Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-08-12
MAKING MONEY FAST.
THE SAN FRANCISCO MINT is THE
LARGEST IN THE WORLD.

leans, Carson City and San Francisco. On
the corner of Fifth and Missouri streets
stands large gray stone building, suffi-
GENTLY imposing as to attract immediate
attention, and if curiosity leads the visitor
up the long fight of broad stone steps
and into the reception hall, he will find him
self within the walls of the largest mint in
the world. This mint was established in
1858, and the present building was erected
in 1859. A polite, well informed and cour-
teous guide awaits to conduct the visitors
through the workrooms where can be seen
the different processes through which bull
ion must pass before it can be used as
United States money. The furnace room
is the first one to which the visitor is con-
Quoted. The machinery is run by water
power, furnished by an artesian we'll in the
yards of the mint building.
The next room is the deposit room, or,
more properly speaking, the ingot room.
Here old gold, silver or jewelry is received,
OF which any one can deposit to the value
of not less than 500 and have it melted
into bullion, assayed and the next day re-
ceive in money of full value in gold coin
with 10 per cent of copper alloy and no
charges made for coming On the day of
our visit S500,C0 in silver coin was being
melted over. Why? No one could or would
explain. 1t looked odd to see the appar-
emily perfectly good 50-cent pieces shoveled
into the small, redhot bowls where the
intense heat of the furnace soon reduced
the coins to a molten fire, which is stirred
by small paddles held by immense iron
pinchers in the hands of skilled workmen,
who practically learn their bread by the
sweat of the brow" The small paddles, as
we'll as the bowls in which the metal is re-
duced TO liquid, are made of clay and plum
bago. The ingots of gold and silver are IL
inches long, IL inches wide and i inch
thick. The value of the goldingot is 81 600,
and the value of the silver ingot of the
same size is S55.
The next process through which the met
al passes is that of rolling into long, thin
strips. This is done by heavy rollers under
pressure of $50 tons. 1t takes 10 times to
roll gold and II times to roll silver The
gold strips are now put into long copper
tubes, which are then placed in furnace
until they are redhot, thence thrown into a
vat of water, which process tempers the
| metal. Each of these long copper tubes is
handled by two workmen and will hold
$50, 600 i'll gold or s., 500 in silver. When the
| gold strips are removed from the tubes, the
| gold Is waXed, and the silver strips are
| CREASED. This is done to prevent abrasion.
The metal is now ready for cutting into
| pieces, the size according to the denomna-
| ton of the money to he made The work
men shove the long gold strips into the cut
| ting machine, which handles the precious
! metal as it would pasteboard, and indeed
! 1t is quite soft, as what is left of the strips
| is doubled up by the hands OF the work man
| and thrown into box To bc sent back to
! the ingot room. One dollar il silver and
| SEQ in gold are cut OFT at TIE rate of lS5
tb,,I. H.
| of 2S5 pieces per minute The round pieces
of gold and silver are now passed to the
/ cleaning room, where they are washed free
| from the wax and grease
| PeepinG into the door of the cleaning
| room, which visitors are not allowed to
enter, could be seen IL box OF unstumped
| $40 gold pieces The box contained 500. 900
| in gold. The unstamped coins, now bright
and shimmering, are II en- to the adjusting
room where the ladies work They are
| here adjusted to the exact weight of the
coin to be made Should IA coin prove to
be too heavy it Is flied of. If too light it
| goes back to be melted over The milling
| process puts the metal III blank form for
stamping. But first it must he freed from
oxidation, which is done by whitening.
| The round coins are now ready for the
stamping which makes the metal money.
There are five stamping machines, and the
dies of these can be changed
One dollar in silver and $40 in gold are
struck off by the same machine at the rate
of 1000 per hour. The capacity of the ma
| chimes Is much larger than the supply of
! gold. But if all the machines could be
kept working in gold they could stamp
$3.50, 900 in one hour, or So, 15O, 900 in seven
hours, or S945 ,000, 900 in 300 working DAYS.
To look at the large engine of $50 horse
power that controls the machinery used in
the mint building one would scarce imagine
it had been used for 10 years, as it appears
as bright and glittering in its polished
metal plates as if it were new.
In this great building where $40, OOO. 900 of
treasure is stored away, many seemingly
small economies are practiced, yet the re-
suits are quite astonishing and more than
repay the labor. The floors of the work
| rooms are covered with perforated iron
| flooring in small sections. Every night
| these sections are removed and the floor
swept. The sweepings are then worked
over with acid, and the yield in gold and
silver amounts to $1,000 per annum Once
a year every truck about the building is
burned, irrespective of it's condition, and
also the clothing worn in some of the work
! rooms, that not particle of the precious
metals may be lost. Once in four years the
carpets of the adjusting room are burned
The last burning enriched the United
States Golfers to the extent of 50 200.
Leaving the stamping room the visitor
finds himself in long stone corridor facing
two vaults, whose heavy iron doors conceal
the treasures of Sl0O00,000 and in their
mighty strength of steel and iron seem to
mock as childish play the official papers
sealed with red wax and marking them as
| belonging to the United States Government
The guide now leads the way up stairs to
the main hall, where the visitor can, if SO
disposed, pass pleasant and instructive
half hour viewing the collection of rare old
coins on exhibition in the reception room
San Francisco Cor. Omaha Bee.
And She Never Smiled.
middle aged man who has made enough
money to take his wife to France a dozen