Valdez daily prospector., 1912-02-10
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1912
UNUSUAL RESULT OF ROOMS.


 arc due to receive rude awak- cning in the very near future. In- deed the awakening may be said to be right now in progress. It is said rats hasten to leave doom cd ship and the same may be said of the eastern press which has been booming the Porcupine country. They are beginning to offer excuses why the Porcupine district has not come to the front although millions of dollars have been invested in the district. The Ontario camp is HOW in it's third year, yet there arc only two mines i'll the entire district which have proven their worth.
 The trouble with the Porcupinc has been ovrrcapitaliZatiOn and wildcatting. Mining promoters, the sharpcst men in the business, have Hooked tO the camp and have used every means of mining the pocketbookS of the public instead of the mineral deposits of moth CT earth. They have had wonder ful success and have cleaned up fortunes but most of the prop critics SO promoted are far from being near the dividend-paying class. The promoters of the POrcupine were wise in their gen rratiOn and would have nothing to do with any proposition which would not stand for a capitaliZ- atiOn of million dollars and LID io seven and eight millions. Any claim located near another prop rrty which had been capitalized for a high figure, irrespective of worth, other than capitalization, was supposed to have parlicu- lar merit. The price paid the original lncatOrS may have been a few hundreds or thousands of dollars but the property was trad ed back and forth among the SpcculatorS al a constantly grow ing price until it was rated as a million dollar proposition. The stock was then placed on the mar kct, the promoters taking about iivr-SiXthS of thr capital stock for their trouble in promoting the company. By buoSting the stock iO a fictitious price they were en- ablrd [" part with portion of their promotion stock at a good figure and still retain d major ity of the stock. They have their own money back and destroy the market for Ihr treasury stock by placing II in competition with promotion stock which did not cost them one. cent. The invest OF is left holding Inc sack. but from present indications it will be some time before anything is dropped into it.
 During the past year cOmpan- icS have been organized with cap ital aTgregating more than $i82,- O00,O00. Only two properties, the Dome and the lIOllingcr, have al taincd the possible producing stage. although there are many others which are in different stages of development. The Dome at present market value of $40 per share, is supposed t0 be worth 14,OO0,O00. Up to the present the total investment in acquiring, developing the property and equipping it for treating the ore amounts to $i ,O3O. .OOO. The diff ference is the amount which the owners hope iO secure from the mine in dividends or by selling their stock at the top price. The ore is low grade, the estimated average profit per ton being S6. It is figured it would require the life Of the mine to be 43 years and shipping 300 tons daily for 3GO days each year before an in- vcsI0r at $40 could consider him self on velvet.
 The market for Porcupinc stocks is beginning Io decline and the excuse is offered that the at icnIiOn of investors has been turned aside by the rise in value of copper. The POrcupinc has apparently been worked to fin- ish by speculators and tho dis trict will receive such a knock that it will require years of hon. est effort to develop the proper ties to the stage where their true worth will be established. The first sign of the collapse of the boom has appeared. The big fcl- lows arc seeking to unload and L. 1 c--I |