New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-08-24


base Of White Pine Mountain, and have been FOL
lowed in some hundreds Of feet, but as yet no
coal mine has been found, and an III
doubt as to there being any in this section:
In the Mckee. MOke Mountain on the odoI Vi
Treasure Mountain, beds of bitumnous-snaie winch
burns freely, have been found ms hl'eii"I i"Ao'
hot fire, but leaves much refuse sag anu aSne'
that IL cannot be used to advantage IN ordinary
frnaces lint some way may be discovered for utll-
iznq il when If is required Ultimately the Iuei
question will become serious one LOT Nhlte zinc
District if the mines hold out, but for the present
there is an abundance, and money Will bring more
from some source when it is required
From the mills went to the assay Office of I. M
Iuther, modest, unpretending, OnestOry shanty
udely constructed of boards and cloth and paper in
which the assaying of the bullion from the mills at
Shermantown and some from other parts OF the DIS
trict is DONE The amagam-silver held IN comblna
ton with quicksilver when taken from the pans
in the mills, is "retOrted," !. e. heated III
retorts to get rid of the quicksilver by SUBLIME
ton. and the cake of 'crude bullion then goes
into the assayers hands 1t Is placeu III
pots made of pumbagO, and placed IN FURNACES VI
brick heated to an intense degree WIN chalcoai
fire The bullion being melted Is run INTO pals
weighing 100 pounds less, and worth from fIoOV
to 81 900 in coin. row OF these melting furnaces
runs across the back emu OF INC llV'io supp uii0
with the weighing scales, &c, occupying the 'front.'
room From the books of the establishment gean
tbo following particulars of the business
carried on in this little place by TWO
mon the proprietor and assistant:
The first melt" was made on the 14th of October
1sGs-ten months ago. The coin value of the bullion
melted since then was as follows October $6O9lS 81;
November S1O3 704 81 December, $66,9l7 40; Jahu-
arv s434S9 rs; February $107067 65; March, Sl2S-
666 49, April $14 997 10; May $4,000; June, S5oOOo;
July $S5O 25 90 total $S3OS7 45. The total Tor the
entire year will exceed 100000. And this almost
wholly from two small mills one of ten stamps ana
one of eight the others not having been IN operation
until within q few months or weeks past
| While | was in the Office the meter came
! in to say that he was ready to commence running
bars and we stepped into the back room Inc pot
was hoisted out of the white heated furnace and the
contents were poured into an iron mold, forming
brick or bar as large man could well carry
The bar as soon as sufficiently cooled was turned out
of the mold and treated to a diluted suphuric acid
hath TO clean it and make it bright then washed OF
with I've and cold water The aSsayer then with
hammer pounds down any irregularities OF surface
TO make the bar smooth and easy to handle, and from
corner chips small piece of the silver This chlpls
then assayed and the neness and value of the whole
bar calculated from the result. The bar Is then
stamped with the assayer's name the name OF the
mine from which the silver came, the neness IN one
| thousandths-the average of White Pine bullion IS
about q5-and the value in coin. 1t is then delivered
to the mill men mine-Owner and Is ready for mar.
ket. Silver 1000 fine is worth within a fraction of
81 80 in COIN per ounce, and as 1T decreases IN fine
ness to bar is of course worth less per ounce. The
standard of the silver coinage Of the United States
! is now 9OO-1 900 so that White Pine bullion must
generally be allowed at the mint to bring it down TO
the standard before coinage. The great bulk of 1t
however goes abroad to England or China, in these
| bars or bricks and for that purpose it commands
premium of one two per cent in coin In the San
| Francisco market. The bar saw made was worth
! about 81 800 in coin. At the same time the other
furnaces contained pots Of bullion which was
| being melted, and four huge iron pans full OF
! chunks of retorted amalgam or "crude bullion
stood before the furnaces ready for melting Luther
said nonchalantly that he would have eight or ten
or maybe dozen, of these bars turned out today"
Heretofore it has been the custom to leave these
great silver bricks, each of which is fortune TO
man of moderate desires, lying on the counter in
the office with the door fastened with common 80
cent lock- and nail over the window sash, until
| they are called for by the owners But few nights
since somebody opened the door and
picked off four of these bars-one at
a time of course-and hid them. Two of them
were recovered having been found on the opposite
side Of the street. but the other two are yet missing
They could not have been carried far as their weight
would have been certain TO attract attention and
they will probably be found sooner later. They
are poor things to steal as they cannot be melted up
to destroy their identity readily in large city
| they could be more easily disposed of. Since
this little misadventure they Ihave made
practice of carrying the bars into the Office of the
| Eberhardt Company near by, and locking them up
in a safe, though the operation appears to be looked
upon as something Of bore Calling to see an as
sayer at Hamilton yesterday, found him out, and,
looking through the glass in the door saw two nice
large bricks just the night size for packing Off lying
on the counter did not go in so if the bricks
missed they need not lay it to me-
HOW THE BULLION IS SHIPPED TO EIKo.
When the bullion Is shipped out of the district the
express companles--Union Wells, Fargo d CO.
take charge of it, enter each bar by number value,
&c. on the way BILL place the bars in leather sacks
which are buckled with straps. but not locked, and
throw them into the bottoms Of the stages among
the passengers feet They hide in this way 40 miles,
to the railroad at Elko, no agents or managers ac-
compaDying them, and the drivers not even looking
in from time to time to see if they are safe. The
difficulty with the stage robbers, road agents.
who operate quite extensively here, is that they
cannot carry the bars to any point where they could
be made available, so they leave them alone. The
size and weight of the bars-their great value in
fact-makes them Of no value to the road agents.
and thereby secures their safety. Only once two Of
these bars were thrown out of the stage between here
and ElkO and never recovered but as no second rob
berry of that kind has occurred it is fair to presume
that the robbers IN that did not succeed IN max
ing their plumber available. The express companies
are responsible for the loss in any event.
Shermantowh is the smallest of the three towns in
the White Pine district aud probably does not con-
tain more than 800 at most 500 people 1t is stu