Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-05-21

the eleven members of the prospecting
party or sl.l0O.000 in all. To make this
option perfectly valid l had to secure the
signatures of the eleven prospectors and
all who We're interested with them. Some
of the men had been grub-staked by
others, so that the money had to be
divided among thirty-two claimants. each
of whom had to agree to the deal. These
men were scattered over the United
States, even to the Philippine Islands.
Most of them I had to interview per-
sonally before securing their signatures.
I'm the meantime p law suit was begun
by parties who claimed they had grub
staked Jack Smith and Clarence Warner
and that half of the mine belonged to
them That suit tried at Valdez,
Alaska. before Judge Wickersham. who
is now the territorial delegate to Con-
gress. He is also the righteous judge de-
scribed in Rex Beachs novel, The
Spoilers Among the lawyers for the
plaintiff were a United States senator and
a member of our House of Representa-
tives at Washington. The suit was de.
cded in our favor. 1t was then appealed
to the court of appeals at San Francisco
and again we won. 1t was thereupon APP
pealed to the United States Supreme
Court at Washington and we were once
more victorious.
Ine maj decision was not rendered
until five years after the discovery and
it was only then that we could proceed
to develop the property. At that time the
options were taken up and the property
came into the possession of Messrs.
Ralph. Schultz. Havemyer and myself.
We in turn interested j. T. Morgan
& Co and the Messrs. Guggenheim.
who formed the Alaska Syndicate. This
syndicate purchased 40 per cent interest
in the mine and agreed to build the rail-
road to open It, The same syndicate
afterward purchased the remaining SO
per cent of the stock
''what did they have to pay for the
pJ operty? l asked.
1.-The Bonanza mine, including the rail-
way, cost the Alaska Syndicate approx
imately s25, 900. Ooo." replied Mr.. Birch.
did they get the worth of their
81 should say so. They have already
received more than 5000. 900 in divi-
dends. Up to- 1915 they had been paid
over sS,O00,O00. and their receipts last year
were more than $1,000, 000.''
What is the market value of the prop
erty?'
at is more than $50, 600, O00.'
Were you able to do anything with
the mine. Mr.. Birch. before the railroad
was built"
mot as to the expectation of the ore,
but we were able to take in men and
machinery and SO develop the mine that
we could deliver ore as soon the rail-
ROAD was dOne. Our mining machinery
had to be hauled a distance OF 200 miles
over the mountains. and that at a cost
Of about $500 a ton or of more than Is
cents n pound. We carried some of it
In sledges over the snow from Valdez
We had also to open up the property
sink shafts and drive tunnels as well as
to make other arrangements for raising
the ore. All this was accomplished bV
the time the railroad was completed. in
1911; The result was that we had
good traffic from the start. Our first
trainload contained more than a half mil
lion dollars worth of ore that was 70 per
cent copper. and from that time on the
traffic of the road has increased"
"Are there other valuable deposits of
copper In the vicinity Of the Bonanza"
Yes. we have opened up the Jumbo
mine. nearby, which Is large producer
and there are many other copper pros
poets in the same region not belonging to
US which will be producers in the near
future. The Chitina copper belt is ap-
proximately seventy miles long and TWEEN