The Butte daily miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1885-18??, 1886-01-01

hour at time. II the briekwork or ore IL
too hot to stand ON. nothing makes bet
ter temporary flooring than old planks
aoaked in copperas liquor, which will remain
cool. and will neither catch hrs nor smoke.
II the fire has been properly banked with
mace will be in full heat by the second
charge, after stoppage Of tn o hours for
repairs.
sMELflNo IN BLAST FURNACES.
The fifth and last division of the Butte
processes includes the smelling Of copper
ores in blast furnaces, which is practiced
only at the Bell smelter, though the new
Butte Copper Company proposes to do all
its smelling in this manner.
lam unable to give accurate details OF
the Bell furnace. Tits q small water jacket,
SO inches in diameter ut the tuyeres. and
with capacity OF about 40 tons OF charge
daily, though the quartxose nature Of the
ore necessitates heavy proportion otflux,
consisting Of an excellent limestone and q
rather poor quality Of bog iron ore. When
the calcination has been sufficiently thor.
ough, the matte produced will reach 65 per
cent in copper, but this lie seldom attained
in practice. judge that the expense ol
smelling per ton at these works II about
the same as at those where revebratory fur
naces are employed, the high price OF coke
neutraliEins the advantages commonly
claimed for the blast furnace. BY increas-
ing the number Of tons smelted per day,
which could easily be done by putting
ON a heavy blast, and brickins the fine ore,
which constitutes the greater part OF the
charge, and by diminishing or entirely
doing away with barren flux, which can
also be very easily accom- plished by build.
ing . concentrator OF sufficient capacity,
am firmly convinced that the blast furnace
will hold it's own here in comparison with
the reverberatory, a. 1t does nearly every
where else Ia America when properly man.
aged. So long a. toy furnaces, with Q
capacity OF 30 or 40 tons daily, are em-
ployed, Just so long the reverberatory will
take the Lead. But when metalluryists
learn that furnace Of reasonable sise,
mot only work with . less cost per ton Tor
both labor and fuel, but il IL also far easier
to manage. will averaaR much longer cam.
paigns, and will reduce the cost Of repairs
from 3 to 6 cents for each ton Of ore
treated. then the reverberatory will remain
In it, proper place, which 10 In Swansea
and nowhere else, unless almost similar
conditions can be found elsewhere az no.
CARDS price and quality OF coal, fireclay.
select from. The only other exception, in
my humble opinion, would be whore, with
good fuel and very rich ore, the charge 10
necessarily 10 siliceous that In spite vi the
concentration or fluxes the silica contents
Of the Stag cannot be kept below 46 per
cent.
The smelting capacity Of this district will
soon be more than doubled, ~ the new
works OF the Anaconda Company, Butte
Copper Company, and Uark's Colusa will
doubtless be in full operation. It will then
be interesting to compare the work done
with our present operations, and / feel con-
WINGED that the improvements contem-
plated and partially carried out in the new
works just mentioned will more than meet
any possible future decline in the price Of
copper. no that although many Of the Ari-
soma mines and large proportion Of the
Superior and Chill may fnd IL necessary to
suspend operations, Butte will still be able
to keep every furnace in blast 20 long a. thu
rich ores, which are still found In undim In
ished quantities in tho lowest workings Of
deepest mine, continue. And even II the
percentage OF the ore dilninishes materially.
It's value in silver lin many cases equaling8
cents per pound oicopper) and the constant
labor, make IL probable that Butts's time
Of prosperity. even II dependent on it,
copper mines alone, will cover period oi
too many years to make 1t possible TO
prophecy the time when It will cease to be
one Of the most important factors Of the
worlds copper market.
EASTERN MONTANA.
dsnsrd anA judicial Business Pastures