TRIBUTE SYSTEM. 



151 



miners which has been in use for many years in Cornwall and elsewhere. 

 A general description of this system as it has been applied in the mines of 

 Eureka District will perhaps be of interest. 



The tribute system— In the year 1878, in the older workings of the Eureka 

 mine, there was a very considerable amount of ore which had not been ex- 

 tracted from the ore chambers, either through oversight or improper mining. 

 Many small ore bodies also had been passed over as too poor or insignifi- 

 cant to be worth removing, and there was reason to believe that undiscov- 

 ered ore bodies of small size existed, as turned out to be the case. 



In the year mentioned, Mr. T. J. Read, superintendent of the mine, 

 introduced the method of taking out ore on tribute, in order to utilize the 

 large quantities of it known to exist in the earlier workings. The ground 

 which was to be worked in this manner was divided up into blocks or 

 "pitches," as they are called by the Cornish miner. These pitches were 

 allotted to individuals or companies (which usually consisted of two men), 

 and 10 per cent, of the assay value in gold and silver of all ore above $40 

 was paid to tributers. This rate was paid for about one year when it was 

 increased to 15 per cent. Then a new schedule of prices was arranged, 

 based upon the assay value of the ore: $6 per ton of 2,000 pounds was 

 paid for $40 ore and $30 for S100 ore, with proportional prices for the inter- 

 vening grades. Finally, in 1881, still another schedule of prices was adopted: 

 $2.50 was paid for ore assaying $30 per ton, and 50 per cent, of all that it 

 assayed above $30. Thus $65 ore brought the tributer $2.50 plus $17.50, 

 or $20. The company furnishes tools, hoists the ore, and transports it to 

 the smelting works. The tributer supplies his own candles, fuse, powder, 

 etc as well as timber, buying them from the company at or near cost, handles 

 his own waste, and delivers his ore at the shaft. When a tributer runs a 

 prospecting drift and does not succeed in finding ore, it is not customary to 

 charge him with powder, etc. In those cases where a tributer strikes a 

 very large body of ore requiring timbering in square sets, the ground is 

 taken away from him after he has been allowed to make remunerative 

 wages. Such a fortunate strike both for the tributer and the company has 

 only occurred in one instance since the tribute system was introduced. 



