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Show DOES III ADMIRE THE WIT CAMP Correspondent of the Evening Post Goes After the Wild-Catters. SAYS THN DISTRICT IS FULL OF THEM Interesting and Neatly Dealt Knock on the Camp Is Reproduced. The recent arrest and conviction of five miners charged with tho theft of ore from cobalt mines ("high-grading," they call it in the Far West) lias multiplied tho anxiety and disappointment, of thousands thou-sands of shareholders of the stocks of New Ontario mines by revealing an actual ac-tual condition which they believed existed, ex-isted, but which they sought to convlnco themselves would not materially affect their interests, says the New York Evening Even-ing Post. When It came out in evidence that these thefts of especially rich samples sam-ples of ore from working mines were Incidental In-cidental to widely piannod conspiracies to fleece the public by "sailed" mines and general misrepresentation there was widespread Indignation. Scarcely a man or woman In the Now Ontario mining region Cobalt, Halloybury, New LIs-keard, LIs-keard, Latchford is disinterested. Business Busi-ness men. waiters, porters, guides, bootblacks, boot-blacks, clerks, domestics, stenographers, settlers, lumbermen, nil carry stock In ono or more .of tho 300 companies whoso handsomely engraved certificates are almost al-most as common as bank bills. Up to the present time the holder of a registered claim has had little difficulty in incorporating a company. Hundreds of thousands of shares have been disposed dis-posed of by companies which are not, and never will be. listed by the local stock exchange. Tjatterly, even the stocks of listed companies havo suffered. The market is demoralized and at the mercy of those who nre busily engaged in depressing prices. "Wild-cnttlng" was Inovltable. innocently perhaps, the Ontario government simplified the operations opera-tions of the dishonest by failure to restrict re-strict the capitalization to reasonable figures. fig-ures. Overcapitalization made it profitable profit-able for the resourceful schemer to market mar-ket the stock at alluring prices. Somo of these stocks which were largely sold last fall at as low as 15 cents a share are now listed as low as 0 cents. Only one in fifteen of the Incorporated cobalt companies com-panies ls, or has been, shipping oro. Since January 1 tho total shipments from Cobalt Co-balt mlnos have nggregatod i:t91 tons. For ihe last week of May there were shipments from only four mines, aggregating aggre-gating 274 tons. Ten companies only havo distributed profits to their shareholders, share-holders, although the camp began shipping ship-ping late in 100-1. a Utile more than two two and a half years ago. It is obvious ob-vious that the companies are more concerned con-cerned with the manipulation of stock than the production of ore. This is construed by many to be an indication of an Indcfinitencss In the ore bodies a fear, if not a well-concealed knowledge, that the veins on many properties prop-erties do not carry enough silver to cover the capitalization, let alone the question of profits, It is certain that several mining min-ing companies which were Incorporated with a cnpltnl of ?1, 000. 000 or more havo not yet found enough silver to "discharge the fees for incorporation. They have disposed of considerable stock ($r shares, "fullv paid up and nonassessable") at a few cents per share, but that ls all. Those conditions are certain to be duplicated dupli-cated In tho Larder Lake gold region. Rxperls, upon whose reports the strictest strict-est reliance may be placed, sbj- that the gold-bearing area appears to be confined to a district about seven miles long by three miles wide. It is possible that there may be othe.r rich ridges containing gold-bearing reefs, but that ls conjectural. conjec-tural. The facts should bo known soon, for the work of development 1b general over a region fully thirty miles square, and thousands of men arc feverishly digging dig-ging for traces of the precious yellow metal Cobalt's remarkable veins of silver sil-ver are concentrated In a narrow area. Old miners say there is no reason to assume as-sume that. In the T.ardor Lake region gold ledges are surely to be found wherever wher-ever a pickaxe Is driven or a stick of dynamite exploded In this correspondence two months ago T stated that seventeen companies had been Incorporated to mine for goW at Larder Lake. Going over tho tile of the Onturio Gazette. T find that there have been twenty-four companies added to the list since that time, making a total of fortv-onc. One only of these has a modest mod-est capital of ?100,000. Ono is capitalized at ?5, 000,000! Three are capitalized at $3,000,000 each and two at $2,500,000. The gross capitalization of the forty-one companies com-panies organized to carry on mining operations op-erations In the new gold fields Is ?46,-200,000v ?46,-200,000v And all of them incorporated since ' November 3, 1D0G seven months. Local traders are offering the shares of a few of these companies for sale by advertisement, ad-vertisement, but none of the stocks are yet listed, and in most caries will not be for several months. From the known gold area come stories, come of them well authenticated, of discoveries dis-coveries of ore of wonderful richness. Assays show values ranging from 520 a. ton to wonderful figures. Most of tho ore carries some silver values sufficient, as a rule, to make the mine profitable apart from tho gold. J have a. letter from the managing director of one of the Larder Lar-der Lake properties, which has installed machinery, and will soon be producing ore, in which he says; "A groat deal of the ore Is showing free gold, and will assay thousands of dollars to the ton. It would convince the most skeptical of the great discoveries of gold in tho Larder Lake likely to develop as soon as operations opera-tions of any magnitude take place. I predict that Larder Lako will astonish the world." This gentlcmnn is at Larder Lake now. He spent several weeks there last fall. Prospectors have come down from Abltibbl and the region north of Larder Lake bringing samples of free gold and gold-bearing ore as rich as any that lias been vouched for as the product, of the known gold area. But tho public is suspicious of the prospector with samples. The recent disclosures at Cobalt Co-balt have aggravated the situation, and the stranger with ore samples carefully wrapped In a piece of old cloth or linen is regarded wJth distrust, to put it very mildly. The inaccessibility of Larder Lake is being gradually decreased The canoe routes have been opened since May 21 and small steamboats will soon be plying ply-ing the lakes. The extension of the Tcmiskanilng k Northern Ontario railway rail-way Is completed so far as to bring tho road within fourteen miles of Larder Lake, and the Ontario Government has set about the construction of a good wagon roud from Boston to the lake. This road should be completed In a few weeks. The new town of Larder has a resident population of close upon 3000, and great difficulty has been experienced In transporting supplies. By midsummer the gold fields will be as accessible as Cobalt. larder. City lives In constant apprehension of fire. The town has been so compactly built of frame that a fire once started would inevitably sweep It out of existence. A small steamboat wasi taken In potions over the Ice, and ls now In commission, The lake has a coast lino of nearly .100 mlles and the vessel Is of great convenience to miners and prospectors. pros-pectors. Mine owners in Larder Lake apprehend appre-hend difficulty with tho "wildcat." promoters. pro-moters. These gentry have been paying as high as $100 for an extra fine namplo of silver ore. taken from a Cobalt mine, and the price has roused the cupidity of employees until the stealing has become of consequence. The value of gold ore rich enough to assay several thousands of dollars to the ton would be more than twenty times as groat, and detectives will bo employed to "shadow" suspects, protect pro-tect tho mines from lofisPand minimlzo the opportunities of the "wildcatters." |