Show resurrection OF OLD MINES quite a number of instances have been cited of late where old and abandoned mines located in different portions of the west have been reclaimed and are now on the producing and paying list because a mine or prospect has been abandoned because development work has been suspended for a number of years is no excuse for the assertion that the property is worthless or valueless As a general thing an old and abandoned mine was originally regarded as being a most promising prospect when first located without doubt it was looked upon as being the most valuable ground in the district the cream and choice of the country and its early operators were firm in the belief that it would developed into a bonanza proposition many of these old mines were heavy producers and were only abandoned but not exhausted when local conditions became such that they could not be longer worked at a profit and others were closed down because of litigation the settlement of estates or because of difficulties existing between owners and still others were given up because of poor management the exercise of bad judgment in development and the extravagant and reckless expenditure of money in nearly every case these old mines can now be worked to advantage and at a profit those which were heavy producers in the past can now be handled again owing to advanced and improved ideas and methods in mining and milling improved transportation facilities and the increased demand for the baser metals in the commercial and manufacturing world others have been released from the courts and are now in the hands of capable and experienced men and there are yet others which have been designated as failures because of poor management and reckless development which are now demonstrating the fact that no intelligent tell igent effort was ever made to open up tip their ore bodies or to place them upon a producing and paying basis in this class we often find properties where ore is soon found after they pass into the care of careful and up to date mining men for instance we have in mind a case where a long tunnel was driven into the mountain for a distance of 1700 feet and no ore being found work was discontinued and the property was idle for years until lately when a lease was obtained tai ned upon it by an experienced and thinking man it was then demonstrated that the long tunnel for almost its entire length had paralleled the vein and a short crosscut cross cut soon took the world workings into a magnificent body of ore and now this mine is looked upon as one of the coming big producers of the west and this is riot not an isolated case either as almost every old mining camp in in this intermountain inter mountain region can make one exhibit if not more of the same character many of these old and abandoned mines are now being resurrected and they are proving to be the equal of not the peer of the wonderful new finds and discoveries which have been chronicled the last few years the development and operation of which have electrified financial and business circles from one end of af the globe to the other |