The river press., 1882-08-30
INTERVIEW WITH PROF. Foss.
improvements TO be Made at the smelter-
Impressions of His Late Trip. y

called home somewhat sooner than he
expected on account Of the late develop
n1ents at Barker, his immediate services
being required to superintend the pro-
prosed improvements at the smelter and
other work on hand. In response to an
inquiry by a RIVER PRESS representa-
tive the professor said:
II shall begin preparations forincreas-
ing the roasting capacity of the smelter
lust as soon as / return, and will order
at once the machinery and friedrich
necessary, shipping by the railroad to
Billings, 50 that in seven or eight weeks
we can have all needed material at
hand"
"Whatimproyements will you make?n
''In the first place we will just dupli
cate our present building which will re-
quire an addition, if you would call it
such, 65x8o feet in dimensions on the
same plan as our present building. We
will put in two roasters, l4X65 feet,
which, with our present one, will give
us q roasting capacity of from twenty to
thirty tons day, and that will certainly
be sufficient for the present year. All
this work will be completed just as soon
as it is possible to do it, and / expect to
have the works running at their full
capacity this winter.n
"H&ve you heard Of the boom at Bar
kcr?'' asked the reporter.
eyes, and it is right welcome news to
me. From what I can learn the Wright
& Edwards is showing up nicely, and
there are other leads in the camp that
will produce ore this year. The question
of ore supply for the smelter think is
now settled" +"
"What have you to say to the readers
Of the RIVER PRESS about your trip to
other mining camps of the territory?"
81 could talk q week on the subject,
think, and not exhaust my experience,
but have not time now to givemore than
o general impression Of my trip. / think
I never met more courteous gentlemen
than the mining men I came in contact
with at Helena, Butte and all other
camps visited. In every case I was
given "the freedom Of the gulch, and
never failed to make myself at home.
At Butte I made q thorough examina-
ton of the mines and works, and put in
two or three days there to good advan-
tage. ] am fully convinced that Butte
is one Of the greatest mining camps Of
the west, and Of its permancy | have
no doubt. After the silver ore is eX-
hausted, if it everis, the copper interests
will sustain the town. also visited the
mines about Helena, and while there are
not so many together at any one place
they promise equally as well, and their
development it can be said has but Just
commenced"
Ibid you visit any smelling works
during your absence?"
'sYes, made thorough examination
ofthe Wickes and Gregory works, in fact
they monopolized two days of my time.
Both Of these smelters are now running
twenty-five tons Of ore day, and they
have some spler did mines to back them
up. While they are good works, they
will not compare with the Barker smelter
when our contemplated improvements
are made. They are not arranged 50
conveniently for handling ore. Our
works will have greater capacity, and
ut the same time the ore can be handled
more easily and at much less cost, an
item that must always be considered in
constructing reduction works. I am
positive that before many months the
Barker district, young as it is, can claim
the best smelling works in Montana,
and it il not likely to be a very long time
until it is recognized as one Of the best
camps in the territory
In general way, how were you inn
pressed, from what you saw, with the
mining interests of Montana?n
Every favorably indeed. This has been
my first visit to any of the camps Of the
territory save Barker, and | must say
came back with an exalted opinion of
Montana as mining field, and what
have observed only increases my faith
in Barker and its future prosperity
The professor had a great deal more of
interest to offer on the subject which
cannot be given in this limited article.
He did not return to Barker yesterday
morning as he had anticipated, but will