The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1920-06-03


Jersey ........ ..................45O "a
Francis ....--.- --.----....---. 400 20
Expressed in terms of production
the output for the first 20 years ag
gregated 1O,25O tons per vertical foot
OF mining The average dimensions
OF the ore shoots however, give no
idea of their irregular sizes and err
ratio shapes; looking forward, and
deeper, they may pinch in size and
they may be cut off by faults, but as
against these contingencies there are
many other and smaller ore shoots in
various parts of the mine that may
increase in size, just as there are dis
located portions of known ore bodies
TO be found beyond the faults already
traced through the workings.
The Ontario claim deserves special
mention. IT became the property Of
Jonathan Bourne, Jr, of Portland,
ore. in 1887 on the recommendation
of Joshua r. Clayton. Bourne was a
plunger; he bought the claim because
Clayton (who was called professor"
i'm those days. dreamed that it cover
ed an ore body worth half a million
dollars. Mr. Bourne had several
chances to sell the Ontario. but he
declined them because he was OBJ
sessed with Clayton's idea of its
value In 1908 he decided to bring an
APEX suit against the Federal Mining
e Smelling company. The Cate fault
WAS then considered to he the foot
wall of the Bunker Hill lode channel;
| near this fault no ore whatever had
been found i'm the Ontario or its vi
cinity mp TO that time. Bourne dem
onstrated. that the fault crossed the
southern side line of the Ontario and
he nearly succeeded in proving that it
crossed the westerly end line, through
the northwestern corner of the claim;
but the Federal company dug away
this northwestern corner and salts
fed the court that the fault left the
Ontario claim through it's northern
side line. Thus while Bourne lost his
apex fight against the Federal com
pany he contributed to a knowledge
of the local geology. so that when i.
Augustus Heinze appeared on the
scene later and in 1910 uncovered a
handsome ore body in the Stewart
ground. just north of the Ontario. he
(Bourne) was in a position to utilize
the information obtained during his
litigation with the Federal people.
This he proceeded to do and so sue
cessfuly that the Ontario eventually
yielded a profit of $1,000 OOO from the
ground within its vertical boundaries
that was mined on a faulted portion
of the Stewart ore body Heinze
fought hard to prevent the owners of
the Ontario from mining this faulted
portion of the Stewart ore body. but
he lost So Mr., Jonathan Bourne. Jr-
realized Professor Clayton's dream
after an interval of 25 years by which
time the professor himself had gone
to the land OF shadows.
Looking over the graphic record of
the enterprise it will be noted that
the dividends scared abnormally in
1906. owing to the sale of the COM
panys 1874 per cent interest in the
Tacoma smeter. which was sold to
the American SHELTERS Securities
company in 1906. for s5.O79, 4SS.SO. The
operating profit has varied consider
ably owing to the fluctuations in the
market value of the ore. The tonnage
has increased steadily, but the smell
ter returns have been affected direct
lS 10y the ups and downs of the metal
market What these have been is
shown i'm the statistics for lead and
silver The cost of concentration has
Increased. especially in later years, on
account of higher wages and more
expensive supplies, particularly ma
chinery and machine parts. The in
crease i'm dividends is attributable to
the combined effects of an increased
output better smelling rates. a high
er price for the metals. together with
the additional profit from other
sources. The high peak in operating
proft i'm 1917 is linked with the start
ing mp of the Bunker Hill smelter
and the abnormal price of lead due to
the war The wide difference between
profit and dividends in 1917 and 1918
was caused by the cost of building the
smclter. for which s2.S5OOOO has been
diverted from current earnings. as
well as S95O.OOO additional for stocks
Of custom smelling ores. How the
prices of lead and silver have fluctu- /
ated is shown herewith:
Prices Of Lead and Silver.