The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-04-26
MINING N KANSAS
State Labor Commissioner
Shows How It Pays,
SOME CURIOUS FIGURES
Nearly $50 Mills and Ore
CruSher8 in the State.
SOME CURIOUS FIGURES

Topeka. Kans.. April 25.-w. L. A.
Johnson, state labor commissioner. viii
include in his annual report a chapter on
the zinc and lead industry in Kansas.
with tables showing the output of the
mines. cost of production, capacity of
crushers, and the average price of lead
and zinc ores for the past two years.
According to 8Ir. Johnson's datas. the
GaIena-Empire district in 1900 cid not
enjoy the prosperity of the preceding
three years. as the price Of ore was so
low that great many mines were closed
down. Those shut down are owned by
eastern capitalists. During the boom Of
1898 and 1889, these parties paid enormous
prices for mines where the zinc ore would
not average over i've per cent. At the
time ore was selling for about $40 a ton,
and the gross receipts of the average
mine would be s120 per day. When the
price of ore receded to so a ton many
mines were compelled TO close down be-
cause the expense Of operating remained
the same. and each days run was made
at a loss.
and August Of last year there were only
sixteen mills in operation, and for the en-
tire year the average number of mills
running did not exceed forty. Toward
the end of the year the number OF com
panies owning a mill and several shafts
would lease the shafts to miners for a
royalty of ten per cent of the output and
then charge a small rent for the use Of
ing good wages and oftentimes a hand
some dividend
Last June the Missouri Kansas Zinc
Miners Association called for a general
Shutdown until the surplus ore was sold,
believing thereby TO cause a raise in the
price Of ore. The effort, however, proved
a failure. After-ward the association
adopted a rule that ell ore should be sold
by assay on a schedule basis, but as the
ore buyers would dock the ore for iron
and moisture, this plan did not better
things.
Sons Of the cOmpa MES, however, com
biued and succeeded in placing their
mines on a paying basis by cutting off
all Unnecessary expenses and buying and
selling in large quantities.
II wish to state here says Mr.. John
experience that a few practical miners
can take mines which would not pay
under the management of eastern men
and make good wages and oftentimes
good dividends The mines can't stand
the salaries Of swell superintendent
Mr.. Johnson says that during the last
few months of the year mining business
improved over the summer months and
r-r-fT 70
DURING the next year, and the mines own
ed by eastern men VIII be started up
again under the supervision OF practical
miners.
zone thing that the past year brings
out he says. sis the fact that the prac-
teal miner with his horse holster or his
traction engine and belt holster are the |
AGENCIES to uncover the ore in unde-
veloped land, and not eastern spectators
with no knowledge Of the business
According to the tables prepared, there
are l46 mills and crushing plants in the
Calena-Empire district with a total ca
pacity of "a, 1S5 ton Of ore for each twelve
hour shift. The estimated cost of the
plant is sl.131 600. During the year 103.-
$50 25S pounds of zinc, valued at 81 .394, OSLO
and 1O.SSS817 pounds of lead, valued at
S2a.14065, were produced. This is a de-
crease in the production Of zinc Of 24600,-
052 pounds and 3.3lS,S53 pounds of lead in
a year. The average price for zinc ore
for 1900 was S26-3l per ton, as against
Si269 in 1898, while last year lead ore sold
FOR s244S per ton, as against $3.50 the
previous year. Figures on the output of
both lead and zinc show = gradual in
crease since 1886.
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