Show the utah chapter in 1 n 1916 by br A or MACKE MACKENZIE the first important work undertaken by the utah chapter of the american mining congress in 1916 was to obtain a professional paper by the united states geological survey covering the cottonwoods american fork area of the state the need of such information had long existed and became especially pressing with the great activity in that region in the last few years individual efforts to have the work done had been made several times without result as the survey has constantly many demands on its experts and has only limited funds with which to handle its operations the chapter concluded that the chief reason for previous failures to get results in the matter was that the needs of the region and the great public interest in it had not been fully presented to the survey the secretary of the chapter began early in the year to collect detailed information from original sources on the mining operations of the two cottonwoods Cotton woods and ameri salt lake city secretary can fork at the conclusion of this investigation vesti gation it had been disclosed that fifty five properties did feet of tunnel work feet of shaft work feet of raise and crosscut and shipped 27 tons of ore valued at in the year 1915 employing miners it was also found that about 40 per cent of the transactions transaction transact io ns on the salt lake mining stock exchange for the year 1915 were in stocks of the cottonwoods Cotton woods and american fork this and other pertinent information was embodied in a petition which was circulated by the chapter among mining men and others interested about 1200 signatures were appended to the petition which was presented to the geological survey by the utah senators and representatives this procedure proved effective in convincing the survey that the work should ibe be undertaken without delay within thirty days from the time the petition was first put in circulation director george otis smith of the survey announced that this would be the first project taken up prompt action followed the announcement B S butler and F F hintze of the survey began the field work early in the summer and worked continuously until the snow in the fall made it necessary to suspend their efforts with about half the area covered the field work will be completed in 1917 and the publication of the report will follow on account of the complex structure of the region covered the information obtained and made public by the survey will be extremely valuable to all operators in the cottonwoods Cotton woods and american fork in association with the state school of mines the state conservation commission and the U S bureau of mines the chapter joined in a movement which is expected to prove a potent factor in developing the states mineral resources the plan is to locate classify develop and record mineral resources as fully as possible and in the same connection to assist prospectors through a short course of instruction at the state university and through free qualitative analyses of mineral specimens all information obtained will ibe be properly recorded for public information and efforts will be made to bring owners of mineral deposits in touch with investors the operations of the plan will be so conducted as not to encroach on fields legitimately occupied by private interests te rests the organizations associated in this plan began work on it early in the summer several months passed before the details had been fully arranged and embodied in a bulletin issued in december 1916 by the four organizations this bulletin has been widely distributed among persons likely to be interested and will be sent without charge to others interested the chapter participated in the campaign conducted against the proposed amendment of article 13 of the state constitution ution last fall the work of the chapter was educational in its nature and consisted of placing facts regarding the tax and the mining industry before the people of the state pamphlets and circulars containing the present and proposed constitutional provisions extracts from public records and other information and advertisements in the newspapers were employed by the chapter to present the issue to the voters the proposed amendment was defeated at the general election november 7 by a vote of to the largest vote ever cast on a constitutional amendment in the history of the state only seven counties favored it the chapter added materially to its volume of information and statistics regarding general and local mining affairs throughout the year and supplied desired information in answer to many inquiries made personally and by mail |