Correspondence, Levi Syphus to Dr. W.E. Neel

V Dr W.E.Heel Los Angelas, C a lif, My dear j)r.Neel: St•Thomas,1evada July I lt h , 1927 Rather looks now as i f everything in the w^y o f a salt deal is o f f , but one of the parties may possibley ooBie across, altho both that have been hanging on ,in their la s t communications, wan ted terms we could not give ,and i f their representations are true neither w ill try further. Thev mav howeve* been b lu ffin g . J * P 16 f 811 Salt Lake People,among other things,requested k reduction of royalty from #.75 ask by me, to #.50 per ton, I to understand the royalty would be redueed to the y*50 figu re,p ossibley they may go on but scarcley think so. Never did get to the poin of quoting Longstreth a royalty p rice, he h«s been so fa r o ff in his other propositione,from what would be acceptable to the company,th^t I have not deemed i t afvisable to quote him a figure With reference to the §2,000 worth of tools etc, claimed by Union Finace Company,and now on the sa lt property, we have never done anything about them; Thay are Just as they were,and to date the property has not been bothered. a ® t o o k the position in the tool matter,that &&&&& being on the property of the compan/unpaid fo r, could not prevent the company taking over it s own property^ from the lessees, That in as much as our company or it s representatives never had any communication ftt with Union Finace Company,never made any claim upon or for the said tools to it,nevery had any notice from i t that i t claimed said tools u n t lll a fte r i t had tHken over it s own property,that is our company never had any notice from Union Finace u n t ill a fte r our company had taken over it s own property,and since then,or at a ll,h a s not communicated with union Finace by way o f &&&&&&&&& either admitting or denying it s claims to the tools,and th e re fo re ,if the tools do belong to Union Einaoe Company i t cannot hold our company repponsible fo r them unless i t can show our company handled or did away with the tools, fo r which reason we have le ft them Just as they la id when £n/§ we took over the property, In our opinion i t i s up to Union pin&ce to come and get it s property i f i t has any,we have not said i t did or did not have it,V irg in River Salt company took back it s own property,which,in our opinione,does not obligate our company to take c^re o f or to be responsible for any bodies property that was on i t at the time,and i f i t is sblen before they come and get i t that is their business,not ours.therefor matters are Just as they were. Union Salt Company did not comply with the demand ©ur company made page— d upon i t fo r the deed,called fo r under the le&se, therefore our company’s property is not cleared from the le®se;th&t ie,because of the lease being of record we could not give a clear abstract of t i t le to the property i f we had occasion to do so ,fo r which reason the matter should be cleared up. I do not think there is ap.y p o s s ib ility of Union Salt Company giving the deed &nd therefore it seems e v id e n t our company w ill have to act to clear it s t i t l e . It is the opinion of the majority of the local directors,that in as much as we w ill have to $ake action at some time to clear t i t l e , i t might better be done in the near future, and in doing it also clear up the tool matter;And should i t develop said tools are the property of our company we should take care of them,but i f not Union Finance Company should be n o tifie d to take care o f them and clear them o ff of the property. I re c a ll writing you for advise as to having an attorney advise us as to whether or not our company could hold said to o ls ,and that you agreed witfce me t&at we should do so, but to date we have not consulted one. Unless Union Salt company fights back,through technical delays^, it should be a simple matter to clear our t i t l e . I f it does figh t back the fin a l result w ill be the same, but w ill make it cost con siderably more. Our proposition is , that Virgin River Salt Company employ an attorney in the near fu tu re,lay the tool matter before him,and i f he advises we can hold them,then have the suite fo r t i t le cover the tools also , but i f he advises to the contrary,that we notify Union Finace Co. to remove them from the property, and proceed with a sute to clear t i t l e . Please advise whether or not you agree with this proposition, Am sending a copy of this le tte r to Mrs George,requesting sim ilar advise from here^. Director Bonelli recognises that t i le w ill have to be cleared sometime and is w illin g that what-ever^ the majotity agrees upon is a llr ig h t , but it is distressing to him #o think o f having to pay out anything. I f inundation of the property ever comes, or i f we ever made sale of the property through any other heading the t i t l e would have to be cleared up; We could lease i t , i f we had an opportunity to do do, but because of the cloud would have to assume the respon sibility of keeping the new lessees harmless and in posession of the property as against the former lessees , which would be safe enough, but eventualley we must clear up the t it le and it eeesm to us it might a@ well be done now, and the tool matter cleared up as w e ll. Please advise. The wether here is s t iflin g the past few days,and I am so knocked out by it,th a t I h&vent the energy to rewrite this le tte r,so please figu re out what I intended to have said and give me the ben ifit of your advise. Have been in the h i lls a few days at a time recentley,and expect in a week or so to get away fo r more prolonged periods. I f anything shows up in the way of a deal th is week w ill advise you, but I rether look now fo r matters to be p ritty quiete u n t ill after hot wether is ove, I am comming to think, alsojdthat p o s s ib ilitie s o f inundation is having a goo deal to do with p a rtie s desireing. to dea l On s a lt , I f the Salt Lake meeting between the sefcen states,to be held next month^ brings results it w ill j beleieve help us. Truly yours page— 2. Longatretha negotiations are fox a lease fox himself,&d not for th© Western Salt Company# From the enclosed, Ofpy o f ray le tte r to him you w ill see ,by inferenoe,the character of leas© be ie a ft»r,a n d the uort of a proposition I h ve put up to him. His representative. Mr Stevens came in night before last end le ft yesterday morning .( by the way I gave him a le tte r o f introduce ion to you#tut do not spend any money on him because of i t , but I wanesd you to ci~e n m u p ), H© brottgc**u witift njm the d raft ©t a lease? Longstretft had c u se a *o »© prepared, |mf thing m t» rotten throughout, I gave Stevens to uaderutaJvithc company would execute no eitcti le*©e an4 the reasons why, Bu:- h« contended,on every objectionable feature o f I t , that Long-etreth did not, intend, what i t seemed to mean,and thet in prin ciple he 3U*»t tu ft I cont©naeu fo r fu r the uompsny on those eemed he i f their intention was to find© out juut bow dim* w© are,and to get &«oy with every advantage the$r could* wan w illin g uO grant 4, O 0.1 w X Lj i i ty i. c xb&iuxcs. It Stevens was very positive Longs troth would dealon the terms I m rationed, excepting, that he xould not agree to expend any defin it Amount «on iaip.romchta,.or fo r any d e fin it iiiiprovmenta,or fo r the production of any d efin it grades of s a lt. I informed him I rlid not have‘authority to w#iv© those pointa>ond would have to get authority from the Board to waive them,and that I did not know whether or not it, would be granted. Tli ft ho is f t or ie a lease,u n der-h lch he could speculate for three months before he .ould have to do anything. It reeolvee i t s e l f , in that respect, to about the statue of the-Kay lor Green leased, there is this iniii'w favor,hccover,-und that its,.taut he knows the salt business a nd pxobabley is acting in good faith ifch the intention of building up &• business fo r himself ana his friends. | informed nta yeng we U l | not grant « lease to any one who was not fin an cially able to go through with it * ana tiiiii't v..& ix-• condition precedent tongstreth would have to show such a b ilit y . He a * urod me he could,and would immediatley forward ’ plen ti fu l ani satisfactory bank references on that acor© Which he could I am '/ai tin g fo r vhoe© also. I t is* my opinion they v^li the w ill go ahead and make r and i i they get such improvmenta be necessary fo r getting out th© various grades of roatualt, i iUiOt -?£ ford- my trip to loa huge lea an* our a*torole! fee to p i p i'Op 0 X" i» ’ at & ? > jt -XX LjIX t* '• v jS px^pajf©' months. my le tte r him. j JJ .......BP... .. . JH.. V ___HHI. . You and Mrs Georg© w illin g to pay the expence of my trip down fo r 46bhapv ng the lease and concluding the negotiation©,that is w illin g f®r the company to pay them, you see i t might blow up t*t« the Isaac.,and then .perhaps have them f a l l • down For that reason I have ask about hi a puttin; x f h © a gr © c s t the end of three p the ||5Q &c per to it^ What I want to know is ,a re at the last .eavenif he comes on ,and the company be out those expenoep. I 11 also expect the Five per cent commiesion,as on e-ending. copy of th is tc MX - George, other lease, Please advise)Am with Longatreth is in such jo, and posalbley may,, hat we can cut Sen Frncisoo JL11 0 t b 'j w desire to do so,and poseid ley we may, s have aha/rt up again,but not in a d efin it ma^.nner , but it and w ill develop within the oomming ten d ay s,if at a l l , It him i f we It Lake people looks apoida:',, dc a 1 fo r d e fin i wi li. pu!; u the OQUidli Mpi X i. hi. 0 from Uio I j a better n get with Longstretfe. i e ,here,favor t/e-iving the demand expenditures and for d efin it productions of s a l t , i f Longetreh the $6:>0>and i f also a bet ter def;-l does not develop a.l thin ton daya. Please advin© immediatley, i f you approve th is, ?ayiaont of my dxpenoea, I believe you i l l aee how flings stand ;o-,oing, therefore | w ill ring o f f • Under the • lap a© ft* v i l l i to pay in the 5w$0 per month,et ,th© rate o f |.:50 per-ton X wJ aa. ©a. \Tery truly , your a / /fa St•Thomas,Nevada July I l t h , 1927 Mrs Sadie B George Los Angeles, C a lif. Dear Madam:- Heve your recent date with the second *50 remittane on magnesite work. Said work is now completed and I have one of the hoys promise that he w ill waite a few weeks for the balance of hie pay,so j think i t w ill be a llr ig h t . You see, I fa ile d to get my wages from Union Salt Company,that is to the amount of near two hundered dollars,and i t leaves me a l i t t l e short. Before the lease was can celled ,I, as agent fo r union gait Company, moved something lik e flOO.OO worth of salt to gt.Thomas,thinking perhaps i t wpuld turn same to me on my wages, but to date it has fa ile d to comply with my request to do so,which leaves the matter in such form that I w ill have to sue and get judgment before 1 can take said salt,and i t is not worth i t , since there is l i t t l e sale fo r it* Herewith j am enclosing you a le tte r , that is the copy of a le tte r I have this mail written Dr.NeeJ./^ from i t you w ill be able to see how matters stand as to p o s s ib ilitie s o f a salt deal in so fa r as I know them^.Please write me your views on the questions I have ask in my le tte r to Neel. Notying a t a ll further on the magnesite,excepting equiries that require answering,but resu lt in nothing, I am,however,very hopful of something comming out of my friends effo rts with the metal end of i t , but i t takes a long time. I am plugging along with my e ffo rts at a process, but cant get through with i t fo r lack o f finances, I am,however, passing away time with i t and possibley learning a l i t t l e . i t is so very warm I cannot write very much,but from this and the other le tte r you w ill get an idea of how matters are in a general way. Very truly yours P.S.Get an answer to me by the end of this week i f you can as to the questions I h^ve ask in Neels le t t e r . L.W.S?