The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1906-11-03

convenient for Mr.. OConnell to rant
about smelter trust. In mauy of the
remoter parts of the state Of Colorado
today, the railroad freie hit rates on ore
are much higher than the smelling
charges. and Mr.. O'Connell has re-
manned absolutely silent.
According to the address of Mr.
Gniterman the following represented
the ore outpu. of the different sections
of the state as handled by the Ameri-
can 5. & X. company
Lake County 50 per cent, Pitsls
County, lis per cent: Teller County
I7.7 per Cent. Mineral County, ss per
cent. leaving the balance of the state,
which includes Clear Greek, G,lpiu,
Boulder, summit and a number of coun-
ties, furnishing but II per cent. Of the
total tonnage. c ear Creeks share of
this is probably not per cent. When
this fact is taken into consideration, it
looks like case of the tail wsggiug the
dog. II the miners Of this s; ate are be.
ing robbed so promiscuously, why does
not some protest be made from the Lead
vii district where s. per cent Of the
annual amount OF the ore used by the
the smelters is produced?
Clear Greek county does not pose as a
lead producing county. The compar-
atively small amour, of lead ore annual
ly produced in this county, would not
make a respectable showing for single
lead mine in the Kansas Missouri dis
trict We are producing gold and silver.
That's our long suit and always has bees
The lead and other metals are merely
by products, aud assist in meeting the
freight and working charges on the ores.
Every metal that the good Lord ever
made has been found in the geological
formation in Clear Creek county.
The alleged smelling trust was formed
in 1899 and the robbery that Mr..
O'Connell comLlains Of has been going
on all of the time that he occupied q seat
in the state legislature. Mr.. O'Connell
admits that there Is sill competition in
the smelling business, and that ore is be-
ing shipped from Georgetown, to
the Independent" smelter at Sa-
Ida in this state. What does the Sslida
smeiter pay for lead in ores? Mr..
O'Conuell is discreetly silent. The por-
tion of Mr.. O'Connel)'s speech devoted
to the tissue" occupied but seven min
utes time by the watch Not one con-
Yincing fact; not one material statement
H.,
marks in support of his contentious. but
on the contrary, the mining industry in
Gear Creek county has never been car
ried on under as favorable conditions at
any time in the history of the county as
exist at the present time. MI O'Con-
neil does not, will not and can not sue.
cessfully challenge the statement.
On Tuesday OF this week the announce
ment was made by the local ore buyers
that the schedule of smelling rates on
low grade copper-i.on ores which was
in force at the time the Independent
smelter at Golden was in operation, had
been restored and that the smelters
were now in position to handle a heavy
tonnage of that class of ore. Al the same
time it was announced that an increase
of IS cents per unit for copper would be
paid.
The restoration of the former low
smelling charge on this class of ore will
be welcomed by number of operators
and will lead to increased activity in
properties producing ore of that-eharac-
ter. No doubt several mines which
have been lying idle will be started up
in the near future as with the smelling
charges at the present figure there is a.
opportunity for profit on the low grade
heavy sulphide ores which cannot be
treated by concentration.
The Smelters became ovcrstocked on
this quality Of ore last December and In
creased the working charges from Fl to
81 so per ton which had the effect of i'm
mediately stopping shipments from the
mines which depended upon that mar
gin between the cost Of production and
freight and smelling charges for their
profit. 1t was announced at that time,
that as soon as the new roaslsnp .ur-
naces we're installed and the supply
on hand had been worked up into the
mixes, the cheap rates would be restored.
Tue smelters have since installed the
huntington Heberlain process which
eliminates a large portion of lead and
silver sustained under the old method
of roasting, and which entirely disposes
Of the sulphur The process also per-
mits Of the delivery to the furnaces of
a solid product which is not blown
away from the bias. but increases the
efficiency and capacitv of the furnaeee