LEAD AND ZINC ORE 279 



and follow every real or supposed indication of ore, may 

 find. 



How else, it may be asked, could prospecting be so well 

 or so cheaply done? And there is a class of enterprising, skill- 

 ful, well-to-do miners, naturally associated as partners, who 

 have made one or more good strikes, and are always ready to 

 take hold of any new venture that promises well, either in 

 working a lot or in forming a land company to open new mines. 

 Where else could be found capitalists so willing to risk their 

 money in a speculative venture? Men of this sort are always 

 ready and able to work themselves, or to direct the work above 

 or below ground. How else could be obtained as willing 

 and as watchful superintendents, foremen, and clerks? 



The leasing system has maintained itself up to the present 

 day in zinc mining. A comprehensive description of this 

 system is given in a recent pamphlet by a local expert, Mr. 

 Frank Eberle: 



''The methods of mining and handling zinc ore are 

 unlike those used in mining for other minerals. The first step 

 necessary is to secure the land upon which to begin opera- 

 tions. Zinc mining lands are seldom sold, their owners 

 preferring to lease them on royalty. Virgin lands, or those 

 on which no mineral has been found, or which have never 

 been prospected for mineral, are leased at 10 per cent royalty, 

 that is to say, the landowner leases the land and agrees to 

 take as payment one tenth of all the ore obtained from his 

 land. The companj^ or individual who secures the lease then 

 divides the tract up into 1-acre mining lots and prospects 

 the land with a steam drill in several places to ascertain 

 whether the land contains mineral, and where the best bodies 

 of ore are located, their depth, thickness, and the force of 

 water that the miners will have to contend with. When 

 the land has been sufficiently prospected, lots are then sub- 

 leased to miners at 20 per cent royalty, which means that 

 the miners must give 20 per cent, or one fifth, of the ore to 

 the company or individual holding the original lease. Out 

 of this 20 per cent the original lessee must pay the landowners 

 10 per cent, and generally he must also undertake to put in 

 pumping plants, to keep the tract drained, where the water 



