The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-02-22

The first room in the regular order Of
the business Of the mint, iS the deposit
room. Here the metal is taken ami weigh
ed, and receipt given. The gold is then
taken to the melting room, where each
deposit is melted separately, in black
lead cFueib!e, and upon the melted mass
saltpeIre and soda are thrown and stirred
round to oxydize the base metals, and
the guild and more sterling metals, thor
oughly mixed, are cast into bar. After
being taken to the weight-rOoin and
weighed, it is ready for the assay depart
ment The aSsayer, with chisrl, chips
utf 4 corner from the bar, aud the chip is
Il.ltVd- aud east into q button, to give it n
round form, so that it may be easily rolled
out. II is rolled into ribbon and filed
down until it weighs exactly ten grains,
weighed by a scale which turns at the
thouSandth part of grain. The ribbon
is rolled up with sheet lead, placed in a
cup called "cupel, made Of calrined bone
ashes, and placed in a heat sufficient to
melt the gold, and the base metals. cop
per, tin, ETC., are absorbed by the porous
material Of the "cupel, or carried off in
oxydation, the gold is then pure, except
an admixture Of silver. The button is
again rolled out into a ribbon about as
thick as ordinary letter paper, and boiled
in nitric acid, which dissOlves the silver
and leaves the gold pure, which is weighed,
and the amount it has lost gives an exact
measure Of the quantity Of impurity 10
the original bar. Thus, il the piece as.
sayed weighs nine grains, then nine-tenths
of the bar is pure gold and the clerk in
the deposit room can Immediately give a
certificate Of the amount of coin due the
depositor.
After the bars have been asSayed, they
are, as general rule. thrown in together,
as the property Of the mint. The first
process in the graduating room, is to
melt the gold with twice the weight of
silver; and while melted, it is poured into
water mixed with little nitric acid, aud
the metal falls to the bottom in fine gains.
The graduated gold is taken out, and cast
into fifteen gallons Of nitric acid. These
pots sit in hot water, heated by steam,
and the boiling acid soon leaves the gold
pure from all silver, copper, lead, tin, zinc,
lor other base spetaiS. f. Is agsAn 'laken'
out, filtered, washed, dried, and again ia
ken to the melting room, where it is melted
with nine per cent. Of copper and one per
cent. of silver, to make it Of the standard
alloy of nine hundred thOusandthS fine.
The gold thus allOyed is run into bars
one foot long and an inch thick, and Of
the proper width for coin, from an inch
and a-half for double engles, down to half
an inch for dollars. The bars are delivered
to the coiner.
The cuiner's first process is to put the
bars through the 'ling mill, which has
two heavy rollers If cast steel, ten inches
long and eight inches in diameter, rolling
together The bars are thus rolled out
number Of times, until they are nearly
the proper thickness Of the coin. The
rolling mill is male so that the bars can
be rolled out to any thickness The bars,
when rolled out several times, become
somewhat brittle, and are then ;aken to
the annealing room. This room contains
large furnace of brirk-work, with long
chambers to receive the bars, which are
placed in ii and heated to a eherry-red
color. The gold is thus made softer and
more ductlle, and is again taken to the
rolling mill, rolled sufficiently, and again
annealed. previous to being dawn. The
bars cannot be rolled out to an exactly
equal thickness, and to secure exactneSS
il this respect, the bar is drawn through
an orilice in piece of steel, and this ur
lice being somewhat smaller than the bar
rs rolled, reduces the whole to the SANE
exact width and thickness. The bar, not
quite as thick as the coin, is taken thence
to the cutting machine, which, by punch
cuts out from the bar round pieces, lit t
larger than the coin. These pieces are
called blanks. They are carried to the
annealing room, again annraltd, and then
washed with soap and water. They are
then taken to the adjusting room. Here
each blank is weighed separately, AMI
made the exact weight for the coin. II
too heavy, the blank is filed down; if to"
light, it is thrown into box. to he re.
melted. The work in this room is done
entirely by women. The adjusted blanks
are run through the milling machine,
which congresses them to the exact d.
ameter of the coin and raises the edge
The purpose of making the edge thicker,
is to make the coin pile neatly, to protect
the figures and to improve the general
appearance. About two hundred and
fifty blanks are milled in minute.
The millrd blanks are carried hack to
the anneaing rom, placed in an air-,ight
caSt-iron box and put into the furnace tn
be annealed, so that they will take the
impression well. When they are at a
cherry-red heat, they are taken out and
Immediately thrown into water with a ht-
tie sulphuric acid. This softens and
cleans the gold. The blanks are taken
out, washed with cold water, put into hot
water again, taken out, mixed in with
saw dust, which is then Siftcd off, and the
blanks are dried and perfectly clean.
They are then taken to the coming and
milling room and stamped. The coming
machine is elegant and massive. The
blanks are placed in tube or pipe, from
which the machine takes them, one bv
one, puts them between the dies, stamps
them, throws them out of the die, and
carries them down into box, and they
are then delivered to the Treasurer and
are ready for circulation.
About one.fnurth of the gold yield Of
the coast goes to the San Francisco mint,
the only mint on the coast The treasure
: exports tcclN San francisco in 1860, W re
$40, 1875, 9l6; the gold deposits Of the
mint during the same period, amounted
to $ll,2l9,209. About SOL 900, 900 were
therefore exported in unrehnrd bars and
/ dust, \ small portion Of the expt,,t was
silver. The number Of d, posts made at
the mint in 1860 was 4,84l, showing that
the average value of the deposits was
$2,27l. The gold coinage Of the year
amounted to $ll, 5000, of which $lO,-
800. 900 was in double-eagleS. and $l79,.
600 in smaller pieces. OF silver, $2j4,-
900 was coined in halfdollars. quarter
dollars and dimes; and S2l6,G7s in refined
silver bars. No three cent pieces, copper
or nickel, have ever been coined in Cali
fornia, nor are they used in the country.
and half Cstnac yifIoJFa