Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-29
JUST SCRATCH RESOURCES
Development Of Mineral Wealth Of Wyoming
in Its Infancy Only.
GETTING GOOD START IN COPPER FIELD
Coal the Leading at Present,
with an Output of Five Million
Tons in Year Just
Past.

Past.
CHEYENNE, wyo., Dec. 2S.-(Special)-
Wyoming is to-day the virgin state of the
Union. For many years Il has been one
Of the great producers Of cattle and sheep
and wool, and many fortunes have been
made through the wonderful pastoral con-
ditionB, but these Industries did not tend
to establish large towns or Industrial
plants, consequently the growth of the state
has been slow, and while neighboring states
have increased their population by nun
dreds Of thousands Jurlng the past quarter
Of a century. Wyoming aas been struggling
along with less than half a hundred thou
sand until 1Sgs-99. when an unusual amount
of railroad building and Immigration swclled
the total population 10 %, 1000. But while
the population of the etate is mail in
numbers, the shortage is more than made
up In individual energy and enterprise ana
great things are expected Of the future.
During the past year wonderful gains
were made in the Industrial development
Of the state, and the prospects Cor the com
ing year promise even greater returns. It
has long been known that the state pos
sessed within its borders large and rich
deposits OF coal. oil. sofa, building stone
and gold, silver, copper ard iron ores, but
little or 70 development work has been
done until the past tw0 years. In the early
days Of the states history some rich gold
and copper properties were worked. but
the latter pinched out and the methods
employed In the former were so expensive,
and discoveries being mede in fields in
other states that offered better inducements
mining for precious metals Ia Wyoming
was soon confined 20 tho working Of a few
placers, and scattered 9rctp.cting. The
total output Of gold. silver, copper and Iron
would not average over 800. 0co worth from
the late '70s until the middle '90s. The
mining Of coal, which was commenced whsn
the Union Pacific railroad was built through
the state, continued and the output in
creased from a few hundred tons in 1869
TO over 5000, 900 tons In the year just clos
ing.
Rapid Strides In Mining.
During the past two years, and especially
during the past twelve months, however,
rapid strides were made in gold, iron and
copper mining. outside of the placer work.
ings, which are located in northeastern
Wyoming, on the Snake river and in the
South pass district. the search for gold was
confined to the quartz mines OF Atlantic
OlNsB oOulu PhbHi HaBbSu lOps OOlu I'LL
and the Kirwin district. These mines. to-
gether with the yellow metal found in cop
per ores from other districts, produced APP
proximately 1000, 900 in gold.
Great interest is being taken in the
search for copper in the state, and during
the past two years no less than a dozen
shipping mines have been established and
hundreds CT others opened in which ore
has been found that runs in excess of Is
per cent copper. A conservative estimate
places the total cost Of development work
on these properties at $40, 900, 600. Fully 70
per cent of this work has been done In the
Grand ~Encampment district, where such
mines as the Ferris Haggerty. Great RAM
bier. Doane Rambler. osceola, Copper Belt,
Kurtz-Chatterton and others have become
shippers of high grade coppers ore. II this
district no less than nifty steam plants
were installed during the past two seasons.
three smelters were built. several concen-
traitors were Installed and the longest
aerial tramway in the world-the Wyoming
Southern Aerial Tramway-extending from
the Ferris Haggtrty copper mine to the
Grand Encampment smelter, a distance Of
sixteen miles, was built at a cost Of $3.50. 900.
Discoveries of Rare Metals.
In connection with the copper mining may
be mentioned the discovery Of platinum,
cobalt, palladium and irridium-all in the
Grand Encampment Misunderstanding the
ores exceptionally rich and establishing the
fact that with a little more development
southern Wyoming will become one of the
heaviest producing copper districts in the
world.
Copper mining is also in progress in
northern Laramie county. where some very
rich properties are being opened up. Cop
per is also found in the War Bonnet dis
trict, near Douglas, and In other sections
of the state.
Iron mining. which is now confined to
the Hartville fields, in the northern part
of Laramie county. is becoming one Of the
states leading industries. Upwards OF
1900 tons of high grade iron ore are being
shipped from these fields daily and arrange
ments have been made to increase the out
put to 1000 tons daily during the snring.
The fields are fifteen miles long by one and
one-half miles wide and the ore body Is
known TO be over 500 feet in depth. There
are also rich deposits Of iron In the Semi.
mole district, near Rawlins, but no devel-
opment work is being done there at the
present time.
The deposits OF soda and building stone
are now being drawn upon. Factories al
Green River are producing a fine market
able quality OF soda and the sandstone
Quarries near Rawlins are furnishing hun
dreds OF tons Of fine building stone for the
Cheyenne public building and other struc-
lures.
Coal Most Important.
Coal mining is now the most important
mining industry in the state. During the
year Just closing the thirty-hve or fort,
mines produced approximately 5000, 600 ton.
OF coal, Over 1000 men are employed e.
the mines. over 5000 Of whom were prac.
teal miners and worked underground. Ap.
proximately. 10000 men found employment.
in mining and handling the coal at tn,
mines and in transporting the product 4
market. The wages received by these mel
amounted to something like $1,000. 900 dur
ing the year. There were no serious &C
cidents in the mines and the percentage o
fatal and non-fatal accidents for the yea
was less in proportion to the tonnage o
coal mined than liz any state in the union
There were only fourteen fatal and min
pon-fatal accidents during the year. TIL
increase in the output Of the mines owe
that OF the preceding year was over 700,
900 tons.
Mineral Production of state