Mohave County miner., 1911-07-15
Mininq Case is Attracting
 Much Attention.

A special to the Denver Mining Record from Butte, Montana, says: A mining case which is of interest to every producing company. and which will shortly come before the courts for decision, is attracting a great deal of attention, as a definite ruling on the question involved means great deal to the companies in this district-the question involved being one of taxa tion.
 In 1906 the North Butte Mining com panies made a return for taxation pur- poses to the assessor of l,S4S,O ,O0OS as the net proceeds, upon which the taxes for the year were to be levied. The company also reported that it had paid out during the year l,640,O00S for the purchase of new property. The as sessor held that the company had no right to use that money for the pur- chase of new property and deduct it from the taxable net earnings. The assessor, therefore, taxed the 1, ,64O, ,OOOS as net earnings. The company paid g, ,340S on the original return, but re- fused to pay the additional amount. The North Butte company thereupon brought suit against the treasurer to enjoin him from collecting the addi- tional amount, and demurrer to the complaint was the other day oyerruled, so the treasurer will now have to an- swer the suit. The question is a fine one and of course, every company op- erating in the district is directly in- terested.
 The Tuolumne company, which has been producing between 450,OO and 500,000 pounds a month the past few months, increased its output somewhat during the last ten days of the past month, consequently the production for June will run in the vicinity of between 6OO,OOO and 100000 pounds. The ore being shipped is of a high grade. Some people have been talking over the prospects of the company increas- ing it's dividend ot l5 cents a share during the remaining part of this year, but it may be stated with positiveness that there is no such intention. The directors feel that, while the company is making good money, it would not be advisable to make any attempt at an increase to 9 cents in view of the ex- tensive improvements going on and the heavy expense which has been in- cured recently in ordering new and expensive surface equipment, which is expected to be in readiness for opera tions some time in August. The pres ent dividend of l5 cents quarterly will be maintained and the new machinery paid for out of the earnings of the company, and this certainly will be do- ing pretty well for mine which may be said to be yet in its infancy.
 The Pilot Butte company has started operations and the work of removing the water from the shaft is going ahead as rapidly as possible. As soon as the 200 feet of water is out, sinking will commence, and Superintendent Shee- han says that there will be TO trouble whatever in reaching depth before the close of the year. The crosscutting from the Black Rock of the Butte & Superior to the Pilot ground to strike point at depth of 300 feet, which was commenced on June II, is making good headway, and as soon as the work of raising from that point is started it will not take long to bring the shaft down to a depth of 1,300 feet. At depth the Pilot people expect to encounter the rich veins of the Berlin claim of the North Butte company and also the rich vein of the Badger State, which, at the present time, is showing some of the richest ore in the district. While Superintendent Sheehan will not say much as to when he expects to be get ting ore out, there are mining men who are familiar with the locality who fully expect to find the Pilot Butte in the producing class by the first of the year.