Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1901-06-22
The Gold Fields.

time. Some of the newspapers have
regarded it as chimerical and decided
ly on the boom" order, the biologists |
of the university have declared
against it and the skeptical have in
timated that the shale is sailed"
but the men who have cash are going
quietly ahead, spending large sums on
Seventy-five per cent of the shale
acreage of the counties named is held
by Topeka men. Among those inter
ested are Colonel w. H. Rossington,
Charles Blood Smith, Eugene Hagan,
Fl. P. Dillon, A. F. Williams, George
W. Veale, jr., A. F. McManus, G. K.
Holiday, S. S. OFT, Jerry Black, f. w.
Freeman. E. w. Poindexter, j. X.
Rowley, G. f. Foote, w. A. L. Thomp-
son, Fred Gay and Frank Lewis.
Charles ]. Langtry of Strong City and
J. J. Frey, formerly general manager
of the Santa Fe, are interested with
the Topeka people.
Colonel F. J. Close, who was former
ly a factor in Populist politics, To-
Gated in Ellis county three years ago
and made experiments which he said
were satisfactory. He interested
Holiday, Veale and others, and they
organized the Imperial Mining COM
pany, which has erected reduction
works at a cost of $4,000. The COM
pany announced that the mill would
be in operation June 1, but it has not
started yet owing, it is explained, to
some litigation over the process to be
used This litigation, it is announced.
is at an end, and the mill will be turn
ing out yellow metal within ten days.
f. w. Miller, chemist at ST. Louis,
owns the process which the Imperial
company will use. 1t is chemical
process, which, it is claimed, will take
gold from the shale at a cost of 81 a
ton. The shale owners insist that
their assays show from so to $50 a
ton. If their claims are not on the
pipe dream order, Kansas will be the
richest gold field in the world, for the
shale supply is practically inexhausti-
BILE. Miller has been working on his
process several years and claims that
it now is perfect. He is with the I'm
perial company at its reduction works
at the new town of Smoky Hill, II
miles from Hays CITY.
A syndicate formed by Charles j.
Lantry and FL. P. Dillon has opened
headquarters at Topeka and employed
j. L. Lovewell, for years an assayer
and chemist at Washburn COLLEGE,
and Charles III. Gage, chemist for the
Independence smelter at Galena, to
experiment on Kansas shale. with a
new process, which is kept a secret.
Lovewell and Gage say they have
found gold, but will not give any de-
tails.
f. Burleigh Johnson. an old-time
prospector in the Ellis-Trego district,
was in Topeka recently, having just
returned fl ON Chicago. where, he said,
he had purchased $1,000 worth of ma
chinery for mill to be put up at
Smoky Hill. He claims to have pro-
cess which will extract gold at cost
of 60 cents ton.
The new town of Smoky Hill has be-
come so important that a company
has been formed to run stage line
between that place and Hays City.
The stage now runs three times a
week, but arrangements have been
made for daily service. If anything
should be developed, except hot air,
the Union Pacific will run a branch
line from Hays City to Smoky Hill.
Representatives of the Standard Oil
company have recently purchased 49,
800 acres of land in the northwest
Kansas oil field and are negotiating
for more. One of the representatives
of this company came direct to the
Kansas field from Beaumont, Tex. to
purchase land. There is another com
pany in the field. 1t is the Waconda
Oil and Mining company OF Topeks
which has leased several Thousand
acres of land in Ellis, Cove, Mitchell
drilling for oil as soon as machiner,
can be obtained. The members of the
company say that oil in small quaint
ties has been struck in several places
in those counties and that along tn,
Saline and Smoky Hill rivers the OF
lseeps out of banks in number o
places.
J. B Eldridge of Topeka, land agen
for the Union Pacific Railway com
pany, has spent a great deal of tim
travelling over this field and he say
that he expects Kansas to be one o
the richest oil states in the countr
when this field is developed Mr.. e.
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