The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-06-23
PHOENIX. MINE.
| GIVES UP GHOST
MICHIGAN PROPERTY OUT OF
BUSINESS PERMANENTLY.
Downward Course Of the Bisbee Cop
per Stocks Still Unchecked Mines
Have the Ore, but the Jump to North
Butte and Other Stocks by Investors
Has Had Depressing Effect. "
Special to The Journal.

Special to The Journal.
Houghton, Mich, June 23.-The Phoenix mine.
after six years of effort, has given up the
ghost. The mine was closed down this week,
and while it will take a month to COM
plete the work Of dismantlng and to close up
the odds and ends of business, it may be ac-
cepted fact that the Phoenix is out Of
business for keeps. ,e' rs - ~ ~.
The present company was organized in 1899,
and holds title to the Phoenix, St. Clair and
Robbins mines. The old Phoenix mine proper
is one Of the Oldest in the district and paid
small dividends, but laid out a far larger sum
in development. - -. - ~, ~ ! g.
: The downward. course Of. the locally owned
'Bisbee stocks continues unchecked. With Calu-
met u Arizona selling at $50 share, there
evidently Is a screW loose somewhere. Careful
review Of the situation leads to the belief that
the present low pricfs are due to one and pos
sibly both of the xrgsfons set forth hereinaftet.
The first and E6osA palpable reason is tie
stretching of tie 4bEipg poWaRsof the people
who have been Specializing III these shares to a
point where time must elapse before recupera-
ton can set in. i$r2 ..r :s5g% T:S;;4EsA8$j
The last big fotation, the North Butte, called
for many millions in cash and, outside of a
few wealthy men connected with the so-called
Bonanza Circle stocks, the millions raised had
TO- come largely from the Bisbee shares. The
wiser investors in North Butte sold Bisbee
shares outright at what proved top prices, and
while their North Butte has declined also from
the high market price, those who got In at
subscription figures still far ahead Of the
game, and even those who bought into North
Butte at the top market prices, selling Bisbee
stocks to do So, are no worse on than they
would have been to have held their Bisbee
shares. --..- $780,, --- .r..
The people who really got pinched in the
deal, and who are helping to make bad mar
ket worse, are those who borrowed at the banks
upon their Bisbee shares to buy North Butte
The Bisbee shares naturally declined. because
of the heavy selling and the heavy borrowing
thereupon, and, as a decline was due shortly
in the natural course of events, the situation
f1, ,,0hn6 adv md witt a or
peg. AS the Bisbee shares declined bankers
began to ask more collateral or cash upon &C
count, and this threw more stock upon thu
| market at a time when the market was suffer
ing from acute indigestion. -..
! The first stock to get a black eye was, yer!
| naturally, Junction. Junction was the first tt
be marked for slaughter because it was thu
newest of the Calumet & Arizona sisterhood
and showed the largest profits to the majority
| of its holders. The other shares moved off ii
| sympathy few points, and little later wer
themselves placed under the same sort of selling
pressure Junction, from the same causes
| that is, the necessity of raising cash. Event
ually the trouble reached Calumet & Arizon
itself, stock that is paying per cent ant
earning nearly twice that on market price o
$100 share. The necessity that Spectator
were under of raising money caused them t.
sacrifice Calumet & Arizona in the end grudg
! ingly to be sure, but none the less certainly
| The reason set forth in the foregoing para
graph may be accepted as strictly true, AM
will be so accepted by all good judges Of tn
4 situation and all close students Of market pc
!; culiaritfes and stock speculation. 1t is a ques
+ ton. however, whether there is not anothe
4 reason also this being the desire of certai
/ interests to force bad slump in the market
1 The merging Of the five companies of the Calu
4 met & Arizona group was urged last winte
by certain powerful interests, including some 0
! the very largest holders in Duluth and Pitts
i burg, but was negatived in very decide
manner by the copper country shareholders, VIII
i remain in control of the Calumet & Arizona
4 which Necessarily would be the keystone Of an
4 attempted consolidation,
4 The local people have the stock, and as Ion
as they have it will say how the compan
A shall be run. but there are various ways {
8 killing cat in addition to smothering it
4 cream. One of the ways of securing contrt
s Of stock company is to sell its stock, and
!. little pressure on the market at time whe
1 the depression is naturally acute help
make matters much worse. 1t would not /
4 surprising, when the truth finally comes out
year or two or three later to learn that al
vantage was taken of the natural depressic
4 in Bisbee stocks by, the strong interests turne
down last winter to pay back the copper COUNT
for its refusal to go into the consolidation th
was then outlined and which was approved l
a great majority Of the holders Of Bisb
& shares outside of Houghton county.