MONEY IN MINING.
The Earth a Vast Treasure-box--$300,000,000 from the Comstock
Lode--A Short Story of Three Millionaires--Opportunities in Mica
Mining--Fortunes in Salt Wells--$10,000 for Locating a Mine--Not a
Cent of Capital Needed--The Gold Belt of the United States--Two
Men’s Earnings with the Pan--What Michigan Boys are Doing--Big
Dividends in Tin--A Man with an Income of $2 a Minute.
The immense importance which minerals play in our industries and the
glittering fortunes made by delving into the earth, are faintly
indicated by the fact that the output of last year aggregated the almost
unthinkable sum of nearly $1,000,000,000. Profits in mining come mainly
from four sources. The buying of mining lands with a view to sale,
prospecting for the purpose of selling claims, placer-mining, and mining
by machinery. Here are a few of the most promising roads to the earth’s
hidden wealth.
353. NEVADA SILVER.--The Comstock lode produced in three years
$100,000,000, of which $30,000,000 went for cost and working expenses,
and $70,000,000 for profits. Altogether $300,000,000 have been taken
from that celebrated mine. In the African mines there are sixty-nine
companies. In 1896 the lowest dividend of any of these companies was 10
per cent., and the highest 350. In 1897 the lowest was 10 and the
highest 500 per cent. The accounts of the way that such men as James
Flood, James G. Fair, and William Sharon obtained their wealth from
silver mines reads like the fascinating story of a popular novel.
354. ALUMINUM, THE NEW MINERAL.--“The product of aluminum in the United
States,” says a mining expert, “should be three million pounds in 1900.”
The present price is from thirty-five to fifty cents per pound. It is
found chiefly in Georgia and Alabama at the foot of the Appalachian
system, but there is no known reason why it should not be discovered in
other parts--the mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina, and
Pennsylvania.
355. NORTH CAROLINA MICA.--In the mountains of North Carolina are found
the best mica dikes in the United States, but the methods of mining are
crude and bring small profit. Here is an opportunity to make a vast
fortune by the producing of mica with machinery such as is used in
extracting other minerals.
356. KANSAS ZINC.--Zinc is a mineral which has a great future. It is
being used largely in place of tin. There are many zinc mines, and
especially in the Western States, as yet undeveloped. One acre in
Galena, Kansas, produced $250,000.
357. MISSOURI COTTAS.--For clay go to Missouri. It is found in 90 out of
the 114 counties of the State. From this mineral three companies in
Kansas City are manufacturing sewer-pipes and working on an invested
capital of $1,000,000. They have an annual output worth $1,100,000, or
more than 100 per cent. profit, less, of course, the cost of production.
The sewer-pipe industry will vastly increase with the growth of cities.
358. NICKEL MINES.--Nickel is a metal for which there is a constantly
increasing demand. Aside from the vast number of nickel-plated articles,
it has recently been found that steel, alloyed with a small percentage
of nickel, makes the hardest substance known which can be produced on a
large scale. It is bound to be used in future for the shells of our
ironclads. In North Carolina and in Oregon, are large deposits of this
valuable ore awaiting the hardy miner or bold speculator.
359. MEXICAN IRON.--Near the city of Durango, Mexico, are the largest
iron mines in North America, but as yet entirely unworked. There are
10,000,000 square feet in sight, sixty per cent. of which is metallic
iron. An opportunity for capitalists.
360. TENNESSEE LIMESTONE.--In the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains
are ranges of blocks--lower Carbonifererous and Devonian shales, and
impure limestone, but the rocks of the basin proper are pure limestone.
This limestone when pulverized makes the best phosphate, and is worth
$18 a ton. A mining authority states that with proper working it ought
to produce at least 200,000 tons of rock per annum.
361. FORTUNES IN COPPER.--Forty-eight per cent. of the copper of the
world is in the United States and Canada. The price is $200 a ton.
Almost all the mines of the Lake Michigan region are making profit, but
the industry is yet in its infancy. When it is known that a mine has
been made to pay which contains less than one per cent. of copper, it
can be seen what fortunes are in the mines that pay from forty to fifty
per cent., and there are some that pay even more.
362. GERMAN AMBER.--In Memel, Germany, a dredging company pays the
government an annual rental of twenty-five thalers a day for the
privilege of dredging in the Kurische Hoff, near the village of
Schwarzarts. But it is not to be supposed that this is the only spot
where amber is to be found. It will doubtless yet be discovered in this
country.
363. AFRICAN DIAMONDS.--Diamonds in vast numbers are found in the beds
of many South African streams, but if you have capital you may develop
an industry like that of the De Beers Company, which is paying forty per
cent. per annum.
364. TASMANIA TIN.--A single company in Murat Bischoff has paid more
than $7,000,000 in dividends to the fortunate owners of a tin mine.
365. GEORGIA SAPPHIRES.--In 1872, Colonel C. W. Jenks, of Boston, picked
up one hundred of these valuable stones at Laurel Creek, Rylang County,
Georgia, a single gem of which was sold for $25.
366. ROCK SALT.--Rock salt is found in Syracuse, New York, and in
Michigan, also in Louisiana, and in South Eastern Arizona. It is
believed that if these mines were bored deeper, potassium salt--a salt
hitherto not found in the United States--would be discovered, and home
plants take the place of foreign imports. Here is a chance for
enterprising men.
367. ASBESTOS POCKETS.--A profitable pocket of asbestos was found a few
years ago on Long Island not far from Brooklyn. Present supplies come
from Sal Mountain, Georgia, and from Wyoming. It is believed that the
serpentine rocks in Western North Carolina, as well as similar rocks in
California and Oregon, contain rich deposits of this mineral.
368. PROSPECTS IN PLATINUM.--This is a metal of very great importance.
It has not thus far been found in large quantities in the United States.
The most promising field is the North Pacific Slope, following the line
of the coast mountains. Some day, it is thought, that rich platinum
mines may be discovered there equal to those in Russia, and, of course,
the early prospectors will reap large fortunes.
369. PETROLEUM WELLS.--“Petroleum,” says a leading article in the
_Electrical World_, “is the coming fuel.” It is believed by many that
the excitement over the discovery of oil fields in Pennsylvania in 1865
will be repeated on a much larger scale in oil regions yet to be
discovered in the far West. At present, the mountains of Wyoming appear
to be the most promising field. To sink an oil well costs $500 on the
average. On Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, a few wells have been struck which
yielded 3,000 barrels a day. One of the quickest ways to accumulate a
fortune is to prospect for oil, and when a rich vein is struck to buy as
much land as you can. A young man named Johnny Steel once owned nearly
all the land where the Pennsylvania oil wells were discovered. His
income was over $1,000,000 a year, $30,000 a day, or about $2 a minute.
But, verifying the adage that “a fool and his money are soon parted,” he
not only spent all this enormous income, but also squandered the entire
principal, and came at last to work as the driver of an oil wagon on the
very oil farm he had once owned.
370. GOLD DISCOVERIES.--Draw a line from Colorado Springs, Colorado,
north to Laramie City, Wyoming. From these two points draw straight
lines one thousand miles to the west and inclose the parallelogram. You
have inclosed what is known as the great gold belt of the United States.
Nearly all the gold has been discovered within these comparatively
narrow limits. Cripple Creek produced $8,000,000 in four years. A man
who walked into that place three years ago to save his stage fare is now
taking out $100,000 a year from his mines. Dawson City, way up in the
frozen British possessions, promises to do as well as any gold discovery
in the United States. Two men, the Thorpe brothers, cleaned up with
their pans $13,000 in eight weeks. This was but a very small part of the
immense amount of gold found in an insignificant creek, but there are at
least five hundred creeks on the branches of the Yukon River, many of
them no doubt as rich as the one that gave Dawson City its fame.
371. PROSPECTING FOR MINES.--“How many undeveloped mines are there west
of the Mississippi, which, if developed, would be valuable properties?
There may be ten thousand. It is far more likely that there are a
million.” Extract from “Mines and Mining Industries in the United
States.” The same authority also says that a prospector who has spent a
year in locating a mine should receive $10,000 from a capitalist as his
share. Mark this, you who think mining has no prospects, except for men
of wealth.