The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-01-30
Col. E. A. Wall Writes a Letter Di-
rected at the Management of
D. C. Jackling.
DECLARES LOSS is GREAT
SAYS PROFIT SHOULD BE $3.50
INSTEAD OF rs CENTS A TON.

dent of the corpora ton, makes against
the management Of D. c. lacking,
copy of the letter containing the ale
cations was given out for publication
yesterday, following its transmission
to President G. NJ. MacNeill at New
York What effect Colonel Wallis
charges will have on the status Of the
taIked-of merger Of the Utah Copper
and Boston Consolidated properties, or
what effect it viii have on the future
handling Of the Utah Copper compapy's
mines and milling plants remains TO be
seen. The letter is couched in language
so strong and unequivOcaI that no room
is left to doubt that the colonel is su-
premely disguised with the manner in
which the property has been handled.
His charges are directed chiefly at Gen
eral Manager D. c. lacking, who Is
presumably still in the east, where he
went to attend the annual meeting OF
the company, held on Friday last.
Text of the Letter.
Colonel Walls letter to President
MacNeill reads as follows:
Salt Lake City, Jan "a 1906
Mr.. Charles NJ MacNeiH. President Utah
ton Co. N New Wy York Sussei'"e'in h-AD'o'
Ny Dear Sir:
In view Of your early departure and
probable extended absence abroad. I have
thought it most eXDedient to urge upon
ordering a radical change in the methods
in use both in the mining and concentra-
ton of our ores That results have not
been what we had every reason TO hope
for, all freely admit and doubtless no
one regrets more than yourself, but that
no intelligent effort should thus far have
been made to remedy or cure the evils
from which we suffer seems ineXcusable.
/ Having encouraged our friends and the
public to purchase Of our shares at ever
increasing prices, insist that the dog
matte determination Of our general man
ager' TO persist in TIlnOUS methods rath-
CT than confess a lack Of knowledge OF
an art in which he has never received
any training. ought not longer be pei
mitted to deprive our stockholders and
ourselves Of the benefits Of intelligent
modern SIKH and modern methods in the
operation Of our mine and the treatment
of its inexhaustible ore bodies.
Mine of Great Value.
we have allowed the statement to 90
abroad that there is exposed IL our prop
erty, twenty! Forty! Even a hundred
million of tons of ore, Of a grade in value,
far above the average of the ores Of
the Lake Superior mines, which alone
/ have supplied a large portion Of the
last forty years and we have truthfuny
said that because Of our exceptional IA
cilities for cheap mining, the extremely
soft and frIable nature OF our ores and
the freedom with which its values yield
to simple methods of concentration, we
can produce copper at lower rates Of cost
than any of the great mines of that IA
VOred region. And all this is true out
what of results? And why have our
, reasonable expectations failed Of realiza-
{ ton?
1t is useless to say that our mill is
only experimental, or that it is too small
to insure economic results, because q mill
. OF 600 or 700 tons daily capacity should
/ b. operated at practically as low rate
Of cost per ton OF ore treated as II It
were Of five times that capacity. The
difficulty lies deeper; it is fundamental
But the cure is most simple and has been
| urged upon yourself and your manager
from the first, but his insensate arrO-
neous explosion by sudden, unexpected
and unearned wealth. would not permit
him to change his system lest his total
ignorance of even the rudiments of the
work IN hand should thereby be be-
trayed.
Ground to Shines.
Up to this date, nearly four hundred
thousand tons Of valuable ores have been
ground into impalpable flour by the Jack
ling chill mills" and the resulting pulp
treated and retreated by every Conceiv-
able device until every grain Of the Shiny
mass should have become as familiar to
the attendant operator as household
words and until in absolute despair the
= IrebelliOus substance was turned into the
creek CARRYING with it a quantity Of
mineral equal in value to more than two
and one-half times the net profit recOv-
: Mr.. lacking admits a loss Of fourteen
| pounds of free copper per ton in the tails.
n l.
Eighty per cent Of this, or eleven pounds.
If properly crushed, could be easily re-
lceyersd: which, with included gold and
silver, would add 81 per ton, or go per
Icent to our net profits.
We have in use in our mill an ade-
e cuate number of the best type Of stand
= ard machines adapted to the concentra-
: ton of our ores, and believe they have
II been operated with more than average
- Icare and ability, and yet results have
lcCntinued from the first most dsappoint-
in no -
z Intelligent solution of a most simple prob
Z lem than the day We first began. nearly
: fact, our manager several months ago
, declared his system" complete in every
|. detail and thereupon began the constrlIc-
!, ton Of our new 6OO0-ton plant, fash
IL Toned upon the same lines and embrac-
= ing all the Objectionable and destructive
t features of the old mill
s crushers Declared Castoffs.
Having so often impressed upon you
:, the fact that failure to obtain higher re-
: coveries is due solely TO the lacking
L method of crushing Or rather grinding. "
n I have, hesitated in urging 1.-THE matter
IIlpon YOU further but the magnitude Of
i personal interest involved. not more than
= the interests of four stockholders in gen
: eral impels me not only to insist that
the lacking grinding mills but the Jack
s ling management be forthwith and for
+ These mills, as you are aware. were
v purchased from the scrap heaps" of the
lW2SlOe cOnCGQudlOT dL A1ldCOHOd5 mont,
= where they had been discarded and
thrown out after being subjected to an
exhaustive test upon the work of that
= great plant and found absolutely untitled
: FOR. the duty required which in every
: respect was similar to our own. All OF
e which facts. together with full expla-
q ration of the cause Of failure 1.-THE ex-
! cessive production of refractory slimes).
!. YES furnished by the mill superintendent,
l and published in the New York Engineer
I ing and Mining Journal, at the time, some
n four years ago. as 2 note Of warning to
), Others having similar problems to solvei
: Continued on Pace 4,