The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1912-11-23
SAYS LOT SIS IDLe BECAUSE or A
LOW ASSESSMENT
He FAvORs Al TONNAGE TAX
Unls. Mining Companies Agree to SmsIt
Some Of Our Ores IN Michigan Says
ThatWas MINI. Agreement

II see that you are still alive and &C
tive in the matter OF an equal appor-
tioning OF the taxation burden, said
one OF our readers to "A Diamond Drill
representative last Saturday night. A" |
lam glad to see you take this stand and
hope that you stick to 1t. IL can result
only in good. However, | think that
there is one line in connection with
this taxation matter that you have not
touched upon. The line | refer to is
the holding OF mineral properties of
known value out OF the active working
list so.that the owners may reap a
greater profit at some future date.
LET me illustrate to you-and tins
is case that comes under my personal
observation and one for which | can
vouch for the accuracy of. It is the
case of Lot g. There is property..that
Is on the tax rolls for 81. 900 In addi
tion to the Lody of low grade ore that
has Deen proved 10 exist upon that
property, there are about 80 houses
from which some revenue is derived.
This property has been under lease TO
the International Harvester Co and
that concern spent many dollars in
proving up what ore has been proved
TO exist there. The people of Crystal
Falls were lenient with the Harvester
people while they were spending their
money 10 develop this property and the
low assessment was warranted for that
reason. have no objection to favors
being shown. operators who are spend
ing their money in an effort to develop
property that may. when developed,
help 30 maintain the community.
The Harvester people decided that
the character OF the ore was not what
\hey wanted in their manufacture and
Dhst summer the lease upon this pro
perty Was surrendered TO Captain
Roberts who Immediately set about in
teresting other local men with him in
an effort to get the property onto the
active list. These gentlemen put up
their money 10 keep the property in
shape to turn over 10 some other com
pany and after many months of effort
they succeeded in interesting a certain
ore firm and that firm finally agreed 10
take the property if the lease npol the
orc body could be extended.
: Accordingly, committee of those
interested called upon MIR. n. n. Fair
banks OF Chicago who owns or controls
one half OF the fee the property and
after waiting Mr.. Fairbank s leisure
they were bluntly told by that gentle
man that the ore would be worth more
10 MIN or his heirs in ten years than IL
Is today and he blocked tho deal to get
this property on the active list
-''Now there are at least ZOO. 600 tons
of low grade ore proved mp by devel-
opments in this property. The pros.
pective purchasers are willing TO take
IL over on that basis. In addition there
is large unexplcred area adjoining
the Youngstown mine that will un-
doubtedly show up millions OF addi
tonal tons. The fact that these pro
perties. although unpurchasable, are
valued so low ON our tax rolls. is the
res5bn that they are not being oper
atek II Mr.. Fairbanks and his assoc
iates were made TO pay upon valua
tion OF 800. 600 or 5000. 600 instead Of
the insignificant amount at which the
property Is valued. they would look AZ
these matters in a different light and
Lot 3 would be on the active instead
Of the idle list.
Then, there is the Youngstown
mine on which valuation Of $50 0OO
has been placed by the tax commission
who knows no more OF its real value
than do. Try 70 buy the Youngstown
mine from the Oliver people and see
what the value is. Look mp the price
at which the Youngstown mine was
put into the combination aud. II will
open your eyes TO the value that the
<cvners place upon this property. The
/ bnngstown mine Ia idle kept idle be-
1huse the Oliver Iron Mining company
owns the fee and they are conserving
the ore there while they are exhaustine
the leased properties In other sections.
do not question the right OF the
oliver or any other company 10 con
serve it's resources but I do maintain
that they should pay their Just share
OF the maintaince OF this community
for the day when 10 will be- convenient
for them 20 open up this property. Z
the Youngstown mine were 10 be open
% 4 would, Of conrae. reduce the =