
clined to give information about their
mines, unless there is a lawsuit pending,
then you can get nothing to compose an
article. I find that where the output OF
ore is the greatest and the ore the richest,
YOU obtain the least information concern
ing such q mine. They are unwilling to
let the public know how well they are do
ing. But there are some cases where a
man can get more information than he
wants, and these cases are where men have
the finest property in the world, but are
anxious to share their wealth with their
fellow beings and want to sell their prop
erty. In such cases they will stuff you
with what they call solid facts which the
public ought to know. But in the majority
of cases the information is not reliable.
Usually his mine contains about one-half
the amount of ore which he says it does,
and is not half as rich as he represents it
to be. But he will tell you that he has
had the ore sampled and that it runs away
up; but a practical miner knows thai the
method Of selecting ore to be sampled is
not always a true test of what the body oil
ore in the mine will average. A mans
vision will generally change and his eyes
will fall on the best ore, and when it is
sampled it may run $50, while the great
body Of ore may not average over Sl2 per
ton. When will men learn that honesty is
the best policy" in selling mines as well as
in everything? That Misrepresentation
and exaggerations will not win, but will be
a positive hindrauce in selling mines. Sell
ing mere prospects is a thing of the past.
Men must know what they are buying.
The ore must be in sight and be as repre-
sented or capitalists will turn away in
disgust. The former shotgun" method of
sailing and selling mines cannot be prac-
ticed any more, net even with John
Chinaman.
A funny thing happened in California
along this line. A company wished to sell
q worthless placer mine, SO they purchased
Is ounces Of gold and blew it into their
claim. They told John Chinaman that
they were tired Of working and that he
could have the mine to work a while and
could have all he made out of it. Soon
after, John ran across the rich spot ane
took out IL ounces of gold. The proprietors'
knowing this said to the Chinaman: "John,
don't You want to buy our mine? We
want to leave here. How much will you
give u.s." The shrewd Chinaman said
me no want to buy. Me founy IL ounces
gold. How muchey you putey in"
In selling mines, you can scarcely fool 6
Chinaman. Why so stupid as to try t.
deceive . level-headed capitalist in sellinf
mining property? If you have a poor
worthless mine. don't try to sell it
Abandon it and seek another mine. If yor
have good property and want to sell it.
represent 1t exactly as it is, or even below
what the facts and a thorough investiga
ton will bear out. Ask a reasonable price
for your property and you are sure to fino
q purchaser. Abraham Lincoln's wise ant
witty saying, "You can fool all the people
part of the time, and part of the people al
Of the time, but you can't fool all Of the
people all of the time," cannot be ap
plicable to the selling of mining property
in these days. You can't fool any of the
capitalists any Of the time. How much
better it would it be for the mining in
dustry everywhere if no one attempted
this.
In Eureka Mining District there is nc
cause for any one to try to deceive or mis-
represent the facts about the mines, and
we do not believe there is any disposition
on the part Of any one to do this. On the
other hand we have found that many are
too slow to let the outside world know
what they really have in the way of great
bodies of ore lying near the surface, and
that this ore carries in many cases 60 per
cent gold. The people on the outside do
net know this. They think Eureka is
wholly q silver camp, and that it is a dead
camp because of the depreciation Of silver.
1t is not the case. and the facts will show
that gold predomiDates in most of the
mines. This is true at Adams Hill, Pros
pect Mountain and Ruby Hill, where the
great bodies of ore can be found.
VENI VIDI.