Smelter enlargement

Reprint of this story from the October 13, 1905 issue of The Grand Encampment Herald brought to you courtesy of Grandma's Cabin, Encampment, Wyoming. Preserving History - Serving the Community.

Penn-Wyoming

Company Suspends

Operations to Double Capacity of Plant

The positive assurance that a railroad is to be built into Encampment has caused the Penn-Wyoming Copper Company to order a temporary suspension of operations.

There will be but a short period of inactivity, however, and when this big company resumes again it will be on a scale of such magnitude that the past achievements, as important as they have been, will appear small indeed.

The Herald has secured official information from the Penn-Wyoming management concerning its present and future operations with permission to give publicity to the same.

The promoters of the Walcott-Encampment railroad proposition have convinced the Penn-Wyoming company that the railroad is actually to be built and in operation not later than the first of next April, barring interventions of Providence.

Railroad transportation will enable the Penn-Wyoming company to save about two and one-half cents on every pound of blister copper shipped from the Encampment smelter, by reducing the cost of coke approximately fifty percent or more, and by cutting off the expense of a forty-five mile wagon haul of the smelter product. This will make a tremendous difference in the profits accruing to the company. Thus it is the part of business wisdom to stop making copper until this saving can be effected.

In accordance with the instructions of the board of directors, therefore, the Haggarty mine was shut down last week and on Sunday night the tramway buckets were turned bottom up to the sun and the cables ceased running.

The mill and smelter are still in operation but these will be closed as soon as the present supply of coke is exhausted. The last car of coke is now being hauled in from the railroad and no more will be brought in until it can be unloaded directly from the cars into the smelter bins.

The smelter will probably run until the end of this month. The transportation horses are being taken off the road and a deal is pending to sell the entire outfit to the railroad company to be used in grading work. It is very probable that this disposition will be made of these horses.

On the first of January the company intends to put a force of men at work making extensions on the present smelter buildings preparatory to putting in a large steam power outfit, which will be one of the first loads of freight to be brought into Encampment over the new railroad, also to increase the concentrating and smelting capacity so far as to enable the plant to handle all the custom work of the district.

With the extensive developments now in progress and the quantities of ore in sight in the numerous mines of the district it is expected that the smelter will need to be increased to twice its present capacity to handle local business. But all demands will be met-at least that is the present intention of the company.

Work is also to be resumed at the mine in January. Deeper development of the ore bodies will be carried on through the winter. No attempt at production will be made until the railroad reaches Encampment.

With these great improvements sure to take place with the coming months the entire Encampment district looks forward to a season of unexampled prosperity in 1906.