| Show MAKING A MINE mines are made not found nature is very firm on this point and refuses to deal in ready made producers or hand me down bonanzas demanding from the prospector and miner in exchange for her gifts that a certain amount of honest toil be expended before the keys to her treasure vaults are handed over unreservedly to the searcher for mineral wealth galore and as a matter of fact if the search for the precious metals were unattended by hard labor the expenditure of money and by strenuous exertion and mines were to be found ready made gold and silver because of overproduction over production and supply would cease to have any intrinsic value aside from a commodity value such as regulates the market price of iron and copper the scarcity of the precious metals and the hardships and toil involved in their discovery and recovery being the main factor which enables them to maintain their exalted position throughout the world as money metals if mines were found and all that the lucky finder had to do was to shovel out 20 gold pieces the discovery would really be of but little value but the mining man never looks for a ready made bonanza it is the prospect that first attracts his attention the mineral st stained rift in the rock attracts his observant eye the bold outcrop suggests the existence of the big ore bodies below the float on the hillside leads him to the vein further up the mountain and the blossom on the rocks is an indication di to him that the ground in that locality is m mineral bearing b earl ng here he has the making of a mine he has found a good prospect but he must make the mine to begin with he starts a tunnel or shaft he makes an open cut or strips the vein at intervals along the surface in the performance for mance of this work he has made a beginning gathering up his samples of vein matter or ore he seeks the valley where tests for values are made by fire if the showing is such as to warrant further exploitation arrangements are made and perfected for a continuance of work supplies are laid in tools are provided a few friends and acquaintances are interested in in the enterprise and all chip in their little mite for the development of the prospect cabins and blacksmith shop are built and when all is ready two or three men begin their arduous work no labor unions restrict their hours of toil from sunup sun up to sundown they pound the drill push the wheelbarrow wheel barrow and work at the forge and after working all day do their own cooking their makeshift at housekeeping and attend to innumerable duties around camp courage and hope is ever within their breasts for months they toil away believing that every shift every shot will reveal to them the treasure for which they are seeking if the prospect is as good as the surface showings would indicate ore bodies are finally uncovered here new difficulties arise the mine perchance is inaccessible from the outside world trails and wagon roads must be built shipments to the market could be made but the embryo mine is not sufficiently developed to maintain regular or heavy shipments and the profits from small and irregular con sign ments are about eaten up by heavy freight and smelter charges more help must be secured and more capital must be put into the enterprise before it can call be listed as a financial success the windlass and horse whim must give way to more heavy equipment hand drilling is slow and steam power is needed with compressor and drills A point has been reached in the development of the property where primitive methods must give way to more advanced ideas in mining operations for the owners have the making of a mine but not a mine as yet here is where the investor the capitalist the syndicate step in they buy the prospect for or according to indicated value the small miner and prospector is satisfied he has made a pile that looks good to him the newcomers either from their own resources or from the sale of treasury stock begin the development of the property on a more extensive scale the prospect is equipped with the necessary machinery shafts are sunk to the deep tunnels are run a long way into the mountain dinzes are sunk upraises up raises are made and drifts are run until the whole property is honeycombed honey combed and ore bodies are blocked out and room is made so that a small army of men can be employed in ore extraction when this is done when thousands of dollars have been expended in development and equipment then the mine is made a mine that has millions in sight in its workings and a mine that will be able to maintain an output of hundreds of tons daily and a mine that will be able to pay regular monthly dividends to owners and stockholders until the profits have run up into the millions this is a mine but it is a made mine and all of our great dividend payers have passed through this transformation from a prospect to a producer before they were able to make millionaires out of their owners |
