The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1876-11-10


smelling were built and operated there at
intervals, but never with any marked sue
cess, and they are, with one exception, now
idle. The silver mines at Philipsburg,
i'll Deer Lodge county, were discovered IN
1860 and ten stamp mill was built the
year after by st. Louis company which is
now working the ores owned by them.
Another mill was built in 1874 to reduce
the ores of the Speckled Trout mine which
was replaced"last year by new ten stamp
mill at a cost of eighty thousand dollars.
At the st. Louis mill ores are treated by
wet crushing and the Washoe process of
almalgamation without roasting. Sulphate
of copper and common salt and mercury
are the reagents employed. At the other
mill the ore is first reduced by Blake
Crusher, then dried, crushed, chlorodized
in Bruckner Cylinders by the action of
heat, and chlorine obtained by the decom-
position of salt with sulphuric acid. 1t is
subsequently transferred to revolving iron
pans. in which the argentic chloride is
decomposed by the iron of the pans, mer-
curry is added and an amalgam Of silver
formed. The free mercury is strained
from this through canvass strainers. The
amalgam is placed into cylindrical cast iron
retorts, which are gradually raised to red
heat whereby the mercury is distilled off
and condensed and the residue, called crude
bullion Or silver sponge, is melted in plum
bago crucibles and cast into bars, assayed
flow the silver streams that enrich the
monetary centers of the world.
A rich belt of argentiferous lodes out
crops west and south Of Helena, on Ten
Mile, Prickly Pear and Boulder creeks
The ores are galena, combined in some
instances with small percentage of zinc
blende and antimony, but they readily
yield to intelligent treatment in the blast
furnace. This same belt has another out
crop westward, beyond the Rocky Mount
aims at Butte, in Deer Lodge county, and
again still farther at Vipond and Bryant
districts in Beaverhead county. At Butte
two dry crushing mills have been built one
of them at a cost of about seventy thousand
dollars. The ores here receive chloridiZ-
ing roasting and are treated successfully at
cost of about twenty-five dollars per ton
and saving about eighty-five to ninety per
cent. of the assay value of the raw ore
and producing bullion over 900 fine. Here
is to be found the greatest network Of lodes
in the west They carry gold, silver cop
per and lead and all of these combined to
some extent, although the predominant
valuable mineral is either silver or copper.
These mines, all within the compass of a
few miles, are located on range of low
hills near the head of Silver Bow creek and
are easily accessible. The country rock is
granite, the dip south, the strike northeast
and southwest and at right angles to the
main range of the mountains at whose base
they lie. The copper ores are for depth
of about one hundred feet oxydized, and
principally carbonates, carrying from ten
to fifty per cent. metallic copper. Explo-
rations below water level will, it is expected,
reveal sulphides. Several hundred tons of
these ores are shipped annually to Balti-
more for treatment.
1t is hoped that in the near future capi-
talists will be induced to erect works for
the reduction of these ores on the ground.
Limestone and iron or manganese for fuxes
and refractory clay and cheap fuel are
abundant and near at hand and the supply
of ore apparently inexhaustible.
At Vipond fifteen-stamp mill is now
building and at Bryant second smelter is
contemplated and the first is increasingly
active in reducing the rich galena with
which whole mountain there has been
richly impregnated. The reduction and
concentrating works are entirely inadequate
for the ores produced in the Territory and
hence q large amount of the silver and
copper ores are shipped out of the Territory
to Utah, Omaha, Baltimore and Newark
and to Germany. Ok ana mule trains
hauling merchandise into the country are
willing to load on their return with ores at
a low price, and by this means mine owners
are enabled to find market for their ores
that otherwise would lie idle and unpro-
ductive. About three thousand tons having
value of half a million dollars are shipped
annually in this manner. The mineral
wealth of Montana is not segregated into
one vast fissure like the Comstock over
which monopoly might stand and WELD his
austere sceptre, but distributed by gener-
Gus hand into hundreds of veins and within
the reach of all who possess the patience
and industry to delve for it. Orc 7 Plata
is the significant motto of Montana. May
her vigorous sons be unceasing in their
industry until these rich words are COM
pletely earned and their application .justi-
fed.
The principal business of this Territory
is mining, agriculture and stock growing !;
manufactures have engaged no consider
able share of attention. That embracing
the production of lumber and flour may be
said to almost cover the range of enterprise
in this direction. A tannery was started
at Mill Greek, in Madison county in 1866,
using bark from the fir tree. The leather
made was pronounced good in the Boston
market, but for some reason the business
did not pay. Hides are now cured and
shipped to the eastern market and form no
inconsiderable source of revenue. In 1868
distillery was built at Helena with
capacity of five barrels per day and con-
,I-
when the works, not proving profitable,
were closed. A foundry and machine shop,
built at the same place in 1866, have been
considerably enlarged and improved. Coke
made from Ignite mined eighteen miles
west of Helena and near the very summit
of the Rocky Mountains at Mullan's Pass,
is the fuel used. Extensive beds of Ignite
have been found in other localities and will
in the future prove very valuable. Suitable
clay for making brick abounds everywhere
and many brick edifces are constructed in
all the towns. Butter and cheese are
manufactured to the extent of half million
dollars annually, and the excellence of
these articles attests the admirable condi-
tions of fuel, climate and water. so essen
tial to successful results.
The first saw mill in the mining districts
was built near Bannack in December, 1862
They are now to be found all over the
country, producing excellent lumber at a
cost to the purchaser of about thirty dollars
per Thousand feet, and the ever surrounding
or adjacent forest furnishes the necessary
material. Wherever needed, and conven-
lent to mine, city and farm, Nature has
lavishly supplied most abundant growth
of the various species Of pine adjoining the
hills and mountains with a never changing
mantle of green. The first Touring mill
was erected at st. Mary's Mission BY the
Jesuits in 1845 and after the settlement of
the country succeeding the discovery of
gold, mills were built in several places, but
in the first few years, during the never
ceasing fever of excitement caused by actual
and reported discoveries of gold of marvellous
richness which caused stampedes almost dali.
ly in every direction, but few were found of
sufficient equilibrium to be content with
the reward promised in the quiet pursuit
of agriculture, and not until 1868 did the
production of flour reach sufficient magni-
tude to supply home consumption. At
this time there were seven mills in oyel.o