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The entire country bordering on the Trask River appears to be filled with silver. The portion most thoroughly prospected is near the old "Bear Wallow." The specimens sent to Portland are reported to have assayed up in the hundreds, but the reports were undoubtedly largely exaggerated, as an experienced assayer in Tillamook experimented with rock from the same ledge and only made an average of $40 per ton. Those working the mines at the point from which these specimens were taken are erecting homes and preparing to engage in mining in earnest. The main ledge commences on the upper side of the peninsula, and, running diagonally in a southeasterly direction, passes through the peninsula, and, crossing the river, enters the mountain on the west side of the stream. A quartz mill will be placed at this point, with the necessary apparatus for working the ores. About 50 men are en

gaged in mining.

Estimate of Mr. A. M. Lawver of the bullion production in Oregon for the calendar year 1884, classified by counties.

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CHAPTER XI.

UTAH.

The production of Utah during the year 1884 shows an increase of over a million dollars in silver above that of 1883, bringing it up fully to the production of 1882, while the small quantity of gold annually produced has not varied materially from prior years.

The yield of the Territory, as shown by Wells, Fargo & Co.'s statement, was as follows:

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Computing the gold and silver at its mint valuation, and other metals. at their value at the seaboard, would increase the value of the product to $9,301,508.

As compared with their statement for the prior year there was a large increase in the production of silver, viz:

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The value in United States coin of the production of Utah for 1884, as reported by Wells, Fargo & Co., is

Gold..
Silver

Total......

$114, 315 7,330,247

7,444, 562

Mr. O. J. Hollister, to whom I am mainly indebted for most of the material embodied in my review of Utah, gives the production as—

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Which does not differ materially from that of Wells, Fargo & Co.

From the above statements it is probable that a deduction must be made for bullion treated at the Utah Smelting and Refining Works produced elsewhere, the value of which, it is safe to estimate, was not less than $250,000.

I have estimated the production of Utah during the calendar year 1884 to have been, approximately: Gold, $120,000; silver, at its coining rate, $6,800,000-a total of $6,920,000, obtained from the mines of various counties as follows:

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Mr. Hollister says: "Utah's product of the precious and other metals for 1884 was as follows:"

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To get at the value, 5 per cent. of the lead and 3 per cent. of the silver in the base bullion must be deducted for loss in refining, and 15 per cent. of the lead and 8 per cent. of the silver in the lead ores shipped out must be deducted for loss both in smelting and refining. Rating pig lead, then, at its average price in New York the past year, viz, 3.73

cents per pound, silver at its average price in New York for the year, viz, $1.10 per ounce, and gold at $20.67 per ounce, we shall have

Pig lead, 58,627,910 pounds....

Fine silver, 5,450,289 ounces.

Fine gold, 5,989 ounces

Copper, 63,372 pounds, at 10 cents..

Total value Utah's product....

$2,186, 821 04 5,995, 317 90 123,792 63

6,337 20

8,312,268 77

The value of the ores shipped to Utah smelters from other States and Territories is not included in this calculation. It is not accurate to rate base bullion as pig lead, because it has yet to be refined, but we throw it into pig lead in order to be able to put an exact price on it. The above is the total gross value, out of which total cost of production must be taken to arrive at the net value. Dividends were paid as follows:

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It would not be unreasonable to assume that the Beck and Bullion, the Crescent, the Hanauer and Mingo smelters, and the Germania Lead Works made profits enough to bring this sum to $2,750,000, or one-third of the total gross value of the product. This, if trustworthy, makes an excellent showing for Utah mining.

The Eureka Hill is a close corporation, and so is the Beck and Bullion. The former took out $700,000 worth of ore in 1884, upon which the actual profit must have been $300,000 in round numbers. They may have been credited above with $20,000 more or less than they actually disbursed in dividends, as it is difficult to get accurate information respecting private companies. The Beck and Bullion took out nearly half as much ore as the Eureka Hill, but the ore was poorer in silver by onethird. The profits can hardly have been less than $60,000.

The profits of the Crescent on ores sold, year ending October 31, 1884, are given at $83,000. The profits of the three smelters, considering their plants, the men employed, and the business done, we have no means of knowing; but certainly $150,000 would not be an extravagant estimate. This gives the $518,000 added to the dividends paid above, and something to spare.

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In this the product of Beaver, Juab, Tooele, Salt Lake, and part of Summit Counties, less amount shipped abroad, appears to the credit of Salt Lake County.

·Product and value of ores by counties are approximately as follows:

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Mining in Beaver county the past year was mainly by the Horn Silver and the Frisco Companies. Shipments of ore were as follows:

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The Horn Silver mine is in a contact between trachyte and dolomite at the eastern base of the Grampian Mountain, the southern of three sections, so to speak, of the San Francisco Range, which divides Beaver and Wah Wah valleys. The vein strikes nearly north and south and can be traced a mile or two on the surface. The town of Frisco is a mile or so northeast of the mine. Milford, on Beaver River, is the present terminus of the Utah Central Railway, but a spur of the road climbs the slope west to the mine, rising 1,700 feet in 17 miles. The country is a desert with thin, isolated, north and south mountain ranges rising at intervals out of it. Aside from Beaver River, which, as it runs, grows smaller until it sinks, there are no streams, and springs are few and scanty. But the mountains are full of mineral, and with means and well-directed effort would yield a rich return.

The Horn Silver mine passed from the hands of the discoverers into those of Campbell, Cullen & Co., early in 1876, and was sold by them to the Horn Silver Mining Company, February 17, 1879. The company

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