The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-03-22
that cam Is sleeping among his k1rdred'
and that the Patlan people Spnng straight
from Satan's loins.
HOW SILVER oME xs WORK ED.

now SILVER OHE h WORK ED.
The Nevada correspondent of the Cincin-
matt Commercial gives the following in
teresting description of silver nanufar-
ture:-
The reduction Of silver ore is heavy
manufacturing business, requiring exten-
sive and complicated machinery and ap-
proportion of skilled labor Step with me,
if you care to see an illustration, into the
new and complete mill Of company at this
place, and watch the ore turn, in due pro
cess, to bars of bullion.
Outside is q small hill of ore, transported
by wagon, at a cost of from four to six dol
lars ton, from the mines ten miles dis
tant. The ore is simply hard quartz, in
fltrated with various metals. Unless the
ore is very rich you can seldom discover,
even by the aid of a glass any Of the mi
mute particles of silver Some ore hooks like
gray limestone. The Pahranagat ore is al
most prismatie, being spotted yellow by
decomposed lead, blue by copper, brownisil
red by iron, and dark lead color or blaci:
by silver. The ore is carried in ox-hide
baskets to the crushing-room. where it il
weighed and registered Then it is poured
out in the stamp-room, where q man with
q long-handled shovel feeds it under the
stamps.
The ten stamps are simply upright ham
mers, weighing six hundred and fftr
pounds each. Their province is to crush
the ore into the dust as fine as -four. The
dust cannot escape from the stamps until !:
flies through the sieves in powder SO minuts
as to be almost impalpable to the touch.
ton of ore can be sufficiently crushed in two
and one-third hours.
The next step is to roast your fine powde
(or pulp, as it is called in order to burn up
all the base metals in it except silver, gold
and copper The 'roasters" are ordinary
ovens, Like those used for baking bread.
except that the fues are admitted to tha
chamber where the pulverized ore is de-
posted. Workmen called ''roasters" also
stir the dust with long handled shovels
keeping up cherry red heat Each of the
five furnaces has capacity for half ton
of dust, and the time consumed in roasting
the pulp is six hours. Your dust, wher
thoroughly roasted contains nothing BIZ:
gold, silver and copper, in powdere1.
quartz. The other metals have been ef-
fected by fire and large quantities of sal
| thrown in to chlorodze them.
The roasted dust is raked out on the OF.
posite side of the furnace and conveyed int
the amalgamating pans, or large tub
| filed with hot water, where it is furthe:
ground IN a sort of iron fan-wheel, an,
where five pounds of quicksilver are throw!
in for every pound of silver you est
mate the ore to contain. The union made.
the amalgam of the two metals sinks to til
bottom of the tub, and the quartz powde;
runs off in a muddy riI from an orifcJ
above.
| Next the amalgam is taken from the bot
tom of the tubs and strained through can
vas bags, in order to get rid of any super
fuous quicksilver. The amalgam, afte,
this straining, is five parts quicksilver, and
one part silver. 1t looks and feels like
silvery sort of wet, white sand. The ANAL
gam is now ready for the ''amalgamator.
the most important artisan about the mill.
and the one who generally has charge Of
both mill and workmen He places thu
amalgam in face of his own, and builds
fire hot enough to send the quicksilver OF
in vapor, leaving a residuum of silver
The flying yapor is condensed in water and
returned to its original form of quicksilver,
ready to be used again, having lost but one
per cent of it's bulk. The silver left in thc
retort looks like rusty chips of ragged meta!
and is anything but precious in appear,
ance.
The process Of casting the silver bar (itt
usual weight is about eighty-fve pounds
is simple enough. The silver chips ars
placed in black lead mold, melted, an,
come out in n bar of silver, or rather,
bar of about eight hundred parts silver an.
two hundred parts copper. Such is tn
bullion of commerce, and such q bar is
worth from one thousand two hundre,
to one thousand three hundred dollars il
coin. The copper is taken out in the mint
in such manner as to save it.
A good silver mill, with its branch build
ings, covers two acres; and is crowded in a..
parts with machinery. The milling prc
cess, at best, does not save over eighty
five per cent. of the silver in the ore TIL
other fifteen per cent. is sensibly lost in tn
various stages of reduction A ten-stam1
mill burns twelve cords of wood per day.
and consumes fifteen hundred pounds OF