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1951 Golden Cycle
Corporation |
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Stock Code GCC1951 |
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Certificate number 20001, dated 28th June 1951 for seven shares of capital stock of
$10 each in this Cripple Creek based gold mining and treatment company.
Issued to Fred W Miller with the
original handwritten signatures of Max W Bowen, president together with that
of the company secretary. Ornate brown border with a vignette of the
company's mill, which at the time was the largest cyanide mill in the United
States with a daily capacity of 1200 tons of gold ore.
Certificate size is
20 cm high x 28 cm wide. It will be mounted in a mahogany frame upon
request.
About This Company |
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Framed Certificate Price : £70.00
Certificate Only Price : £25.00 |
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About This
Company |
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Golden Cycle Corp. was incorporated in
November 1895 as the Golden Cycle Mining Co., the name changed in April,
1915 to The Golden Cycle Mining and Reduction Co. and in July, 1929, the
name again changed to The Golden Cycle Corp. The Company began as a mining
company, but later entered the milling business and when it was acquired by
the Carlton interests, it was still further diversified. The original Golden
Cycle Mining Co. was owned largely by the John T Milliken Interests of St.
Lewis, MO., who sold 95 percent of the capital stock to A. E. Carlton in
March of 1915. The Carlton interests then acquired the Midland Railroad just
prior to World War 1, but during the war all but the branch line, called the
Midland Terminal Railroad, was abandoned. Thus within a period of very few
years the Carlton’s had acquired active mines in the Cripple Creek-Victor
District, the Golden Cycle Mill and the Pikes Peak Fuel Co. in Colorado
Springs, as well as the main railroad serving the District.
The Carlton brothers, usually referred to as A. E. and L.G. were very
farsighted and realized that to have a well integrated operation they should
have first a continuing source of or, the transportation facilities to get
the ore to their mill in Colorado Springs, as well as ore haulage in the
District-which they had developed under the name of The Colorado Trading and
Transfer Co.-and a coal mine (Pikeview Mine) to furnish fuel for the
roasting of District ores and used later to generate power to run the mill
and coal mine. Also, since business was unusually good in the District, they
acquired control of a bank, which has been the only bank operating in the
District for many years.
The Carlton’s also branched out into the beet sugar business having acquired
control and operated The Holly Sugar Corp. and the Franklin County Sugar Co.
and other subsidiary companies active in the sugar and petroleum businesses.
After the closing of the Portland Gold Mining Co.’s Independence Mill at
Victor, Colo., in 1928, the Golden Cycle Mill continued to treat all of the
ore mined in the Cripple Creek District with the exception of two brief
periods when the Cameron Mill treated the ore from the Cameron Mine and when
the Cripple Creek District with the exception of two brief periods when the
Cameron Mill treated the ore from the Cameron Mine and when the Cripple
Creek Mill was built on Globe Hill in the District to treat the ore from the
Stratton Estate properties and also that ore from the Carbonate Queen Mine,
which was owned by the John T Milliken Estate. Neither of these mills
operated for long, primarily for lack of suitable tonnage.
The original Golden Cycle Mill burned in 1907, and was rebuilt. The new mill
had its first full year’s operation in 1908, and through 1949 had treated
13,564982 tons of ore from the Cripple Creek District and 794,280 tons from
other districts in Colorado or a total of 14,359,262 tons having a gross
value of $182,961,359.00. This value is based upon $ 20.00 per ounce price
for gold up to and including 1934, and $ 35.00 per ounce value thereafter.
It is seen from the total value of all ore shipped from the Cripple Creek
District ($463,000,000.00), the Golden Cycle Mill treated over 40 per cent
of this ore. The gold content of the Cripple Creek ore varied from 0.30
ounces per ton to 1.08 ounces per ton. Based on a price of $ 35 per ounce,
the value varied from $10.50 to $37.80 per ton.
The Golden Cycle Mill installed Edwards-Type roasters when it was being
rebuilt after the fire, and since this type roaster had proven so successful
in Australia where ore similar to District ore was being milled, these
roasters gave the best results obtained to that time on Cripple Creek ores.
This accounted largely for the success of the early operation of the Golden
Cycle Mill and its long continuous operation.
The Carlton’s decided in 1929 to add a flotation unit to the Golden Cycle
Mill for treating base metal as well as gold-silver ores from other parts of
Colorado. The writer joined the Cycle Mill staff at that time and designed
such a plant, which was installed, and it continued to operate until the
Cycle Mill closed in early 1949. This flotation section treated gold,
silver, lead, copper, zinc ore, making a shipping grade of lead-copper and
zinc concentrates; the flotation tails were treated in the cyanide plant to
recover any remaining gold-silver values.
The treatment of base metal ores was discontinued in the middle or late
1930’s as the base metal market became so depressed that the flotation plant
was used most of the time to treat Cripple Creek dump and low grade mine
ores. The roasting process was thereby eliminated on a large tonnage of head
ore, as only about 3 per cent of the tonnage (the pyrite concentrate) had to
be roasted.
However, at the beginning of the World War II, it was deemed advisable to
again resume the milling of base metal ores produced in Colorado, since by
so doing they were permitted to continue to operate the Cripple Creek
District on a limited scale. This contributed greatly to the war effort as
they were treating approximately 400 tons of base metal ore per day,
producing lead/copper concentrates and zinc concentrates which were shipped
to the smelters. However, at the end of the war the base metal mining
industry in Colorado suffered greatly, so they were not justified in
continuing treating this type of ore in the floatation plant (which resulted
the Cycle Mill discontinuing the purchase of base metal ores). This section
of the mill resumed the treatment of low grade and dump ore until the Cycle
Mills was closed.
The Pikes Peak Fuel Division, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Golden Cycle
Corp., produced and sold lignite coal at its Pikeview Mine, located just
north of Colorado Springs, for many years. During the World War II period,
the power plant at Pikeview, having a capacity in excess of 8000 kilowatts,
served in a standby capacity to the city of Colorado Springs, thereby
insuring the city of sufficient power capacity to serve the numerous armed
services establishments in the region.
The Fuel Division also operated a sand, crushed rock and gravel business,
supplying most of the concrete aggregate used in the region for the past
several years. Prior to abandoning the railroad in 1949, crushed rock
aggregate was produced in the Cripple Creek District and shipped to Colorado
Springs by rail.
The Corporation operated the Midland Terminal Railroad as a wholly owned
subsidiary from the time of World War I until 1949. The main tonnage in
recent years was ore, crushed rock and ballast gravel all of which amounted
to as much as 1500-1600 tons per day, plus a freight haul back to Cripple
Creek. However, at the close of World War II, the operations in the District
had become so disrupted that the tonnage of ore being shipped did not
justify the continued operation of the railroad—especially since the railway
unions made exorbitant demands. Consequently, the Corporation abandoned the
operation, sold the rail and rolling stock and simultaneously decided to
move the mill to the Cripple Creek District.
The Carlton Mill, which was completed and started treating ore in May 1951,
was similar to the Cycle Mill, so far as treatment processes used. However,
the knowledge gained through processing Cripple Creek ores for nearly 40
years helped to develop new techniques, so that one might say that the
Carlton Mill was a newly improved Cycle Mill.
Source: www.goldencycle.com |
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