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Show 6 INTER-MOUNTAI- The various electrical pow'er enterprises now under way at Ogden, Provo and Big Cottonw'ood promise to develop all the pow'er that can be utilized by the mines of Bingham and Park City, and possibly Eureka, as well as the Cottonw'oods, American Fork and other districts. Few mine owners are aware of the extent to which electricity may be applied to the operation of their properties, and the following extracts from an article contributed to the Engineering and Mining Journal by William Baxter, Jr., are of interest: There is another class of mining, namely, gold and silver, in which electricity can accomplish just as good results as in the coal industry, although not on such an extensive scale, simply because the field is more contracted; but the benefits accruing to the users would be just as great. Most of such mines are located in places where steam power cannot be obtained economically. The site may not be accessible by railroads, or even good wagon roads, and in such cases the cost of energy is largely increased by the high rates paid for the transportation of fuel. In other cases water for the boilers can only be obtained by transporting it by mules or wagons, or by a more or less expensive pipe system. But in nearly if not all such cases, a site can be found within reasonable distance from the mines, say ten to fifteen miles, that would be accessible by at least good wagon roads, and where an abundant supply of pure water could be had. In some places, by going such a distance, even a good water power would be available. In all localities of this character it would be found profitable to locate a power plant at the available site and convey the energy by wire to the mines. If the district were one where there were a large nuber of mines owned by different individuals or corporations, it would, no doubt, prove a paying investment for an independent corporation to put up the power plant; this would be unquestionably true if a good water power could be found within a reasonable distance. Such an application of electricity would prove a paying investment simply on account of the difference in the cost of energy delivered at the mine; but if there is much pumping to be done, and especially if it is deep pump- Inter-Mounta- in - ore-beari- ng cur district wrhere the letter of the mining law has been strictly complied with, it appears to me that it will be very difficult to enforce mining rights on the dip of the vein outside of the vertical boundaries projected. It does not appear to me that in the northern part of the district there is a single instance where the apex of the vein can be proved to have passed through the end lines of the claims as located and gold-beari- ng Much attention is being paid at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, England, to the subject of electric lifting magnets attached to cranes. With one type of magnet, taking from 3 to 4 amperes, it forms 20 to 30 volts potential, two 1800- pound shot have been lifted, and this load does not appear to be 3600-pou- nd the limit. . lowering the boilers into the mine as well as the pumps; but this would require lowering the fuel and possesses other disadvantages which would about balance any apparent gain. An electric pump would work about as efficiently 1000 or 2000 feet under ground as upon the surface, the distance being only the slight extra loss in conveying the current this distance, and this could be kept with 2 per cent or 3 per cent; therefore for this class of work electricity is far superior to steam. Owing to this fact, it would be found profitable, even when the steam plant is located at the mouth of the mine, to use an electric pump. But the use of a pump would render an electric generator in the engine-roonecessary, and having this it would be possible to do the hoisting by electricity; and if a number of hoists are used, the latter method would be found by far the most economical. Having gone this far, and having electricity on tap, so to speak, it could be used at a m comparatively small outlay and running expense to light up all parts of the mine, and thus increase the amount of work done by the same number of men by reason of having a superior illumination. Furthermore, with such a system, properly installed (and the expense would not be heavy), power would be available in any part of the mine, for any purpose for which it might be desired. From a consideration of these facts, the natural conclusion must be that electricity can be advantageously used in this class of mining, either by reducing the initial cost of power by generating it at a distance from the mines, where the conditions are more favorable for the economical development of energy, or by the conversion of the steam power produced at the mouth of the mines into electric energy, thereby saving the enormous loss in transmission when steam is conveyed to the point where the power is required." SALT LAKE NUGGETS. Mr. F. M. Taylor of the ore sampling firm of Taylor & Brunton is in the city. Thomas Couch, manager of the Boston & Montana company, is down from . Butte. Mr. George Faunce of the Pennsyl- vania lead works, Pittsburg, is in the city. Col. E. J. Carter, secretary of the East Golden Gate company, is in the the advantage of electricity would East. be most decided. In fact, deep pumping Mr. H. A. Cohen, general manager of can be done by electricity at a much the DeLamar properties, has returned lower cost than by any other method, from New York. even if the initial cost of energy is Mr. J. E. Schwartz, president of the greater. The way that is generally Pennsylvania Smelting company and conceded to be the most efficient for the Sunshine Mining company, is in the city. doing this kind of pumping by steam is Frank Wilson, owner of the April by means of the old Cornish system; Fool DeLamar, Nev., is again but the cost of the apparatus is so in themine atwith another shipment of city, e ore. great as to preclude its use in the great majority of cases. Where steam pumps Mr. J. E. Jackson, agent of the Conare lowered into the mine the loss by solidated Kansas City Smelting and radiation from the pipes conveying the Refining company, inspected the properties of the Star district during the steam from the surface becomes so week. great as to render the cost of operation Mr. J. W. Young, general Western so much more than it is by the Cornish has been agent of Fraser & method as to wipe out the advantage called to New York Chalmers, the illness of his by of cheapness, so that there is iittle father. During his absence Mr. J. M. choice between the two. The loss by Calderwood, from the Helena office, has radiation may be largely reduced by point.charge of the business at this ing, . ver ore. MINING REVIEW Electricity in Mining:. experience in quartz mining. This condition suggests the need of better laws and their enforcement for the protection of miners, not only in Montana, but in all other mining States. The late unlamented Utah Legislature did not consider the subject worthy of legislation. The Crown Point mine at Bingham is shipping some good copper ore. The Lucky Boy mine, at Custer, Ida., has been closed down, as the result of a strike of the miners, who demanded that the Chinese cooks be discharged and the carmen be paid the same wages as the miners. Eighty men have lost their jobs and operations have been indefinitely suspended. The shaft of the Four Aces company, at Silver City, is now down 160 feet and will be sunk to a depth of 500 feet. The gasoline hoist recently installed gives entire satisfaction. The property adjoins the Swansea and the vein, lying between porphyry and granite, is four to six feet thick, with a high-grad- e streak of eighteen inches. MinThe enterprising s Review' sym-tomhas ing lately discovered that a formidable organization of backcappers exists, with headquarters unknow'n, but having branches from San Francisco to London and agents in every live mining camp watching for chances to blackmail new' strikes and enterprises. These harpies are of a kin with apex buzzards, who hope to thrive by the energy of others, and the thought of them makes the honest miner unconsciously feel for his hip pocket. Certain matters transpiring have given birth to an impression that the organization expects to do business in Bingham this summer. The unoccupied ground in the Bingham cemetery is practically unlimited. Bingham Bulletin. Mr. George H. Robinson has explained the geology and mineralogy of the Mercur district. to the Chicago Record, and has- this to say concerning the apex and dip question: There has been some discussion among mining men as to the probability of the zone at Mercur carrying with it extra lateral rights. From the general construction of the zone, and the fact that there is hardly an instance in the Mer- staked. Hon. Thomas G. Merrill and Mr. J. H. Conrad of Helena believe that the abandoned silver vein of the Camp Floyd district is worth exploring. This silver vein is a stratum of quartzite ledge. In underlying the some localities, as in the Mercur, the silver vein is fifty or sixty feet below the gold vein, and in other places the latter is found resting directly upon the quartzite, as in the Marion, in which the two veins are now found to be practically united. Rich pockets were found in the silver ledge twenty-fiv- e and thirty years ago, these pockets containing horn silver, and the old Sparrowhawk and Carrie Steele mines produced nearly a million dollars. The pockets were worked out and no more were found, and for this reason the vein was abandoned. Many practical miners believe that development will sildisclose other bodies of high-grad- e N -- high-grad- |