The Business of Mining Part 2

1910 1911

Transvaal $155,730,260 $170,487,900 United States including Alaska 96,269,100 96,233,528 Australia 65,634,340 61,072,409 Russia 43,168,389 40,600,000 Mexico 24,073,100 19,500,000 Rhodesia 12,607,791 13,045,100 India 12,089,400 10,505,506 Canada 10,224,910 10,646,000 China 10,102,300 10,000,000 j.a.pan, East Indies, etc. 10,522,437 10,600,000 West Africa 3,674,087 5,268,100 Madagascar 2,149,721 1,900,000 France 1,114,700 1,275,000 Central and South America 14,886,234 15,000,000 Other countries 7,118,841 7,250,000 ------------ ------------ Total $469,365,610 $473,383,543

V

THE FINDING OF MINES.

Mines are discovered in many ways. One hears much about prospecting, and since this is a practice which is rapidly changing from a mystical to a scientific basis, a few considerations will here be in order.

Persons who have lived in mining communities are familiar with two types of prospector, the roving and the settled. Somehow, when we think of the former, there comes to mind a bearded, roughly clad man, usually accompanied by a "jack" and both packing the outfit consisting of a few tools, a pan, some blankets, a gun, and a supply of "grub." If we have in mind the other type of prospector, we imagine him as living an isolated life in a log cabin up in the hills, spending his daytime in putting in a few, short drill-holes and blasting down a ton or two of usually worthless rock in a "tunnel" or shallow shaft, confident that each succeeding shot will disclose a treasure.

Both of these types represent the utmost in optimism. These men endure many hards.h.i.+ps and privations, they can have little converse with other humans, often they can see no provisions for the next day; in fact, they receive few of the benefits of modern civilization--if we except the food-preserving features. Still, a typical, old-style prospector keeps on with absolute faith that fortune will smile tomorrow. We must reach the conclusion that these uneducated men are led on by subtle beliefs which, to a technically-trained man, seem like the rankest folly. They are diviners, dreamers. They are disappearing now and, a generation hence, there will be but memories of them. They are giving way to successors of a different type.

The newer kind of prospector is well educated, and, perchance, he is rather youthful. His chances of success are many times those of the man he supplants. Why? Because he is taking advantage of the work that has been done by all former prospectors. He is guided by theories deduced from observations through ages, and he has the advice of the best contemporary men of experience in matters of geology as applied to mining. In other words, he is a scientific prospector.

The prospector of today has a general understanding of mineralogy and geology; he must have knowledge of mining methods, so that he may know whether a deposit, once found, can be exploited at a profit; he must be ready to account for all discovered mineral bodies, and he must be capable of applying theories to actualities.

There are so many metals and minerals sought for the markets of the world today that we see there are many fields of study and practice open to prospectors. It is not the purpose here to explain the details of scientific prospecting, for the study of this one subject would, in itself, fill a volume. The object of the above remarks is to draw to the attention of the economist the propriety (amounting almost to a necessity) of giving heed to the findings of the educated, trained searcher for mineral bodies, in preference to those of the illiterate man who has furnished themes for artists, narrators, and dramatists, because of his quaint characteristics.

Some writers have cla.s.sified mineral discoveries into Search, Chance and Advent.i.tious.

_Search_ discoveries, being the rewards of earnest seeking, it is not surprising that, under the past guide of notions and mysticism, the percentage of such discoveries has been small. Under the new order of things, with science as a guide, the percentage is growing and, in the future, this kind of discovery will undoubtedly strongly outnumber the others.

_Chance_ discoveries are those that are made purely without premeditation. They have been a dominant factor in the mineral development of the past. The discovery of _gold_ in California came about through the noticing of s.h.i.+ny, yellow flakes of metal in a ditch leading to a saw-mill. The great _iron_ mines of the Mesabi Range were found by the ore clinging to the roots of an overturned tree. The Wallaroo _copper_ mine, the greatest in Australia, was discovered by the green minerals brought to the surface in the excavations of a wombat.

The famous Sudbury _nickel-silver_ ore bodies were disclosed when making a railroad cut on the Canadian Pacific Railroad. The Reddington _quicksilver_ mine, in California, was similarly opened in a cut for a wagon road. The mining of _silver_ at Catorce, Mexico, followed the discovery of s.h.i.+ning silver nuggets in the camp-fire of a native, who had camped right upon a rich outcrop. The Kimberly _diamond_ mines are said to have been disclosed by the burrowings of an ichneumon, which fetched a brilliant stone to the sunlight.

_Advent.i.tious_ finds are such as occasionally occur when, while really searching for, or actually mining, one metal, discovery is made of a different metal, or possibly the same metal is found in an entirely different kind of ore. The Comstock lode of Nevada was originally a _search_ gold discovery, the gold having been sought and found by two prospectors with ordinary gold pans. In their working to recover gold, a black mineral and a yellow sand were discarded from the pans and rockers. Curiosity of one man resulted in the identification of these two minerals as ores of silver which henceforth were held as valuable as the native gold. The Anaconda mine, at b.u.t.te, Montana, was located, and for some time worked as a silver proposition; but the values gradually changed with depth from silver to copper, until now silver is only a valuable by-product. The rich lead-silver ores of Leadville were discovered as _advent.i.tious_ to the operation of the rich gold placers in California Gulch. A heavy, troublesome rock which acc.u.mulated in the sluices, much to the disgust of the miners, turned out to be cerussite, a fine ore of lead. This same district now produces in commercial amounts gold, silver, lead, iron, zinc, copper, and manganese. The Treadwell mine on Douglas Island, Alaska, was first worked as a placer and the values were found to extend downward into the underlying rock in a place which proved to be an immense deposit of eruptive, gold-bearing ore.

As the old-fas.h.i.+oned, venturesome kind of prospecting has but recently been crowded off the scene by the better, scientific kind, let us not overlook the great discoveries that were made in the past before we had applied "organized common sense" to such a field of activity. Those original prospectors were searchers, hunters. They had no guides, but they did accomplish a great deal, and their discoveries were rewards for diligence and hard labor which were, to a great extent, often misdirected.

VI

MINING CLAIMS.

The process of acquiring t.i.tle to mining property may be viewed from a number of points. Such property is real estate and, as such, it may be bought and sold or otherwise transferred exactly the same as farms or city lots.

The United States has constructed an elaborate system for the disposal of its public lands to individuals, under various cla.s.sifications, such as homestead, desert land, timber and stone, timber culture, coal, placer, and lode claims. Different rules apply to the filing upon, improvement and patenting (acquiring deed from the Government) of these various kinds of claims. The character of the lands in the public domain is decided by the surveyors who execute contracts from the General Land Office for subdividing or staking the country off into towns.h.i.+ps and sections, according to our American system. In the return of each surveyor's notes, he recommends the sale of the land according to his judgment as to its highest value. There has naturally been a good deal of erroneous conception upon these points, with the result that, often, land has been later shown to be entirely different in its character from the cla.s.sification given to it by the contracting surveyor; for the qualifications of such a person are not always of a high grade, when it comes to geological questions. And yet, on the whole, the scheme has worked out well and much fraud against the Government has been prevented by the rigid practice.

The Government prices for some of the various cla.s.ses of land have been as follows: agricultural, $1.25 per acre; coal, $10 per acre when the land was not closer to a railroad than 15 miles, and $20 per acre when it lay within this limit; placer, $2.50 per acre; lode, $5 per acre.

These have been the prices demanded for the land only; the payment of these amounts, in many cases, has const.i.tuted a small fraction of the expense of securing the original deeds from the Federal Government.

Coal lands may be located very much the same as a homestead, with the exception that residence upon the ground is not required, nor are improvements essential. In cases of dispute as to priority of location, the land office will recognize those claimants who have expended the greater amounts in improvements. One citizen may locate but one claim of 160 acres.

Since April 10, 1909, the Government has been disposing of its public coal lands under a cla.s.sification that takes note of many details. The kind, grade, thickness, and purity of coal; the number of workable seams; the depth; the features of local supply; transportation facilities; and the average prices at which similar private tracts are held, are among the items recognized in the cla.s.sification. Probably no two tracts will be sold at the same rate. In general, the new prices are higher than the flat prices that formerly prevailed and some pieces of land are now estimated as high as $175 per acre. In every case of application to purchase coal land, hereafter, the area in question will undergo inspection by Government experts and a price will then be a.s.sessed. This law is being severely opposed as being unreasonably severe, and its amendment may be looked for.

Placer lands were formerly permitted to be taken up in any shape, the boundary stakes being placed upon the ground in such a manner as to include only the desirable area, which is usually of an alluvial nature along some valley or gulch. This practice has been forbidden, however, and a locator is now obliged to take up his land in quadrilateral tracts conforming to the subdivisions of the so-called Public Survey. By this rule, it is permissible to file upon land which is laid off into lots of not less than 1/16 of a quarter section--or ten acres--and a claim may be composed of such lots as lie contiguously and which may thus be considered as one complete workable area. The claims are often of zigzag or L shapes, but the locator is enabled, at the extra expense of subdivision surveying, to avoid filing upon, and paying for, much ground that he feels is not desirable in a placer claim. The Government does not survey public domain into smaller tracts than quarter sections of 160 acres each, so that in the taking up of placers it often involves a great deal of expense to carry the subdivisions upon the ground into sufficient detail to ascertain the location of boundary corners.

One person is ent.i.tled to as many placer claims as he desires. Each claim of a single individual may contain not to exceed 20 acres and, as said, it must be of one continuous area. a.s.sociations of citizens to the number of eight may unite in the location of 160 acres, which will then be held in equal and common interest by the several locators. The restraint placed upon greed in the matter of locations, either placer or lode, lies in certain expenses entailed in work or improvements upon the land before patent may be issued and the legal requirement of the performance of labor upon each claim amounting to $100 per annum. Also, it is required that _bona fide_ values be disclosed upon the ground. For each 20 acres located under the placer laws of the United States, not less than $500 worth of improvements must be made before the issuance of a patent.

The legal (not the technical) definition of lode land covers all grounds containing deposits of ore in its natural and original place of deposit.

Under the laws, therefore, a citizen may file upon a tract of land to include a vein, lode, ma.s.s, chimney or any other form of ore body. The laws were framed at a time when miners were familiar only with the steep, tabular forms, synonymously termed veins or lodes in their nomenclature, and there were introduced features which time and progress in geological investigations have proved to be entirely unsuited to the needs of locators in many districts.

Our statutes provide that a lode claim may not exceed an area of 20,662 acres, this being the area of a parallelogram 1,500 feet long by 600 feet wide. The intention is to permit a discoverer to lay off a "lode line" along the outcrop of his vein for a distance of 1,500 feet and, at each end, to measure off, at right angles, a distance of 300 feet each way, merely as a.s.surance that he covers the entire thickness of his lode. Since the surface contours of rugged country will crook the outcrop of a dipping plane (such as we may imagine a vein to be) the laws were constructed to permit a claim being laid off with angles or bends in the boundaries so that the outcrop might be kept closely along the middle of the claim.

The above dimensions and area are the maximum permissible under the Federal laws. The Government does not say that claims may not be less in extent, anywhere, nor does it prevent states, counties or even mining districts from making further limitations. In most of the western mining states and territories that have applied the mining law, the full maximum is allowed; but in Colorado no claim is legal if it exceeds a width of 300 feet, while in four counties of the same state claims have been restricted in width to 150 feet. By legislative enactment, since September 1, 1911, claims in all counties of Colorado are permitted to be taken up 300 feet in width. The citizens or miners of any new district, in any state or territory, may elect to limit claims to any size less than the maximum granted by the statutes and such a decision will be recognized by courts as binding upon all comers. This is an example of the rights of custom in establis.h.i.+ng common law. In all shapes and widths of lode claims, there is now the rigid restriction that the two end-lines must be laid off exactly parallel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A GILPIN COUNTY, COLORADO, SCENE, Showing the Prize, Gunnell, Concrete, Gold Collar, and Eureka Mines.]

The laws of our country contemplate the right of any locator of a vein to follow such vein down upon its dip, even if it extends beyond vertical planes pa.s.sed through the side boundaries. The vertical planes through the end-lines, however, may not lawfully be penetrated in the extraction of ore bodies. The application of this doctrine of "extra-lateral rights" has led to innumerable controversies that have crippled many worthy mining enterprises. The inevitable habit of different veins to intersect, branch, unite, and in many other ways to cause complications, has served no purpose but to delay operations, cause legal warfare and embitter neighbors. So unjust have been courts'

decisions in interpreting the lax laws that various mining districts have taken unto themselves the prerogative of deciding for themselves what is justice to all concerned; and we therefore find that many "camps" have unwritten laws under which claimants are restrained in their underground operations, to the ground contained between vertical planes _through all boundaries_, whether end or side. This is obviously the only fair plan, and it is hoped that, whenever the legislators at Was.h.i.+ngton get time to give to the matter the attention it deserves, our nation will be favored with a revision of this and a number of other objectionable mining laws which have r.e.t.a.r.ded the industry. Ours is the only country having laws permitting extra-lateral rights and, upon this score, we are criticized by all foreigners.

The Canadian government appears to leave the framing of mining laws to the several provincial governments. Ontario and Quebec have very good and simple laws relative to mining claims. In some respects the laws of the two provinces are similar. For example, in each province a claim must be laid out as a subdivision of the usual public survey and is normally 40 acres in extent. Again, no prospecting or locating may be done except by persons holding so-called miners' licenses or miners'

certificates, which cost $5 to $10 per year. No extra-lateral rights are recognized.

In Ontario, a patent may be applied for any time within 3-1/2 years of the date of certificate of record, and the land is purchased outright by the payment of $3 per acre. The patent thus obtained conveys no rights to timber or water on the property. In Quebec, patents are never issued and mining claims are held by a sort of lease, as it were. A license to hold a mining claim costs a flat fee of $10, plus an extra fee of one dollar per acre. At times, arrangements are made for holding and working mining property upon a 3 per cent royalty basis.

The Mexican laws permit the location of any number of claims by individuals. A locator is required to employ an expert (_perito_) to make a careful survey of his claims (_pertinencias_), which are taken up in rectangular form. Measurements are according to the metric system, and the unit of area is the _hectara_, which is the area of a square with 100-meter (328-feet) sides, and is equivalent to 2.471 acres. The government's sale price for mineral ground is 5 _pesos_ (about $2.50) per hectare, or approximately one dollar, United States money, per acre.

The unit size of a claim is a hectare, and it thus comes about that the words _pertinencia_ and _hectara_ are used somewhat synonymously.

Under United States laws, the owner of agricultural land, if he has not committed perjury in perfecting his t.i.tle, will hold all minerals which may be disclosed subsequently to the granting of his deed. The proof of false representations will rescind any such patent and the ground will revert to the Government and be again open to location.

In the surveying and laying off of mineral claims for patent purposes, the United States laws require the claimant to put the work into the hands of a mineral surveyor. Such a surveyor may usually be engaged in any mining district and he will hold a commission from the Department of the Interior authorizing him to do this sort of work. He will have pa.s.sed certain examinations as to his capabilities and he will have filed bonds in the sum of $5,000 for the faithful performance of his duties to both the Government and his client. He receives no compensation from the Government, and each claimant may make such terms with him as are equitable. He must hold no interest, directly or otherwise, in the property he surveys, nor is he permitted to file upon any mineral land. If he undertakes a case for a client his duties require him to survey the boundaries of every other mineral claim which may be contiguous to, or conflicting with, the one in question, and his maps must accurately show all such claims. His notes will contain sufficient data to accurately convey the exact location, the chief topographical features, the conflicts with all other locations, the position, and description of all mining improvements, and many other details which will be required in the final purchase of the land from the Government. The surveyor's fee will vary from $50 to possibly $200 for a single claim, much depending upon the nature of the survey, whether simple or difficult, and upon local financial conditions and compet.i.tion.

After the filing of the mineral surveyor's notes and plats with the Surveyor-General, critical examination of the doc.u.ments is made, and if they are found to conform with all requirements, the case is "approved"

and it may then pa.s.s to the local land office of the district. Next begins a publication period of sixty days, during which opportunity is offered the public to enter objections to the issuance of a patent, either for reasons of conflict or because of fraud. If no such adverse proceedings are inst.i.tuted, the patent will follow, in due time.

The ultimate expense of securing a patent to a claim of, say, the maximum area will not be less than $225, and it may run as high as $300 if in a region difficult to survey or if there are a good many conflicting surveys.

A mineral surveyor is prohibited from acting as attorney for the claimant in presenting his claims before the Land Office, so an attorney's fee must be added to the above rough estimates. As a matter of fact, although the surveyor does not nominally appear as the attorney, in many a case it is he who makes out all of the doc.u.ments to be then signed by an attorney in fact. The laws are faulty in this respect. The lawyer recognizes this fact and he asks the surveyor to make out the many legal forms; for who is so fully cognizant of the property and the desires of the claimant as the surveyor who has become intimately acquainted with the premises, its workings, its desirable features and everything concerned with the adjustment of conflicts? It is to be expected that he could best protect the claimant's interests, and it is wrong to retire him at this very critical time prescribed by a foolish law. The fee of an additional man in the case is an unjust burden upon the client. Land Office officials have recognized this fact.

They know that the best doc.u.ments reaching their offices are those prepared by mineral surveyors.

VII

PLACERING.