Show utah Is first in production of white metal for the first time in history utah a silver output is the largest in the united states this became known when advance figures for montana s metal production tor for 1920 compiled by C N gerry of the united states geological survey reached salt lake monday during the last decade or more the state of montana has ranked first as a pr ducer of silver utah during the last few years has reached a close second nevada third and idaho 4 fourth during the years 1910 19 Montan st produced approximately 14 ounces of silver according to mr gerry nevada ounces utah ounces and idaho ounces Ilow however evar dur ing the last three or four years the output of nevada declined while that of utah increased a tact fact which has made the mines of this state a close second in the production of sil ver to those of montana utah during 1920 according to mr gerry s figures produced 13 ounces and montana 12 ounces A comparison of these figures shows that the mines of utah have exceeded in production Product loh those of montana by ounces As Nevada s production has averaged around 8 ounces during the last aft two years the sagebrush sage brush 1 state should rank about third although utah a production tor for 1920 Is the largest in the united states it lacks several million ounces of being the state states s record output in 1917 a total of 13 ounces was produced in 1918 13 ounces and in 1919 11 ounces the large output during the years 1917 and 1918 was due to the production of silver by copper properties which were dur ing those years operating at capa city 1 since the greater part ot of the sll sil ver produced in utah Is associated with lead rather than copper ores and since the copper mining industry has been in doldrums tor for the past year and probably will continue to be during the rema indr r of 1921 at least the beehive state should con dinue to lead in the production ot of the white metal the greater part of montana s output Is produced by the anaconda copper mining corn com pany as a by product from the treat ment of its copper silver and its zinc ores during recent years the anaconda copper mining company has been recognized as the largest silver pro ducer in the world approximately I 1 10 ounces were produced by the company during 1919 |