Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-06
GOLD BY THE ACRE
An Interview With Senator Henry
M. Teller.
TELLS0F C0L0RAD0'S WEALTH
Times Are Good and the Outlook
is Even Better.
\ WORD ABOUT POLITICS


Special Correspondence of The Evening Star
DENVER. Col. December ~. 1899.
r."t Senator Henry NJ Teller in his Of
fee here this afternoon. and had a long
chat with hin SCI: ,rnine the business sit
u& ton in Colorado ana Other matters. One
of til" subjects discussed was the wonder
full increase in the production OF gold,
which has been going on over the world.
Said Mr.. Teller:
Colorado is mining more gold today than
she. has ever done w are now the chief
gold STATE in thu Union. We produced
s.; n'n 600 worth of gold last year. and we
shall | believe. produce more than $4,000
0"n this year. We are opening new mines
all over the state and many of our old ones
are growing richer as they go down.
How about Cripple Creek | asked.
Cripple, Creek is steadily widening and
broadening its areas" said Senator Teller.
Its produce is Increasing right along. and
| should not be surprised to see it turn out
four or five million dollars per month at
some time in the future. This would be
about as much as the whol. United States
X now doing. w" ar" improving the pro-
CtsS"s of reducing gold The cyanide METH
cd - growing bettrr every month, and the
day will come when it will pay to reduce
ort. which has only four or five dollars
worth Of gold to the ton in 1t. At present
thc ore must carry ten or eleven dollars
per ton 10 make it pay for the reduction.
There is today. perhaps. twenty million
dollars worth of gold lying in the dumps
at Cripple Creek which Will eventually he
taken out. When these cheap processes
come many mines will he worked which
ar, not worked now. and the increase in
our produce will lie enormous.
Colorado vs.. the kIOndil<e.
How docs Colorado compare with the
EIondlke in respect to its gold camps?" I
asked.
1t * ridiculous to compare Colorado
with the Klondike." said Senator Teller.
eve Fad one county W;lpin 1 think The
senator saiO that produced more gold last
year than the klondike. | think men are
fools to go way off to Alaska. when they
might come here to Colorado and do equal
lY VlG or better.
but. S"ratnr, | understand that your
best mines hav" been tSken. They say that
the English have been gobbling up the best
thirgS OF Colorado.
THAT is not true replied Senator Teller
indignantly. ''It comes. l suppose. from
the fact that Stratt"n has sold the hide
pendcncc mine I" syndicate. II" got In
the ncighborhood of s11 .Oo0ooN in stock and
money for it. y few others of our mines
do belong tn foreigners. but the great ma
i"rity are in the hands of Coloradoans.
Fully - per cent Of all the gold and silver
mires of this state are owned at home.
We DON'T need foreign capital. We are
ahc Ia d"VclOD oar own mines. We know
their vain" and We have the money To work
them. W" arc able to stand alone and are
growing n."re 50 every year.
Mining ~ IL Profession.
How about mining as a business Sena-
tor: Does it pay?''
Yes it does" replied Senator Teller. 'If
mining is followed in a common-sensa.
practical way it pays better and surer
= Ia, Ir., ,.,.l If ntjl1 hl;SpagS
know of nothing. in fact, in which the fail
lIr,.s are fewer. More than ninety out of
every hundred merchants fail Far more
han that proportion of miners succeed. and
that notwithstanding so many men ruSii
into mining without experience or ser<a.
You hear of the big strikes and the nl51
wH" make big fortunes. There are hun
dre'iS, gcE. thousands. of strikes of a small
~ amount that You never hear of. II
man viii study the business and work care
fully and perSistently he has a fair chance
Of success | have just been UP in the
Occur d Ai-u1 country. l saw a Young fell
low there who told me he had made &2D.u0o
III tn, last five years. ] met other men who
had done equally Well. We have cases
here every month of men who are making
SINAI! fHrtuneS.
The Big silver Strike at LeadyilIe.
How about the late silver strike at
l.eldvflls:'' said I.
Il really don't know the particulars" re-
Piled the senator. There are many stories
and matters Of that kind are AWAY exag-
geE,,trd at first. In brief. however. Lead
Vile has a number of silver mines in and
about the town which recently filled up
with water They We're known as the
DOWNTOWN mines. to distinguish them
from III" mines higher up. When the wa
ter came in til" capitalists who owned them
t;a"c up the idea Of working them They
did not think it would pay To pump the wa
ter ont. They were told that il could be
done for SJ0,pH but they laughed ut the
proposition. The men who had the scheme
in hand then organized the company called
tn" Home Mining Company. This was
made up of merchants small business men
and others, including day laborerS and
servant girls. who went into it as d specu-
latl"n purely. The company secured lease
Oh IN" mines by engaging to give a ROYALTY
81 a certain per cent on all the silver ore
they got out. They bought pumps and
went to work. They finally took the water
all ont. and short time ago struck one of
the largest bodies of silver ore which has
yet been discovered. You see, those who
owned the mine before had not gone down
far enough This new company went only
a few feet further and struck a body IF
ore 50 great that they don't know vet iuxt
how big il is. They have been going down
in different places near by and striking it in
nearly all cases. 1t is said to cover several
acres. and to be about twenty feet thick
"Nh hat kind of ore is it. SENATOR
1T is composed of silver and lead. and is
of that nature that the smelters are glad
TO reduce 1t for nothing. because 1t can be
profitably used in the smelling of more re-
fractory ores. 1t combines with these ores
and makes them smeltable. The stock in
this company originally sold a; 81 u share
II has recently been bringing all the way
from $50 to SO
Gold by the Acre.
here asked Senator Teller to give me
some idea Of gold values in Colorado, and
in reply he handed me copy of the Dem
Yer Republican, which contained the yalua-
tion. of some of the properties in Cripple
Creek AS | looked over it | was struck
by the fact that they measure gold proper
ties here by the acre. According to this
paper. STATIONS independence mine. which
it will be remembered. he struck after pros
ptcting for forty years in the intervals of
his work at the carpenter trade is CAPITAL
lied at five and one half million dollars
and the stock is selling at $3.50 per share.
making the value of the propertv more
than thirteen million dollars. The company
has seVenty-hve acres, ami al the market
figures each acre is worth on the average
Sli4. 80
The Portland mine, which was also, dis
covered by poor men. at the present mar
ket value is worth $500, 600 The cnmnan,