They bent their heads together over the figures. After a little Stevens read the following tabulation:—
2 shafts of 100 feet each @ 20.00 . . . . . . . $4,000.00
Cross-cuts and drifts, say . . . . . . . . . . . 1,200.00
Pump and hoist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000.00
1-10 of the cost of mill (there were ten
claims) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000.00
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Initial expense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $8,200.00
"That thar figger," observed Billy, "brings her right up to date without no squealin' whatever. Yere you figgers on taking good hard rock out of four hunderd foot of tunnel an' shaft. Lots of that is pay quartz. You got to figger that you gets some return out of it all. They's a good many ton of ore in four hundred foot of shaft!"
"That is true," said Murphy. "There won't be eight thousand outlay without any return."
"Yore dead right!" agreed Billy.
"Let that go for now," interrupted Stevens. "We can call that 'velvet.' Now what we want to know is, what will be the working expense of converting the ore into gold when the initial expense is over?"
"Call her about five dollars," replied Billy promptly.
Stevens consulted the assay table. "The ore on the Great Snake as shown by samples taken from various spots in the prospect shaft averages $8.55," said he. He figured for a moment. "Allow $3.00 a ton profit at twenty tons a day, it would take only a little over four months to catch the initial expense."
"Of course there's your running expenses of a camp," suggested Frank.
"Oh yes, but look at the margin to cover them."