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Show 1 The Market and Mines at Close of '06 II I One year ago in Its Christmas edition Goodwin's Good-win's Weekly said: . "No one oan positively predict pre-dict the course of any market. But, to judge according ac-cording to the usual standards the mining stock market has several months of prosperity before it. The stocks now offered are, if anything, un dervalued and, with the development which will be made possible by the advantageous sales of treasury holdings and the ready payment of assessments', as-sessments', should constantly increase in intrinsic intrin-sic worth." Read this in the past tense and you have a summary of what the year has brought forth, not only in Utah but in the Nevada field. The rise in prices and the increase in mineral production has been more pronounced in Nevada than in Utah, but the history of such shares as Columbus Con., Little Bell, Daly-Judge, Lower Mammoth, and Carisa proves that this state has not lagged far For the year to come the handwriting of destiny des-tiny is more obscure, but it looks to a casual observer ob-server as if it would be devoted to a weeding out process in which the meritorious shares would prosper and tho "wildcats" be eliminated. In any event the work in the western mining field is go Ing on with the momentum acquired during the memorable year 190G. Tho writing of tho story of the year in Nevada Neva-da is beset with difficulties. The mere enumeration enumera-tion of tho new camps that have come into notice no-tice in that time would consume all the space allotted al-lotted to an ordinary story and a book containing a list of the new companies that have sprung into existence would look like an unabridged dictionary. dic-tionary. Events have followed each other with bewildering r-opidity; changes of the greatest importance have takeD place in a night and there has been no attempt to keep accurate statistics. A well informed mining man from Goldileld estimates esti-mates the year's production in that camp at $12,-000,000 $12,-000,000 and he says the output for December, will be in the neighborhood of $3,000,000. And Gold-field Gold-field is only one of a score of shipping camps. Tonopah, the mother camp of the district in which Goldileld is located, claims an equal production. pro-duction. All the camps are unwilling to reduce their claims to cold figures and this is because they feel that the ore actually marketed represents repre-sents only a small part of the real production. For every dollar's worth sold the Nevada mines have $10 worth of ore piled in their bins, heaped on the ground or cleanly blocked out in their underground workings waiting for mills or cheaper transportation. Unless a man needs the money very badly he is not going to pay $10 a ton to get his ore to market when he can wait a few weeks for a railroad and have It carried for $2.50. No one will be able to tell accurately what the Nevada mines are capable of producing until all the low grade properties are supplied with adequate milling and railroad facilities. In the meantime, however, some of the high grade propositions, pro-positions, such as the Mohawk at Goldileld, have done things that startled the world. The extrao tion and sale of 60 tons of ore worth a million dollars, a feat accomplished by Hayes & Mohette, Mohawk leasers, can hardly be duplicated, in all the history of mining. Achievements like this, amply verified, make the assertions of other mine owners creditable and even commplace. A' world of milling ore has been developed at Manhattan and Bullfrog. "When they get their concentrating mills to going they will show the novice that, in the long run, high tonnage and low values can outstrip the more picturesque combination of low tonnage and high values. The Rand in South Africa is the greatest gold produc ing district in the world and its ore is all low V't'-jijB grade. The Homestake in South Dakota Is tho "41 fl most profitable gold mine in the world and here i,;, fjli'B again we find large tonnage and low values. The year has been made memorable at Bull- : frog by tho advent of two financial giants, Chas. M. Schwab, who bought the control of the Mont- gomery-Shoshone, Polaris and Crystal properties, i ' 'B and Samuel Newhouse, who took in the Montgom- ;-ory ;-ory Mountain group formerly owned by D. PI. , 1 Peery. Manhattan was born within the year and 1 U ''-M diligent work has revealed immense deposits of :! I1 flH ore carrying 3 or 4 ounces of gold to the ton. h '1 Salt Lake has been especially interested in the ; Stray Dog and Indian camp, both of which have developed strong ledges at slight depth. ' , Fairview is. another new Nevada gold camp in , 'II which Utahns take more than a friendly interest. . f Its fame is largely due to the Nevada Hills, a ','!'! mine that was government land a short time ago 1 and that has taken out $700,000 in the first year . of its existence. It belongs to the high grade ' ;H class. A large block of its stock is held in Salt , , Luke. The Eagle's Nest is the name of another ; ,j ijH Fairview bonanza and a number of mines are be- : , ing opened on extensions of the proven vein. ' ' Round Mountain, Wonder, Rosebud, Johnnie, Cherry Crook and Silver Peak have all attracted attention because of their showing of precious metals. The opening of the Walker Indian reser-vation reser-vation last month promises to add, not one, but many rich gold mines to the repertoire of the H Sagebrush State. M So much has been said about gold that the '.! outsider is in danger of overlooking the copper ( . '. S end of the mining industry. Those who are put- ' , H ting money into Ely, Yerington and Greenwater " :! : fl assure us that Nevada's gold resources are soon ) H to be eclipsed by Its contributions to tho copper ; H IE jj -f & market. This seems not at all unlikely in view I j ' . m of tne tremendous lodges of copper whose pres- j i i a enco at lily, Yerlngton and Greenwater has been ! i ' i ir W amply demonstrated. But copper, you know, is li 1 imI 1(388 nf a 1)00r maus metal tuau sold. It tukes ' I : . 1 ' more capital to mine it and handle it and for that It' j reason development of a copper district creeps j , jj n J jf while a gold district not nearly so rich, runs. The ' ' . 1 1 copper mines of Nevada will be at their best i N when the cream has been entirely skimmed from . 1 1 -J v the gold camps. . 1 1 hi jp . About the best thing the past year has done I i ' ' 1 ' I for Bly was tne bringing of the railroad. This j ; M I enables the people to get machinery and supplies ' 1 !', j in and the ore out. Salt Lake was represented at ' I the driving of the last spike by a large dolega- i; ' ;1 ' I tion. Ogden was fortunate in sending Bill Glas- , i i -J J mann, but he came back. 1 : j 1 1 Greenwater is a Nevada camp, but the Croa- I j fjj : -'j I- v tor accidentally got it over the California line. . J.;;. li It is one of the few mining districts in the coun- , I ' ' ' 1 Sk try that never had to look for capital. Among its : " WE oai'liost discoverers wore men with millions and : J ., : ; pi because of this fact it will become a bona fide I ' 'li Mf producer in a phenomenally short time, 'f ! ''IK Corresponding to the growth of the mining in- i ' ' J m dustry in Nevada has boon the growth of its bus- ' ;f j,' II iness. The great fortunes made on short notice t ! proved an, irresistible magnet to investors in all j ;1 'I !jp parts of the world and Nevada mining stocks ; !;, naVQ UQen iu tremendous demand in San Fran- i j j 'I v jm Cisco, Now York and other financial centers. The " jl' jj jffi year has witnessed advances in prices from 100 i H jili t0 i000 Pr cent aI1 through the stock list. Of ; f ' K " ,MT course there have been unscrupulous men to take i i i t ilW advantage of the fame of the rich mines and the ; j JiliB; credit of the honest promoters. Companies have i a SH1 boon formed to mine on claims that have no more j H I 19' mineral in them than a Mississippi cotton- patch. ; ifj ; 9; Promoters have sold stock without the least in- f '4 ! f . tention of using a dollar in legitimate mining. ,t ); W During the coming year the people who were ! :'!'.Jr 'Jjj' taken into these schemes will demand an ac- j ' ' J j S counting and when the truth comes out, the i J ? j'Ti fakes will be wiped from the board, j '. ' I' if, It should be said on behalf of the shares ':(" W handled on the regular exchanges that these are ' j , v ; ; wk for the most part of honest value. The xesponsi- i t ' ) i'lP blQ l)rolters are Jealous of the good name of the I 1 1 L ifll Industry. Investors who have sought informa- j : "m tIon from promotors having standing in their re- 3 t ' H 111 spectlve communities have been honestly ad- I ' "A '! : H, vised and will have no reason to regret their f ' , iB; dealings in mining stock, i j 1 j! I After the San Francisco disaster of last April ! ! . l I the Salt Lake Mining Stock Exchange generously j f ."'Hi listed the Nevada shares free of cost, but the i i ' jH' prompt revival of the San Francisco board and ! ' i li m th tran8fer of a considerable portion of the busi- ,t ' ! : I i jj neB8 t0 Now York has restricted the local dealinj :l :' H Ji in Nevadas. A few shares, generally those in :: ;! '( which Salt Lake persons are heavily interested, 'I 1 it$m : have been handled freely on this board. Nevada Hills, Nevada Fairview, Str'ay Dog, Lou Dillon, Silver Pick, Montgomery Mt. and Eagle's Nest have been treated by Salt Lake traders as though they were members of the family, but not the same kind of family to which Bridget, in the etory belonged. "Do the folks you are working for treat you like one of the family?" asked a friend. "You bet yer lolfe they don't," replied Bridget Brid-get "They're porlite to me." The Utah mining stock family has been a very happy one. Instead of causing neglect at home the booms in Nevada, Cobalt and elsewhere, else-where, have actually stimulated the demand for the reliable and conservatively managed Utah properties. Eastern parties, desiring security, rather than sudden profits, have taken control of the Carlsa, South .Columbus and other alluring allur-ing propositions at fair prices. The stock market has had a prosperous year. The dealings by months are shown in the following official table prepared by Secretary James A. Shorten of the Salt Lake Stock and Mining Exchange: Month Shares Value. January 1,032,675 ? 512,325.50 February . '. D05",176 442.GG1.03 March 1,114,851 7GG.549.74 April 1,493,085 881.4G1.73 May 1,128,116 826,915.78 June 992,777 799,971.57 July 670,386 654,000.60 August 1,010,112 727,534.03 September 1,GG2,19G 822,632.46 October 2,143,965 1,052,657.59 November 1,289,347 1,192,467.32 December (Est.) 1,350,550 1,050,787.50 Totals 14,793,240 $9,630,025.50 Totals for 1905 6,410,238 1,893,168.00 Increase 8,383,002 $7,736,857.50 But let us cut out the statistioe. They do not mean anything to anyone except bookkeepers, those uncomfortable persons who spend their lives trying to catch us overdrawing our accounts. Some day some great statesman will secure the abolition of bookkeepers after which there will be no more dishonored checks and no more anxiety over an elastic currency. While the business of the exchange has followed follow-ed a more or less regular course the conduct of Individual In-dividual stooks has been erratic. One cannot do better in a review of the year than to give credit to the shares which have furnished entertainment for the inventing public and commissions for the brokers. Among the most faithful of these entertainers enter-tainers should be mentioned New York Bonanza. Of late It has been displaced by new favorites but, during the first half of the year It got more curtain cur-tain calls than any of its rivals. Incidentally It has made several high grade shipments from its lower works-, but this was only Incidental and added nothing to the gayety of the exchange. The really meritorious part of its performance was the rise which culminated in a price of 35 cents on April 4. Despite the attacks of the bears it remained above 30 for several weeks. Lower Mammoth showed strength in the latter lat-ter part of the summer when the working force connected with a large body of good ore on the 1500 level east of the shaft. Then it was ascer-talned ascer-talned that the mineral could not be taken out economically without new machinery and a considerable con-siderable amount of dead work. The company i . did not have the money. All sorts of expedients were suggested to relieve this anaemic financial condition. Some of the stockholders wanted to slake the superintendent in a faro game saying: "He always winze." At last the solution was found. Bonds to the value of $40,000 were issued and sold and stock was authorized which will bring the total capital to $190,000. This stock is to be used to redeem the bonds. It is simply a roundabout way of selling treasury stock, but it has the merit of avoiding a forced sale of stock and the. result has justified the scheme because be-cause tlie shares have gone up to $1 since the arrangement was adopted. Columbus Con. has- opened two new ore bodies of great size and value during the year and the earnings have shown a steady and satisfactory sat-isfactory increase, but the price of the stock reached its maximum Juno 20 when it sold for $8.70. and has since fluctuated between $6 and $7.00. Little Bell has ceased to be a factor on the local exchange, hardly a handful of its securities having been publicly sold in the past six months, but the latest quotations place it below $9, whereas where-as it sold as high as $18.12 on June 6. May Day, after getting up to 29 on April 18, fooled those who were holding it for 30 by retracing re-tracing its steps and getting so low that its former form-er friends refused to speak to it in the street. Of late it has begun to pick up and the recent improvement In its milling facilities will cause it to end the year at about 20 cents. Beck Tunnel is an example of the axiom that you can't keep a good stock down. Even after It began to pay dividends there were those who insisted that it was "phony." Not until the dividends div-idends had been increased twice did the taiem reluctantly admit thaf. Beck was the real thing. Now it is close to $2 bid and people call it "Mister." October was a great month for the so-called "cheap" stooks. It witnessed the rise of Little Chief and Scottish Chief from 8 and 4 cents to 17 and 18 and even 19. Victor Con. did not go quite po high, but more than doubled on 'change. Scottish Chief has had a bad relapse because of the unloading of the stock held by the Kimberley estate ,but no one doubts that it will soon be counted among the regular shippers of Park City and will therefore bring a better price. Alas, poor Wabash! It has not, during the whole year retouched the prico it brought on January 8 when it was taken at $1.01. Carisa on the other hand, was at lt& best during dur-ing the last days of November when the Bamber-gers Bamber-gers wore quietly buying up the control for New , York parties. Then it sold for $1 and better, giving giv-ing those who got in at 10 and 12 cents a chance to turn a few honest dollars for Christmas. When the Now Yorkers got all they wanted the support was withdrawn, but Carisa is still worth more than twice what is was last January. It would be interesting to go down the list, but space forbids. A few lines must be reserved for the statement of the actual dividends for stockholders. The number of companies which paid dividends during the year is the mystic "23." And it may be said, for the benefit of those who worship at the shrine of the great god skidoo, that the twenty-third company is the Daly-Judge which declared its first dividend, 37 cents, this month. The amount paid up to the present time is $5,112,044. As the government is a year behind in reporting re-porting the metal output one can only estimate tho production of Utah mines in 190G by multiplying mul-tiplying the production of. 1905 according to the exuberance of his fancy. In 1905, according to the mint statistics, we handed out 249,143,089 ounces of gold worth $5,150,244.73, 11,025,208 ounces of silver worth $14,254,804.38, 59,273,194 pounds of copper worth $9,240,090.63 and 104,- j. 047,800 pounds of load worth $4,897,532. j ; K ; H The high price of copper, silver and lead has j . had much to do with the prosperity of Utah. If j f- these prices are maintained during the coming j ' H year the total output will show a surprising in- I . crease, especially in copper. ! |
