Mohave County miner., 1911-01-21
Uncertainty Ot Tariff Cheeks Profitable
 Lead Mining In U. s.


 ''rhe only discouraging feature of the mining situation in the Occur d'Alene district at present is the depression in the lead market, due solely to the un- certainty about the tariff," said Stan ley A. Eaton, manager of the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mine at Wardner, Idaho, while here a few days ago. Much of the lead profit" he added, land this is especially true at the mines in Missouri. It is out of the question for American lead mines to compete with those of Spain, a country which produces tonnage equal to that of the United States and consumes hardly any lead because of the poverty of the people.
 "We are not afraid of competition with Canadian mines. The conditions under which they are operated are similar to our own, and personally I would have no objection to reciprocity with Canada in lead and lead products.
 ''But for the uncertainty of the tariff the lead market would be in a much stronger position than that which ob- tains for copper, chiefly because DO great lead producers have been de- veloped in the United States in years, while enormous deposits of copper ore, the product of which can be profitably marketed in New York as low as 8 cents pound, have been opened re- cently."
 In making the foregoing announce ment MT. Eaton said that if he were to go prospecting he would devote his attention to the older camps, adding that the operator who rushes into a new district has to take double chances, while in approved districts he has to take chances only on the prop erty. Continuing he said:
 "What has made me a convert to this idea is the way the old mining districts of the United States are com ing to the front with new discoveries of the first magnitude. Recall what has been done of late years in Nevada, the oldest mining state in the Union, which was almost abandoned for a generation. During the last year Leadville has surprised the world once more with ore discoveries of almost equal importance to anything in it's wonderful history. This time enor- nous bodies of zinc ore have been found and worked.
 Coming nearer home, we find that the old camp of Butte, is opening up great and rich ore bodies in many un- expected quarters, while such districts as the Republic camp in Washington and Sheep creek and Slocan, in British Columbia, are proving that the neglect they experienced at the hands of min ing men the last decade was que to lack of knowledge and appreciation of their mineral resources.
 ''The Wardner districts, in which our mines are located, though the old est of the Occur d'Alenes, seems toI be holding out better than any other part of that field. The Wardner Hill has produced to date more than 80, ,OOO, ,OO0S that we can account for and probably a good deal more than that because many of the records of the early days, which were poorly kept at best, have been lost. Such mines as the Tyler, Stemwinder and Sierra Nevada were big producers in their day, but that is about all we know about them now. The Bunker Hill and Sullivan mine alone has produced 60,OO0, ,OOOs to our knowledge, and in view of the fact that the older records are missing it may have produced considerably more.
 1.-The early ideas regarding ore oc- entrances in the Wardner camp have had to be revised as the result of the last two years developments. The statement made some time ago by Robert N. Bell, former state mining inspector of Idaho, regarding our Frances property, was just about right. In that case deep development proved a great ore shoot where, according to the old ideas, it could not possibly occur.
 "A similar condition has been found in the California and Stewart mines, both of which are adding materially to the output of the Wardner district and proving themselves to be mines of the first importance. The Federal company also is producing largely from its Wardner property.