Big merger will include Rudefeha

Reprint of this story from the July 18, 1902 issue of The Grand Encampment Herald brought to you courtesy of Grandma’s Cabin, Encampment, Wyoming. Preserving History - Serving the Community.

BIG MERGER WILL

INCLUDE RUDEFEHA

Ferris-Haggarty Copper Mining Company Options the Mine

The North American Copper Co. has secured an option on the Ferris-Haggarty mine. The option was dated July 15 1902, and will expire August 15. Charles P. Clemmons represented the Ferris- Haggarty Copper Mining Company and Willis George Emerson represented the North American Copper Company in the negotiations.

The securing of the option means practically that the mine is bought, and added to the several interests of the camp recently merged into one concern under the head of the North American Company. The enterprises included are the Boston-Wyoming Smelter, Power & Light Co., the Southern Wyoming Tramway Co., the Grand Encampment Townsite Co., the “Copper” State Bank, the Kurtz-Chatterton Copper Mining Co., the Frambach Water Works Company, the Emerson Electric Light Co., and last but not least the Ferris-Haggarty Copper Mining Company,

As has been previously stated in the Herald, John W. Carey, president of the Mine & Smelter Supply Co., of Denver, is interested in the big merger, and he is now in conference with his local superintendent, B. C. Riblet, concerning the improvements planned for the immediate future. These improvements will include the enlarging of the smelter to 500 tons daily capacity, the building of a concentrator, the addition of a converter, and the construction of a 1000-horse power electric plant. The power for this plant will doubtless be generated from the south fork of the Encampment River.

W. C. Henry, who is a stockholder in the big company and who was present in Denver during the recent negotiations for the Ferris-Haggarty mine, states that work on the improvements as noted above will be commenced at once, and pushed to completion with all possible speed.

TRAMWAY NOTES

Thad Kyner, time keeper for the tramway, finds his duties constantly increasing, as the camps are getting more numerous and the trip longer. The trip now requires two days, Kyner making a Paul Revere ride up to Rudefeha one day and a Phil Sheridan sprint back to the smelter the following day, and so on. Two-hundred thirty -four men are now employed.

The rebuilding of the road to Bridger Peak and the Ferris-Haggarty mine is now completed and is as good a mountain road as has ever been built. A new camp has been built on the Continental Divide, northwest of Battle, and at Archer’s saw mill about two miles from the mine. The wagon road up Cow Creek canyon past the Blackfoot tunnel site connects the saw mill camp with the old road which has been improved and rebuilt for several miles leading into the canyon.

The work of clearing the right-of-way has been finished, and the course of the tram is free from obstructions of any nature. The right-of-way is one hundred feet wide, and in some places had to be cut through heavy timber and down timber.

The big boiler and engine for the first transfer station have been installed, and the machinery for the second station is being set up.

The fourth section of the tramway from Cow Creek to the mine will contain two spans of cable two thousand feet in length. Prospective passengers over the aerial line will please bear in mind the fact that the exhilaration which will be caused by the acceleration during this particular portion of the trip will give you a new and tight tension of the nerves of which you have little dreamed while riding in the chaise or the auto. The loop-de-loop at the Pan-Am will be but mild in comparison.