Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1883-10-31


ing and Milling-where the silver
Comes From.
IN. Quad, in Detroit Free FressI
II you go into the mint ut New Or
leans, as you cert .inly will il you visit
the cty, you viii find q guard in the
ROTH da to re- vrvs tJis. The James
brothers might have penetrated that
far ca y enough, but tney could lot
have gone fIrsher he barrel gates
rising up bow, en- the visitor and Uncle
Sans store of silver doll. rs have q
States T. is II lOos, AID enc is put On
his good i.eh.vio. ut on Q.
Wen youf or, dehtiulS are pro-
nounced all rig"t a. tie edt.s u
locked to you, you are US ere" into the
reccivi & and weighing ON. silver
bullion is corded up on al 81 les. aud is
being handled with as much co. ten {
as the brick-rarr.ef loads his iod. A
bar of DuliioI looks exa. tly Ike a bar
Of plumber solder. and whel You are
abo t to pix NJ. and WA X OF with one
of the b-rs you suddenly change your
mind.
in tb room are tie most perfect pair
OF large scales in Am r.ca. TLey weigh
up to 10000 gu ,ces Troy we'g..t and
are 30 delicate that crnmb weig H. :
the J0Oth part OF an o IN will drop tue
bar. AL the Silver rec ived is ghed
upon these scales, aud they are looked
upon by the Geaeral visitor AS one of
the sights OF the institution.
Ailtl.e bullion first E es to the melting
department and il meltei, alloy ell AMI
run into ingots of standard fineness,
winch means 800 parts Of silver and lJ0
parts OF copper. Tue copp r is put in
10 harden l., and without this alloy
there would be great loss by natlr
''wrar and tear There is new ASSAY
after me ting, and the assay must prove
that the compo itioa is exact and cor
rect. The 10 S of even tie 3OUth
part OF an ounce between the
weighing and the melting rooms must
he accounted for.
After the say the in9ots are turned
over 10 the c0inr, who rolls them into
strips by means OF powerful mach merry.
thest strips are about three feet long,
and a little wider thin dollar. TIE
thickness is dcs .gnel to b. the same as
dollar, but is sometimes too thick or
too tim. The strips are then passed
10 the punchar, who feeds them
under lis pIncli az fast as you can
count, and the smooth, greasy blank
dollars tai into the box below. To uis-
cover i. the blanks are of lie sta darl
weight I Icy are wheeled into the ad .ust-
ing room. The demand is for 4l2t
grains, but ;he Government permits a
eight shortage. II the blank is one
gran sho {, it is cast out to be remelted
II it Is one grain over weight file is
used to sccTe exact weight.
In the al listing room are about two
doz women, cacn With del cate pair
al SC les before her, and the blanks are
handled with surprising dexterity.
Tnusa found of standard We ght are
seut on their way through the mint, and
the light ones will form parts OF new
ingots.
lou think Of silver dollar as a per-
feet, flat suglGce. Hold one to your
eye ana yuu will see that il is conc we.
If the letters aud ornaments Were even
with the rim Of the dollar they would
soon wear oil. The co cave is to pro-
tect them. From the adiusting-room
blanks go to the machine to be con-
caved and then to the bath. The ST.
yer il greasy and blacsened, and the
bath is TO remove this and restore the
luster. Afr heing treated 10 an acid
bath, the trays filled with blanks are
placed lii a red-hot oven aud subse-
quietly pla ed in a revolving cylinder
with saw-dust. When they emerge
from this I'll y shine like stars.
Here are the smooth, round pieces,
and 10 make del airs OF them thsv are
sent to the stamp presses These
power, nj machines feed themselves at
the rate OF 2o5 per minute, aud If you
pick up one Of the coins you will find
one side complete and the other side
still blank. They are picked up and
fed to second machine, and now your
dollar is complete except on the elges.
A smooth-edged coin would welr away
fast thau one with q n,iiled 4 e, aud
hence the larger denominat ons are
milled. IL Is no use TO try 10 guess
how il is done, for forty-nine out of
fifty persons would miss il. They ara
dropped into a cavity in a powerful
machine arranged to hit the u, and the
coins lying Hat upon one side, are
squeezed the SINE MS if u tube shut up
un ali sides Of your finger at once.
This mills the edges. The pressure OH
each dollar in stamp NJ and punching
il about eighty tons.
Uncle Sam contracts for his silver
bullion the same ms private individual
,loes for his vegetables. he agrees To
lake all the ore furnished l,y two large
Colorado mines, and any supply which
MI inl'v'inal may wish TO DISPOSE Of
n+is II ready sale The mines ship by