Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-01-16
building committee of three to erect
the building.

building committee of three to erect
the building.
Big Lumber Deal.
The big lumber deal which has been
pending for the past year took on an
entirely new aspect Monday, when it
became known that Fremont Wright
of Boston, president of the Battenkill
Lumber company, had purchased for
a Boston syndicate the entire hold
ings of w. w. Peck & Sons la the
towns of Somerset and Stratton,
amounting to about {, 900 acres. The
deal was closed in the Office of O. @.
Fits of Brattleboro Monday night,
and 1t is understood that the price
paid for the Peck timber tract was
s177 900. This gives the Boston syn
dictate for which Mr.. Wright is at
present working the identical tract
which John P. Kellas, who is said to
be an agent of the Standard Oil COM
pany, has been trying to purchase for
the past year, and leaves the latter
with the Hoosac Tunnel & Whining
ton railroad on his hands, and the key
to the lumber situation lost. With
the Peck land and the holding of the
Battenkill Lumber company, Mr..
Wright now controls over %, 900 acres
in the towns of Somerset, Strattcn
or,1 &C. hot he
has a promise from the Rutland rail-
road to begin branch road from
Manchester to Somerset and Stratton
as soon as the frost is out of the
ground in the spring. Brattleboro
people are naturally extremely
anxious that these numbering opera
tions shall be done by way of the
Brattleboro and Whitehall division of
the Central Vermont, and strong
effort will be made to get the Central
Vermont company to agree to build
branch road from Winhan through to
Somerset and Stratton.
Plans to Mine Platinum.
W. LIZ WI
discovered platinum in Vermont
some time ago, is waiting for patent
on process which he has invented
for separating the platinum from the
ore. Mr.. Hinchman says that his
process reduces the cost in producing
platinum from 5. to 80 cents per ton
of ore. Charging and emptying
tanks bring the total cost of getting
the platinum ready for melting, or
commercial uses, up to 81 per ton of
ore. While out prospecting for gold
stone during the spring of 1901. Mr..
Hinchman discovered after removing
the gold and copper some glistening
white metallic scales of an unknown
metal which remained. After several
months of xperimenting he decided
that this metal was platinum, but it
being such rarity in this section, he
sent samples to DIR. S. Q. Eaton of
Torrey & Eaton, eminent metallurgists
of New York, and to Prof. j. F. Kemp
of the United States bureau of
geology. Both pronounced the metal
platinum. The platinum deposit of
the state runs from Readsboro north
II degrees east to an intrusion of
granite near Barre and Williamstown.
The largest deposit is at Plymouth
Five Corners, where Mr.. Hinchman
made his discovery. The place of
discovery is on the right hand side of
the road, three-fourths of mile from
Plymouth Five Corners on the way to
Tyson. The deposit is 200 feet wide
in this region, and runs for three
| fourths of mile. Mr.. Hinchman
sunk 15 foot shaft and found that
copper, gold and platinum all in
creased the deeper he went. On the
surface there was onefourth ounce
of platinum to ton of ore, which is
the only metal in a paying quantity,
while at depth of Is feet it assayed
one third ounce. Mr.. Hinchman saws
it would keep on increasing the deep
er he dug. The gold and copper are
not in paying quantities. It is only
natural that platinum should be found
in Vermont, as it is usually found in
with coarse rocks, such as we have
here, while gold is found with fine or
sugar quartz. Gold is worth $40 81
per ounce, while platinum brings s21.
Over 50 per cent. of the worlds
supply of platinum comes from the
Ural mountains in Russia. Ola years
output of 81, 055, 1888, the United States
furnishes but 81, 900 worth.