Evening star., 1934-01-14
BY ARTHUR CHAPMAN.

ment has pegged the price OF
the white metal at a figure which al
lows fair margin Of profit?
This question is stirring the silver
production States of the West as moth
ing else has done for years. Pick up
any newspaper in the chain Of Rocky
Mountain States between the Canadian
and Mexican borders and one reads
stories which reflect a new faith and
hope-stories of additional men put to
work in producing mines, old mines
that will be reopened and dead furnaces
fired anew in smelling plants.
The States chiefly affected by Presi-
dent Roosevelt's order calling for the
purchase of newly mined domestic silver
at 64l2 cents an ounce are Utah, Idaho,
Montana, Arizona. Colorado, Nevada
and New Mexico, in the order Of their
silver production In 1882. In all these
States silver has been produced in late
years as by-product of other and more
valuable metals.
But the order Of silver producing
States was not always as it reads today.
Colorado, once at the top of the list,
has gone into decline as result OF
the virtual closing of such all-silver
camps as Creede and Aspen. Leadville
has kept going because of the value
of its other metals. Now that better
price has been guaranteed, however, 1t
is possible that many of the old mines
which produced silver alone-and which
were unable to fall back on other
metals for their prof1ts-will be re-
opened, and Colorado again will climb
toward the top of the silver list.
Revival in Nevada.
Nevada, once a leading silver State,
the production Of the Comstock lode
being go per cent silver, has slumped
along with the mining at Virginia City,
hut now it is figuring on a revival of
rah districts. Idaho, which produced
6, 700, 900 ounces Of silver In 1882 chiefly
from the big silver-lead-z zinc mines in
the Occur d'Alenes, is figuring on put
ting 5000 more men to work at once,
and, even If there is no increase in the
production of silver, will benefit some
thing like 81 300, 900 a year by the new
price. In Idaho, too, 1t is figured that
the big silver producing mines at HALEY
can be reopened.
All of these States are dotted with
small silver camps which quit the
struggle for existence years ago, nearly
every one of them sheltering some opti-
mistic hanger-on who has been prophe-
sying a comeback. Even Texas adds a
cheering note with the news that the
silver-lead-gold mine at Shafter will be
reopened.
Along with this live news of pick
UP in the land of the hard-rock miner
come "reminiscences Of the old days OF
the silver kings, when poverty-smitten
prospectors were suddenly raised to
dizzying eminences of wealth. One
hears anew the stories of the white
metal Midases whose touch turned
everything to silver-of Tabor, whose
investment of SIT in a prospectors'
grubstake at Leadville brought him
millions; of old man Bremmerf, down
in New Mexico. who used silver bars to
make his blackboard ride easier over
the rough road to Silver City; Of Jim
Butler, whose runaway burros led him
to the rich silver deposits of Tonopah,
resulting in the ultimate discovery OF
Goldfeld, and of many others who
have become traditional figures, lined
against background Of silver.
Hardly in Cards for Rush.
kings whose fame will touch that Of
Tabor and his comrades? Will there
be such q rush to the silver fields,
established and prospective, as there
was in the old days? Go into any OF
the quiet Offices in New York, where a
directing hand is held on large scale
mining enterprises all over the world,
and this question will be met with q
dubious shake of the head. There will
be an upturn, more men will be en-
ployed in the big mines, old mines will
be reopened, more individual leasers
will 60 into the field and prospecting
will receive an inevitable stimulus-but
it is hardly in the cards for rush.
In the first place, 1t Is pointed out,
64K cents an ounce for silver is hardly
q bonanza price. In the days OF the
silver furor silver was $1.10 an ounce
Then came denomination, and the
price Of silver slumped- averaging
around 60 cents In the years before the
World War. It went as high as $1.33
an ounce during the war, and stayed
at 81 after the war. But when India
scrapped its silver in 1925 the price
collapsed, touching bottom of IS cents
in 1882.
The price set by the Government
allows q good margin Of profit and, in
many cases, will spell the difference
between keeping q mine open or closed
but 1t hardly means q repetition OF the
frcm-rags-to-riches stories Of early
days.
zone big benefit undoubtedly win be
an increase In cooperative leasing,
said an authority. Under this practice
q few individuals can get together, In
vest . little money and lease q closed
mine, or . part Of Q mine. They do .
certain amount of development work
and what they take out of the mine In
| the duration Of the lease is theirs
minus q reasonable royalty. This form
of mining has been very popular tr
the West, since it calls for compare.
lively small outlay of capital. And
many q small leaser has had his judg-
ment vindicated by making q paying
strike"
I A plan somewhat along this line wa
recently put in operation at the sug-
gestion Of the faculty Of the Colorado
School of Mines. Subscribers bought