The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1902-08-16
COPPER MINING AT BUTTE.
Interesting Letter or This Subject
From the Montana Metropolis.
Butte, Mont, Aug. 10. 1902

Butte, Mont, Aug. 10, 1902.
Editor Irish Standards: Butte is the
greatest mining camp on earth. Cop
per is the metal mined. Silver, il adj
mitteu to coinage, would employ as
many more miners here as are now at
work. Marcus DAILY gave us the
'amalgamated' mines and they, |
fancy, are 40 per cent of our working
mines. Il. n. ueinZe runs a concern of
his own and it is to be hoped he will
continue to run it. Up to the present
he has been a thorn in the 'amalga-
mated side, and i'll the side of its
predecessor: and miners fondly hope
That the thorn may not be pluckcd,
but that it may steadily grow. Sen
ator Clark OWNS Il few mines here, but
he is of less Importance rs an cmpl "
or of labor than IIcinzc. Tho "I.nr-
Eey estate OWLS one rich mine, ",Thr
Speculator.' The Farrell company is
at work on q large scale i'm Developing
on our city boundary. 1Iiics. are our
principal mine owners. When all
these mines are at work We have few
idle men in Butte; when some or
many of them are closed we have
many miners and many others out of
work. In Butte we produce II thing
but copper ore: all things else we i'm
| port. Last year WITS our greatest
"bllil'lin" year." and because il was.
We were doing a fairly 20 Vi business.
although many of our large "amalya-
nnted' mines, from one cause or
other. or from no cause. were too Of
ten closed down, and for two long a
term at that. This year we are more
free from CLOSING downs" although
just now "'rha Minnie lIcaley" and
''rlc Spectator" two of our largest
non-amnlgamatcd mines. are closed by
order of the court because of disputed
ownership,-yct because of little other
work in progress. we are for us, ratll-
or dull. For Butte and all it's people
| 1t will be an evil day when all its
mines are more amal"amated or Nor
"nniZetl than they are mt present. More
people than lawyers. miners. ana alb
Strnct clerks would suffer from the
change.
| All our orc is slmcltcd in Anaconda,
Great Falls and Butte. lIcinzr has his
own smeltcr Clark has his and the
lmalgamatcd have two, but the great
bulk of the amalgamatcd ore is treat
| cd at their huge smclt2r in Anaconda,
opened at the beginning of this year
and superSrding their older smcltcr in
the same town. The copper ore in
going through the smcltcr gives up It's
gold and silver in quantities often suf-
it's sulphur it gives to the atmosphere
and through it to the people in the
| way of sulphur SNAKE; and to this
smoke Butte owes many of the hard
things that have been uttered against
it. Anaconda. with the old smclt,r
was very free from sulphur smoke. but
the new smctcr is. l hear. making it
interesting to vegetable and animal
life Within a radius of four to six
miles Cattle have myStcriously died
in numbers and chickens are laid low
and grass and trees will soon be as
rare as they are now with u.s.
With the first week of Scptcm-
Der opens our great National Min
ing Congress. of which hope
to have many interesting things
to say. Already we in Butte see one
pleasant, permanent, and most enjoy
able result. Senator Clark proposes
to pay freight of all specimen ores in
tended for this mining Congress eX-
hibit from all points to Butte, that arc
addressed to Mr.. Wharton, manager of
our street car system, and most eff
ficicnt supervisor of our Columbia Gar
dens, provided such specimens are al
lowed to permanently remain in the
Columbia Gardens magnificent pavil-
ion. This offer Of Senator Clark will
add much to the success of the Min
ing Congress, as well as give to the
visitors to the Columbia Gardens, for
all time. a rare collection of minerals.
A condition is made that a tag at
taches to each specimen giving name
Of owner, mine, nature Of specimen,
etc.
A VISITOR.