The border vidette., 1917-01-13
ARIZONA MINES BIG DIVIDEND
 PAYERS.

Ten mines in Arizona paid $34. : eco, eco in dividends during the past year. Adding Utah, Mon- tana, Nevada and Idaho divid- ends to those of Arizona we have total of over S1OO, ,OOO,OO in dividends paid out of the mines of these five western States in a single year.
 These are some of the inpres- sive facts brought out by the re port of the Geological Survey to Never before," said Mr. Lane, has so large draft been made on the natural resources of our country as during this year. and never before have the metals been extracted from these ores with less waste Or utilized to better advantage in advancing the general prosperity of the country. Even as written in the plain figures of 1916 production the wonderful record of our mines sets forth a degree of national industrial Independence only hoped for few years ago.
 Again copper stands out as the best illustration of how Am erican mines can meet world demand. The output of nearly 2 billion pounds of the red metal is double that of ten years ago and it's value is twice that of copper prod duced in 1915. Add to this the facts that in value copper now contends with iron for first place among the metals and that to- gether the amount of these two metals produced last year had a value of more than one billion dollars and we have measure of what this country can con- tribute in useful metals.
 ''The output of zinc from do nestle ores increased last yeac 95 GOO tons, which makes a re- cord for that metal. the total value of spelter from United States ore being 15O million dol lars. Lead also shows a large increase, the 75 million dollars output being gain of more than 50 percent.
 With all this activity in metal prod uction the coal mines have had to meet a heavy demand, so that the bitu uminOuS coal output has now passed the half billion ton mark, an increase of 12 of and one half per cent over the previous year. Coke production increased 30 per cent and it is gratifying to note that bypro duct coke made the largest gain, which means a corresponding gain in benzol and other valu- able by products.
 Again the oil wells have given new record for petroleum yield, the estimate of marked produc- tion of crude petroleum for 1916 being 292 million barrels more than in 1915.
 Another mineral product which furnishes an index of business conditions is cement, the 1916 production of which is estimate to be million barrels in excess of the output of the previous year, while the ship mentS were even greater, aggre- gating 94,5OO,OO barrels, with the new year.
 The reports received from the surveys western offices con tain most significants mining re, cords, every western State shows a large increase in yield of metals, Arizona leading with gain of 100 million dollars over last year, while Utah and mon taua together report another 100 million dollar gain. Alaska also had it's best year, contributing a total value of more than $50, ,OOO, GOO this year, or over 50 per cent in excess of any previous year.
 "These-. advance statements not only show that 1916 marks a new advance for the mineral in dustry of the country, but this remarkable increase promises to be approximately 25 per cent over the 1915 production. so that we may expect the final figures to show a total of three billion dollars. :"