The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-09-19
EAST HELENA SHELTER.
One Of the Places the Excursion
lists Will Visit While in the
Capital City.
Pronounced by Experts tho Most
Complete Plant of It's Kind In
the Country.
It Represents an Investment Of Over Half
. Million, and 1t Disbursos Ten Thou
sand Dollars Every Day.

It Represents an Investment Of Over Hs
. Million, and 1t isburse Ten Thou
sand Dollars Every Day.
Among the places on the programme I,
the Occur d'Alene excursionists to visit I,
day is the East Helena smelter. As I'll
party will be largely composed of minir
men, a number Of them will %undoubtedI
take advantage of the opportunity to Wis
the most complete smelling plant in II
country. Tho term ''most complete
used advisedly. and il lie the verdict passe
upon the East Helena works by proprieto,
of smelters from all over the country
There are = great many people who live j
Helena who might with great advantag
avail themselves of the first half day the
can spare, visit East Helena and hav
Manager Raht allow them through the works
They will return home impressed, rs tn
writer was, that Helena has an institution
which 10 q credit not only to the city but I,
the whole state, and an excellent ~illustra
ton OF what Helena enterprise is capabl,
of accomplishing.
The Helena & Livingston Smelling ant
Reduction company was incorporated in
1887, by s. 7. Hauser, A. j. Seligman, A.. Nj,
Hotter, and other Helena men, in conjunc'
ton with eastern capitalists. Regarding
the enterprise ~ ono which would be OF
great benefit to the city, the merchants and
business men generally of Helena sub
scribed literally to the stock. Three hun
dred and twenty acres of ground was pur-
chased about five miles east of the city, and
work begun. Inside of a year active oper-
atoms we're commenced. Following upon
the selection of the site, and while the
works were building the town of East Hell
ena was laid out, and to-day it is quite a
village, whore a large majority of the
smelter employees reside. The works were
erected under the direction of A. Raht. at
that time manager of the Wickes works,
who has been connected with the institu-
tion ever since. After running a year or
two. owing to the impossibility of making
satisfactory terms with the railroads shut
down was neeessitated. This lasted
for six months, but a year ago the difficulty
was adjusted, and at the same time a con-
solidation with the Montana Smelling COM
pany at Great Falls was effected. The
new incorporation was called the United
Smelling q Refining company, the officers
of which are A, H. Hewitt, president; w.
N. Cromwell, first vice presidents; O. r.
Allen, second vice president; A. Eilers.
general manager. Mr.. Rant was made
manager of the consolidated works. the
fires at East Helena we're started, n since
that time the results have been very salts
factory to all concerned. In fact, the bust
ness has grown to such proportions that ad-
ditional facilities were absolutely necessary,
and at a meeting of the directors in New
York early in the spring it was decided to
nrIor0a than, ThI0 ia nnw haJnN 1nrn
Some idea of the business transacted
may be gained when it is stated that 800
men are given employment, while the dis
bursements amount to over $4,000 a day.
OF course, a large part of the ores comes
from Montana, but not all by any means.
Occur d'Alene properties are large contribu-
tors, and since the completion of the new
line from Helena, the receipts from that
source are constantly growing. From the
almost unknown British Kootenai ship
ments of very desirable ore are also CON
stantly received. Owing to the complete
ness of the works, and the extraordinarily
excellent facilities for doing the business,
as we'll as the prompt returns made to ship
pers, each month witnesses a substantial
growth in the receipts.
While every one in Helena knows that
silver, lead and gold comes from rock taken
out OF the ground, but few have any idea of
tho many processes through which it passes
before it reaches the final stage. At the
East Helena works it is brought down to the
last process, refining. and this latter is done
IN Chicago. But up to the bar of bullion it
is an interesting and instructive lesson.
The East Helena works cover, with the
building now in course of construction,
about ten acres. Both the Northern Pacific
and Montana Central run to them, with
side tracks and switches so arranged as to
insure the rapid and economical handling
of ore and bullion. The visitor will natur-
1 nv Fput all n <ho vN,,o~nI "a - |
a two-story. brick structure, plain
but substantial. Here Manager Raht,
Superintendent Dean and the book
keeper and clerks make their head
quarters. just across from it and within a
few steps, is the assay office, in charge of
l.. EnRlehardt. 1t is as complete as any
assay Office in the country, roomy. and ar
ranged wholly with an eye to the business to
be transacted. Here the ore is not only as
sayed for the gold, silver and lead it may
contain, but also for every other ingredi-
emit. To thoroughly do this, chemicals are
at times necessary, and there is one depart
ment devoted solely to chemical analyses.
But let us begin with the ore. About 200
yards from the general offics is a building
called the sampling mill. It is a two story
frame, with the floors covered with sheet
iron; running all around it is a platform,
close by which the ore-laden cars are found.
The rock on being taken from the cars is
dumped into a rock breaker, situated close
to the door. There it is crushed into
pieces about the size of your hand.
The manner of testing a shipment is quite
interesting. Every tenth shovelful of ore,
after the first crushing. is put to one side,
When the shipment is all in, the heap
arising from this is divided in four equal
parts. Two OF these are crushed again
and then a like division is made. This con-
tinues till the original heap is reduced to a
mass of pulp which will about fill two hands.
This is assayed, and thus the actual value
OF the whole lot of ore is determined.
Two classes of ore are received at the
works-sulphide and carbonate. The latter
goes direct to the furnace; the former it il
necessary to roast. We will suppose it is a
lot OF sulphido ore we are watching. From
the breakers it passes to the other aide of
the building, where the large pieces
are sent to the roasting heaps, which
be observed from the car
windows on the ride to Alhambra, while the
fine particles are ready for the roasting
OF the latter there are eight,
with two Buechner furnaces, the latter used
only for ores containing only a very small
amount OF lead. Following the roasting
process, the orc presents a black appear
ance. After roasting 1t goes to the weigh
ing room. This is one of the most interest
ing. departments. There are four scales,
with seven beams on each, to weigh seven
different classes of ore. On each is a
schedule, showing how much ore out of the
many heaps Is to be consolidated and fed
to the furnaces. The scales are automatic
cally set SO that all the shoveler has to do
10 to get his material from the proper bins
and see that each proportion is of the right
weight. From tina waiohioo rooro ~ -.