The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-04-20
GREAT DEVELOPMENT
OF COPPER INDUSTRY
REVIEW SHOWING REMARKABLE
PROGRESS IN THE LAST
THIRTY YEARS.
(Salt Lake Tribune)


How the copper mining industry of
the United States has been developed
in the past 80 years is brought to
mind by the fact that in March and
April, 1884, the Anaconda company
was shipping $500 tons of ore to
Swansea. Wales at the rate of so tons
per day under the terms of a con-
tract made with the Northern Pacific
Railway company. the last spike of
the road having been driven. the pre-
vious year in the presence of very
distinguished company A few years
prior to that time former Senator
Clark of Montana before what is
known as the Short Line was complet-
ed. had shipped copper ore from
Butte to Corinne, Utah, by wagon
train and thence by rail to smelter
at Baltimore in order to prove that
the Butte ores were worth treating.
Since that time the United States has
become the principal copper produc-
ing nation of the world and Utah has
iol ecu W tllS lioill DIS olle VI lle great
producers.
Copper SO Years Ago.
Fifty or so years ago copper was in
great demand, as it always had been
since the days of the ancients, who
it is claimed, were able to weld it, al
though the process has been lost in
the intervening centuries between that
day and this. Copper was mined in
Spain, Wales and other parts of Eur
ope, but the price of the metal was
high and it seems to have paid to ship
the ore long distances. For instance,
there is copper mine in the interior
of northern California which was
worked by an English company dur
ing the civil war and the ore hauled
to tideWater over what were probably
the worst roads in the world at that
time. Sailing vessels were loaded
with 1t and it was taken around the
Horn to Swansea to be smelted The
mine was abandoned long ago and
we believe it is now owned by Salt
Lake parties unless it has been dis
posed of at comparatively recent
date.
Unprecedented Demand.
The contrast between the civil war
period and the present time so far as
the mining and smelling of copper is
concerned is marked indeed. 1t is one
nf tho pf In,
Montana and Arizona and will con-
tinue to be so for many, many years
to come. The gold seekers of the SOS
had not the least idea that they were
search for the yellow metal and the
surviving prospectors of that stirring
era in the newly opened mountain
country sigh as they reflect that al
though they were first on the ground
none of the riches that came with the
discovery of immense bodies of copper
ever fell to their share of lfe's re-
wards. But such regrets are vain and
the present generation is not particu-
larry interested in the small begin
nings of the copper industry in the
United States or the hard luck of the
argonauts who blazed the trails over
the mountains and plains and through
the trackless forests. What interests
most of us at the present time is the
fact that the red metal is worth 28
cents pound, and that a decrease in
price is improbable for some years. |
The discovery of gold at Suffers mill, |
however, was not nearly SO important
as the discovery Of copper in the
mountain regions and in these days
of great prosperity, part of which is
due to the unprecedented demand for
the red metal, we should pause long
enough to erect a monument to the
man who made the later discovery,
If his name be known.