The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-11-18

The PROCESS of Reducing Rough Ores En-
tertainingiy and Intciligently Described.


tertainingiy and Intciligently Described.
Perhaps the most interesting indus
trial feat ire Of Colorado is found in the
mining of the precious metals, and the
reduction of the ores after they ore
mined. The popular mind of the East
doubtless figures itself ledge of rock,
through which run minute wires of
bright metal, and the hammer ng out
of these wires or of nuggets from the
rock as the process of extraction. But
the gray-bearded prospector, who
roams the Rocky Mountains, does
not search for anything bright. There
are thousand dull forms, which to
the average man are but common rocks,
yet to hun convey the impression of
gold and silver; so when, as i recently
did, you come into one of the great
smelling works of Denver and are told
that more than million of dollars
worth of ore is piled up before you,
the impression is but of lot of COM
mon rocks which might be taken from
any hill in Wisconsin or Pennsylvania.
The Argo Smelling Works, which pro-
duce more than $1,000, 900 worth of
gold and silver annually, are perhaps
the most interesting about Denver, for
the reason that here the process Is
complete from the first crushing of the
ores to their refinement into the purest
metal.
You enter o stone-walled inclosure
not unlike that of penitentiary, for
where ores are sometimes worth 80 per
pound they cannot be allowed to lie
where the midnight prowler can pick
them. Long stone ildings are scat
tered about, and high brick chimneys
rise in every direction. You must pro-
cure pass at the Office, and armed
with this the sentry ut tho gate passes
you. Let me begin at the beginning.
Suppose for an instant that you are
an honest miner and have come to Den
yer with four or five carloads of ore.
You see the locomotive carry your cars
into the works and the ore unloaded
before the gigantic crushing ma.
chimes. The great blocks of ore are
thrown into the iron Jaws, and the
small bits are carried by an elevator to
heavy iron rollers, until the whole is
reduced to the size Of pea. From
time to time shovelfuls have been
thrown 10 one side as samples. These
are now crushed again. and parts TAX
en- as averaging the whole. You fol-
low these to the assayer, who mixes
them carefully, and again takes half a
dozen minute parts, which he places in
as many small cups made of bone dust,
and in the same cups certain other sub
stances known as fiuxes.
On the floor of small furnace, so
constructed as to obtain an intense
heat, the cups are placed, and under
the action of the fire the lead hux
passes up the chimney in vapor.
When the process is completed the
halfdozen tiny bone cups are removed,
and glistening in the bottom in each is
found a minute silver button, perhaps
so small as to be scarcely distinguish
able with the naked eye.
The assayer takes these buttons, one
by one, tiattens them out and puts
them on pair OF scales capable of
weighing body much less than the
one millionth of pound The scales
are inclosed in glass, as even a breath
of air would disturb the balance, and
weights like little pieces of hair are
moved by levers passing though tho
glass to their places. Weights are
noted and calculations are made, and
the assayer tells you that your ore
contains 1913 ounces of silver to
the ton, fourteen ounces of gold,
and that there is moreover in a ton Of
ore 100 ounces OF copper. Perhaps you
have taken samples of the ore yourself
an carried them TO another assayer
and now compare the assays of each.
ii satisfied you go to the office and re-
ceive che Iue for so many thousand
dollars, and your interest in the ore
ceases. But let us follow it and see if
this mis- ellaneous collection of rocks
Sceually does contain silver and gold.
Awaiting the orders of the metallur-
gist, the ore h been arranged in piles,
each of which has a shingle stuck in
IN with q number. The metlllurgist
aaving determined with what other
ores it is to he nuxed, the piles are or
dered into the long roasting furnaces
TO be desul phurized. Put in of the
end, where the heat is least, they are
moved forward every four hours by
means Of long poker, which also
serve to thoroughly stir up and expose
to the heat every portion of the ore,
unit at last they arrive at the end,
where they come In contact with the
full force of the flames. Then they
are removed to the furnaces, where the
smelling is to be done-very large re-
verberatory ovens in which the charge
| is made up under the direct orders of
the metallurgist.
From the white heat of these furnaces
The Stag is drawn off. much as in the
ordinary iion blast Iurnace, and lit q
late another aperture is made and the
matte" as the impure metal is called,
is run Off You see now black
looking substance, having metallic
rng, and somewhat resemble e
Mig iron, but very brittle and much
Lighter in weight. The next process is
the lreaking up of this "matte" and its
recrushiug into pieces smaller than
buckshot. I hen again it goes into the
roasting furnaces and forty-eight hours
of de ulphurizing takes place.
inally it pas es to the "arrastra, !"
where, in IN iron chest, it is crushed
mt it is moth Dg but an impalpable
black d ut which Elevators carry to
the last pr cess as they won al so much