The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-10-14
Prospectors, Engineers and Amateur


err" drew out the following breezy con-
tribution from Charles p. Richardson.
published in the last issue OF the
Press:
The editorial in your issue Of July
"a flags me with question. You refer
therein, as you consistently and in
slstently do, to the fEnction of the
mining engineer as the court of last
resort and also first resort on things
mining.
l have no quarrel with the mining
engineer. But sometimes wonder If he
does not think too mucn liz terms CT
caution, suspicion, feet, and tons. Be-
come to much quod erat demonstran-
dunn, with the starting promise 1t Is
risky chance" as 1t We're. Does the
attitude not become systematically i'll
grained like the man whl started out
to hunt the fellow who ran away with
his wife and hoped, by the Great Har-
~, he wouldn't find him.
Going down on the boat last winter
a number of us got to speaking OF this
phase and among us was a man who
might have been your Amateur Miner
He listened to us talk and josh about
this property and that, which some of
us had had the job of inspecting, and
finally he said in effect: Seriously, /
want to ask question. | know moth
\ n IN
into some mining business that has
happened to come into my hands
through the death of the principal
owner and my connection with the
neirs. The estate is large one and
this matter is comparatively small
Money could be spared to do some
work on the property even IL 1t was
likely to be lost. / have met the men
who are Interested in the property,
and have seen the property. My
feeling has been that | would advise
going ahead Understand, / do not
know anything about a mine, and !
have not attempted an examination of
the property, though l have been fa-
miliar with the Development in connec-
ton with II in business and mining
way for upward of two years. ! have
read assays and descriptions of the
working conditions, which seem to be
borne out in what l have seen. But
the conversation that / have listened
to for the last two days. and what
-. 49, hat nyrr a 4.
titude of you gentlemen, some OF
whom at least l take to be mining en-
gineers, has about convinced me that
/ had better keep to Their matters
ever l want to go a bit further before
/ drop 1t. Will you give me the name
OF a competent engineer to examine
this property, whose report and judg-
miliar with coal and iron and oil pro-
perties. But somehow these Western
conditions seem different. Now will
you name me a competent engineer? q
All the rest but Johnny Casey, Frank
Haynes, and myself modestly decline
to say Mel" We three weren't engin-
GERS / presume each one of the crowd
thought of some of the other men in
the bunch, for there were five or six
in the corner of. the smoke-room who
were competent to pass on pros
pect, at least.
Somebody asked What kind of a
property is it and where is it?"
He told us, and a half dozen names
were suggested. Two or three at once
gave the name of an engineer who
was then in the locality.
A man, engineer and operator, we'll
known to the editor of the Press and
the oldest In the crowd, said quietly:
Il pass. l would not recommend him
to examine this property. and some of
you know / am an intimate friend of
his"
"Why?" came from several of us,
The engineer mentioned, Mr.. Blank.
was experienced, with fine techni-
cal education and an unusually super
ior mind, he was keen, honest beyond
cavil, and careful to degree.
"well tell you" he said. "one night
in the Silver Bow Club we were dis
GUESSING him and Smith said; The
trouble with Blank is he is inconsis-
tent He makes all these hard trips,
gets skinned up and busted up, and
freezes, sweats, and starves, when he
might just as well turn down the pro-
perties in the office, with his feet
cooked up on the desk before he starts
He don't need to go and see 'em, He
made examinations for me for two
years. He turned everything he looked
at including the in --,
which l would have taken, the --
and the which would have made
me half a million dollars. Give me a
hundred thousand tons of ore blocked
out, a complex geological situation. a
working plant to be figured out and
installed, and know of no superior to
him. But he can't see a mine until
1t is built, so that you can put slide
rule and a tape Line on it, He lacks
imagination Now Mr.. Dash wants to
know Have possibly got a mine
in this property" And you boys that
know him know that Blank will tell
him he has not We fellows here, can
lust as well tell him so, as to have