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About The Sumpter miner. (Sumpter, Or.) 1899-1905 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 1900)
Wednesday, September 19, 1900. THE SUMPTER MINER. fli ' " THE GENTLEMAN FROM COLORADO. Discusses Relative Value of Hotel and Smelter. "If you will excuse me for repeating that literary chestnut from Dickens, 'I'm waiting for something to turn up,' " re marked the loquacious representative of the Centennial state Sunday afternoon, as he stood on the bridge across Powder river looking at the polluted water that had done service in the Golconda mill. "This being the case, I have had time to think on other subjects than my fown private affairs," he continued. "The topic uppermost In my mind of late has been the relative value to this town at this stage of the game of the big brick hotel, which THE MINER says Dave Wilson Is going to build here, and the smelter which is already built and operated sufficiently to demonstrate its practical success. For one I am more than pleased to learn that Sumpter Is going to have at last a hotel that men accustomed to the ordinary com forts of life will not be Afraid to sleep In, a house that will ntlce' the fastidious trav eling man and the luxury loving capital 1st to remain over night In this town, something that only absolute necessity has had sufficient influence to persuade teem to do in the past. This Is, of course, no reflection on the taverns now open to the public I suppose it is necessary to make some such crack as that. "In fact, the need of a good hotel Is so apparent that it is a waste of energy to call attention to the whys and wherefores. Hut I was surprised to learn that more than 920,000 had been subscribed in this camp towards the worthy enterprise, and couldn't help but think how much more direct benefit that amount of money would do this town if it were employed as a working capital with which to buy ore for the smelter. Fully that much money is needed for that purpose. "You know there Is no sentiment in trade; nor is there in the business of precious metal mining. If a mine owner has rock worth shipping and can sell It fur cash, he is not going to turn it into the smelter here and wait ninety- or sixty or thirty days.or t venty n I iu e. for his mon ey, merely trom motives of local patriot Imii. Till-, thing of being n public bene factor is an almighty poor substitute for actual capital or credit at the bank, to do bu-ineM on. "The smelter here N n scientific suc cess, there are already produced more than enough ores tributary to ihU camp to keep it running continuously, and it is a near Approach to a local calamity that It Is not in const. int operation. It the smoke from its stack will drive out those who object to it as a nuUaiue, the Institution will do a grrater service to this camp than if its original object shall be richly realized. "Of course, there is much ore In this district that can't pav for long railroad hails, yet is of sufficient value to pay lical smelting charges. It Is the devel opment of this class of mines that the smelter willaid.lf it will pay cash for ores, and producing minesand pay rolls are what is imperatively needed here. "The fact of the business Is to give this broad, comprehensive topic a personal application if a whole lot of men are not put to work in this district pretty noon at wages of about three dollars a day, I'll have to go to work myself, and that is tie appalling catastrophe that I am work ing my jaw so energetically to prevent." boa Om PraliirtUa. It ha been apparent for aom Month that the iron ore product la destined to play a most important factor In the reve nues of this country for this year. Ac cording to the geological si rvey, g;nei ally accepted as eminent and accurate au thority on such subjects, the Iron ore out put for the United States for the year 1808 was a trifle over nineteen million long tons. The same source gives the output for the year 1800 at nearly twenty-live million long tons, far In excess of that of any other country in the worlJ, making a net gain ot nearly six million tons, having a value of 51.42 per ton In 1800 as against 51.14 per ton In 1898. Three states in the Union practically contributed , the entire product, namely: Michigan, producing nine million to'is, closely fol lowed by Minnesota with something over eight million tons, Alabama being third with nearly two million tons, and twent. one other states making up the total 01 I perhaps twentysix million tons. It is In teresting to consider the position Utah might assume in this procession, if the great iron ore business was industriously prosecuted. Irrespective of the marvelous 1 deposits in Utah.Wasatch, Juab. Morgan, Weber and Salt Lake counties, there are those who maintain that In Iron county alone Utah could soon be made to take first rank in iron ore production. It is said, and generally accepted as a truth, that in iron county, excepting a skim sub soil, that the county is all a magnetite and hemitite iron ore. Experts, who but a short t.ime ago were employed to exam ine and report on the iron ore possibilities of that section, proclaimed them unsur passed or unequaled anywhere, saying that In the neighborhood of Iron City there are belts of iron ore outcropped easily traced for thirty or forty miles in length by five miles In width. There is nothing to show that Colorado contali s any great deposits or mountains of Iron ore as compared with Utah. Such being the case, with inexhaustible coal fields nearby, what is to prevent Utah from be i ig the supply and distributing point for tne trans-Mississippi valley in the manu facture ot Iron and steel? Salt Lake Min ing Record. TRA.DE IN DIVINING RODS. JJtlUf That Hidden Treasures Can Be DU- covtred by Their Um. In New York city, located on one of the narrow side streets down town, is a fac tory in which are made every year more than fto.coo worth of divining rods for use in finding hidden treasures. From this factory alone are turned out and sold each year almost $000 fake rods, which means that in the rural districts within 200 or 300 miles of the metropolis are found . every 12 months that many gullible farm ers and ignorant hayseeders. The details of this remarkable business are almost beyond conception. Can you believe there is one man at this end of the clvllled nineteenth century blockhead enough to Imagine even for a moment that he can discover gold mines and hidden treasures with the aid of a metal rod sim ply touched with loadstone? Can you believe men live today, white men, men educated In the common schools of the country, men residing iu towns equipped with newspapers and churches and circulating libraries can you believe there are men dense enough to pay from f IS to f 35 of their toil-earned money for such things as divining rods, treasure spears and treasure perfumes? It is worse even than the gold brick swindle. A farmer visiting New York fi r the purpose of exchanging his good money for what he believes to be the product of a legitimate mine is simply conducting a business transaction. There is no thought of magic nor of the black art, but merely a commercial exchange. The hayseed who strikes up a dicker with a green goods man also is working on an everyday commercial basis. But the farmer or vlUager whs invests la a di vining rod, a treasure apear er treasure perfume marks the gauge of his Intellect below that of a Digger Indian. Boston Herald. Hn I THE RIMBOL g Conducted by MHS. H. l-'ISIII.K A First-Class Restaurant. Onlv Home Cooking. Private Rooms for Ladies or & Families. ... Recently Removed to I McCulloch Building, Next Dooi North I of Brewery. I SUMPTER, ORE. XWk''mknn ENGINES tv B0ILER8 SAW MILLS TMESIERS STACKERS RUSSELL & CO. Weito far Catalog aad Price. . Portland, Oregon. MCmaV-VT CSAam KtfSI-BM 1 ri -a -ar-i RUSSELL Hiah Grade Machinery Boutum St Spalding CRYSTAL JMF Company Free delivery of Pure Ice. Leave orders at office of Columbia Brewing and Malting Co., ne.t door to MlNI-R office. SUMPTER BOTTLING WORKS Munulicturm ul all kinJs ill (.jot-orul.J Drink. nj CUi is. UrtlrJ In lonnrcllun lih tlir Kentucky Liquor House WHOLESALE AND RETAIL. GAGEN A. SLOAN, PROPS., SUMPTER, ORE. W. S. BOWERS ABSTRACTS Real Estate, Loans and Insurance. Mining Patents Obtained Years, of eMierieiice ill IL'ikrr Cmmtv I'nnrds. No. .M04 Court Street, Maker City: Oregon. oooooooiMionooo Km'IumIvc Agent tor the Celebrated OLYMPIA HKKR On draught or by bottle. ooooooooooooool a The Olympus ft II. FINLil K, Proprietor. Iguors and Cigars. OUIIIUICI. J . High Grade Wines, LI 'Just around the Corner" NF.BERGALL & MOORE I'ROI'RII-TORS. THE MAZE Fine Wines, Liquors and Cigars. ' I Next to First Bank Sumpter SUMPTER, OREGON