Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-09
MILLIONS IN PROFITS
Dividends of the Calumet and
ReCIa Mine.
TOTAL OUTPUT NOT KNOWN
Values Decrease With the Depth of
Shaft.
VAIN EFFORTS TO STRIKE ORE
Varying Views Regarding the Treat
ment of Edwin J. Hubert, Dis
coverer of the Metal
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.


CALUMET, Mich. October l, 1907.
The four deepest mine shafts in the
world are at Calumet, within one mile O.
ca CHI other. They are the Red Jacket yer
teal shaft of the Calumet and Hecls
mine and SHAFTS s, and of the Tama
rack mine All of the other shafts o.
the Calumet and Hecla are sunk on ths
dip of the lode, but this one was pu
down to develop the underlay, and is yer
teal, 1920 feet in depth. Number I
shaft of the Calumet and Eecla, sunk a
an angle of 81 3G. is 500 feet in depth
and below its bottom is a winze or blint
shaft of 100 feet giving a total deptt
on the incline of $500 feet.
Number 3 shaft of the Tamarack mine
is still deeper, and number was in Its
turn the deepest shaft in the world. But
now number has that distinction. being
vertical shaft $3.50 feet in depth and
% by l. feet in sze-a we'll nearly a
mile deep, straight down toward the cen
ter of the earth. \ sphere of iron dropped
down this shaft will descend from sos
feet to 1.500 feet and then. gradually
slowing down lodge on the timbering on
the cast wall. The temperature at the
this excessive heat is counteracted to a
considerable extent by openings that al
low free circulation of cool air that is
forced down from the surface.
The ore is carried from the working
places to the shafts in steel boxes on
wheels called 'skips,' and IS then hoisted
in steel cages TO the surface of the ground
by a 1oGoO-horsepowe engine. which
turns drum 36 feet inches in diameter
around which large wire cable is coiled.
For every revolution of the engine 12O
feet of rope Is pulled up, and it takes only
one minute to hoist bucket containing
twenty tons of ore from the bottom to the
Top OF the shaft distance Of about a
mile. The cages which carry the miners
up and down and the buckets which hoist
the ore make a round trip between the
top and bottom of the shaft and recei i've
ana discharge their cargoes in five min
utes. The powerful engines lift twenty
ton load as if it were a spoonful
Shaft number ) of the Tamarack mine
is 30 feet long and II feet wide and is
divided into five compartments In each of
which is cage or bucket. They are
moving all the time, like the elevators in
a skyscrapfr office building. and run at
an even greater speed. Thes Red Jacket
shaft has six compartments, three in a
row, and each has a cage or bucket oper-
ated in the same manner. The Red Jack
ct shaft cost $1,000 COO and about 9 JOs,
tons of ore are hoisted from it daily The
miners work night and day in shifts and
the engines are always moving
Values Decrease With Depth.
Mr.. Stevens. the copper oracle to whom
l referred yesterday, says: There is no
mining district In the world where values
do not decrease at depths. There is lust
one mine in the Lake Superior copper dis
:rict that improves with depth this being
he Wolverine: but below a depth of 1000
feet, which the Wolverine has not vet at
tanned, every mine in this district shows
doc
gradual as the depth is gained. il is but
d question of time when the cost of hoist
ing, the temperature and other conditions
assisted by acid waters will put a stop to
deep mining. The argument of certain
promoters who have mining stock to sell
tndt values increase with depth Is par
tally founded on misappre hension and is
partly deliberate untruth. Values vary
at different points in most mines but, as
a rule. good mine will show at the sur
face either good values or a strong cap
ping from which values have been leeched
to be redepostted at a little greater depth
On the Rand in South Africa a number of
mines have been opened and are now in
the process of opening on the underlay
These are called the first deeps.' and
bear the same relation to the mines opened
on the outcrop that the Tamarack bears
70 the Calumet and Hecla. A numbeK of
second deeps' companies have been formed
in London to work the underlay Of the
.AIiiIts, bul lHtiI success is UOuDtful
The Calumet and hecla has 1865 miles of
shafts and tunnels. 1t also has a surface
railroad known the Hecla and Torch
Lake line, with about twenty-seven miles
OF main line. spurs and branches. Most
of the copper is smelted on the ground in
It's own furnaces and shipped in ingots
wire bars, molds and cakes to It's Gus
toners throughout the United States and
foreign countries.
On the surface the company has an 49,
100000 plant 1t has discarded many mil
lion dollars worth of valuable machinery
from time to time as its managers have
found other apparatus that will do the
work better. They will throw million
dollar machine on the junk heap If they
can find another that is more rapid or
economical or be an improvement In other
respects. Five years ago the COMPANY
sold its scrap iron to a contractor for
100000. and he is just taking away the
last of It, few days ago the same man
purchased another pile of discarded ma
chlnery for Sl2o, GOO Much Of 1t is nearly
new and had been used but a short time.
Tie sells 1t to other mines for about one
nalf OF its original cost and makes a
large profit.
Output of the Nine
Nobody knows how much the Calumet
and Hecla mine has produced 1t has
paid more than s1OOOOO,OOO In dividends
<,
the cost of machinery and other disburse-
ments, and that is estimated to be about
70 per cent Of the value of the total out
put.
Other companies have purchased lands
and have sunk shafts all around the
Calumet and Hocla property. hoping to
strike the same conglOmerata VEIN but
all of them have failed, and the opera
tors are now devoting themselves to
other veins with more satisfactory re-
suits. Many millions of dollars have
been wasted in this way.
The latest report of the Calumet and
Hecla Company for the year ending April
80. 1907. shows that 1t produced 1920
tons of refined copper. which was sold
at price varying between 1Sa4 and 26A
cents per pound. Its net earnings for the
year amounted to 81, 297 $50, an increase
of $2.S11. I6O over 1905-6. Out of the net
earnings dividends of 1900 GOO were de-
clared, an increase Of 81, 5OO,O 600 over the
previous year. The sum of 81, 728, 500 was
| added to the surplus, making total of
81 OPS, $40.
The report states that the COMPANY
owns shares in other mines as follows:
Ahouez Mining Company. 42,y7S out of a
total OF 10000 shares issued =.
Continental Mining Company, 1850 out
OF total Of $4,000 shares issued
Frontenac Copper Company. 2OOOO
shares out OF a total Of 10000 issued.
Gratiot Mining Company, So 100 shares
out of total of 10000 issued.
La Sale Copper Company, 161, 100 shares
ont Of q total OF 100 !77 fas,,e0