The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-02-26
PRODUCTION OF LEAD
IN THE UNITED STATES
NO Possibility OF A SHORTAGE
IN sUPPLY-cogUR D'ALENE
HOLDS FIRST PLACE.

The last issue of the Salt Lake Min
ing Review contains the first INSTALL
ment of a contribution on the "Presenr
Tendencies in Lead Metallurgy" by H
Is. Pulslter, of the Armour Institute OF
Technology, Chicago, from which th-
following is taken showing the source
Of lead supply. 1t should be stated
here that since this article was wri,
ten statistics for 1913 place Idaho in
first place in the production Of lead
displacing Missouri which is given
the first place by the author:
The United states is the largest pro
Queer of lead in the world at the pres
ent time; the United States is also the
chief consumer of lead. This strong
and independent condition oc our lead
business is accumulated by an appre
ciable tariff on lead and it's ores so
that there is slight foreign trade eitheE
way in the commodity. What foreign
lead does come in is nearly all from
Mexico, naturally and financially trib-
utary to our own country, and un-
smelted and unrefined there because
Of unfavorable industrial conditions.
Where Lead 10 Mined.
Our domestic lead mining sections
are found largely in few great dis
tricts. Foremost of all is the south
eastern Missouri field; the Occur
d'Alene district in Idaho Is good Sec
ond. Following these two greatest
camps come southwest Missouri Uhe
Joplin district), the three camps IN
Utah-Park City, Tintic and Bingham,
the Leadville district Of Colorado anu
San Juan. Pitkin and Mineral coun-
ties in the same state. Each Of these
camps produces from fifth to a
fiftieth as much lead as the two lead
ers, after which, and still less import
ance, may be mentioned the Wisconsin
zinc fields and various camps in Ari-
IONA and New Mexico.
Our best authorities declare that the
southeastern Missouri lead mines are
yet In their unknown youth. This
does not infer that production is to
increase remarkably or even at all
but that the mines are going to be
strong producers for many years. The
few large operating companies now
control most Of the known mineral
lands and have established their pro-
duction as on a manufacturing basis.
Ore is extracted to meet the regular
daily capacity of mills and smelteries.
Ore Reserves.
1t is not the custom nor Is it ne
cessary to actually block out ore re-
serves in the southeastern Missouri
lead mines. The general mineral
character of the holdings Is pretty
well known and current workings are
making but small progress in exhaust
ing the ever widening m'neralizations
A few years ago $4,000 Idaho at
tained a maximum production and the
current reports had it that a perman
ent decline had set in; during 1912 a
new increase made production exceed
previous IcCOluS WHlic IIldHy vi lii'
mines are finding new deposits before
unknown. Our two greatest camps
are evidently going to continue grea'
for many years yet.
Utah and Colorado.
Utah is a very steady lead producer
From $4,000 to $1,000 tons are mined
each year. The three important lead
camps have operations SO well estab-
lished, their silver-lead mines so large
and well ordered, that we have no fea.
Of predicting uniform or even increas-
ing yield for many years yet
Colorado is just now a gloomy min
ing region progress in ore dressing
and smelling has not expanded as rap
idly as the richer deposits have yielded
their treasure and the lead production
has sugered a serious decline. The eff
feet is somewhat depressing but it. Is
we'll to bear in mind that Coloradr
has many huge deposits Of mixed SUI
phides now partly explored or under
development, which are Of the utmos'
Significance as resources. 1t Is not al
all unlikely that one by one these de-
posts will come into the line Of pro
-i,,z 1,o,,o~% %ora tn auprX