The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-17
Wealthy Syndicate Hopes to Control
the Output.
( PLANTS INCLUDED
BACKED BY THE STANDARD OIL
TRUST.
But the Combination Eas Not Taken
In Such Heavy Producers as the
Anaconda and Calullct & Hecla-
Enormous Demand For Copper and
Advance In Prices.

New York, Jan. 16.-The Herald says:
Negotiations looking to the consolida-
ton of the copper mining interests of
the United States have been in progress
for week. With a reputed backing no
less powerful than that of the Standard
! Oil interests, the American Copper
Mining company, in its combination of
/ SIX plants, expects TO reVolutionize the
/ copper mining industry of the world,
! IN which the United States, already fig
ures as the chief factor The Boston &
/ Montana and the Butte e Boston Min
] ing companies, the Old Dominion Cop
/ per company of Arizona, and the Ar
/ eadian, Tamarack and OSceola Mining
! companies Of Michigan are named as
/ the component parts of the new organ
I ization
It is understood that the American
company viii reach into Canada and
! absorb important copper mines there,
thus making the combination interna-
tional, but the Calumet &, Hecla- com
pany, the largest producer in the Lake
superior region, has so far declined to
enter the combination.
DisintereSted observers of the trans
actions in copper mining stocks for 1898
/ declare that small coterie of men
have added $4,000, 900 to their wealth
through this channel. The combination
springs from the recent upheaval in
copper. Prices have scared to the high
est figures known, in face of unprece-
dented consumption The employment
OF electrical energy has caused an enor-
nous demand for copper. The Euro
pean countries alone last year used
456,lS9. l59 pounds, and when it is con-
sidered that American mines supply
most Of the foreign requirements, in
addition to home demands, the POSSIBLE
tiles in the copper situation become ap-
parent.
Hints of a consolidation received
publicity first through the protective
committee of the Boston & Montana
company Stockholders were asked to
deposit' their shares with a Boston
trust company, in order that they
might be available for protection
against attacks on the cOmpany's prop
euty." The matter was in charge of
\. ;. BigelCw, head of the BigeIow-
Clark mining syndicate of Montana:
Sidney Chase. head of a brokerage
firm, recognized as direct representa-
tive OF the Standard Oil company;
Samuel UntermeyeT. an attorney for the
Standard, and Edward c. Perkins
This requeEt for the hypCthecation of
stock has all along been regarded as a
concentration preparatory to effecting
the combination.
The Montana mines are the second
most important in the state which
heads the list Of copper producing
states. being exceeded in Importance
only by the Anaconda mine, owned by
Marcus DAILY and ]. B. Haggin. The
Arcadian. Tamarack and OsceoIa prop
critics are in the Hancock Houghton
copper belt, in the northern Michigan |
peninsula The Arcadian mine has not
been worked to any great extent. al
hon
Of the consolidation scheme from % TO |
70 points. The Portage Lake district, |
where the Michigan mines involved are |
located, is in the throes of a copper |
craze that approXimateS the Kaffir /
mania in South Africa Brokers from I
Boston, which is the American copper /
exchange, are doing a rushing business 1
at branch offices opened on the ground. (
and people are buying mining shares |
as fast as stock certificates can be
issued.
LewisOhn Brothers of this city are /
credited with being the principal fac
tors in inspiring new investments in
American copper mines. They have
agents in London and Paris, and have
the export trade They are
said TO have had their first experience
with copper in an investment in Bos-
ton d Montana stock years ago. when
no railroad penetrated the Butte coun-
try. They held the stock for years. and
when a railroad finally did enter Butte
and the mine could be operated with a
show of profit they found a fortune at
their command. The Rockefeller inter
ssts, after heavy investments in iron
ore fields, were encouraged to investi-
gate copper mines. with the result that
hey bought heavily in the Michigan
district. 1t is one of the persistent re-
ports of the day that the ROthschilds
nave made overtures to them, looking
% a syndicate control of all the COPPER !
mines in the world.