The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1921-08-25
PHYSICAL CONDITION
OF THE HECLA MINE
Report Says Man
agement Is Com
petent
CHANGES SUGGESTED
Report Result of Examina-
ton of Mine by Fred
Searls, Engineer
CHANGES SUGGESTED

A CITING UPON the request of
~ special committee from the
n board of trustees of the Hecla
Mining company consisting of
W. }. c. Wakefield DR.. II. c. Lam
bach and Mrs. Sarah f. Smith, an ex-
animation of the physical condition
of the Hecla mine was made by Fred
Searls. Jr, of San Francisco, a noted
mining engineer. and his report was
submitted to the stockholders at the
meeting held in Spokane last week
The report recognizes the difficulties
which have been encountered in the
underground operations and com
mends the efficiency of those in
charge and their success in meeting
them. Mr.. Searls makes several sug-
gestions, including a change in the
system of timbering, methods of car
rying up the slopes, and others of
lesser Importance, but he is not sure
himself that these changes will be for
the better and suggests that they be
tried rather as an experiment On
the whole the report is a complete
vindication of the management and
will be read with satisfaction and
qualification by stockholders general
ly. The report follows:
Scope of Report.
AT the request of Mr.. Wakefield,
the writer spent a portion of the sec
ond week of this instant in making
an examination of the underground
workings of the Hecla mine for the
purpose of enabling him to report to
your committee the physical condi-
ton and state of repair of these
workings, and to give you an opinion
as to whether or not the mining oper-
atoms are being conducted in miner
like fashion. and in accordance with
good practice. For this purpose he
visited and inspected carefully all of
the openings in the mine, except a
few workings in the east ore body,
with which he was already recently
familiar, and which he knows to be in
good condition. The management and
staff accorded him every assistance
and showed the utmost frankness in
disclosing and discussing the facts as
to the condition of the property.
Speaking generally, the mine is
neither in as good a condition as it
ought to be, nor in a condition so bad
as to be properly a cause for alarm,
Or even for serious concern to your
directors, or to the stockholders whom
hey represent
THAT the condition Of some of the
slopes and workings is not as good
Is you or your management could
wish is due almost entirely to the
act that the successive discovery
md development of new ore bodies to
he east of the old Hecla slopes has
ed to the opening up and blocking
mt for stopping, of an area of ground
ar in excess of the requirements of
our present production.
when the intermediate ore body,
east of the old Hecla
TOPICS, was discovered and develop
d, the old ore body had already been
pened up and partially stopped down
D the 1900 level. But having found
his new ore body on levels above
his, it was Immediately prepared for
TOPPING so as not to hold open the up
er levels through the old Hecla
TOPICS any longer than necessary.
this, the east ore was dis
overed and this ore extends to eleva-
ons above the very top of the old
line. Consequently, not only has it
cen necessary to keep open several
f the upper levels but the ore pro-
uced from the new ore bodies has
cen so large a fraction of the pro-
uction of the past four years. that
ne slopes on the old Hecla ore body
ave not been worked fast enough to
eep them from getting heavy. This
in a nutshell the real difficulty in
le mine today You have enough
Opes started to produce 1000 tons of
re a day and you are only producing
10. Your difficulties are. in a meas
re. the result Of the good fortune
lat has attended yorr development
ork
"While the conditions that have
zen brought about in this way are in
me respects undesirable and viii
ave cost the company a few thous-
I'd dollars for extra timbering and
pair work before they are fully cor
cted, they are neither alarming nor
-en serious compared with some 9TH
questions concerning the operation
the mine. That they are not more
rious is due partly to the fact that
e old Hecla ore body is almost ex-
,tly vertical and partly 10 the fact
Continued on page 81