The border vidette., 1913-11-01
IS MINING HAZARDOUS?

| y
 ing companies, when we chron.
 nicle the great fortunes that
 have been made by men who
 have made investments in min
 ing properties and when we take
 cOgnizance of the many splendid opportunities almost daily offer
 ed thrOughout the mining dis
 tricts1Of the west, we wonder
 that 2any well informed indivi
 dual could and would make the
 assertion that mining is extra
 hazardous 5
 Some people are outspoken in
 their statement that mining is
 riskys while others merely inn
 ply, by innuendo, that other oc,
 equations are safer and more
 certain. Even big mining com
 panies and great syndicates,
 whose incomes from the mines
 pile up into the millions, are
 guilty of knocking mining by
 the last named method. Pos sibly hot intentionally, but yet most fOrcibly because of the
 very position they occupy in the
 mining, commercial and fnan- cial world.
 For instance, a big syndicate, composed of mining men, which ! is in the market for the pur- chase of mining properties, makes statements which are sent broadcast over the world, to the effect that during a certain pc riod, a year, for instance, it's h.
 ing properties. out of which large list only one or two have been accepted. Such state ment is credited to a Canadian syndicate seeking properties in Canada and the United States. The Statement is probably true, as far as it goes, but the infer ence is given out that all of the 700. with the exception of tEe one or two, were valueleSS; and, perhaps unintentionally, the inn pression conveyed to the invest ing public is that mining is es- pecially hazardous, when, if the true facts were generally known, the syndicate got what it really wanted, although the majority of the mines examined by it's ex- perts were probably possessed of real value and merit, and might be just what were wanted by other companies or indivi- duals operating along different lines.
 But, because of the statement made regarding the 7OO mines examined with only one or two purchased, the public is given to understand that the two taken over were the only good ones in | the whole bunch, and that the | rest were worthless.
 And yet such is not the case, and mining history can be quot | ed to show many instances where mines have been turned down by experts, many of them pos sessed of national regulations, and that these same mines have since been accepted by other ex- pertS other com panieS, and have made fortunes for their owners For cOrrObOratiOn of this aSSer- tion, look at Tonopah, Goldfield, YeringtOn and even grand old Throughout this in termountain region there are hundreds of mines which have at one time been turned down by experts, but which, today, are producing and paying mines; and there are hundreds of prop critics which could be transform ed into bread winners and divid- if capital were forth for their development and operation. But, because per chance. they have been turned down by an expert, possibly by one who is so afraid of his re- putation shat he dare not rely on his own good judgment, the general public is led to believe they are worthless.
 There are hundreds of good reasons why a company or syn dicate will not take over prop critics they have examined. The purchase price may be consider ed too high; it may be consider ed that ere enough is not in sight to satisfy the intended purchaser; the character of the ore may not be just as desired; the ore may be too high or too low in grade for the purpose of the wOuld-be purchasers; phy- sical surroundings may not please the expert, and transpOr-