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Show 1 1 MINING AND FINANCIAL I j Senator Smoot haB introduced a bill to do away I with extra-lateral rights in mining locations. The I bill would confine mine ownera to the surface boundaries of their claims and abolish the dis- putes that arise so frequently over apexes. It would apply only to claims staked after the pas-HI pas-HI , sage of the act and would not affect the locations !r now in existence. It is not the first bill of its kind to be offered in the senate. For twenty years or more western senators and congressmen have been making efforts to bring the mining laws into I conformity with the regulations which prevail in Canada and Mexico. Someone always has been on hand to proclaim the injustice of preventing a I I miner extracting ore discovered by himself simply I K because the ore body. dips in an unexpected dlrec- H tion and the lawmakers have been so impressed H I with this argument that they have tossed antl- apex bills into' the waste baskets. The Smoot B measure may share the fate of its predecessors, HI or, it may enjoy better fortune and become a law. H Such a change is sure to come in time and the I time possibly is at hand. E I . The theory of the law of apex is a beautiful I one, but the law is faulty in that it is practically impossible to do justice under it. When mining locations become simply a matter of acreage no I one will be in doubt as to his rights and any com- petent engineer will be able to determine ques- tions that call now for lawyers, judges and juries and seldom are adjudicated to the satisfaction of i either litigant. But there is one objection to the mi Smoot bill which will not occur to the average Hjk miner an effect that may bear heavily on share-. HU holders. There is now too much concealment of Hj mine conditions. With no logical reason many Hjjj compunies withhold facts about their development B I . and throw all sorts of obstacles in the way of B personal inspection by investors. The Smoot H I measure would furnish a logical excuse for the m i suppression of knowledge. Stockholders would be M told it was inexpedient to make known the loca- m I tion and trend of ore bodies when such bodies m i might be making into adjoining claims. The bet- ter policy, it would be pointed out, would be to I keep the developments secret and acquire by pur- j chase or consolidation the ground into which the vein was dipping. At the same time the neigh-' neigh-' bors of producing mines would take a keen in terest in the source of the .ore and would be on I the lookout for mineral that might cross the line. H i Some mining men who make a specialty of H , being in advance of the procession are paying Hl close attention these days to the work being done !by the mines and prospects northwest of the town of Eureka in the Tintic district. Such men are not noisy in exploiting their opinions for they are eager to establish themselves in favorable locations before the public gets wise to the trend of events. Faith in North Tintic, as this district JH i is designated, has grown amazingly as a result of El the work done in the last year in the Victoria, the H ' Eagle & Blue Bell, the Chief Consolidated and H i the Scranton. The last named is about two miles H beyond the Chief. In the country intervening I are dozens of locations and prospects many of which can be purchased outright at a low price m while others have treasury stock for sale at bar- " gain rates. ! It is only within the last two or three years that sentiment has united on the theory that the ore zone which made the Centennial-Eureka, Grand Central, Victoria, Bullion-Beck and Gemini famous extends uninterruptedly to the northwest. For a long time previously the mass of barren H porphyry on whioh the town of Eureka was built Hj, was thought to cut off the stream of mlneraliza- tion. The Chief Consolidated, more than any other agency, has exploded this theory by proving that the porphyry arrived on the scene after the lime beds had been furmed and mineralized. The porphyry mass is thick and goes deep in places, but one has only to sink far enough to get through it and then the ore-bearing lime is found striking to the north and west. The Chief, which has punctured punc-tured the porphyry at its eastern edge, has found one or two of its richest silver-lead stopes under more than a thousand feet of the eruptive rock. By the time it gets to the Scranton mine this far-flung ore channel takes on a slightly different form. The fissures are turned on their sides, becoming be-coming blanket veins, and great quantities of z!nc are mingled with, or in close proximity to, the lead. Within the last week the Scranton has added a zinc vein of exceptional value to its resources. re-sources. Rock running 33 per cent zinc and no lead worth mentioning, has been opened by a 15-foot 15-foot winze from the bottom of the Del Monte tunnel. tun-nel. The deposit at the place of discovery is about five feet wide and is bedded in the lime measures which slope off to the west. The report that an order for the closing of the Sioux mine had been issued seems to have been premature if not altogether a mistake. The summary of Eureka ore shipments last week credits the Sioux with two carloads of ore. This may be the result of the final clean-up of the stopes, but quite a number of traders are willing to take a chance on the possibility that the company com-pany will find a way to keep a little prospecting going enough, anyway, to keep alive the hope of betterments that keeps shares moving on the exchange. It is nip and tuck between the regular exchange ex-change and the curb these days. Such unlisted issues as Alta Consolidated, Thompson-Quincy, Bingham Central-Standard and Utah Metals have been getting almost as much as the applause as the "organization" shares. The regular board In its efforts to entertain the public, has introduced Black Jack, an ancient favorite, as a headliner. Several speculators have taken tickets for the performance, but the curtain has not been up long enough to show whether Black Jack has a new act or is repeating his old one. The strike reported last week at the New York Bonanza of Park City was followed up and led, as it was expected to do, to a promising two-cent two-cent assessment. |