MILLION-A-YEAR EMPLOYEE ing his remarks with decimals or emphasizing his assertions in quadratics. He instinctively understood that concrete figures and a few distinct lines drawn on a scrap of paper while explaining his project were far more effective than tabulated fractional statistics and elaborate blueprints among men whose point of focus is "dividends". So he got those New York capitalists focused. He came back to Utah with a small committee of men, some expert in turning over rocks, others expert in judging property, no matter how valuable or how worthless. The old mines were bought up at bargain prices; the Utah Copper Company was formed, and the commencement of Jackling's operations was the beginning of open mining in America. Today that open mine is greater than any in the world, and no other exploitation of metal in either North or South America has been able to show a profit on ore of as low grade as one and four-tenths per cent, which they get at Bingham. "And we have only scratched the surface," asserts Jackling. "Our exhaustive tests show ore enough to pay, at present rates of production, a net profit to shareholders of $390,000,000. That's some showing!" There have been many mining engineers who are his equal-Theodore P. Shonts, for example. There have been promoters who have perhaps surpassed him in great developments-such men as James J. Hill or Charles M. Schwab. There have been financiers, such as J. Pierpont Morgan or E. H. Harriman, whose operations exceeded his, but each of these gentlemen was or is a specialist in his own line. Jackling has all the qualities of the engineer, the promoter, and the financier in a very high degree; and these qualities were quickly recognized by some of the greatest capitalists of the country. In rapid succession he was called upon to take charge of other great mines in the west-the Ray in Arizona, the Nevada Consolidated, the Chino in New Mexico, 501 the Butte and Superior in Montana. These mines, with that at Bingham, produced this year fifteen million tons of copper ore, and the pay rolls aggregate more than seventeen million dollars. If the contemplated plans for development are carried out that production will be doubled within two years. One of his old acquaintances-a man who has been in close touch with him for fifteen years said to me: "He's a wizard; not only in metallurgy, but in every other phase of business. He rescued Mercur and Bingham from oblivion, not alone by his original processes and methods, but by enlisting the big capital which the old owners had tried for years to get, and when that capital came in, he paid dividends on it-big dividends—right from the start. Those plans were sent to Seattle and the ship was built there. She's the speediest and staunchest boat that runs out of any Pacific port, and she cost him three hundred thousand dollars. That's so that he can jump on board at either port at just the moment he wants to and have the starting bells jingling before he's reached his cabin. JACKLING'S ASSISTANT, R. C. GEMMELL, IS OF MORE VALUE THAN MOST CHIEFS "When big Eastern capitalists began to look into the possibilities of Alaska, a few years ago, they came for Jackling and took him over there to examine the country. They paid him a quarter of a million dollars for his exhaustive report, and then made him consulting engineer. That was not only for what he knew about ledges and veins and ore values: it was as much because he is as good a practical underground man as any miner; as good a mechanical engineer as a mining engineer. He has invented a score of labor-saving and metal-saving appliances; and when it comes to organizing big forces and getting the very best out of them, he has no superior. "Look at the way he goes at it! After his second trip to Alaska he went over to New York and was appointed the engineer of the company. That very day he went to a firm of ship designers and ordered plans for a sea-going steam yacht to carry him to and from his job. "That's Jackling, all over!" Any rising suspicion of wild extravagance the old-time recklessness of oldtime miners-in this instance of private transportation will be dispelled by a glance at the list of industries of which this tall, well-built man from Missouri is the chief executive. From Salt Lake to Idaho and Montana, then to Seattle and Alaska, and back through Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico into Utah, means a round trip of about seven thousand miles over land and water-much of it bad travel; and this hustling multi vicepresident and general manager has made MILLION-A-YEAR EMPLOYEE that trip three times in the past fourteen months, and carried his office with him over every mile of the way. On that steamship, the Cyprus, and his private railroad car of the same name, his books, maps, drawings and papers are always at hand. Inquire for him at one of the several Salt Lake offices which might be called his headquarters, and you will probably hear:-"He was in New Mexico yesterday; is going to Nevada today, and will be here on Friday or Saturday; but you will miss him if you are not here sharply, for he'll start for Seattle on Saturday night and run over to Alaska." Outside of his regular routine of managing five great mines and two railroads, of acting as consulting engineer of the stupendous operations of the 503 fields of California. He was active in the promotion and engineering development of the greatest hydroelectric power company in the country-the Utah Power and Light Company-which has purchased a large proportion of the numerous plants in Utah and Southern Idaho and by an embracing system of transmission unified them into one gigantic public-service operation. This company will furnish power for the western section-four hundred sixty miles of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, the whole of which road will soon be electrified; and it will supply power to almost all the city and interurban street railways in Southern Idaho and Utah; and to the great mines and smelters so numerously distributed through those sections. THESE SHEDS WERE THE FIRST BUILDINGS WHICH THE ALASKA GOLD MINING COMPANY HAD AT JUNEAU-ONE OF JACKLING'S ENTERPRISES Alaska Gold Mining Company, as vicepresident of another railroad and two banks, as director of seven other great business operations, he is not infrequently called upon for expert investigations of great natural resources. He recently received a fee, in stock, of two hundred fifty thousand dollars for an exhaustive examination of the petroleum Yet with all this weight of very large and very diverse businesses, on some of which he has to give close attention to details, Mr. Jackling is never visibly hurried. Always cheerful and goodnatured, approachable and courteous, he does the thing to be done right at the proper moment and he cleans up as he goes along. One little instance will show that. I had spent a week at one of his great mining camps, and on returning to Salt Lake went to his office to get some details and statistics authenticated. As I entered I heard him order his private car, the Cyprus, to be attached to the afternoon train for New York. On the floor by his side was the travelworn heavy leather suitcase half filled with papers and blueprints, and he was tossing more into it. I told him that magazine work was not quite so hurried as newspaper work; that perhaps I might be able to wait until he had returned; but he laughed: "No! HIS FIRST PRIVATE CAR dollars a month for his suite, which includes a private ballroom. His steam yacht, the Cyprus, is equipped with every convenience and luxury to be found on a modern ocean liner. In addition to the saloons, library, and music room, there are eleven spacious staterooms for guests, and as a host Mr. Jackling puts all those resources to full use. A few months ago the family of the late E. H. Harriman, who owned the entire street railway system of Salt Lake City, decided to sell it. A hint of this was conveyed to Mr. Jackling, who proceeded to get busy. He made a hurried Even in the early days Jackling had to travel a great deal and he took his office with him on the Salt Lake and Mercur Railway. It was half baggage car and was not equipped with the comforts ordinarily denoted by the phrase "private car". I'll attend to you now. Then I'll have you off my mind." And calling in his assistant manager he spent an hour with me in setting my figures and deductions right. His headquarters are in Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, and New York, and although he keeps no private establishment he is always prepared to entertain friends lavishly. At the Hotel Utah in Salt Lake City he has a suite of seven rooms, decorated and furnished under his own order. At the St. Francis in San Francisco he pays three thousand call on the most important stockholders of the Utah Power and Light Company, then attached his car to the first train going East and interviewed the Eastern stockholders of the same company. The result was a new promotionthe Utah Light and Traction Company, which bought the entire Harriman system of street railways. The power company secured a new and tremendous output for its current, and Jackling got another direc torate. In the spring of this year a newspaper stated that Mr. Jackling would practically retire before the year expired. He has neither denied nor corroborated the rumor; but being asked about it in an interview, his eyes twinkled and he laughingly remarked in a way which somewhat belied the rumor: "Well, I'm forty-five; old enough to get out of sight, I suppose, and I'm doing it. Half the time I'm in the remote canyons of the Intermountain Region and over in the wilds of Alaska. I'm half retired, anyhow!" |