Gold Mining Advice

Now ttiat Michigan is to take lier place among the eoldproducin;r sutes, a few notes on tliis subject may not !)e without Interact to the general reader. A large numlier of the busiuess men of Detroit have, as the only memento of invrstments, a handsumely prlnted stock certifícate, the vignettes of which aro elther a mine of boundless wealtli or furnaoe rolling out tont of sbrnlng lullion. For every $25 of the ÍHW value pooeibly luit one dollar bad heen patd in. Attcr a year or two of unfulfllled promiscs, turnihed (folden dreams, assessuients and forfeltorea, the net resull was full face value of disgust lor all luininjr cnterprises. The fault was not with miuing, but with you, oh, man of business! Sluewd in every other énterprise, yu allow a strauger, whose note yon wimld not bave taken, to blind your eyes with tlie i lifter of promised buillion, so that vciii did not see the absurdity of tlie figures or how mucli was oinr into his pocket and how little to the working capital. In pite of your misfortuin niining offers the most lountenue feward of any nlcrpiisc to the energetic, careful man of business who has botli courage nul means to foroesacoest In spite ot the many dlfflcultles with whlflh nature bal guarded her tre8ure8. I ilo not Rgree with the saying tl it t it takes a mine to run a mine, but it requires I one to start. Too little working capitul iá tiie cause of two-thirds of thu mlniiig failures. Xotice the cost of farnUHng of a few of our parhig mlneei The Ontario, Utah. cost $430,00 to put it in successlul operntlon The first year after it patd $(.i00,ü00. ft lias pnld up to date $(i,GüO,OUÜ and pays 978,000 per UKIIltll. The Eiirkea. Nevada, costing $1150,000, has pald 14,817,000. The Granite iMountain, Montana, post ncarly $300,000 to begin with. Btnce last Deeember it has paiir$300,000auci is pay i nr $00,000 per tnoiith, besidcs pj ing olí a large indi-btedncss, aiul haviui; i. large turplus. Like the Ontario, tlus mine was iiearly abandonded, l)ut the courage and energy of man brouglit it to tnouewful issue. I could mention a bundred otherg, p:iyinfj; in tlie same propurtloni, Without ;oiu into our liome industry of iron and copper mines. Some of tlie best payiii); prupertien are beid by uaull syndicates, wliose balance sheets wë never .-ee. One ot these mines was DOOghl foi' $15,000 in 1882. A year trom that time $150.000 ...„. i {,.. ;t. il lins since palU cveiy dollar of expense, is produoing $100,000 per rnontli, and is sald to have a reserve of ore woith 2,000,000. A wel l-sijltetttl umi pll-nianaiied nilne Certaiuly pays; but, any natural product, it is in time exhaustiblej and, therefore, care should be taken not to pay a visiouary price, even for the most pmmisiuj;. ff the ore is in laige bodies the value per ton need not be so fieatas might be supposed necessary to siu The Homestake, Dakota, last year trented 21,11)0 tors of ore, wilh a valué of only ifö.SO per ton, aml yot paid In dividends 1343,760, the coat of treatmuBt being but $3.50 per ton. From the publUhed reports of the mines near Ishpeming, which I have not visited since they were opeued, it would seem that the usual mist akes in miiiiiiK are !- iutf repeated. The mine was not suffl cieiilly developed before the inill (vut buili, aml Uie mili vva. too small tor the grade of the ore, wliicli seems U average trom iö to $, iiicluilniK sulplinretH sHVed na eoucentrationí1, wliich requirei! h sutisequent more expensive treatment. The Ropas', however, has done very well uuder the circuniftances, a lucky stiike of good ore tielpiug them over any errors in juilgmeiit, and proving th.it Mic.higan's mineral deposits cjiii alvvays be depended on for permanency, and ilso whit can he done with courage and capital. As maiiy tona .have already been treated with at least partía] kiutcss, the future BUcteeffl of tliis district is insured, f partins will opea out their mines before expecting returns, and thcu niake their milis large enough to inture a protit at the grade of ore obtained. Of companies that offer cheap stock with larjte capitallzatloo aml only a sinall working capital, beware. Tlieir total assets probably consisl of a niining lease on an untested vein. As you give your law cases to a lawyer, and your building to an architect, do not expectthat any unlucky frieud, wlio has not been able to tnake a euccess of the business he has trieil, will makeasucct-sstul inining eiifrineir, a )ir. fession which requires y e ars of stndy aml (of inore impórtanos) ycars of practlce, as ufll as cunsiderable "Uorse sense," to niake a peraon capable of bringlng :i large mlnlng enterprise ftrom a prospect i,.li t -i BiinAoaafnl hiilliun nroilucer.