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Show The Market and The Mines ! Yes, children, this is the day of the horseless carriage, the wireless telegraph and also of the oreless mine! Mines with ore in them have he-come he-come so common in Utah that they are a drug on the market. The supply has so far outstripped the demand that no one wants a shipper at any price. "But I heard the other day that you have ore," says "the cautious investor to the eloquent pio-moter. pio-moter. "It is a lie!" dxclaims the promoter. "Envious "En-vious rivals started that story. We haven't a v pound of ore, and, what is more, wo never have had any ore and wo never Will have any ore!" "If I could only helieve you," sighs the investor, in-vestor, "I would take a few thousand shares in your proposition, but I have been fooled so often. Last week I bought a bunch of shares from a fellow who was just as positive as you are. What happened? Why, the day afterward they struck a six-foot ledge and the stock dropped 50 per cent. I will send an expert out to your property, and if he reports that there is no ore in sight I will talk business to you." Jt v1? tJ A conversation like that sketched above may seem fanciful and ridiculous to some people, but not to anyone who reads the newspapers and , . has followed the gymnastics of the mining ex change during the past week. The performances perform-ances of such issues as Sioux Consolidated and Iron Blossom have turned all the traditions of the stock market topsy survy and driven every conscientious member of the Forecasters' union to soft drink. How can anyone who learned the prophecy business in the good old days when the discovery of ore sent a stock up, be expected to get satisfactory results at a time when mines with real ore, even dividend payers, pale in comparison com-parison with properties whose proudest boast is that they have never done anything to earn a dollar? What prophet could have been expected to foresee that the spirit of the European aristocracy aris-tocracy would so soon permeate the inanimate things of the mining world, even though Samuel NowhQUSQ has been steering his titled friends through the western camps? w J v$ I There is nothing stranger in the annals of "Utah mining than the recent history, plain and "undecorated,- of Sioux and Iron Blossom. The Jflrst went from 25 up to 30 cents three weeks ago on the report that it had encountered an extension ex-tension of the Colorado ledge. General Manager JjHoldaway made the unequivocal statement that no ore had been found in the Sioux. At this the .price eased off for a few days, but it soon returned re-turned to 30 cents. Manager Holdaway reiterated reiter-ated with emphasis his former declaration. Then the shares went up to 40 cents and better Here it paused as If the spirit of the eychange felt a premonition that Mr. Holdaway might be mis-taken, mis-taken, but when a committee of reliable men and some experts inspected the property and reported decisively that there was no ore whatever in I sight, confidence was re-established and the stock jumped Immediately to 65 cents a share. It was suspected in some quarters that the rise might be the result of a "corner" baited for the bears, but investigation proved that the short Interests were not extensive enough to induce cornering operations. g A single instance of such paradoxical financiering finan-ciering might be passed by as a freak of nature. It is the case of Iron Blossom in conjunction with the doings of Sioux Con. that points to a gen- uine Infatuation on the part of the traders for oreless mines. Iron Blossom was a decent and highly respected Knight stock, one of dignified mien and regular habits, not at all the sort that you would suspect of participation in a wild and hilarious jag. Yet Iron Blossom, with no apparent appar-ent cause, threw off its coat and leaped from 50 to GO cents a share. Jesse Knight, its president, whoso word is as reliable as the multiplication table, sought to calm the excited prodigal with assurances that it had no more ore than was in sight a week or a month before. This authoritative authori-tative denial by Mr. Knight was all that was needed to set the bunch hot on tho trail of Iron Blossom the talent could not buy it fast enough. With a tumultuous whoop it jumped to $1 a share, where it remains at this writing. Verily these are the harvest days of the oreless mine, but few are they that can profit thereby. To win favor in the market place the candidate must not only have no ore, but must have incontrovertible in-controvertible proof of the fact, and there are not many Utah properties that can live up to the conditions. There is a fortune waiting for the man who can find a place in which digging will yield no trace of mineral. & fc When the prediction was made in these columns col-umns that the declaration of a dividend by the directors of May Day would create a demand for that stock there was nothing to indicate that dividends had come into disrepute and barrenness barren-ness into popularity. There is a virtual certainty that May Day will pay 1 cent a share, double the former rate, in June. The announcement, however, did not cause even a fractional advance ad-vance in the price of the stock. It was almost a disqualification because a mine that can earn a 1 cent dividend less than six weeks after resumption re-sumption of operations must have a disgraceful quantity of ore in its workings. An examination of the weather records indicates indi-cates that this spring has been an unusually wet one. The records are corroborated by the mines up Alta way and the roads thereto. With tho evidence at hand there is hardly a "doubt that the spring has been damp, if not actually wet. This fact accounts in a large measure for the relaxation relaxa-tion In Alta's productive activity and the de- i pression of its stocks. Despite the da'mpness, conditions in that section are beginning to look up. Tho Columbus Con., which has been straining strain-ing every nerve in a battle with water on the 400-foot level, has come in this week with four cars of concentrates. The Flagstaff Copper Mining Min-ing company 'of Milwaukee has grown weary of idleness and the directors are doing all they can to bring about a resumption of operations in the long tunnel started toward the ore bodies that were so famous in the old days. Then, too, Jesse Knight has been induced to venture into the camp. The Old Emma is the vehicle by which he will attempt to remove a few thousands from the rocks of the district. Nearer to Salt Lake, tho Jefferson Con., on the Big Cottonwood side of the divide, has tried out some of its gold ore on the smelter at Sandy. The Jefferson tunnel tun-nel is in about 1400 feet and has tapped a vein I) that runs as much as 25 ounces to the ton. fcj & v The logical termination of the relationship between the Ontario, Daly-West and Daly at Park City is a merger. Their present close connection con-nection without legal sanction smacks of unlawful unlaw-ful cohabitation. They are bossed by the same boss, drained through the same tunnel, worked through the same workings and owned by the same owners. It was reported from the East during dur-ing the visit there of' President Jacob IEL Bamberger Bam-berger that he was on a matchmaking expedition. expedi-tion. When questioned on the subject after his return Mr. Bamberger replied with the utmost candor: "I am glad yes, very glad that the Ontario drain tunnel Is open again. I am very glad indeed. in-deed. You may put that as strongly as you wish. If yon desire, I am willing to sign the statement!?"'' |