Helena weekly herald., 1885-06-04
LOCAL NEWS.
rom the Daily Herald Of May =.
REDUCTION WORKS.


A carefully prepared estimate OF an e&-
perienced smelter and metallurglst oil the
cost of a reduction works, stamp mill ana
concentration, for the daily treatment oil
fifty tons OF ole, was submitted TO few oi
our enterprising citizens, who met last
evening to talk the matter over.
There were only seven persons present
beside our reporter The feasibility and
importance of work for the production oil
the precious metals at Helena were decid-
ed upon after short consultation as to the
mode and manner of construction. A cor
poration of hundred thousand dollars IN
stock was then agreed upon, and one-hali
of the working capital thereof pledged by
the gentlemen present. committee, con-
sisting Of John b. Wilson, Moses Morris
and Mr.. Cove, was appointed to pro-
cure subscriptions for the balance OF the
stock and TO report 10 meeting tomorrow
friday evening at the office OF Sanders
x Cullen. on Main street. The profitable
ness and necessity OF establishing works at
Helena for the treatment of all kinds OF
ore was made apparent after a full dis
cussion of the subject and hearing OF the
success of similar works at salt Lake,
Leadville, Colorado and Eureka, Nevada.
From the report of the practical metal
lurpist and smelter it was demonstrated to
the meeting that it was possible to con-
struct the reduction works, ten-stamp
mill and concentrated in the next sixty
days. The Utmost confidence was eN-
pressed as to the richness and extent oi
the gold and silver ore belts within short
radius of Helena, and the practicability oil
treating successfully the various kinds oil
ores by the combined modes of milling,
concentrating and smelling. There IS no
doubt but that the gentlemen having the
subscriptions TO the working capital IN
hand will finish their work in twenty-iour
hours and report to the meeting that they
got all they asked for, and could have
raised quarter of a million if that amount
had been necessary. 1t IS safe to say that
before the first day of June all the pre-
lminaries will be settled and orders gwen
for location of plant, construction OF ma
chinery and breaking ground for the great
reduction works at Helena, which Is TO
mould out from the raw material so lavish
ly distributed in sulphuretted ores even
within our city limits, to the gold-ribbed
belts that reach from Radersburg TO Mis-
soula. and in carbonates in unlimited
quantities in the Red Mountain and Grass
Valley districts Were it known to the cit
izens generally of Helena rs it IS known
70 assayers who have tested the richness
of the ores lying all around our city, that
we have the richest and largest gold and
silver district in the world, our town would
be ablaze with an enthusiasm far greater
than that which awakened the echoes
about Virginia City in the palmiest days
of the great Comstock. 1t is known to
experts that the exhaustless gold belts
around about us have been exhausted OF
their oxidized ores which could he worked
by the free milling process, leaving mill
ions of tons OF sulphuretted ores that can
be treated by the concentrating and smelt-
ing process, assaying from ten TO hve nun
dred dollars per ton. Ii is known that the
belt of carbonates joins the gold belt with
in the city limits and all around Helena
rs 1T did at Leadville, Colorado, and
Bingham canyon in Utah.
These carbonate ores, containing gold
silver and lead-silver being the larger
value-will not only smelt themselves but
will afford an ample fux for the treatment
Of the more refractory.
Works of the kind intended to be
erected here will afford a cash market fol
the ore taken out in the process of the de-
velopment and prospecting of mines already
discovered, and lead TO the discovery O
countless Others, which the patient hand
of labor will open up TO the light of day.
The hardy miner-"a millionaire in dis
tress1-will work with profit upon his Owl
discovery and haul his weeks labor to the
reduction works, have it sampled and sold
and by Monday morning going to WORK
again with his previous weeks labor II
cash in his pocket, while with pick, shove
and gad he does his own development up
on mine that may sell for tens of thous
ands of dollars. 1t was reduction works a
Salt Lake, Leadviile and Eureka that mad
fortunes for such hard working miners a
Ryan and hundreds of Others who have
grown rich by developing their own dis
coveries and selling their own ores.
For these reasons and for many Others
il is susceptible of proof that no one car
doubt-and especially those who from thei
own doors can see at any moment of thu
day the valuable discoveries of forme
years with their crumbling dumps wastin
their priceless value upon the mountain
side for want of reduction treatment-tha
with such works as are proposed to b
erected by our enterprising fellow-citizen'
Helena will not be long in reaching tn
coveted title of the greatest city of tn
mountains where thousands OF miners Wi
be profitably employed where only one
found to-day, and where the general bust
ness of the town will thrive and prospe
with the miners and mines of this distric
Piatt, of the later Mountain, thus di