Weekly journal-miner., 1910-03-16
SAYS SALT|NG CHARGES WERE
 MADE John Hays Hammond Admits Fraud Was
 Attempted Confirms Truth of The *Journa1-Miner'
 Report
tFrom Tuesdays Daily)


 John Hays Hammond, the noted mining engineer, has been heard from, and he candidly admits that he was "salted," or to be specific, that an attempt was made to unload "salt- ed" mine upon him. Although 1t was a matter of common report for a couple of weeks that MT. Hammond had publicly related his experience in this county, no action was taken un- til the Journal Miner, on February 20th, editorially demanded that action be taken to cOunteract the islander and wipe out the injustice that had been done to the mining industry of this county. It was then that moved by the force of public opinion, Dis trict Attorney Ross wrote a letter to MT. Hammond, asking for his assist anee in locating the party of parties who performed the salting.
 In his reply Mir Hammond dIs- claims any intention of reflecting up- on the integrity of the mining men of Arizona, and he also denies making the statement: ''Mark well the mine,' the remark attributed by the JOurnal-Miner was '"Mark well the county" and it was this particular expression that called forth the edi- torial utterances of this paper. MT. Hammond apparently forgot that he made specific mention of Yavapa1 county in his speech, as several east ern papers reported him as making that statement, and the Phoenix Re publican, in its relation of the af- fair, reports him as saying: ''I have been up against it in - county. Arizona. Don't forget the place, - county; ArizOna' The Re publican, it will be noticed, substi- tuted a blank for the name, not wish ing to damage this county by further publicity. However, in his eommuni- cation, MT. Hammond pays a high tribute to Arizona as a mining state, and his 'tlaUsus ,linguae" may be condOned. His letter to the District Attorney is as follows:
 MT. Hammond's s Reply.
 1900 Rhode Island avenue, N. w. WASHINGTON, D. C., March 9, 1910. H. D. Ross, Esq,
 District Attorney,
 Prescott, Arizona. -
 4CtaA -dl- 1hOoS-
 Referring to :. your letter of Feb ruary 23rd, I do not know how the papers happened to mention Yavapai county in connection with t6e sa1ting to which I referred.
 The parties who. did the saitfng were not caught S'fIagrante delicto'' but the facts: of the case are these: Several engineers had sampled the mine in question, q and had obtained through competent assayers,. in differ ent parts of the country, high re- suits. But when I sampled the mine, taking many saimples from the same spots which had yielded high grade gold ore, according to the assay values aforesaid, I found that the ore car ried but traces of gold. Naturally, my suspicious were directed to salting to account for the previous high value of the samples obtained by the other engineers. To confirm this l procured some parts of the samples which had been previously salted, ana found by microscopic examination that the gold was in the form of gold filings. Just how the salting was done is a matter of speculation; and I do not think it would be possible to prove a case against the parties interested and responsible for the salting There is not the slightest doubt in my mind, however, that the salting had been done, and in this opinion I am supported by several other first class engineers. I do not think that this, however, reflects at all upon the integrity of the mining men of Arizona, especially since it IS the first case that has occurred in all my experience in the examination of Arizona mines. But that there are some black sheep in the mining busi- ness of Arizona, as in every other part of the country, is undoubtedly true. Such men, while they may dis credit in a degree the good name of the territory, are fortunately unable to overcome the unquestiOnable evi- dence on all hands that Arizona is one of the great mining states of the West, and one in which there are ex- ceptiOnal opportunities for the invest ment of mining capital. There is one thing quite certain, and that is that all the dishonest promoters in the country could not by any con spiracy affect the very high opinion have of the value of Arizona min eral deposits or of the integrity of the people of the territory.
 In looking over the editorial com ment in the "PrescOtt Journal-Miner of February 20, I note that I am reported to have said, "Mark well the mine" This is a mistake, and was probably put in for sensational effect But 1t would not have been very difficult for a Sherlock Holmes saI