The copper era., 1903-11-19
THE MINING OF COPPER.
An Industry Which is Constantly
 Growing in Importance.

Copper mining has assumed such an financial affairs of the world, that cop- per mines are being more eagerly sought for by mining investors than even gold mines, though gold mines have been in demand when all other kinds of mines were looked upon as drug. There Is a certain stability about gold, in it's undertaking selling price of S20.67 per ounce. that gives it an intrinsicality making il the peer of all other portable wealth, thongh its purchasing power may h1ctuate, and by com mon consent it is looked upon as the real money of ultimate redeem
 tion and settlement.
 Copper has assumed the position amdGg base metals that gold holds among precious metals, says the Jour nal for Investors It has become es- sential. The development Of copper miuing has been phenomenal and one ot the wonders Of modern mining and industrial sciences. The copper mines Of Lake Superior, Montana and Ari- zona have made wonderful records in tonnage production as well as yielding dividends, in the aggregate of such collOssal proportions, as to be mar velOus even in these days of bullion dollar fortunes. Though the field of utility for copper as metal has been oI, ha two decades, and that principally in the United States as the initiating country, its sovereign virtues, were recognized in the first dawn of civiliza- tion. The ancient Greeks mined it extensively in the Island of Cyprus, and it was copper that caused the PhOenicians to seek the coast of Brit any to obtain the metal from the mines of Cornwall. It has been mined almost continuously for cen turies in Spain and Portugal, and curiously enough the copper mining industry has had comparatively little exploitation in Russia.
 According to the Stevens Copper
 Hand Book for 1903 the Republic of Mexico had made relatively greater strides in copper production during the past five years than any other country in the world. Not only has there been most remarkable rela- tive gain, but the actual gain in out put, says Stevens, puts Mexico an eX- ceedingly close second to the United States in point of increase. That Mexico will soon lead Spain, and rank second only to the United States, seems assured. On the other hand, it is equally remarkable to note that considering the wide distribution of cuperOus minerals, there are after all only d comparatively few states in the United States in which copper is mined on large scale, and outside of Michigan, Montana and Arizona, that there are few going copper mines as against mines producing other metals. Of the 293, j04 long tons of copper produced in the United States Tn 1902, ! according to the Stevens tables S6 per cent. or over three-quarterS, was pro- duced by Arizo ma, Michigan and Mon- tana. The next three states in i'm portance are California and Utah, who between them produce annually some 5O,000,0 900 pounds. Colorado and New Mexico are next in importance but the two do not yield what California and Utah do by much more than one-third. Alaska has not figured as yet in the regular statistics as d copper producer, but it is only question Of time, prob ably, when that snowy realm of the far northwest will also be regarded as a copper country.-Republic can.