The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-11-21
NEW SOURCES OF SILVER.
The Strange Story of the Cobalt Field
Lack of Shipments Explained

The announcement last week that
the largest silver interests in the
world had seen fit to pay 100000 900
for a one-third interest in 9. mining
company at Cobalt, Ontario, to COM
plete their control OF property which
Wall Street had never heard Of until
a few months before, and which had
been selling within the year at mar
ket valuation of less than its capital
ization of s6,000,000, has served to
focus the attention Of the stock
dabbling public on this new and little
known silver district of Canada. This
interest will no doubt serve the pur-
poses Of the swindling promoter fully
as well as the excitement over the
discovery of the new gold fields in
Nevada a few years ago, which car
ried the public blindly into the hands
of the sharks, who capitalized every
hole in the ground that could be ad-
vertised as near one Of the producing
mines, but one fact which the en-
gineers report Of the Cobalt field puts
the get-rich-quick promoter at dis
advantage. This is the limited area Of
the silver deposits.
The news of the fabulous deposits
at Cobalt brought thousands Of pros
pectors into the field, and this past
summer not one strike has been re-
corded to disprove the engineers be-
lief that the silver veins are confined
to the area, about six miles square,
in which lies the town OF Cobalt.
Most Of the mineral rights on this
land were igobbled up when the camp
first started, in 1904, by the officials
Of the Temishaming & Northern On
tario Railway, WIN. runs through
the field, and by a few wise men from
the outside who got in early. Of the
mines with actually proved ore bodies
there are at present only about a
dozen which are actually taking out
the silver ore, and the stock Of most
Of these is not on the market.
Up to the passing Of the snow in
the spring Of 1905 the outside world
and the Canadians themselves heard
nothing of the silver at Cobalt. Fol-
lowing the first fabulous tales that
came out there was considerable
rush to the ground, in the summer
and fall, Of newcomers, who located
about all the land in the mineral zone
which had not been occupied by the
small group Of original prospectors.
The stories that these men told, and
even the reports Of a wellknown geo
logist published over his own sigma
ture, were so remarkable that they
received little credence, and it wasn't
until last spring that the rush began
in earnest, when there was no min
eral land for location.
Then the boom subsided and moth
ing more was heard of the camp un-
til the sensational rise on the curb
in the shares Of the mine Of which the
Guggenhein interests recently bought
control again brought out. marvellous
tales of the Ontario bonanzas. In the
meantime the nature Of the deposits
at Cobalt, which are mostly outcrqp-
pings of ore said to be SO rich in vir-
gin silver that "the miner can start
vention of a smelter," has made it
possible for many Of the owners, ac-
potter along at their workings with
out calling in outside capital. Conse-
quently development work has been
slow Another reason why the fame
Of the field has bee1 SLOW TO spread,
according 70 the same authority, has
been the dissatisfaction of many Of
the producers with the terms offered
IOf SIiielGitS CIiS ores US lltS oSi SSS
City refners whose plant is the near
est to the field. Rather than send
their output south on these terms
they have been bagging and storing
ii ali through the summer in log huts.
This is the reason given TO explain the
fact that there have been no phenom-
enal shipments from the field except
out Of the mine which now belongs to
the Gugsenhein Interests. The val
ue Of silver in the ores stored at the
shafts OF some of the other producing
mines is put as high as s40o,CG0 in at
least orc case, and it is said that be-
tween s20o 600 and 100000 worth Of
ore went with another mine purchas-
ed recently by an American syndicate.
Most Of the workings a: Cobalt
scarcely do more than scratch the
surface. Few shafts are down over