Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1906-07-28
What it Takes to Make a Mine.

There are very few people, except
those actively engaged in the business
who know what it takes to make mine
or who realize that, as in many other
successful business, the making of pro.
ducing dividend paying mine often re-
quires considerable length of time and
large outlay of capital. A very popu-
lar idea, especially in the east, is that it
is only necessary to stake out the claim,
take out gold dollars and Immediately
begin to draw dividends. Such is actual.
ly the case in a few instances, where the
ore is exceptionally rich on the surface
and conditions are favorable, but in the
majority OF big paying mines years have
been taken in development and fortunes
expended before the reward was har-
vested. Mining is like any other busi-
ness. There is always the chance of
failure with the bigger chance ofsuccess,
and even the most competent men have
been fooled and lost fortunes.
A prospect may be future dividend
payer and still never be worked or de-
yeloped into producer. Some of the
most promising properties have long
been neglected since their discovery
lacking sufficient working capital to
prove their worth. The first thing nee
esary, then, is to secure ample funds for
thorough development. This is not al
ways easy unless the property is in
some new district where excitement is
at the highest pitch and everything is
taken up regardless of worth. The stock
buying public seems to prefer the latest
sensational camps, when in reality, some
of the best propositions are to be found
in districts where wild excitement and
hot air has not perpetrated
The amount of capital required to put
a mine on paying basis varies accord
ing to circumstances. The facilities for
transportation the local advantages
with regard to wood, water and supplies
the character of the ground and lastly,
the nature, amount and richness of the
ore must all be taken into consideration.
The running expenses of a mine are
very heavy. Here are but few items
Of general expense. Often long tunnels
have to be run before the ledge is tapped
or a shaft sunk below water level to get
values that will pay. Tunneling costs
from IS to $40 and $40 foot, and sink
ing often a great deal more. Miners
wages are from So to SIS day. Foremen
and superintendents get from 1925 to $50
a month, and it always pays to have a
good man in charge, even though a rela
lively large salary is given him. Min.
ing machinery and supplies come high
and even with the strictest economy, the
cash disappears with astonishing rapid
ity. II takes money to make the mare
60, and it certainly takes lots of it to
properly develop mine.
With such conditions confronting the
mine operator and with the large ele
ment of chance entering in the PROPOSE
ton, it ought to be readily seen that a
mine cannot be made in day, and that
the expenditure of a few hundred dol
lars is not always enough to bring re-
suits. The man who puts his money in
mines and expects to draw dividends in
six months or a year later is apt TO be
badly disappointed but when it does
pay, it usually pays big There is more
clean, honest legitimate money in the
right kind of mining than can be found
in most any other tield.-Salt Lake Min
ing Review.