THE OifATtA 6T7NDAY IfESi tJECEMFEIt 16, 190&,
f
tory of ihe Homestake Mine That Has Produced Millions of Gold
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T I brother.:, prot-peetors, discovered
. 1 the original I (oinestake mine on
,h0 dlvlde "'en Gold Hun and
L-ilJ Bobtail creeks. On the surfaco
ihe ore was very rich, and. for a tlirwe, the
Jtanuols worked tlie ore which they took
from the openings mailt- on the property
In an arastra, a primitive mill, such as
t;is used centuries ago In Mexico, and by
th" Spaniards in their American posses
f l.it;s. They afterward worked some of the
ere in a Email stamp mill which hud been
crvted on the present Kite of Lead. By
hnfli of these methods the ore paid, al
though a close saving of the sold In tt
could not be made. The richness of the
or- attracted considerable attention from
minors, especially from those who came
from the quart districts of California, a
ir.imbT of capitalists from that state hav
ir s representatives In the lilack Hills look
I:;it up goodp repositions, J. B. Hagin he
1:. among the number. Reports of the
i.i titiebs of the Homestake claims coming;
l-p his attention he sent the late Senator
c.nrge H. Hearst to the lilack Hills to
look Into the proposition and make a re
port upon it. The report made by Mr.
Hearst was satisfactory and be was In
structed to secure the 'mine if possible for
llagKin und his aso:lates. This Mr.
Hearst did, securing; the property fur about
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Birth of the Homestake.
In November, 1877, tho Homestake Min.iig
company was incorporated with a capital
of $10,009,000, divided Into IO.000 shares. At
this time $100,000 was paid In to pay for the
property, and afterward two assessments
of $t each per share were levied upon the
capital stock, realizing $300.fX). This money
an utilized to build the first mill upon the
ground, an eighty-stamp plant, which cost.
Including; transportation, $140,000. It was
completed In July, 1878, being supplied with
ore from, an open cut on the Homestake
claim. At this time no attempt was made
to treat the tailings from the mill, nor from
tho mills erected later, and It was not until
the property had been working for several
years that this was done, and then it was
confined to running tho tailing over Bi.is
sells carpets and saving the concentrates,
which later were smelted, but at so high a
cost that little profit was obtained from,
them. Although when compared with pres
ent methods In use by the company Its first
attempts at milling and gold saving were
crude, the property paid from the first time
Its milling plant was cleaned up, and from
October, 1878,' has continued paying divi
dends ranging from 10 cents per share to
CO cents per share, not missing a month.
In round numbers, since Ootober, 1878, the
mine lias produced In the neighborhood of
$80,000,000 in gold, more than three-fourths
of which has been paid out for labor, the
making of Improvements and the purchase
of water rights and additional ground. In
cluding adjoining corporations, paying dur
ing that time something In excess of $ltv
000,000 In dividend.
Growth of the Property.
From time to time the original eight
acres, the original Homestake claim, had
been added to, until at the present time
the company holdings in the Immediate
vicinity of Lead amount to 2,GoO acres.
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mostly all of It valuable mining property
Ushed.
Tear by year tho company has been im
proving Its property and Its milling and
treatment plants, and from the first eighty
stamp mill there has grown up a system
of mills and cyanide plants and slime
treatment plants that cannot be equalled
by any other In the world, the mills hav
ing a dally capacity for treating 4,000 tons
of ore?--tiiO cyanide r'ants a capacity
for retreating the tailings from all of the
l.OuO stamps dropping, and the slime treat
ment plant a capacity of 1,500 tons a day.
All of the company's six mills are In dally
operation, three of these being located In
Lead, two In Terraville and one In Central
City, and all of them connected with a net
work of rullroad lines, underground and
Chat with
(Copyright, 19u0. by Frank Q. Carpenter.)
lsinvnToN. Dec li iSpeclal
AAI Correspondence of Tlie Beo.)
' I This Is a (all about every -day
matters with ah every-day man
I refer to Ihe vice president of
the United States, Charles W. Fairbanks.
The vice president Is a man of the people
and, like his good and great friend, the
lata President McKinley, he keeps his ear
close to tho ground, lie bei loves In the
people and In the plain every-day things
that tho people lcAe. He has faith In nun
and tilings. He spells nation with a big N
and Christianity with a capital C. He is
not pyrotechnic In speech uor action, and
his conversation is not filled with the fire
works of rhetorlo nor the gaseous bombast
of that of some of our so-called statesmen.
Still, t Is Interesting, and tho reason It Is
Interesting, it seems to me, is largely be
cause of -Its blunt plainness and rutrged
simplicity. v
If you want to know what the vice presi
dent thinks on public questions you must
look at his speeches. He makes many of
them and In some strikes out from tho
shoulder. Tlie talk I give you today is not
of that kind. It is a hit-and-miss chat
such as two friends might have when out
fishing and the bite are few, or like one
at a corner grocery at a country cross
roads, yourself seated on "an empty up
turned nail keg and tho vice president on
another.
Ice President an Rar:g Riser.
To get the real picture of, ray talk llh
the vice president you must make the time
early morning. It Is lojis before Uncle
Bern's great army of government clerks
has started to office, sud we are sitting
together In the study of the Fairbanks
home In Washington. The vice president
has already breakfasted, and his sparkling
eyes show tho effect of healthy but not
ver-sloep. It is rather early for me, but I
have come by appointment, and I open the
conversation by a remark about tho early
bird, asking the vice president what he
thinks of hlin. He replies;
"I believe in early rising. The men. who
are doing the work of the world are thoe
who get up early and work late. That is
y"Ut way our oouutry was built. We could
not have chopped down the forests and uuo
quered tho tot), we could not have built
these great cities and made ourselves the
richest nation of tho world otherwise. Our
forefathers were early risers, and It Is
largely from the work which they did la
the early morning that we are profiting to
day. It was the same with our fathers.
Both you and I eaa remember Our boyhood
days In Ohio, and how the buetom was to
rise with the dawn. 1 was brought up on
a farm, and my father cleared the land and
' built the cabin lu which we started Ufa. I
' remember wo got up at daybreak and had
the chorea doue and wwre out In the fields
hard at work long beXure the hour when
the city clerk of today has finished Lis
breakfast."
"Hut is not that still the case In many
parts of tho United BtateaT'
-To Aortal oaunt, yes," rapUed t
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PlJI.-ii
'VIEW OF LEAD CITY, SHOWINGI THB MILLS OF THB
surface, operated by steam and compressed
air. The cyanide plants of the company,
the largest In the world, are located In
Gayvllle and Lead, being connected with
the mills by pipe lines which convey the
talllnps to them for retreatment.
A year ago the company began the con
struction of a slime treatment plant above
the city of Dead wood, and at the present
time It Is about ready to begin operations,
the company having expended about $000,OU)
upon It to date.
Some of the Homestake Activities.
Established upon its different properties
are hoisting works capable of caring for
and handling all of the ore mined dally
In Its underground workings, the largest
of the hoists, Uie Ellison, being next to the
largest In the world, and costing with Its
equipment in the neighborhood of $7u),0A).
In the first years of Its operations the
company built a system of narrow gauge
railroad lines, radiating from Lead through
the wooded sections of the Blaok Hills,
and connecting wKn tho Northwestern sys
tem at Piedmont, forty miles distant, in
all a trackage of about 100 miles. Over
this system of roads the company hauled
its fuel, mining timbers and other supplies
until a few years ago. When it sold thla
system of roads to the Burlington, which
company is now operating it at a profit,
the company receiving for the same a hand
some compensation.
It has but recently completed a system of
water works, taking water from tho Bpear
fish river twenty miles distant. At the town
of Hanna, fifteen noilee distant, the com
pany has established a pumping station,
which lifts this water over a divide of 8-0
feet, where It is delivered into a tiled ditch
and conveyed to reservoirs In Lead and dis
tributed to tho company '8 mills and the city
of Lead, Terraville and Central. This is
but on of the company's water systems,
costing for the installation of pumping ma
chlruiry, construction of ditch and labor
$1,000,000.
On the line of the new water system the
company has recently completed and placed
In operation a power plant for the genera-
Charles
vtce preeld&nt, "but the custom Of getting
up early is fast passing away. We have
still early risers, but they are. chiefly on
the farms. Many of them are toys who ai
fitting themselves to be the rulers of the
country for the future."
Yonn.v America In ltMKi. -
"but, Mr. Vice President, do yuu not
think the young Americans of today Wss
strong than those of a generation ao?
Have not our conditions so changed that
luxury Is sapping their strength? Are they
not becoming etTemlnuAe, flabby and weak?''
"No," was the roply. "The young Ameri
can Is as strung today as ever, and he will
continue strong aa long as we have a grant
country to develop and great piUes to win.
You must not Judge our young men by the
dilettante youth of tlie cities. You must
go out Into the country fur tlie real Ameri
cans and real Americanism. You will find
our national spirit strongest after you have
crossed the Alleghenies and entered the
great states of the Mississippi basin and
beyond. Tlie young men there are as
manly as anywhere in tho world. There
are also strong young men In the east and
there are some even hi the cities. You
must look for the best, however, outside
the clube and the golf grounds. This coun
try Is all right and its people are all right.
Indeed, they were never stronger nor bet
ter than now."
Nation All Right.
"How about our business . and political
morality? Many think we are honeycombed
with corruption and that our whole body
politic Is fast on its way to Gehenna?"
"There is nothing in that Idea," said the
vice president of the I'nited States. "We
have some dlhonest men, but no more lu
proportion than we had in the past. If you
wll' go back to the time when our fathers
fought the revolutionary war and will
use the proper diligence you will find that
there were dishonest meu then. Tiiere were
grafters and boodlurs In the dsys of Wash
ington and Jefferson, and the new-simpers
of their times made no bones of saying so.
Every day has Its scandals and those days
were no exception. Many men were slan
dered unjustly and I doubt not some rascals
escaped without censure. As to unjust crit
icisms, George Washington himself was de
nounced again and again, and one paper
charged him with being dishonest and au
enemy to hlx.untry. At the same time
other public iiid committed crimes which
were exposed. That was the case when we
had less than t.OUO.Got) people. Now we
have thirty times that many and the tele
graph and the newspaper do not let the
misdeeds of our public men lie dormant-"
"But axe ww growing better?"
"I think so." was the reply. "1 believe
we are growing much better from year to
year. We are more patriotic and wo take
broader views of men and things. I am an
optimist and I have Utile sympathy with
the pessimist. The trouble with many is
that they are looking at our country
through the wrong end of the opera glass.
One can get too close to a big thing to ex
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oamps. In fact, U la as complete and ex
tensive as that of a good sized city, v
It would be a small estimate to place tlie
coat of the improvements, the buildings,
the milling plants and stables, repair shopb,
etc., and their contents, ownud by the ooui
pany at $20,000,000.
tlon of electricity at a cotst of about $:XX).
000, tTnan which power is furnished for its
mills.
On the company's grounds in Lead are
machine shops capable of making any nec
essary repairs to tlie machinery iu opera
tion, a foundry in which castings to tho
weight of ten or twelve tons can be made;
carponur tdiops, repair shops of all kinds
and department buildings In which the bus
iness of the corporation Is transacted, all
connected with a private telephone system,
which Includes in Its ramifications the most
distant parts of the underground and sur
face workings of the company, its wc.od
and timber camps, its lime and othr
In the employ of the Homestake com
pany are 2,00 men, who receive an average
wage of $3.25 a day. Of this number the
demand for an eight-hour day will affect
Leu).
Ore ta All Low Grade.
The ore which is being mined and milled
by the company is of a very low grude, and
were it not for the fact that It Is being
treated in so larijo a quantity dally it
would be linposslblo to luino and mill it
at a prollt. To grant the eight-hour day,
it is asserted by the management, would
mean an Increase In the company's pay
roll of about 26 per cent, which would prac
tically eliminate tho small dividend which
it is now paying monthly. This, the man
agement is not willing to do, believing that
tho men who have Invested their money
In the property are entitled to receive a
little profit for Its use, and that the mine
should not be worked simply for the pur
pose of paying wages.
In its treatment of the men working for
it the company has always ben very fair,
and this Is the first trouble of Importance
that has confronted its management during
the past twenty-eight years. In years gone
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W. Fairbanks on Our Country and Its People
amine it properl. You, yourself, have been
long enough away from tho United States
now and then to see what a glorious coun
try it is, and how small these pimples of
corruption on our healthy body politlo
really are. Indeed, I don't think much of
the man who cannot see the great ness and
goodness of the United States, who is al
ways prating about the dlshonosty and
corruption of our public service and who
has no confidence in the virtue of bis fel
lows." Virtue of Charity.
"Hut are you not very charitable in that
view, Mr. Vice President?" said I.
"I am not overly so," was the reply. "I
believe what I have said. Our country and
our people are In a good condition, and such
corruption as we have we shall fight
against and conquer. The American people
are big enough to handle a thing like that.
They are long suffering and so busy that
they allow some evils to exist for a period,
but when those evils grow large enough to
be really dangerous to the nation they al
ways rUe and wipe them out. As to
charity, I believe in that. There is no
nobler attribute In man's makeup. You
may remember Crittenden's story of how
God created man. When He first thought
of him He called unto Himself His three
angels, Truth, Justice and Mercy, and thus
addressed them: 'Shall we make man?
The first to answer was Truth. She said:
"Oh, God, make him not, for he will pol
lute T'liy sanctuary."
"Shall we make man?" The question was
aked again, and Justice replied: "Oh, God,
make him not, for hes, will trample upon
Thy laws."
"Shall we make man?" Again the ques
tion, and Mercy, falling upon her kneee and
crying through her tears, said: "Oh, God
make him, and I will follow him through
the dark paths he may have to tread."
Upon that God made man and sent him
forth, saying: "Oh, man, thou art the son
of Mercy. Go thou and deal mercifully
with thy fe!low-man."
"Indeed I believe In mercy and charity,"
concluded the vice president.
"That means that you believe in" tho
square deal with the addition of charity?"
said I.
To this the vice president did not reply.
During our conversation he spoke of con
fidence as the basis of our growth as a na
tion, calling It the foundation of society,
business and government, and saying that
we must have faith In ourselves and others
if w e would succeed,
"It was confidence.' said he. "that led
Granf from the tannery to Appomattox
and Garfield from the tow-path to tho
White House, and it la confidence In ones
self and In one's fellows and in truth and
righteousness which conquers the world."
6
W hy We Are Btroac
"What do Vou think of our country,
Mr. Fairbanks." said I, "as a field for
nation building?"
"It li one of the best ever created," he
replied, "Our cation Is strong today Isjrgel
HOMBOTAKE COITPANT.
T. J. WR1EH. SUPERINTENDENT OF
THE HOMESTAKE MINES AND MILLS.
by, when wages in other districts, es
pecially in Colorado and othtrv silver pro
ducing states, were cut, and the scale mude
much lower than It is at the present time
In Lead, the company,, while H could easily
have done bo, rcfussd to make a reduction
in wages, but kept on paying tho same
scale, an average of $XK for every man
working for it.
Lead a' Peculiar City.
Lead Is not a mining camp in one sense
of the word, for It would 4e difficult to
find, in any eastern city of the same popu
lation, the same facilities. Its-public school
system Is without an equal; its school
children have greater facilities, are more
comfortably housed and cared for than in
any city of the same population In the
east. Its streets are paved: It Is lighted
by electricity, connected by telegraph and
telephone lints with the out.-ide world; has
because It h;is been placed here and be
cause of the elements of which it is made.
Oar founders were the best citizens of (he
countries from which they canu. Had they
not had strong characters they would have
submitted to oppression and stayed at
home. They talk of us Americans as being
the offspring of the scum of Europe. The
truth Is we come from the cream of
Europe, and the scum in this case Is the
cream. The emigrant is always the cream
of any population as far as strength of
body and mind Is concerned. The feeble
will not dare to leave home and the weak
spirited always ' remain. During all the
years of our history wo have been skim
ming the cream of the Europeans and In
corporating it into our national body.
VICC PKlDiwNT OIAitLfig W.
(Ctooyrlght, UoaJ
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INTERIOR OF ONK OF THE GREAT
OF THE STAiH'S THAT CRUSH
handsome and substantial business blocks;
one of the largest banks in the west; a
splendid water system, and many other
conveniences not enjoyed by cities nearer
the seaboards. It is substantially a city
of homes and hsndtome residences, which
arc owned and occupied by employes of the
Homcstiik? company, or those who derive
Indirect support from the working of its
mines. All of the advantages and im
provements, all of this substantiality has
been made possible by the operations of
the Homestake Mining company, which dis
tributes something like $220,000 a month In
wages to its people. LeHd has a population
of between 7,000 and 8,00", and of this num
ber 2,000 are school children, to educate
whom It costs $75,rjO a year, requiring c
corps of ftity teachers. Mrs. George
Hearst, one of the principal owners of tjie
Homestake, at her own expense, main
tains in tlie city a free library, the largest
and best appointed In the state. She also
maintains a free kindergarten school, con
ducted by one of the most experienced
"With such elements to work with the
United Slates has become strong becuusn
of Ihe dillicultles Its people have had to
overcome. Muscles grow with use, and we
have had to uso our bodies and minds. We
have had to curve a country out of a wil
derness, and we have built up our national
strength while fighting with the wilds.
This lias given us self-conlldence. It has
toughened us and strengthened us, and has
aUo developed cert. tin characteristics in
which we are superior to any other people.
"Take, tor Instance, the matter of inven
tions. The newest and best of machine"
are made by u. We have thousands of
patents granted every year, and we have
done more than any other nation to enable
man to do his work more easily and more
FAIRBANKS-Puotv fcy Harris tnrtog.
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a'
MTLL8 OF THB HOMESTAKE COMPANTP,
THE ORifl TO RELEASE: THE GOLD.
corps of teaohers. Bvery church la tho
belt towns, lead, Terraville and Central
City, receive from the Homestake Mining
company $300 a year as a gift, while Mrs.
Hearst Is Interested In many oliarltles In
the Hills, and has in other ways showed
her interest in Its people. Several years
ago, at a great cost, the city put in a
sewage system and made other Improve
ments looking to the perfect sanitation of
the town, and today its death rate from
natural causes is smaller than that of any
city in the state.
Importance of Mine to City.
Tlie city's existence Is merged with that
erf the Homestake Mining company, and
so closely are its Interests allied with those
of that company that anything which would
militate against the successful operation of
the mines of that corporation would affect
equally the people of Lead. Many of tho
residences owned by those working In the
mines have been built upon the company's
effectively. One reason for this is that our
fathers began their life fight In the woods
without machinery or supplies of any kind,
They had to make everything for them-
selves and to invent ways and means to
accomplish their ends. Their children
were brought up to think, plan and Invent,
and the result Is that we have a nation
of thinkers and inventors. Even our
statesmen have dabbled in inventions.
Thomas Jefferson made many, and you
may today find models of patents applied That country today Is a great farm vil-
for by Abraham Lincoln in the National lage with fine homes built of stones, bilck
museum at Washington. and boards. During my boyhood the roads
were full of stumps and you could not drive
"Hf We Reached tho Topf a wagon along them without danger ot
"But, Mr. Vice President," said L "our being overturned or spending hours' get
days of development are rapidly n earing ting out of the mud holes. The roads today
their close. Our forests are almost all are equal to the famed Applan Way, and
cleared, our roads are made and our cities electrio cars are moving across the country
built. Are we not now reaching the top almost within hearing distance of the old
yea, beginning to go down on the other farm. While I was at home not long ago I
side?" stood In the old house and talked through
"No," was the emphatic reply. "Wi have our farm telephone to the governor of In-
meiely blocked out our work and shall oon- dlaua, at Indianapolis, more than 100 miles
tiuue to grow for centuries to come. The away. Fifty years ago Indianapolis was a
United Snatei Is In its Infancy, and this Is
so from Boston to San Francisco, The east
will some day be Intensively farmed and
each acre will produce many times wbat tt
does now. As for the went. It has vast
areas which are untouched, which will
some day blossom like the rose. We are al
ready reclaiming our deserts by means of
Irrigation. We are growing new crops on
the dry lands, and by a better knowledge of
agriculture are making two blades of grass later, we number between 80.000,000 and !.
and two stalks of corn grow w here one haa 000,000, and shall soon have liO.0OO.00O souls,
grown befoe. This is especially so with Take that yearly Increase of LfiOO.OOO. Wo
the corn crop, wldch brings us In more
money than any -other. Tlie yield Is now
2,o,0fO,0i0 or S.ooo.GoO.Ou bushels per year,
but our agricultural department has dis
covered that by the use of the proper seed
alone, without Increasing the acreage or
cost of cultivation, it can ba diubled, thus
adding hundreds of millions of dollars to
our national Income.'
rne Hundred Years of America.
"Nevertheless," said L "we can hardly
claim to be very young as a nation. We
are more than 1U years old "
"One hundred years.'" said the vice prest-
d'mt. "What Is 100 years in the life of a
nation? I, myself, -know men who are SO
years old. I know some who are doing
active work at 80, and I have met two
who have seen their full century of age,
These men had lived almost as long aa
our nation. It Ja. In short, only three gen-
rations old. Take your own years and
mine and add them together and they will
, reach almost back to the beginning of our
' government. I know that our 100 years
have been live years. They have comprised
more progress along most lines than any
other 100 years since the world began, ami
ws bhould be glad to have been a part of
them, but to say that there Is to he no
continuance of that progress In the future
Is absurd. Indeed, our prospects are far
greater now than ever."
Looking; Backward
"And yet," continued the vie president,
BHOWINO THB ARRANGEMENT
grounds, leases being given without money
and without cost by the company, with a
clause giving the company the right to take
possession of the ground after a sixty
days notice has been given its occupants.
One of the strongest arguments for an
eight-hour day put forth by the men who
advocate It, is that all of the principal min
ing camps in the west are worked undo
such an arrangement. To offset tills, those
who are opposed to the strike maintain,
that in the camps where tlie eight-hour
day prevails copper is the principal metal
mined, and that during the past two years
its value has Increased from 8 cents to 21
cents per pound, while the value of the
gold mined In Lead has remained and will
remain tlie same. The company also points
to its annual report, which shows a de
crease In the value of Its ore from that
mined last year of 7 cents a ton, which,
while it might seem a small falling ,olT,
amounts to considerable during a day. In
which 4,000 tons of ore Is milled, which;
averages In value but $3.M a ton.
reflectively, "our progress has been so
great that It amazes me. Whou I go luclc
to my old home In Ohio und think of tho
conditions of my boyhood In contrast with
the present I am astounded. It Is fifty-odd
years since I was born there and my baby
eyes looked out upon a wilderness covered
with giant trees. My father chopped down
the woods and built the log cabin whete I
spent my boyhood, and the same work;
was going on for miles in every direction.
village, and Chloago, as a city, had onljr
begun to be.
Row Wo Grow.
"Have you considered how fast we ero
growing as a nation?" the vice president
went on. "Our population Is increasing ac
the rate of 1,600,000 every year. In lbUO wo
had only about , 000, 000. In ItnO we at
more than 7t.000.0UU, and now, only six ytara
are getting about a 1000,000 a year by Imml,
gratlon now, and the increase Is probably
more than that. But even at LGOO.OoO It Is
enormous. Think what it means. Tal
the city of Washington with VM.000, Indian-
a polls at m.OK) and Kansas City equally aa
large. Add Cleveland with its 400,0u0 unj
San Francisco with 400.000 more. Thoco
cities altogether oon tain Just about t
1,000,000 people and our Increase f out
year would fill them to bursting. Buppon
they oould be wiped off the face of the
earth and rebuilt In one year and yon
have our present condition. Suppose that
you add that many consumers, that maiir
workers, that enormous composite muscle
and that mighty composite brain to our
nation this year, and then as usual the
amount next year, and the next, and th
next. That is what la going on In the Unite'!
States today. We are Increasing at the rate
of a Philadelphia every twelve months, and
n some yers almost to the extent of a.
Chicago. We are growing In wealth ae
tt pld'y as In iu Tiber and o'te pohklbllitlaa
are. It seems to me, almost beyond human
conception." FRANK O. OARPENTEK.
The Oldest Clergyman
Rev. John Scliaefifer of North Bent n, O.,
has Just celebrated his 101 bt birthday, lie
l he old"rt c'ergymn In Ohio and po.ill,l
j tun 1 1 l i . v o-a.lt:ri. Ait? ji i i-avfcw
lurly for sixty years and has lived la hit
present home for ten years longer. H
reads newspapers without alaaaeo and Uai
tuuoly been IU a dx la fci hf, i