Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-01-31
THE BIRTHPLACE OF GOLD.
What Mining Towns and Their People
Are Like.

Boon or bust" is an old adage OF
the West. says n writer in the Boston
TRANSCRIPT When the real estate
man alighted on a bit of wind-swept
prairie and interrupted a gopher at
dinner. il was boom or bust that fell
from his lips as he divided the eX-
panse into town lots and decided
where the city hall should stand
Farther West, when the mining pro-
moter comes upon a big quartz lead
and two dead broke prospectors.
Boom or bust" he cries in his turn
% he considers Whether he will capt.
talize his company for one million or
for two.
Boom or bust" Change it to boom
ana bust and you have an epitome Of
many a mining camps history. Such
boom for a month. a year. and then
.h,1st" forever. There are scattered
throughout the Western states num-
her of these camps. Some time they
NAV have had three or four thousand
people. Now they stand utterly de-
serted. the houses unkempt, the
streets naked. the gilt window signs
of the Broadway Dance Hall and the
Palace Saloon staring from vacancy
upon vacancy.
More cheerful are the two other
great classes into which mining camps
may be divided--the booming and the
nourishing camp. The booming camp
is usually a young one and irrepreSsl-
BILE with the JOY of being alive. People
are scramblng into it hourly, the
streets are teeming, everyone has the
greatest prospect in the camp Tor
sale. buildings sprout everywhere yet
sIceping accommoda tons is at a pre-
mium four bits (fifty cents) are
asked for chair before the hotel
stove. men are five deep at the bar of
the Palace saloon, the Broadway dance
hall sWarms with women. miners and
gamblers, gun plays" are occasional
while above ali other sounds rises the
bang-zip. banE-zip Of blasts from the
mining operations being pushed in all
kinds or holes and prospects on The
surrounding hills.
The great majority of camps, how
ever. are neither booming nor
busted" but fall under the wider
heading of flourishing. The flourish
ing camp has usually gone through
BOOM as a boy through growing pains.
II has now settled down to steady,
conservative growth; its mines are be-
ing developed by experience and CAPT
tai. its business houses are stable. and
its population increases in ratio to its
actual progress.
But into none of these divisions ran
this camp of Republic be said to fall.
old miners say they never saw a camp
in precisely this condition, condition
which may best be described by call
ing il one of coma. Republic passed
through its boom three years ago, and
into the flOurishing stage. where it re-
manned until the last six months.
when il crystalliZed into its present
state. The circumstances are peculiar.
Here is a camp with n vast quantity
of gold ore in sight, with a number of
mines down several hundred feet all
in this gold ore. yet only one mine is
operating and producing gold. The
others have ceased work. Consequently
the number of miners in the camp is
ut minimum, the payroll has shrunk
correSpondingly, yet the balance of
the town remains as though every
thing was running full shift. The
business houses, the saloons. dance
halls, hotels, everything in short re-
mains the same. No one will sacrifice
u dollar to get out Of business who has
money to stay in, for by sticking to
the camp these men feel that they will
ultimately make money. Yet the pop
ulation is at n standstil. little money
is in circulation. and the community
has settled down phlosophically to the
un-Western occupation of waiting.
But" eXclaimS the stranger, IF
this camp has as much ore as you say.
why is not work being pushed in it?
know that if l had mine full of
gold l could not get it out quick
enough"
This is a point of view often taken
about the present condition of the
camp. but the stranger is forgetting
that it is ore his mine is filled with
not gold.
And this is the whole gist of the
situation. There is no method by
which the mine owner of Republic can
get his ore treated. He has done all
the development and blocking out Of
ore his pocket will stand unaided by
his mine. His mine cannot aid until it
can get its gold extracted from its
rock. Accordingly. he shuts his mine
and waits. The business man under
stands the move. He waits. Thus the
condition of coma.
Matters got into this shape simply
enough. Republic is thirty-five miles
from the nearest railroad. Its ore.
while in large quantities, is low grade,
averaging about twenty dollars a ton;
and this cannot be hauled out by
wagon on account of the cost. Seeing
the situation, wealthy company in
the fall of 1889 began building a large
mill for the reduction of ore, with
chlorination treatment supposed to be
peculiarly adapted for Republic ores.
This supposition was erroneous. The
mill was completed in June 1900, ran
three weeks and then closed down. 1t
is standing today. deserted and use
less. representing an enormous loss to
the company, and also to the mine
owners, who are now forced to wait
for another mill or a railroad.
The one property of the camp which
is running full blast is the Republic
mine. The company had the capital
which others lacked. to build private
ore mill of its own. 1t was finished
last fall, and has proved successful
and il is hoped that this mill will in
fI,tiI no tn fal- N