The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1920-05-20

by 7. A Richard. This chapter deal
largely with the organization of tn
company and its early history. re
calling names once prominent in 10
cal mining history and now almos
forgotten. For this reason the chap
ter is here given almost complete. ane
1t will prove of special interest {
those of our readers who can claim
the distinction of being "old timers:
In the fall of 1885 the locators OF
the mine commissioned James f
Wardner to obtain working capital
for the erection of a mill, and he. as
previously related. went to Helena
Mont, where he enlisted the interest
of A. NJ Hotter and s. r. Hauser
The former established the A. NJ. Hol-
ter Hardware company in 1866 and il
is still going. He and Hauser were
active mine operators at that time
and later developed the Helena &,
Frisco mine near Wallace. Mr. Hol-
ter, now SO. is still living at Helena.
Mr.. Hauser was president of the
First National Bank of Helena They
Joined with A. NJ. Esler and w. +.
Cox, both of Helena, together with
d. c. Corbin of Spokane, in forming
syndicate, which accepted Ward
ner's proposal to concentrate $4,000
tons of ore at IS per ton, the concen-
traitor to have a capacity OF 100 tons
per day, and to be built forthwith
This group organized the Helena
Concentrating company with Hauser
as president and Cox as secretary
Esler was sent to the mine. At that
period few men in the west knew
much about designing a lead concen-
traitor; Esler gave the job TO Alfred
Bradford, flour mill builder, and he
was soon compelled to confess his
metallurgical shortcomings There
upon Esler sent to Helena for r. X.
NELL, then a millwright now honor
ably prominent as the man who has
recently opened up the silver bonan-
"a of the Bush, or Premier mine in
the Salmon river district, British Col
umbia. Mr.. Neil told me recently
back, with his kit of tools on a pack
how he rode up Milo gulch on horse
horse. The going was bad, because
there was no road, and the fallen logs
across the creek made it difficult for
the horses. The surrounding hills,
and the gulch as WELL had been swept
by q forest fire during the preceding
summer.
Ground was broken for the mill on
April 10. 1886; and the plant started
to work on July 20. Wardner and his
associates had bound themselves to
have the mill at work on August l,
and they just succeeded iii fulfilling
this part of their contract. despite the
unfavorable conditions for every
thing had to be hauled from the Mis-
sion landing over a bad wagon road |
The cost of treatment was about so |
cents per ton, so the margin of Oper-
ating profit was handsome. The jok-
er in the deal was that the owners of |
the mine were not protected by any |
definition of ore, therefore Wardner
and his associates could treat mater
ial of any kind, provided the returns
sufficed to pay them the IS per ton.
The locators and their friends receiv-
ed no money until the smelter Cat
Wickes. Mont) and railroad had been
paid their respective charges. Thus
the owners of the mine had the small
end of the stick and they Jared bad
~. This forced them to give the mill
people an option on the property. i
This option called for 100000; but at
that time the development of the mine
did not justify such a price, so they {
did nothing. However, they obtained
a sixteenth interest in the Sullivan
mine. Later, the owners gave Ward
ner an option, and early in 1886 he
found a purchaser in Simeon G. Reed,
at the rumored price of $65OO0O. Mr. {
Reed would not buy the property I'M
til the contract with the mill people
was cancelled, so. after much dicker-
ing, they sold out for 100000 for ]
which Reed got the MILL the milling
contract and the sixteenth interest in
the Sullivan mine. The sellers took I
options on some adjoining claims and
did some prospecting, but nothing
came of it. Corbin started at once to {
build a railroad from the Mission !
landing to Wardner and thereby con- I
tributed greatly not only to the de- I
of the Bunker Hill but of &
the entire Occur d'Alene region. i
w. L. Lee. now living at Helena, (
Mont, was foreman of the mine at {
the time of Wardners option. From l
Mr.. Lee I gather that the mine was
badly worked; it was being gouged in s
the effort to maintain a large pro- {
iuction of concentrate. Wardner
had but little notion of real mining S
Or of the true condition of the prop c
srty. He ordered Lee to knock down e
and ship a mass Of clean galena held t
N reserve in the Sullivan. but it was 7
explained to him that this rich ore a
and a similar bunch in the Bunker t
Hill was needed for sweetening the Il
output from the lean places. Al !
though the mineral looked pure, it d
,ould be seen. on examination under I
l magnifying glass that the cubes of
yalena were encased in a film of !