, 1901-11-14
A
To be Erected at Saratoga in Good
Time-opinion Of a Prominent Min
ing Man on This Subject.

p'S'oh'aVi' Vi tHiS. ape Wnlle
c~onversing with a prominent mining
man recently, learned some things
that will be of interest to the people
of this town concerning the prospective
erection of a smelter at this place.
"1f you will promise not to publish
my name / will give you an item of
news" said the above party. 81 do
not care to pose before the public as
a prophet, yet I believe what I am
going to tell you will come true before
long. and that is, that when a smelter
is erected in this valley it will be
placed within three miles of this town.
You will notice that / say 'smelter.
By that l a smelter, not a CON
centrator, such as they have at En-
%campment, and which every n is
busy m%isnaming 'smelter.' There are
smelters and smelters. When this
smelter, which | am talking about, is
built, it will be a smelter, and it will
turn out the finished product-not a
matte, and a very crude one at that
and there will be no need to send the
matte away to the Atlantic coast to
have it smelted."
This designating Saratoga,) rs
the place for a smelter when the time
comes for the erection of a smelter in
this valley. The time has not come
yet-they don't mine enough ore yet
to bring a smelter here, but | am sure
the time is not very far away when
they will mine enough to warrant the
erection of a first class plant right
here, wnere it ought to be. A smelter
needs to be near cheap fuel-coal, lime
and iron, and if you have to haul your
fuel, as well as your ore, you are
handicapped.
From every mine, of any impor-
lance, to this place you have a gravi-
ty run for your ore and that means
cheap transportation. Freighting ore
in wagons is expensive and eats up
all the profits. Until some swifter
and cheaper mode of transportation
is had not very much will be done
even with a concentration, as the one
at Encampment. Mind, l am not
saying anything against the Encamp-
ment 'smelter' as they call it. Its
furnaces are first class and that part
of it, at least, is right up to date.
But it is too far from fuel and the
process of getting the ore to it is too
expensive and uncertain and its sup
ply of ore is liable to be cut off at
any time.
"Now, a smelter located here would
be IA its base of supplies. You are
not far from coal and iron and lime
in abundance. 1t is far better and
more remunerative to haul one ton
of ore to your base of supplies than
to haul three or four tons of fuel to
the place where your ton of ore hap
pens to be.
"One of the prime necessities, to
begin with, is a railroad. You will
have to have a railroad here before
anything can be done in the smelling
line. You need a railroad to haul
your fuel to the smelter, if it is not
more than five miles away. And then
there is your finished product to haul
out, you need a road to haul that.
Then, again, there are many things
that have to be hauled in, such as
machinery and supplies and things
like that, which cannot be done cheap
ly enough by means of wagons.
Then, again, you people need a rail
road here. The traffic is becoming
something immense and will become
congested soon. am quite confident.
however, that you will not have tc
wait more than another year fol
your railroad. Your smelter may
not, in fact will not, come for two or
three years yet, not until you have
FIVE or six more paying mines de.
yeloped."