The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1908-06-04
A 10 MILLION
Mine CLOSED
IN MONTANA A COMPANY FAILS
AND ITS ORGANIZER HAS GONE.
Stockholders Had Been Notified That
the Property is Worthless and
That Their $3.50, 900 Was Sunk"
in Hole.

Chicago, June 3.-Anothe- mining
bubble burst yesterday when it be-
came known that the Amador Mining
and Development company of Mon ana
a 1O-million dollar corporation, with
headquarters in Chicago, had come to
an end. Letters mailed today will in
form l,iOO stockholders, the majority
Chicagoans, that the cope t-gold mine
in which they have sunk s650.OO0 is
worthless.
with the crash of the concern,
which has done a thriving business
in selling stock for six years, inter
est increases ia the Whereabouts of
the secretary and general manager,
u. +. Nackinnnon, who appears to be
the only interested person who ever
prOntcd from the enterprise. Mr.
Ma Ginnon organized the company
and doomed the stock sales for five
years. \ year ago he went to Boston.
where he opened branch Office and
since that time he has spent only one
day i'm Chicago. Inquiries mad, by
the stockholders committee resulted
in information that MIR. Mackinnon
had left Boston for some place in
Maine, the exact location of which
an efforts have failed to establish.
The stockholders were considering
a proposal to purchase Mackinnons
half interest in the mine for $l50,OOO
when they woke up. They already
had paid him $4,000 for an option on
the property The president of the
company is William Surmau of Car.
inville, H. George Lii, a Chicago
coal dealer, is vice president, Robert
NJ. MAILER is treasurer, and r. d.
/ Fuller assistant secretary. Herman
Goettsch is a director The inyestlga.
/ tion OF the mine which resulted in
| the revelation of its worthlessness.
was conducted by a committee headed
by Mr.. Lii.
In the six years life Of the com
pany a total OF only five cars Of ore
was taken from the mine. The stock
holders money was sunk I'm eXtraya-
CANT equipment on the surface in
glowing literature, expensive Offices.
and junkets of prospective investors.
Mackinnou, who came originally
/ from North Yakima, Wash, landed in
| Chicago in 1902, and sprung his min.
ing proposition on the public. The
miLe was on Cedar creek, near ANA
dor, Mssoula county, Montana, Mack.
innon having staked out three claims
in the uoighborhood while he was
practicing law at Wallace, Idaho.
The promoter opened upmodest OF.
fl ps at first but eventually worked
| up sumptuous suite in the Teutonic
building, Washington street and Fifth
avenue The business was good from
| the start. Two million shares of stock
were issued, Mackinnon keeping 500.
| GOO and 9SO,O0O being sold at large.
/ All but Mackinnon's stock finally was
| pooled and the owners have been un-
able to dispose Of It,
/ Mackinnon organized many eXcur-
sions to the mine and was prodigal
of samples of the rich ore he said
| it contained. As a result the price
/ of the stock rose from ten cents to
/ $3.50 q share. I'm the fall OF 1900
the first shipment OF ore was uade
from the mine, Mackinnon said the
| shipment was fifty cars, but the rec
ords show only five cars, Then Mack
innon issued a statment purporting
to show that the ore assayed $l53.43
q ton and that the mine was making
a profit of 500 a day After that the
investors fairly mmbled in aud the
price Of shares shot skyward.
4 few months after Macknnon
went to Boston Mr.. Lii and other
Chicago stockholders were uneasy
about their expensive mlug. They In
yestigatod Then Mackinnon offered
to sell his half interest at the sacri-
fee prl h of Sl50,O0o. The engineer
reported in letter dated May 4 last
that the mining property was abso-
mtely worthless and that further de-
yelopment of ii would only increase
the already gigantic sum standing on
the debit side of the Amador account.