The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-09-21

BY James III. Collins, IN winch ne GU
deayors 10 enlighten the east upon
mining as Il really is In the west
MANY others have undertaken this
task before him. and II his contribu'
lions prove successful he will have the
satisfaction of knowing that he mas
performed a service of real benefit to
the mining industry. Mr. Collins ar
tIcles afford interesting reading in the
west as well as In the east and I'D
eral extract that was published In the
Post III September 9 Is here given
Eastern View of Mining.
The fertile eastern Imagination
nourished on story and tradition, novel
and film--wants its pictures highly
colored! 1t Is always either too cred
ulous or too suspicious. 1t works on
a hair trigger And so. when you
mention western metal mining two
visions rise in the eastern mind, nei'
Their OF them based on the realities,
First-the red -shfrted Argonaut, the
gold miner of forty-nne, with ms
boots. his whiskers, his bowie knife,
and his pick and cradle, digging big
yellow nuggets out Of the grass roots
In some far gulch He is character
as familiar to the east in its concep-
ton of the west, as the movie cow
boy.
hot httn Ia Ff unIInN GtMDK
certificates which lies tucked away in
some dusty pigeonhole Once upon a
time the eastern imagination was
working at high potential, and the IN
weston paid thousand-or five thou
sand, or maybe ten thousand-dollars
for those certificates, believing they
were shares In western mine. The
money was lost The shares are
worthless Probably the project nevei
gave the investor a fair chance to win
but the easterner still believes that ht
has sunk his money in a western mine
and that he has learned his little les
son about the risks of that industry
Ii you admit that you are interested
In a real mining enterprise the eas
will back away from you apprehen-
sWely-you must be an unsafe per
son.
Neither picture that fancy paints
does justice to its subject-westerr
mining.
For one thing, the red shirted minel
of Bret Harte romance Is now largely
q figure of the past. Precious metals
have given place to industrial metals
The days of gold have become days OF
brass-for copper and zinc, which
make brass, are now the chief sources
of minerah wealth in the Rocky noun.
tain regions. When war influences
reached the western mines, bringing {
boom in prices and in production cor,
responding to the munitions boom il
the east, the additional output of cop,
per and zinc alone for the year 1915
measured in dollars, was worth more
than our whole output of gold for tina
yeai.-and records are still being brok.
en-. AS for silver, 1t has become.4prac.
tically a by product of the copper
lead and zinc mining.
Riches come out of the west nova,
days not in nuggets washed from sur.
face pockets, as in the days of the
great gold PUSHES, but in hard ores
often of such leanness and taken from
such depths that the mining and treat.
ing Of them Is highly technical art.
Put Mining on a Business Basis.
The successful western mine today
anced organized and managed as any
industrial plant in the east, In many
cases the made mine is as safe and as
legitimate an enterprise, within the
peculiar limits of mining, as the aver
age manufacturing or mercantile bust
ness, and offers as fair a field foi
money and for men-although it could
hardly be recommended as an invest
ment for the money of widows, or
phans or nervous people generally
But with ali its development on the
side of money and of magnitude, the
western metal mining offers abundant
opportunity for adventure.
Before a mine can reach the manu-
featuring stage, with its costly work
ings and mill equipment, it has to be
proved. That calls for development OF
a prospect by group of investors
prospect can be developed it must be
discovered, and this calls for the pros
pector, with his donkey and his grub
stake. The whole progress of real
mining, from picking up the first pieces
of mineralized rock 20 extracting the
last fraction of one per cent of metal
from the ore, is full Of romance, and
fascination, and opportunities, and
human nature.
The business of mining although II
can be as legitimate and as safe an
occupation in its final stages as is that
of any cotton mill or machine shop in
New England adds to these certain
ties of business about as big and fair
an element of gambling as may be
found in the whole country
II the average grocer, or clerk, or
college graduate could go out explor-
ing In New England, with a prospect
of finding a cotton mill or machine
tool factory that somebody had over
looked, and il a group of his friends.