The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-06-19
International Zinc COmpany's
Property.
Both Alike in Their Inc ipiency
Shares of Stock Bought Mt One
DJllar Now Selling for
$3.50 90.

joplin, Mo-, June 5-The situation in
the zinc and lead mining district Of
southwest Missouri is far more favorable
today than at any previous time in its
history. A mining industry has quietly
grown up here which fairly overshadows
in production of zinc and lead ores that
of any other section of the globe.
Since 1897, when the output of these
ores reached the handsome total In dol
lars and cents of "a, 6so, 600, increasing to
81, las, 000in 1898, which the year 1899
largely augmented, new developments
have been made, which not only simplify
the cost of production, but largely in
crease the value of these ores.
At the commencement of what might
be termed the speculative era during the
latter part of '9S the control of mining
operations was wholly in the hands of
practical miners, men who knew next to
nothing Of book keeping or business meth
DDS, who were content to accept the oilers
made for their ores by the smelling com
panies so long as their Saturday night
settlements showed a balance in their
favor There were no monthly trial bal
Hnoes, no statements to stockholders, no
figuring at the price of any item that en-
tered into the cost of the production OF
ore. They simply paid the men employed
every Saturday night, divided what was
left among themselves. They knew they
were making more money every week
than any ordinary business would pro-
duce in year and were content.
With the advent of eastern capital, cor
rect business methods and intelligent su
pervision in che production and classifica-
tion OF ores, u new era dawned.
The contest for supremacy in the ore
market between the smelters using coal
and others favored with natural gas tol-
lowed and advanced he price of zinc
ores to $50 per ton, n price out OF all pro-
portion to the selling price of the metal,
and which naturally could be permanent
ly maintained.
the district is lovingly termed by miners
and others whom Jack" has raised from
comparative poverty TO affluence, never
sold above So 80 per ton up TO the year
1882,
The thriving cities of Joplin, Galena,
Webb City and Carterville were con-
structed from the profits arising from the
sales of Jack at prices from s. to $40
per ton lower than today's market value.
1t is not so many years ago that Agas-
siz and party of Bostonians visited the
copper producing country of Lake Supe-
rior The then but little known Calu-
met and Hecla mine had large bodies OF
rock in which small PARTICLES of copper,
ranging in size from a pin head TO a buck
shot, were disseminated The problem
was to bring those particles of copper to-
gether in order that the melting or smelt-
ing could be economically accomplished,
The copper in the rock would aver
age about per cent. or twenty-five
pounds to the ton. 1t was quite evident
that smelling the raw material was out
of the question. The shares in these
properties We're S25. 90 par value, and many
of the owners were glad to receive 90
cents per share. Agassiz and party
studied the situation thoroughly and pur-
chased ell of the stock offered at % cents
and then 1T 81 and 50 until they had Sc
cur ID much more than half Of the capt.
talization.
The magnificent system of mining,
where over 600 tons of this disseminated
copper rock is raised daily and loaded
on trains of cars whisked over to Torch
Lake, where the great concentrating
plant is located and where the copper
parui lies are brought together, had made
the Calumet and Hecla mine famous all
over the world. The dividend divided
during these years has largely exceeded
$50, COO 600 while the present market price
of that to I5-cent stock is something
over SEQ Ger share, the par value still
being So. 90 That Is what little particles
of copper imbedded in the hardest kind
of rock has under Intelligent supervision
produced.
We have problem here perhaps not so
difficult, yet problem. Spelter, the pro-
duct of smelted zinc ores, is worth today
$50 10 per ton. We are receiving S2S.OO for
IA 69 per cent. zine ore, that means that
for 1920 pounds of spelter in the ore we
receive SIS 90, or for q ton and one half of
zinc ore carrying one ton of spelter we
receive S42.C0, not quite one-hah of its
market value.
Again Boston men are studying the
problem, and Boston men are likely to
show us a way out of the difficulty. It's
n strange parallel, the International Zinc
Company's shares of stock the child of
Boston capital-has sold for - cents for
81 and 1928 per share. Would il surprise
us after few years To find that the stock
bought at such prices had reached the
MAGNIFICENT value of that of the Calumet
and lleela in the Boston market 500
per share,
sany's property is located in the very
heart of the zinc-lead deposits or veins,
he development by drills and shafts has
been most thorough and complete, the
bodies of mineral already blocked out are
Iutiicient to keep reduction works busy
Tor years. The parallel between the
Eallmet and Hecla and the international
In having large ore bodies is complete.
With the erection of the contemplated re-
ductiun works in the gas fields, the pro
tuction of spelter from the ores raised
from the fourteen shafts situated in yari-
Gus portions Of the li3 acres OF land
owned and controlled by the International
Company, Would it be strange II the
dividend features of the Calumet and
Heola and the International Zinc Com
pany, Limited, should be paralleleds-
From the Joplin, Mo Corresp0n lent OF
''Ihe Chicago Chronicle" Wednesday,
June g. 1900.
MUNJOY LODGE. IL. OF p.