Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1910-04-12
ISSUE SECOND LETTER TO
OWNERS OF BELMONT STOCK
Cal Brougher Reiterates His Former
Statement Concerning the Policy of
the Belmont Directors.

the belmont mill would have been
forced to close down some time
during the year 1908, as, with the
low tonnage and low value of the
ore produced during this yea..,
without custom ore, it would have
been impossible to get an even
break-in fact, the company lost
some forty odd thousand dollars
in the mining and milling of it's own
ores, while 1t made sixty odd thou
sand dollars through the purchase
of custom ores, and this was at d
time when there was very little
money in the treasury and the mine
was in bad shape.
In regard to the wisdom of in
vesting $4,000 for quarter in
terest in the Esmeralda Power
cOmpany's plant, an dthe $26,30O
in dividends received by the Bel
mont company from the power COM
pany during the fiscal year just
closed, which the management men
tions, 1t might be well to show how
this dividend has been earned. In
the first place, the power plant has
been closed down for considerably
over year and the only way that
the Esmeralda Power company earns
any money is by buying power from
, a local water power company at
from $3.50 to $3.50 per horse pow
er, adding the necessary cost If
distribution of this power, such IS
wages of power superinten-
dent at $400 per month, and sew
eral other electricians; then to this
cost adding profit of 10 per cent,
which profit is collected from the
mines at this end of the line. add
ed to the mining costs of the mines
and milling costs of the mills and
paid back in Philadelphia as the
much talked of dividend; in other
words, taking about $500 to $500
per horsepower out of one pocket ia
Tonopah and putting $1.0O to $500
into the other pocket in Philadel-
phia, meanwhile charging off this
enormous loss of $3.50, 100000 o.
| $9O,000.00 for the Belmont COM
pany, against power costs al, the
rate of $4,000 per month, or $780,
900 per year, so that eventually the
gentleman who made the mistake
may have the privilege of saying
''HERE is YOUR POWER PLANT;
IT HAS COST YOU NOTHING" In
| the meantime this famous power
plant, which was built to force the
Nevada-California Power company to
come to terms, was fitted up with
25-cycle generators, which necessi-
tated the purchasing 25 cycle mo-
/ tors for every plant connected with
+, it, and when the result was accom-
plished, viz: the forcing of the pow
er plant to come to terms, it be-
came necessary to rewind every mo-
tor at the various mines and mills
to 60-cycle, at very large ex-
pense. This, I think, is fair IL
lustration of the forethought used
by the management throughout, and
the power plant today, which
has always been referred to as an
auxiliary plant, is absolutely worth
less as such, as the generators
could not be used to run the vari-
GUS motors until they are also re-
wound to 6O-cycle, which would cost
from $4,000 to $25,O00.
While on this subject, I also wish
to apologize for a mistake l made
in my last letter in regard to the
cost per horse power per monta,
which was furnished the mines in
terested by this plant. l find, on
looking the subject UP, that it was
$36.35 per month for the fiscal
year ending February, 1908.
The Belmant mine to March 31st,
1910. has produced ore to a gross
value of about $3,50O,0O and, ac-
cording to the formal reply to my
letter to the stockholders, the,
have on hand $234,O0O in cash, and
due from smelters $40, 900, amount.
/ Continued on Page Three.)