The Idaho Republican., 1919-10-24
AROUND The MlNES

Conditions at the Alta Consolidated
Mines were never more favorable. Ore
is being stopped in five different places
Owyhee county, Idaho, mining dis
trict is experiencing a renaissance anu
many properties are pushing develop
ment work.
The main adit, which is being driver
to cut the Barussia fissure on the prop
erty of the American Consolidate,
Mines company in American Fork can,
yon, Utah, recently cut fifteen-fool
fissure In the Quartzite.
Lack of space this year cut down
| the mining exhibit at the state fair
at Salt Lake, but what it has lost in
quantity an effort had been made to
make it up in quality. In fact, some
of the specimens shown this year are
among the rarest found anywhere.
Considerable progress has been
made in the unwatering of the Emma
silver mines in the Alta district. The
water level has been lowered to the
300 level. The draining of an eighty
five-foot winze must be accomplished
before access will be afforded to the
producing zone.
The Calumet & Hecla Mining COM
pany has employed Professor L. G.
Grafton, geolOgist, to make complete
geological survey of the entire terri
tory owned or controlled or managed
by its mining inoorests in northern
Michigan, $4,000 acres in all, says the
Boston News Bureau.
With three lots of ore aggregating,
about 325 tons on the market, the Sill
Yer King Consolidated has only Just
received returns IN the first lot from
the new bedding in the Electric Light
claim. The control showed 37.9 ounces
silver, 31.6 per cent lead, .O35 ounces
gold and p per cent copper.
Gold is about the only commodity
left, the price of which to the consul
mer has not gone up. This fact has
given rise to good deal of agitation
by gold producers, but any steps to-
ward subsidy or increasing the fixed
price of gold which stands at $2067
an ounce, has failed, comments the
Toronto Globe.
Statistics of production for some
years past, published by the Financial
and Commercial Chronicle, New York,
show that the production of gold in
the world in 1918 was approximately
1S,603,929 ounces, valued at 1884,
700, or decline of 1887, ,427 ounces,
or $39,012,7 1872, from the previous year,
and the lowest since 1905.
Recent samples of the full face of
the Blacksmith tunnel, which is being
run on the property of the Utah Sill
ver-Lead Mines company to tap at
depth the silver zone ore deposit, in
dicate that the objective is being rap
idly approached. The assay reports
on the aforementioned sample shows
88 ounces of silver and 1T per cent
of lead.
Plans for future development and
expansion by the Midwest Refining
company, as well as other oil compan-
les operating in the Wyoming fields,
assures growth of the oil industry in
that state to large proportions, accord
ing to the Boston News Bureau. Pos
sibilities of Wyoming can be seen from
the fact that it has larger area than
either Kansas or Oklahoma.
More mining activity never prevailed
in the various states of Central Amer
ica, it is said The high rate Of taxa
ton, which is burdening capital in the
warstricken countries of Europe, makes
investment desirable in southern coun-
tries, and the vast deposits Of the
which form connection be-
tween the Andes and the Rockies, Of
fer splendid field for the investment
of large capital.
More than 2100 cities and towns in
the United States <are supplied with
natural gas, which is furnished to do
nestle consumers at rates that should
arouse the envy Of those consumers
of artificial gas who have to pay about |
dollar a thousand cubic feet. The
average price per thousand cubic feet
charged to domestic consumers of
natural gas in the United States in 1917
was about 30 cents.
Central American mines, once pro-
ductive, when worked in the dim ages
Of the past by the crude, but ingenious
methods Of the native Indians, of a
steady stream of golden metal, which |
became the cause of crime, bloodshed,
rapine, oppression and treachery, are
now being prOsaically worked by |
American and European capital by the
most modern methods Of metallurgy |
and mining engineering.
The metal output Of the mines of |
Washington in 1918 was valued at
81, ,467 ,421, decrease from $2,289, ,285 |
in 1917. The present rate of shipments |
indicates that there will be decided |
decreases in the output Of gold, silver
and lead in 1919. The ore output in