The times., 1899-08-14

Inc rise III tue price OIL copper from tne
! vicinity of 10 cents pound to is cents,
! coupled with the avowed attempt to force
| it up TO 20 cents, has drawn attention to
! the sources from which the worlds supply
! of this metal is derived. Twenty years
| ago the total annual product was about
/ 152, goo long TONS of which Chile furnished
! nearly onethird $4,000, Spain and Portu-
gal together a plump fifth (93, 361, and the
| United States less than one-sixth (23350
! tons). After 1879 the output of Chile de-
! clined, and the United States soon passed
! her. Spain and Portugal slowly increased
/ their yield, but this country easily out
/ stripped them, so that in 1883 the United
! States led the procession and produced
1 one-fourth Of the total. Two years later
| her share was one-third, and by 1892 the
proportion had been raised to one-half.
Since that time there has been but little
! change. The American percentage is
| slightly and slowly gaining, however. In
deed, there have been years when the only
! observed increase in the total amount of
I copper mined was that of the United
States, the gains in one foreign country
being Offset by losses in another. AT pres
! ent the principal producers, aside from
the United States, are Spain, Portugal,
Chile (whose remaining ores are all of low
grade), Japan, Germany, and Australia.
tributed, butt the chief centres OF produc-
tion are Michigan, Montana, and Arizona
Moreover, in each of the three the region
that is most productive is very limited.
Along the southern shore of Lake Super
ior there is a narrow belt not over hun
dred miles long. In Montana the most
noted mines are confined to single town
ship. Arizona's copper is apparently some
what more scattered than Montana's, but
not so much so as Michigan's.
The Lake Superior region was the first
TO be worked. Copper mining in Northern
Michigan dates from 1S45-a trife over
fifty years ago. And for three full decades
that district monopoliZed the industry.
That is to say, from seven eighths TO nine
tenths of the whole American output came
from Michigan. The most famous OF the
mines there was the Calumet and Hecla,
owned almost exclusively in Boston. 1t
has produced from one-haf to two-t thirds
of the copper of the lake region for long
time. The company originally controlled
the richest ore deposits in that part of the
country. But the mining laws OF Michigan
grant ownership straight downward from
surface boundaries, and are paramount to
the Federal law, which would have author
lied the Calumet and Hecla Company to
follow its veins slantwise under ground
Hence certain newcomers, notably the
Iamarack Company, were able TO invade
the older corporations treasure and share
it. The Atlantic, Franklin, and Kearsarge
are among the other principal producers in
Michigan
Twenty years ago Arizona began to forge
to the front, and ar time she held the
second place. In 1852 she furnished one
fifth of the whole output of the United
States and a third as much as Michigan.
Montana passed her the following year.
The most noted Arizona producers are the
Copper Queen, United Verde, and Old Do
minion companies.
The Montana mines are situated at Butte
That accurate and much-quoted authority
in mining matters, Charles Kirehhoff edi-
tor of the Iron Age" says that the veins
are located within a rectangle Two and
half miles long and one mile wide. The
largest producers here are the Anaconda,
owned for many years by Messrs. Haggin
DAILY, Tevis & Hearst; the Boston and Mon
tana, the Butte and Boston, Clark's Colusa
and the Parrott. Montana passed Michi-
gan in the race for supremacy In 1887. BY
1892 she was able to furnish one-half the
amount mined in the United States and one
quarter of the whole supply of the world
This proportion has not been fully main
tanned for the last two or three years, but
Montana still holds the palm. Last year
the United States turned out 234271 long
tributed 81, 400, Michigan 70,462, and Ari-
Zona As, 359. All of the rest of the country
combined produced only $4,000 tons The
Anaconda mines yield from one-half to
three fifths of the whole amount obtained
in Montana. They are the largest pro-
ducers of copper in the world In 1892
when the output of the Anaconda system
reached 100,000,000 pounds, Calumet and
Hecla mined only about So 600, 900 pounds
of fata no dicnrnnorti0r hac ipfc
but the Michigan company still remains in
the rear.
1t is a somewhat curious fact that the
three principal regions here mentioned as
yielding the American supply of copper find
that metal in different combinations. In
Michigan the mixture with other materials
is mechanical, not chemical, and when the
rock is ground and washed the residue is
a high grade of metallic copper. For a
long time lake copper was the best in the
world and set the price for other pro-
ducers. In Arizona the ores are oxides
that is, the metal is combined with oxygen,
which can be driven off by smelling with
coke. very rich product is obtained by
this operation. The Montana ores are sui
phurets, and the separating and smelling
methods employed Herewith leave a mass
of matte only so or 55 per cent fine
This is then sent to refneries for purifica-
tion. For many years the American
matte" went to Europe for this purpose
But the development OF cheap systems of
eIectroiytic refining five or six years ago,
together with American enterprise made it
possible to conduct the work on this side
of the Atlantic For a time the principal
refineries here were in the East, but Mon
tana now refines large part of her own
copper. 20 le
Some idea of the enormous sums of mon
ey that have been made out of the copper
industry can be formed from comparison
of the cost of production with the prices
that have prevailed for two or three dec
ades Thirty years ago the average price
in New York was 20 cents pound. By
1876 it had come down to 20 cents, and
from 1883 to 1890 it was not far from 10
cents. In 1892 the average was II cents,
although it dropped at times TO 10 3S
cents The mean for 1894 was $50 cents,
but by 1895 the average had risen fully a
cent Already in 1891 and 1892 some sort
of an understanding had been reached by
the managers of the principal mines 10
control the business, and in few cases
production was actually reduced.
1t was estimated five or six years ago
that Montana copper could be delivered in
New York for 8 or 9 12 cents a pound.
but this figure should be reduced 2 or 12
cents to allow for the gold and silver re-
covered from the Montana ores. Any eX-
cess over or 1-2 cents then was profit
The Anaconda, producing 100000
pounds year, and clearing from TO
cents pound, was able to keep its owners
out of the poorhouse; but the present price,
Is cents, ought to hasten the day when its
possessors can retire from business and
pass their old age in dignified and unset
fish pursuits. 1t is not improbable that
prior to the depression of 1S91-94 at least
from 8 to 10 cents pound was cleared on
Montana copper.