The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-03-30
KINGDOM OF FIRE
A NOCTURNAL VISIT TO A GREAT
SMELLING MILL.

Where Sulphurous Flames Dart From Nv.
cry Crevice to Work Miracles-The River
Of Lcst Souls-Process Of Converting Ore
70 Bullion.
Especial Correspondence
DENVER, March 27.-Did you ever visit
. great smelter at night and trace the prog
ress OF the ore from the cars in which il is
brought from the mines until it pours fort n
from the seething, spouting furnaces. a
liquid, golden. molten stream? 1t is like a
peep into fairyland, where socty cnomes
and giants work wonderful transforma-
tion scenes: where sulphurous flames dash
from every corner to- work miracles Of
magic; where mighty monsters snatch pre-
cious metals ard crush, manipulate and
mold them into all sorts of fantastic
shapes; where the gold and silver dollars
you so love TO jingle in your pockets are
conjured from the rocks of the mountain
sides.
One night last week 1 went through the
great sme!ter at Durango, Colo. Durango,
you must know. is dubbed the ''Smelter
City of the Silver San Juan" IL has two
mammoth smelters running day and night
the year round, giving employment to near-
~ 500 men. From its proximity to silver
and gold mines, coal beds and limestone
deposits it is more favorably located for
profitable smelling than any other point
west of the Missouri 1t has, moreover,
earned the title TO the cheapest smelling
point on earth, owing to the fact that the
coal used is run by surface tram from a
point just above the great San Juan smelt-
er to the furnaces and coke ovens. In ad-
dition, there is down hill pull on all ores
from Silverton, Rico and other mining
camps and from the Red mountain country.
Lead smelling is the process used at the
San Juan smelter. All classes of ore are
treated, reducing the metals into bullion
and matte. The smelling plant consists Of
six blast furnaces, with a capacity of 800
tons of ore per day. Then there are 10 re-
verberatory roasting furnaces, crushing
and sampling departments, an electric light
plant, machine shop, waterworks and a
coking plant. There Is a superb 400 horse
power Corliss engine, "Genevieve--named
for a dainty blue eyed baby girl-which
runs the blowers which supply the blast to
the furnaces. The crushers and samplers
are equipped with a hundred horsepower
engine. So much for machinery, in which
Colorado is as up to date as she is in every
thing else.
The smelter crowns lofty cliff overhang.
ing the Rio de Las Animas Perditas the
River of Lost Souls. and at night, when the
Stag from the furnaces is rushed down to
the dump and emptied-a sparkling. FLAIR
ing, glowing stream-into the black chasm
and plunges kissing into the trembling
waters. it seems almost human and the
rivers name fairly appropriate. My guides
on this nocturnal visit to the kingdom OF
fire were Clayton Nichols, one Of the best
known mining engineers in the La Plata
country; W. d. Lee, superintendent of the
Rio Grange Southern, whose track fairly
bristles with mines, and George kishing-
bury, editor Of the mining paper, The Daily
Southwest, and an expert on mines and
mining In the darkness, lighted only by
the internal CLEAN of the furnaces, we
picked our way across the river and up the
cliff, climbing until we reached the top floor
of the smelter, where long line of trans
stood freighted with the ore brought that
day from the mountains.
The ore is frs: weighed and then thrown
into the crushers. A crusher is like two
great iron hands which tear and pulverize
the rock until it resembles sand, with
shining grains here and there which tell
their own precious story. From these
crushers the ore drops through huge fun |
nels to the floor below. The next step is to |
roast it. / was fascinated by the mon |
strous rotary rooster, the invention of a Col /
orado man. The ore is shoveled in at the (.
top of this machine, and it takes four hours 1
for it to move round 1t is like a great /
wheel, bordered by broad compartments |
with sliding doors, through which you can |
look and see iron cylinders filled with hot |
air and having huge teeth like those of a |
giants rake. These teeth comb through !
the ore "a clearly and deity as a comb 1
passes through a woman's hair The other /
are worked by hand. At the door |
of each stands man with a great imple- |
menu like hoe, and reaching in he keeps 4
the ore perpetually in motion. All this ,
and roasting. you must remember,
is simply preparing the ore for the fur
PAGES.
When finally prepared. it is mixed with
iron. limestone rock, coke and coal and the |
whole mass is then turned into the furnaces |
where the angry blue and scarlet flames |
leap to seize it with avidity. You watch it 1
disappear on one floor, and then, going |
down to the next floor, see it reappear in /
another form.
gorge and spout liquid fire eternally. Great /
pots of various sizes stand in rows, one a |
little above the other. The molten stream 1
runs into the largest poi, whence it drips 4
into the next sized, and SO on until the last /
pot in the row is reached. which is on a lit 4
tie two wheeled gig. Here it is seized by /
the workmen and carried away. This is
the waste or matte, as 1t is termed in min
ing language. This matte is cooled in great |
molds and shipped to Omaha, where it is
refined. The Stag or utterly worthless part 1
ract of fire Is soon lost in the black depths
VI the canyon
On the side of each furnace is square
opening, where the good ore, which, being
heavier than the waste has remained in the
furnace, slowly rises and bubbles TO the
.op. Close by Oh the ground lie the mods,
ong, thick slabs. with deep intentions,
waiting for their precious burden. Sud
ieDly the workman, who has been careful !
y watching that seething. bubbling mass,
Dlunges long dipper into this square open
ng and draws il out filed TO the b-im with
,olded hued liquid, which quickly turns 20
,ose tint as il is poured into the mods,
hen blackens as IL coois and finally b.
,umes a iescen color when cold.
And this is bullion Bu, before IL Is
,oined into Uncle Sans dollars /; must
undergo refining For this purpose il Is
Ihipp-d TO other states
EpITH SESSIONS TUPPER