furrow is from a height of seven inches to break the or fine enough to pass through a screen with three quarter inch opening its these machines are called rod mills revolving cylinders twelve feet long six feet in diameter round and round ten of them breaking the or two pieces smaller than a grain of wheat here is what's going on inside thirty five thousand pounds of steel rod hammering against twenty eight thousand pounds of  plates whirling around seventeen times a minutes tough going for the r and for the steel rods to this is what a ten foot rod looks like after going through the mill in the rod mill much of the or is ground fine enough and requires no further grinding and this machine called a classifier floats the fine or out in sand on its way periodically a measured quantity of quicksilver is fed into the m this laboratory demonstration shows what takes place in the rod mills quicksilver and gold are brought together form a great party like mass called amalgam the heavy amount them settles to the bottom of the pulp to be captured on a c plate which also has been treated with quicksilver yes sir there is the first sign of gold we've had but you'd never know it to look at it's the amalgam is softened by the addition of more quicksilver and cleaned up  hydraulic press already now for our last change of face into gold the crushed or is now leading the rod mills on its way to the ball mills where two inch balls pound and grind grind in or so fine that two thirds will pass through a two hundred mesh screen it's all fine is that's a square inch with forty thousand openings through which this landmark plants the heavy material the aura from the overflowing clients the overflowing slime is piped to another plant for special treatments the sand is raked out of the classifiers to go on its way to the cyanide tanks lime  added to the sand fall another step in the chemical control of this complicated process water water everywhere and not a drop to drink but what you see going into that tank is gold bearing sand the water just helped it along there are twenty eight of these redwood tanks each holding seven hundred tons of science eight hours to fill a tank and twenty to drain the water from its then the top must be raked by to prevent caking and then areas for stop through the sand to provide oxygen necessary in the cyanide treatments the incoming cyanide solution goes on dissolving the particles of gold left in the sand after amalgamation and liquef it's hard to imagine gold being dissolved in a liquid like sugar in your coffee but that is exactly what cyanide solution does it turns gold into a liquid and there it is liquid gold gold in solution and a solution in that gold bearing salutes gold taken from finely ground or by the action of chemical remember the slime that clay like substance floated away in the classifiers here the last minute particles of gold are taken from it in these great presidents here is a department that is highly important the assaye operates from the time the or is mined samples are taken croston analyzed for necessary control of operation every step of the way the always tests this is for control to make sure the right procedures are followed all along the lines there is the first piece of gold we've seen and it weighs but a tiny fraction of alts at last the gold is me that is if you can call the result of all the mining grinding and processing you have just seen making gold this is the end for the small the melting pots with the heat the quicksilver is separated from the amalgam and the resulting crude bullion is taken out of the retorts in this furnace the gold precipitate is refined into crude bullion by surface of the earth's complicated machinery modern science all working together so that four tenths of an ounce of gold may be wrested from one ton of bore but there are other things important to gold mining necessary vast basically all blending to a common purpose sand filling for example here hundreds of tons of all or have been taken out something must be put back to fill the open space come batting the great rock pressures which otherwise current surface caving and to protect nearby underground workings these openings must be tightly filled but with what with sand from the mill after all or has been drawn from the shrinkage stops the stops are filled with waste barren rock then sand this loose into the broken rock for a tight fill the successful mining of marginal low grade ore is depends upon holding costs to an absolute minimum since one nine hundred thirty one homes take taxes have increased at an alarming rate and with them costs consequently great blocks of or are left in the mind lost forever because the cost of reopening the stops in the future would be prohibitive the lighter area is marginal or the black is or increased costs because shrinkage in the mine a bill or shorter life for home states and in estimable loss to its employees and to the state of south dakota it's another engineering department has a highly important function in the homestake mining operations mechanical engineering this department has to do with maintenance service and operation every year this department makes sense sharpens over one and a quarter million pieces of drill steel for use in the mines special steels for one hundred and one other uses are kept on hand at all times many kinds of special shop machinery are needed so that the mine and all other departments may receive prompt service and a supply of special parts and equipments over four thousand feet of ventilating pipe are made an provide helpful ventilation at all depths the foundry produces over two million pounds of iron castings every year repair work such as this for the maintenance and operation of holies crushers  conveyors air compressors mine pumps and boilers is constantly going on work as delicate as adjusting and balancing a fine scales on the repair of massive equipment weighing several tons it's all in  heat hundreds of tons of dirt are removed daily to expose the age old bed of coal and then deep down into the bed of call nearly a hundred feet goes the charge of explosives there plant at home a stake called to turn the wheels of industry everything completely automatic clean and efficient distilled water is used in the boilers to protect them against corrosive here it is breed promise to drop nearly seven hundred feet below into one of homes takes hydroelectric plants fifty nine million kilowatts each year from hydro plants and see enough to light all of south dakota cities all use in her great industry the mining of gold new construction and improvements that will mistake require tens of thousands of sacks of cement all of which come from south dakota is rapid city cement plan crushed rock in great quantities to keep pace with the company's needs this is all supplied by the lead city crushing plants bricks hundreds of thousands of them for home steak and for south dakota are made by private enterprise at nearby bell foods south dakota raw materials for new construction south dakota raw materials for a great south dakota enterprise it's more raw material in the towering these giants of nature are the backbone of the mining industry timber for the mines scientific methods are used in logs no haphazard cutting no waste in the great pine forests inspection before cutting weeding out process that gives the young trees a place in the sun when the trees are stripped of their branches they are loaded on trucks for transportation to the sawmills no place for oxen or horses now big these o's do the work in good weather and bad this big fellow is going to the mind of the ground from a tiny seedling to a mighty giant of nature back to the ground to hold it up as man's great a lion in the streets timber for the mind and a lot of it what you see here is about one year's supply all that lumber goes into the homestake mine in a single year you might wonder where it all comes from it's it all comes from areas like this but through selective cutting and reforestation there is no here is a typical reforested area yair there's plenty of timber and plenty of beauty in the black hills for the generations of today and the generations of tomorrow it's almost a clogging meets high standards of conservation and cutting thinning reforestation and fire prevention trained men protect its own holdings and cooperate in emergencies on the public domain industry means science raw materials mints from the grizzled prospector of yesteryear to the great homestake organization of today a pioneer in the mining of gold yes but a pioneer in the development of a greater claim the employee here his family as well received advice counsel treatment and care from an expert staff of physicians and trained nurses at no expense a liberal pension system adopted by  homestake in nineteen seventeen is an added comfort to those nearing the sunset of lights and for the employees training in safety first aid and mine rescue an accident rate only one half of that for the american mining industry as a whole played to is stressed at home state and there's plenty of it for the employees and for all the citizens of leeds this three hundred thousand dollar recreation erected by the company in one thousand fourteen and includes a library with the knowledge of the world compressed into twenty six thousand volumes and all this costs the community not one cent these men are veterans veterans of industry veterans of home states every one of them has been employed for twenty one years or more right now there are more than four hundred members of the homestake veterans associates this gentleman mr william lying as worked with homestake for more than fifty years just a temporary job if your musically inclined there is a band and a good one too bass drum big horns piccolo's the whole works a makes good music happiness about then why not they are happy happy in the service of a company of which they are parts most of the employees of homestake are homeowners secure in the knowledge of constant stable employment employment which has maintained a steady level through the years regardless of the trials of the time that is a basic homestake policy yes men are the most important thing at home state men from the north the east the south the west men from the south dakota prairie men from lands across the sea men seeking life liberty and the pursuit of happiness under our flag and constitution these men know that they are a part of homestake a part of an institution that is as much south dakota as the black hills country from which it has grown a part of the great industries in this state which contributes so many raw material to the operation of this enterprise these men know that their success the security of their families and the twenty five thousand people in the great state of south dakota who are directly or indirectly affected by this industry