Mohave County miner., 1911-02-18

| larly so when it is remembered that all big and productive mines were at one time nothing but mere prospects, and, when one considers the fact that many of our successful mining men, now at the head of bonanza dividend payers, owe their success to the pros- pect which they developed into pay ing mine. It is a matter of wonder that they should so soon forget the primary source of their present wealth and affluence.
 If it were not for the prospects year ly discovered in the mining camps and districts of the west; were it not for the fact that many of them are able to interest capital in their development, and were it not also a fact that of these prospects so developed certain number are annually transformed into producing and paying mines, It would not be many years before the metallic wealth-producers of this country would become limited and their number les sened be exhaustion and abandonment until, finally. the mining industry would die out entirely.
 It is to the prospect, then, that we of the west must look to for future prosperity and progress. It is to the bonanza in embryo that we must look to sustain the life of the mining in- dustry; for, the prospect of today may he big mine tomorrow. And the man of limited means who put his hundred, his fve-hundred, into it's de- velopmeat may suddenly blossom out into a mining magnate with many thousands at his command.
 More good, big money is made in prospect development than is the case in almost any other branch of the min- ing industry. It takes great deal of money to buy and operate developed and producing mine, and men of al- most unlimited means only can engage in mining along these lines. A few men, however, even though they be in rather strengthened eircumstanees, can join issues with their small capital in the exploitation of a prospect; and, if it is possessed of merit, it will net be long before they can place it upon a producing basis. "Tall oaks from little acorns grow" The same axiom applies to mining. From a small pro- ducer the prospect rapidly grows into a big mine. If it IS worth 1O,OOOs when it begins it's initial shipments it is worth ten times this much as devel- opment work progresses, and as the workings block out more ore and room breaking down the ore bodies for ship ment and the market. A little later a miracle has taken place. The 100, ,OO0S mine is worth half million and capi- tai is tumbling over itself to get pos session of it. The transaction from a prospect into a bonanza is so rapid. so to speak, that the owners are taken by surprise. They can hardly realize the good fortune that has come to them. They rub their eyes in bewilderment, and, although they have worked steadily to bring about this pleasing condition, although they have hoped almost against hope, their success, now that it is reality, seems more of dream to them than does the dreary days when they labored in the tunnel and shaft; the days when they worked and toiled in the confident belief that in due time their prospect would open up into mine, into a producer that would bring them many thousands for every dollar they had expended.
 We yearly see such marvellous changes in almost every mining camp throughout this intermountain region. We see the prospect, in it's evolution of development, bud and blossom until it takes rank as a producer and divi- dend payer, making It's poor owners rich and creating a desirable avenue for investment for the wealthy and for the syndicates of our monied cen ters: and yet there are those who af- feet to despise the prospect, and who will give the prospector DO more of hearing than they would a begger at their kitchen door.
 Many opportunities for desirable in- vestment are offered in mining in its various branches, but there are none which should appeal to the man of limited means more strong than should |