Gilpin observer., 1906-02-22
The Great Portland Mine.

There are many great mines in Col
oradO, but unfortunately all of them
not only are not Portlands, but also
they are not all so placed that elab-
crate detailed reports of their annual
operations are given to the public. The
stock of the Portland company Is
widely distributed and so the annual
reports of its officers are printed and
become open to all. The 1905 report
Just published gives a view well worth
getting.
From such report one gathers
some idea of what vast possibilities
there are in mining as well as of the
magnitude of Cripple Creek. Here is a
mine that has produced $23, 3,102, ,327.9S
, in the twelve years since it's discovery.
1t has paid out of this $6,457 ,0S0.5O in
dividends; the remainder of the vast
sum as gone for labor, for supplies, for
| railroad haul and milling charges, dis.
tributed among a multitude of workers
and business men. The owners have
made a fourth of the sum as the return
not only for their discovery of the hid.
den store of nature, but also and prin-
cipally as reward for that eternal vigi-
lance and adherence to business laws
that alone make for success in any line
of effort. They might have produced
as much and made nothing had they
not applied to their business the same
principles of accomplishing the most
for the least outlay or the least effort
that every man must apply to his bus
mess or his labor. We hear so much
these days of the part labor plays in
building up big enterprises that these
remarks are worth making in passing
The privations and hardships the 10.
Gators of this mine went through lea
to its discovery; their business ability
and perseverance brought IL not only
to its present high position among
mines and made them rich men, but
the benefit they have worked for the
state and the community, the business
their discovery set in motion. cannot
be measured even by the millions the
mine has produced.
But there are other figures in the re-
port that speak as clearly for the
greatness of the Cripple Creek dis
trict as do those of production and
dividends. In the early days of the
camp there was expressed in some
| quarters fear OF the permanency OF
the deposits. The Portland mine has
thirty-five miles of underground work
ings; its various levels, drifts, wines.
shafts and upraises measure that
length. Ii is being worked now from a
shaft LOO feet deep, from which levels
cut some of the veins several hundred
| feet deeper, and the farther they go
in the earth the richer the ore bodies
are found 10 be and the more valuable
the mine becomes.
After making a gross output of 81
13.G00.14 last year the mine at the end
OF the period showed more ore than
1t was known to contain at the begin
Ming. Great as its yield has been, II
grows greater with the years.
This Is important to know because
the mine but reflects the Cripple Creek
district in its entirety. What the Port
land is proving in its own case will be
found to hold true throughout the
camp Now and then some individual
mine may. through some local condi-
tion, go beyond its own hold upon an
ore shoot. but the ore itself goes
deeper and deeper into the ground and
leads the stopers on 70 greater riches
than the work accomplished has even
| forecast BY reason of the large area
the Portland commands the future and
will probably continue TO be the most
representative of the Cripple Greek
mines. and its reports will grow In in
terest with the years.