The Sumpter miner. [volume] (Sumpter, Or.) 1899-1905, 1902-10-15
SOME IDEA OF THE
VALUE OF MINES
Compared With Farming,
Timber Lands and
the Like.

Representatives Of the three Portland
daily papers have been in Sumpter dur
ing the past week or ten days. Of
course they all called on Mayor Robbins
for business and information. They
secured both, but much Of the informn-
tion will not Ike used I" enlighten their
readers. 1t was favorable opportunity
10 present u protest against the policy
pursued by those publications, in sub.
ordinating the states greatest and most
important industry, gold mining in
eastern Oregon, to other comparatively
insignificant industries. lie started out
by telling them that IL some enterprisirg
farmer down in the Willamette valley
should plant forty acres to hops, the fact
would be given a page, with numerous
illustrations, in those papers, while u
million dollar mining deal would be dis.
posed Of in ten lines-snd he had the
proof filed away in his desk.
But this il not a reiteration Of Mayor
Robbins protest. II is, rather, a pre-.
sentation of some interesting facts and
figures which he then produced to dem.
onstrate the magnitude and vast i'm.
portsnce Of Oregon's mining interests,
which center here in Sumpter. These
THx MINER has verified, added to and
herewith submits.
|. Mr.. Robbins first strategic move WAS
TO show from the Oregonian's handbook
the relative value Of mines and their
products and several Of the states other
industries. This authority (?), which
gives everything in the state, from truck
gardening to stock raising, more proni.
nence than it does mining, credits the
gold fields Of eastern Oregon with al
output Of the yellow metal alone in 1901
of between four and five millions. That
is low enough, all will admit. The fruit
crop Of the entire state was placed at
"over" t2,OOO,OOO, hops ut t2,OO,OOO,
dairy products $4,000, 900, lumber some.
thing over $s,OOO,OOO, and 40 on down
the line. No further argument is neces-
sary to convince the most skeptical that
gold is an important item in the states
invoice Of industries; but these figures
give no conception Of how important,
relatively, it really Is, as it is still in the
swaddling clothes Of early infancy, while
the others are hoary with age.
But here il u statement Of fact that
will surprise some people and convey
some idea Of what mining really amounts
to, after few years Of labor and some
capital have been expended on a pros.
pect. The Oregonian handbook says:
"The 1852 firms Of Portland worthy OF q
definite rating represent u financial
strength agyregating ~, ,+72,OOO."
From six to eight miles from sumpter,
in Cracker Creek district, there is a strip
OF ground 600 feet in width and about
three miles in length, that couldn't be
bought today tor $2O,OOO,OOO cash.
Through it runs what is doubtless the
greatest, richest gold bearing ledge on
earth. 1t 10 owned by half dozen min
ing companies, the capitalization of
which approaches nowhere near the real
value Of the properties, but these six
companies are worth fully ~ much as all
the 1852 corporations, firms and individ-
uals doing business in Portland. In five
years the mines will be worth double
their present value. This group is taken
as an example, because four Of them are
developed properties, one partially SO
and the other sufficiently so to demon
strate the existence there OF a mine.