The Osceola times., 1883-11-17
GOLD AND SILVER Dust.
Bits OF Wooden Floor sweepings Yield
in. Upward OF Tvs Thousand Dollars.
Philadelphia News.

There are houses in this city, plain
looking from without, but with roofs in.
crusted with precious metals and floors
studded with bits Of silver, gold and dia.
monds. There are cobwebs hanging
from the ceilings; but they are sprinkled
like the spangled lace of an oriental
bride. The men and women in the
house are i'll dressed and grimy; but
their fingers are tipped with gold, and
their hair is busted with glittering ores
With all their riches, however. such
houses are only greasy shops, with rick
ETY., dark stairways. A reporter of The
News climbed three flights in one. lie
entered room whence he might have
been sent away wcll-of for life; but oil
he received was a choking Whit of sui
phuric acid or some other acid, and all
he saw and fe II was furnace which a
number of workmen were supplying
with bits of an old floor. The ashes
were being scnped into barrels.
making pulverized charcoal for bill
ious people?' asked the reporter.
mo, sir; just burning some precious
WOOD" was the answer. you see, when
we moved from our old quarters in the
Peterson building we brought the old
floor with us and left new one. | cx-
pect these bits Of firewood yield us up
ward of $1,000. The floor has been in
use about ten years, and, grain by grain,
it has been filed with costly metals.
This charcoal will be ground in a mill,
and thence will go into crucible for
amalgamation with mercury through
cHamois skins we will regain the gold
and silver that has been ground into the
floor by hundreds of feet
"What becomes Of the metal dust that
is swept up?"
"We treat it in similar way. Our
employees arc required to wash their
hands in tank, and the dirty water
passes through series of sieves before
1t passes into well. A few years ago
the firm took out the mud from the bot.
tom of the well, worked it, and obtained
several hundred dollars of metal. The
sweepings and settings of a shop like
ours are worth from $1,000 to $4,000, ac.
cording 10 the kind of work done. II
we get up many diamond settings and
plain rings the waste is large. In chain
making and watch-case work the loss Is
not so great"
"What is the value of a fioor?"
"That is hard TO estimate. Dorison &
Aae..of- Newark, burnt floor 5Oxl0O and
obtained return of 5000. A iewelr,
establishment on Sansom street obtain
ed $500 for one recently burnt"
Cannot the workmcn carry away TIN
gold dust without detection?'
81 have heard of such things. W,
/ had man in our employ who had curl,
hair and and was continually running
his fingers through it. On inquiry W
found that he had been discharged iron
a New York factory for carrying gol,
away in his hair. which was afterwar
redeemed by q fine-tooth comb in tn
way many a mother redeems her boy
scalp"
At this juncture another lot of tn
precious kindling was put in the furnac,
The scribe busted off his notebook
shook the lapel of his coat, looked hor
est, held up his hands and had his fir
ger-nails inspected, and left as poor a
he came.
eve do not reduce our sweepings
said another jeweler, "We take ou
sweepings, burn them and pulveriz
them and send out sample packages t
the assayer. The value of sweeping
yearly should estimate at Over - 900.
AT the United States mint, where MOI
gold is used than in any other manufa,
turing place in the country, the device
used to recover vagrant particles Of gol
and silver are both novel and interes
! ing. Chief Clerk l.. II, Copperwaith
said: "rhe value of our sweepings ft
the fiscal year ending June 30, was Sl4
. 204 40 gold and S9,320.l2 for silver. W
. are very careful to reclaim all the gol
. we can. Nearly every month we hav
/ the roofs of all our buildings swept an
the sweepings refined"
"Does that pay you to sweep the roof
PAY u.s. The sweepings for Oh
, month amounted TO $3.50. We occasion
ally sweep the roof of the of the Presb,
terian church. You wouldn't expect
find gold in sewer, would you? Wei
we scraped about sixty feet of sire,
E sewer, and, apart from the rats we caugl
!. reclaimed $500 worth of gold and silvt
that had washed from the roof of th
building during heavy showers ?"
"How often do you scrape the sewerl
We'll, we shall scrape again soon. Bt
after that there will be no need. W
are having well dug TO catch our rail-
water in the future. We had n surpl,
last year of twenty-one ounces of gol
5 over the amount allowed for waste?'
"How do you guard against your wor
, men carrying gold away"
"The workmen leave their workip
clothes here, and they are washed fror
time TO time"
!, "What becomes OF the gold that e,
: capes through the chimneys?"
Every time crucible is open Gel
tain amount of gold is bound TO vo att
ize, but il drops on the roof and on til
street. Occasionally crucible upset,
and that causes considerable volatiliza
|, ton. We had felt roof on one Of OF,
, sheds that was taken of ano reduced
yielding large amount Of gold and sil
yer. The old Pennsylvania depot, be
fore Mr.. Wanamaker bought it bad
felt and gravel roof which for years ha,
been absorbing gold that is, no doubt, il
some city dump"
"How valuable do you think the roo
WASP
+ Judging by the roof taken off IN,
mint yard, ] should say at least 81 per
foot. SO, you see, Uncle Sam has man,
thousands in some ash heap arount