The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1880-04-05

pay more attention to the gold and see
what he could do In that direction. with that
In view he renewed his experimenting. The
results were astonishing. Tall ings that under
the microscope revealed scarcely trace OF the
precious metal, and from which banning with
mercury none were obtained, were found to be
quite rich In It, Platinum now grew to be
thing of bat little concern The enthusiasm
that time snd FL ID a aSee aPq I'm IN a
and the alchemist In the search for that which
moves the world took possession Of Edison. He
seemed hardly possible that he had succeeded.
The process tnat he used was devised to extract
platinum only. which does not amaigamate
with mercury. and, moreover. 1t was cheap and
simple.
DouBTINa HIS OWN DISCOVERY.
Then came. the fear that the particular tail
ings sent had been 'ealted." and that after a!l
his prooeee would be valueless. The test Of this
was easy. He procured tail ings which he knew
had been worked again and again by Ohinamen
until even they discar ded them as worthless.
quantities. Difficult rs 1t was for Edison to
convince himseld 81 what he had achieved i i
ss fS vi MIN e to en
tailinss by an application Of elect iclty they
e s mae he m
could succeed In making piece Of tin foil re-
produce the human voice. DR.. Haid., under
whose observations nearly all the experiments
were made. wac for long time as skeptical as
those who we're not identified with the wor k.
and 1t was not until after many weeks that he
was willing to admit that indeed the Wisard
was right.
SECURING THE rAILINes.
Satisfied that he had beyond doubt got bo-
nsnza Mr., Edison promptly set about securing
rights to the tailings from whose samples he
bad obtained gold The Edison Ore Milling
Company was formed, with James III. Banker
as president Charles H. Lewis, vice president
and Robert L. Cutting, Jr,, as treasurer. The
inventor took seat In the board of directors
Contracts were soon made by which were So
cured millions Of tone Of tailings All the tail
ings of the Spring Valley Hydraulic Mining
Company, which are washed down at the rate
of IL 900 tons day and cover attract of several
euuars miles. were secured for term OF years
The PowersiOroville Mining Company. on the
Feather river, was contracted with for their
were also made for the tail ingsiof the. Myocene
Mining Company and other large hydraulic
mines In the vicinity of Oroville.
After the contract with the Powers Company
| had been concluded 1t is related that when Mr.
Powers. better known In hts section of Oalifor-
miner. came to Menlo Park to satisfy himself
| regarding Edison's assertions ne to the rich
nees of hydraulic tailings, he brought with him
two bages of tai lings from his mine. which had
been twice worked, and knowingly impaired
the fact to a few friends that Edison couldn't
one else get very much gold out Of these bags
He handed the sand to the inventor personally
Edison before his eyes went through the pro-
| cess and In ffteen minutes handed him. as the
| result, a dollars worth Of gold. The Oalifor-
| nian left the laboratory with eyebrows elevated
obtained from small heap of falling was pre-
sented to him In the shape. Of strip seven
inches long. one wide aud of the thickness ol
an ordinary business card.