The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1883-12-06
Gold and Silver Dust
Philadelphia N-ws.

Gold and Silver Dust
philadelphia N-ws.
There are houses in this city, plain
looking from without, but with roofs in
crusted with precious metals, and Il oors
studded with silver, gold and diamonds.
There are cobwebs hanging from the
= 'eil'nss, but they are sprinkIed like the
~pangled lace of an oriental bride. The
men and women in the house are ill
dressed and griiny, but their fingers are
tipped with gold, and their hair is dust
ed with glittering ores. With all their
riches, however, such houses are ONLY
@rtasy shops, with rickety, dark stair
ways. A reporter of the News climbed
three flight in one. He entered a room
whence he might hav, been sent away
welt OFT Tor life; but all he received was
choking Whit o suphuric acid or some
other acid, and all he saw aud felt was a
furnace which a number Of wOrkmeu
were supplying with otis Of an old foor.
The ashes were being scraped into bar
rels.
"MaAine pulverised charcoal Tor bill.
ions peope?' asked the reporter.
No. SIT; just burning 80 ne precious
wood, Was the answer. "You see,
when we moved from our old Quarters
In the Peterson building We brought the
Did floor with Us and LETT u new one. I
expect these bits Of tirewood to yield US
upward OF 81 w. The floor has been in
use about ten years, ami, grain by grain,
1t has been filed with costly metals This
:'aHccal Will be ground in u mill. and
tilence VIII! 20 INTO crucible for aualya-
s.'ation with mercury. By squeezing out
he mercury thru "a channels skins we
%l!i regain the gold and Silver hat has
'een ground into the floor by hundreds
ii feet
"Wnat becomes Of the metal dust that
10 swept ;p?'
We treat it in a similar way. Our
employees are required to wash their
rtnd> in Il tank. and The dirty waiter
passes through u series of sleeves before
reaching the waste pipe, so that very
little Of value is allowed to escape. A
or its refuse water before it passes into
we'll. few years ago the firn took
ut TIE mud from the lotion ofthe we'll.
worked it, and obtained several
hundred dollars CT metal. The sweep
nos and settlin OF u shop like ours are
worth from $50 - to $500 according
@ the kind Of work done. II we get up
many diamond settings AMI plain rings
ne waste is large. In chain making and
watch case work the loss is not 30 great"
What IS the value of floor"
That is hard to estimate. DOrisOn &
Aye Of Newark burnt Il floor 5)xlOO and
'btancl a return Of $5'Nn. \ jewelry
Establishment on Samoan street obtained
$50 tor QUE recently burnt"
Cannot the wurkmen carry away the
gold dust with out detection2"
II have heard Of such things. We
had man in one employ who had cur
hair and was continually running his
fingers through it. On inquiry We found
le had been discharged from a New
York factory for carrying gold away in
MS hair, which was afterwards re.
leemed by tine tooth comb in way
many q mother redeems her boys
'calp."
At this juncture another lot of the pre-
ions klndliny was put in the furnace
The scribe busted of his note book,
shook the lapel of his coat, looked hon
st. held up his hands and had his fin
or nails inspected, and left as poor as
~ came.
ave do not reduce our sweepings,"
'ald another jeweler. 'We take our
sweepings, burn them and pulverizc
hem, and send out sample packages to
The asSayer. The value of sweeping
yearly should estimate at over $4O."
At the United States mint, wher,
more gold is used than in any othe,
:,anufdc uring place in the country, the
'evices used to recover vagrant parti-
les OF gold and silver are both novel
md interesting. Chief Clerk l.. R. Cop.
,erwaithe said: The value Of our sweep.
'nys for the fiscal year ending June 81
vas $l4,2 1H 40 gold, and $9,32O.12 for sill
yer. We are very careful to reclaim al
the gold we can. Nearly every month
,wept and the sweepings refined"
"Does that pay you to sweep the
roo's?'
month amounted 5000. We occasionally
sweep the roof OF the Presbyteri..
Church. You wouldn't expect to tin'
gold in sewer, would you? Well. We
strapped about fifty feet Of the stree.
sewer, and, apart from the rats ".
caught, reclaimed $500 worth of golo an
silver that had been washed from the
roof OF the building during heavy show
ers."
'How often do YOU scrape the sewer?
"Weli we shall scrape again soon.
But after that there will be no need.
We are having we'll dug to catch on,
rain-w.tter in the future. We had Sui.
plus last year of Fl ouhc"s of gold over
the amount allowed for waste"
How do you Guard against your work
men carrying gold away"'
''The workmen leave their WORKING
clothes here, and they are washed from
time to time"
"What becomes of the goli that es'
canes through the chimneys?"
Every time cruc,D'e IS open a Ger
tain amount of gold is bound to volatilize
hut it drops on the roof and in the street.
DECISION 'lv crucihle u"sets, and that
causes considerable volatilization. We
had felt roof on one OF our sheds that
was taken off and reduced, Welding
large amo"nt of gold and silver. The
old Pennsylvania depot, before Mr.
Wanamaker bought it, had felt AMI
gravel roof, which for years had been
absorbing gold. that is, no doubt, in
some ci y dump"
"How valuable do you think the roof
was?"
''Judeing by the roof taken off the
mint yard, should say at least 81 per
foot. So, YOU SEQ, Uncle Sam has many
thousands in some ash heap around