Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-08-13
PROSPECTS ARE GOOD
MoARk MINING COMPANY HAS
MADE A LUCKY STRIKE.
SECRETARY E. Il. THOMAS RETURNS
When interviewed by Courier Repre-
sentative This Morning, He Speaks
Enthusiastically OF the Property and
Results of the Local Company.
From Wednesdar.s DaiIr.

From Wednesdays Daily.
The prospects are very bright for
much success for the Moark Mining
company, which owns zinc and onyx
mines in the Ozark mountains in Ar
kansas. e. H. Thomas, secretary of
the local company, returned recently
from a trip to the company's proper
ty, where he has been looking over
the ground and prospects. Mr.. Thomas
was seen by a Courier representative
this morning and was enthusiastic in
his talk of the operations in the mining
district and of the prospects OF the
Ottumwa company. Buffalo City on the
White river is spoken of by Mr. Thorn
as as being a busy city. The inter-
view is as follows:
The Iron Mountain trains are now
running to Buffalo City on the White
river, and the miners of that section
are shipping zinc ore to the shelters
at st. Louis and Joplin, Mo. The
freight is $3.50 per ton to all points.
The miners receive $4,000 per ton for
the ore on board the cars at Buffalo,
the smelters paying the freight. The
cost of mining. crushing and hauling
the ore is $1,000 a ton. leaving the
profit to the miner of $4,000 per ton.
Now that transportation facilities have
been provided, many of the mines have
been put in operation and hundreds of
new mines are being opened.
Buffalo City a Busy Place.
Business is lively in and about Buff
falo City, the present terminus of the
Iron Mountain railroad Both the lat
ter company and the Frisco company
are making surveys and will construct
branch roads out from their main lines
to the different mining districts. Since
the completion of the railroad to Buff
falo City, there has been a great rush
OF people to the mines and capitalists
from Chicago, New York and other
cities are investing their money in the
mineral lands.
In the month of June a party from
'ittsburg purchased the Silver Hal
Ion zinc mine. paying $4,000 for it.
The property consisted of so acres of
land with a cut into the mountain of
so feet. but it is a good thing. The
cut and tunnel is now in 14O feet and
the new company has $40 worth of
zinc on the dump
Local corpany's Prospects.
The prospects CT the Ottumwa COM
pany down there ale very bright at
the present time. The Moark com
Dany has both zinc and onyx. There
are two kinds Of zinc and two kinds
OF onyx in that district. First, there
is the straight Jack" zinc ore. Then
there is mixed ore which contains
carbonate. The ore in the Ottumwa
mine is of the best grade, straight ros-
in Jack Two kinds of onyx are
found, one caller "cave onyx is
found in caves is worthless, it's long
exposure to the air making it SO. The
best grade of onyx is found in slabs
in a red clay deposit. 1t is found in
this way in Mexico and also in the
United States. The Ottumwa COM
pany has a bed of this, which has
been excavated to a depth of five feet
and it crops out on the mountain for
q distance Of 400 yards From a hole
five feet deep one miner took out a
ton of these onyx slabs in three hours
and he did not reach the bottom of
the depth. From mine near the
Ottumwa property, large quantity
of these onyx slabs were shipped and
sold in the market at good price.
1t has beautiful color, is very hard
and carries fine polish, the three
essential things to make a good grade
Of onyx.
Zinc Mined by ottumwa Co.
The miners in the employ of the
Ottumwa company are now mining
zinc, getting the rock out on the