Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1859-11-29
Translated from The Gaiena Correspondent, by E
RIkDkLL
The Lead Region of the North West.
No.

! Under this title an article appeared in No. 6
/ of our paper, Il, serihing the manner in which
| Mr.. Robert George of Mineral Point EXTRACTS
from Dry bone pure Zine metal. and we will
now continue to impart furthc- information re-
sardiig this inte. esing establishment.
In Mineral Point, Galena. Dubuque and per
haps in many other localities of the Lead Re
gion, the so-called Blackjack is found in i'm
mense quantities. mixed with lead ore and a.
useless thrown away. This Blackjack is known
RS combination of Zinc anil Sulphur and con-
tains larger percentage of Zinc than DR., bone
1t Is, however very difficult To separate the
Zinc from the Sulphur,-and the method of des-
sulphurating the ores by fire. which is applied
in Europe, requires not only very expert hands.
which we cannot get here, but also too much
labor. which account of high wages, would
undoubtedly prove Improbable, and therefore
quite irupracticabie. Mr.. George i. as able a
chemist rs he is practical snelter, and has
now, after diligcut experimenting discovered
new process OF desulphuration. which is much
more successful than the old method requires
IN comparison less coal and besides Black jack,
c,,n be applied to sulphurous Iron ores He hns
already made the necessary application in
W Washington Ia secure this Important invention
by Patent, and the same if 1t proves itself rs
Important on a large scale as Mr. George CONT
IDENTIFY expects it Will do. must exercise an i'm
nense influence upon the whole mining region
in the United States and other parts of Amer
lea
These Zinc ores generally accompany the lay
ers OF mineral, (lead ore) and not seldom wholly
Il. -.
state are much harder than other stones, it can
be assumed with great probability. that many
such diggipgs where the Blackjack was cover
ing the minera! in massive volume. were left BY
the miners. .bcc1.use thep were vaueless to them.
and the raising TO the surface would have re-
quired too much labor. If in future. only the
digging of Zine secures to the miner his
daily wages. 80 will he thereby gain the nett
profit of the mineral without all cost and the art
of mining a small, well large scale,
will by tins profitable application of the Zinc
ores, secure larger rentability than has hereto
fore been the case.
Since Mr.. George has proved the making of
Zinc out of Dry 70 full satisfaction-noi-
withsianding the doubts entertained many
sdes-so the expectation ii al his newly disc..v-
cred process of desalphuraiion Of Blackjack will
prove successful, is confirmed and this sub
ject. in this particular case. Is of immense im-
portancc, We shall in future pay it our full at
tention, and soon give further report
As is well known. the Zinc is not only used
as metal and as such manufactured, bot is Also
used TO make ZInc-white, and is used in the
composition OF Brass, in which ten parts of Zinc
! ,aI -;tI
the mixture of other metals 1t is used ia Ma
chine-shops and foundries in large quantities.
and lis application Will become more universal,
the more furnaces are built in our Lead Region
for the purpose of smeltin, these inexhaustibie
masses of Zinc ores.
Mr. George exhibited at the Iowa Co Fair,
several pigs of Zinc, and also pyramid Of drop
Zinc, which attracted the universal attention Of
visitors and for which deserved premium was
/