Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-04-02

power Corliss engine, "Genevieve'-named
for dainty blue eyed baby girl-which
runs the blowers which supply the blast to
the furnaces. The crushers and samplers
are equipped with 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, far
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. ID. 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 a long line of trans
stood freighted with the ore brought that
day from the mountains.
The ore is first weighed and then thrown
into the crushers A crusher is like two
great iron hands which tear and pulverze
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
for it to move round. 1t is like 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 as clearly and deity as a comb
passes through woman's hair. The other
roasters are worked by hand. At the door
of each stands a man with a great nipple
ment like hoe and reaching in he keeps
the ore perpetually in motion. All this
crushing and roasting. you must remember,
is simply preparing the ore for the fur
DaceS.
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
disappear on one floor, and then, going
down to the next floor, see it reappear in
another form.
The six vast furnaces face the Animas
gorge and spout liquid fire eternally. Great
pots of various sizes stand i'll rows, one a
little above the other. The molten stream
runs into the largest pot, whence it drips
into the next sized, and SO on until the last
pot in the row is reached, which is on Il H.
tie two wheeled gig Here it is seized by
the workmen and carried away. This is
the waste, or matte, as it is termed in min
ing language. This matte is cooled in great
mol1s and shipped to Omaha, where it is
refined. The Stag or utterly worthless part
is carried away to the dump, and the cata-
ract of fire is soon lost in the black depths
of 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
top. Close by on the ground lie the molds,
long, thick slabs, with deep intentions,
waiting for their precious burden. Sud
denly the workman, who has been careful
ly watching that seething, bubbling mass,
plunges a long dipper into this square open
ing and draws it out filled to the brim with
Rolded hued liquid, which quickly turns to
rose tint as it is poured into the molds,
then blackens AS it cools and finally as
sumes a leaden color when cold.
And this is bullion. But before it is
coined into Uncle Sans dollars it must
undergo refining. For this purpose it is
shipped to other states.
EDITH SESSIONS UPPER.