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Show 181B GREATEST fail iff MINING HISTORY HERE Dividends of $25,000,000 Paid Stockholders in 12 Months; In Half Century Cen-tury $146,000,000. It is of record that the birth of the minLnc; industry in Utah tamo more than half a century ago, for, as early as I860 the mineral resources of Beaver county attracted the attention of mining min-ing operators. It is also a matter of common knowledge knowl-edge among mining men that many years passed before the marvelous mineral min-eral resources of Utah were other than a prediction, fur the few who ''dipt into the future "' 7 were regarded as dreamers. But how wonderful has been the realization real-ization of the dreams of even the most sanguine of the pioneers in mining is now written into the history of the state in a record of millions, many millions, of dollars paid in dividends, in the history his-tory of cities built, industries developed, devel-oped, the drawing to the slate of the biggest and broadest minds in the realms of mining and metallurgy, the application of the most modern and scientific sci-entific methods in the handling and treatment of ores, the demonstration of the fa;t that even should the fertile valleys be made barren the hidden treasures of the mountains as now developed de-veloped and known would still support with rich return and engage the activity activ-ity of many thousands. Phenomenal Year. That the year just closed has beeD the most phenomenal in the history of mining in Utah is not onlv attested by the record, but is within the knowledge of every person who has followed the state's progress along miuing lines. It is, of course, within the memory of many t!i2t more than twenty years ago some mines wore paying dividends that in the grand total swell the production pro-duction record of the years to a remarkable remark-able extent, but these properties were comparatively few, they were producers of high-grade eres alone, Ron. in the case of the silver producers, there was the advantage of a market that later went down, down, down, until only the highest grade silver-bearing ores could be handled at a profit. The plain, cold figures of the dividends divi-dends paid in 1016 by the mines of Utah tell n eloquent story of the great progress made in the development develop-ment of the- state 's mineral resources. In Ifilo, the known dividends were in round numbers, $10,4-50,000, this being regarded as a remarkable increase over the $7,102,SOO in dividends for the year 3 D 1 4. But Utah, in 1016, breaks all records rec-ords in volume of dividends and per cent of increase, for the grand total of the dividends is in excess of $25,000,000 disbursed to shareholders by companies that make public the profits, and it is also to be said that probably another $2,000,000 has been paid by companies that are eloae corporations and do not make public the record of their earnings. earn-ings. Even more impressive as evidence of the part that 10L6 has played in Utah mining circles is this comparison: In the half century and more since men began mining m this state, the known grand total of toe dividends at the close of 1915 was officially stated to be $121,151,000. The pavment of $25,000,000 in dividends in 1 9 1 15, brings the total up to more than $146,000,000 and gives 191(3 the palm for contributing contribut-ing more than one-fifth as much as all the mines paid in profits in all the previous pre-vious years since the development of the industry in the state. It sounds incredible, but the record is official and the explanation is not so far to seek. On January 1 of 1016, silver was quoted at 54 cents per ounce, copper cathodes at $20.30 and lead . at $5.40. The first month of the year had not gone until a substantial advance in the price of all these metals was recorded, and with but few temporary declines the advance has continued until now silver is selling at better than 75 eenis per ounce, with prospects for a still greater advance, copper is around $33, with the new year s product sold for eight or nine months ahead, while lead has long sold at $7 or better. This great advance in the price of the metals has naturally caused an increase in the output of the mines that were steady producers in 1915 and likewise led to the bringing in of numerous new properties and the rehabilitation of several sev-eral old ones that suspended operations when the low price of lead, silver or, copper made it impossible to maintain 1 production at a fair profit. How greatly the advance in the prices of the metals has stimulated the development devel-opment of mining in Utah is illustrated by the record that in 1915 the state produced 10,725,000 tons of ore. valued at $55,000,000, while in 1916, the pro-1 d notion is approximately 14,900,000 tons, valued at $105,000.00. I |