Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-03-06
HOW TAR IS MADE.
The Crude Method of Burning is
WaSteful.
THE PRODUCTS OBTAINED FROM 1T.
Antipypine, Antifebrin, Aeetanilid, Phe-
nacetine, and Saccharin, and other
Drugs Procured from 1t.
He PRODUCTS OBTAINED FROM 1T.

Down ip the Carolinas the edges of
the hills crown with almost endless
forests of great pines, dark and silent.
From the side of the trees the casual
observer would imagine that they could
be used to excellent advantage for the
main masts of great vessels or could be
cut into lumber with which to build
city. But the poor white" Of the
mountains knows better. He has
seen the great boles of the pines per-
spire with sticky pitch, and he knows
that if they are cut open the wood will
appear pock marked with endless
knots and rotten places. Yet they have
value all their own, and the "poor
white" knows how to make the most
of it.
In the first place the trees may be
"sapped" for turpentine by making the
proper incisions ON the trunks, or they
may be burned for tar. All through
the forests mounds of earth-deserted
-kilns-may be seen at the center OF
patches of clearing, and not far away
a ruined shanty, where the tar-burner
made his home while the firing was
going on. The work is eminently
adapted to the capabilities of the
poor white" because it enables him
to work very hard for a few days in
getting the mound made and then lie
about for weeks hunting little, talk
ing little and preparing as elaborate
meals as the country will afford until
the burning is completed.
Slightly sloping gound ON the hill
side is usually chosen for the site for
burning tar. A hole or basin from
sixteen to twenty feet in diameter
and three feet deep at the center is
scooped out, connecting with a covered
trough through which the tar is to
flow. The workmen then fell the great
green pines around them and cut them
up, roots and ALL into pieces three or
four feet long and few inches i'll di-
ameter. The "piler" takes these
sticks as they are brought to him and
stacks them up ON end in the shape OF
an Indian wigwam, one tier above an
other, until the top dwindles to point.
Sometimes more than 100 cords Of
wood are heaped in single hole-the
amount depending usually on the en-
ergy of the burners. Damp earth and
sand is heaped over the completed pile
to the depth of several inches, and it
is sometimes further covered with
green boughs. A flue is made at the
top to furnish the necessary draft, and
a number of small holes or hampers
are left at the bottom.
When everything is ready the pile
is ignited and as the fire spreads
through the wood the apertures at
the bottom are gradually closed up
aud slow combustion goes on for
about ten days. 1t has to be closely
watched in order that the fire neither
goes out nor burns too fiercely. At
the end of the firing period the pile
has settled so much that the top caves
in and bright blaze leaps up, only
to be extinguished by the addition of
more moist earth. About this time the
spout at the bottom Of the tar-hole
begins to trickle with a lazy-moving,
brown liquid which has pungent
odor. This is the beginning of the tar
flow and is always greeted with much
joy by the watchers, who know that
their work is beginning to bear fruit.
During the first few hours the flow is
usually full of sand and charcoal. and
it is promptly discarded. AS soon as
the stream is fairly clear it is run into
barrels and allowed to cool, after which
it is ready for shipment. About II. 5
per cent of the wood burned is con-
verted into tar, and the flow lasts some
times for two or three weeks. As high
as $50 barrels of tar are taken from a
single hole, but to secure so large a
product the pile of wood must be very
large.
This crude method of burning is ex-
ceedingly wasteful, all the gas, the as
cetic acid, and much charcoal being en-
tirely lost. The tar, when taken from
the holes. is usually distilled in retorts
giving off wood spirit and pitch oils.
The black residuum is poured while
still hot into barrels, where it soon
hardens and becomes the ordinary tar
of commerce. 1t is largely used in
making tar pavements, tar roofs, tar
paper, and in calking ships and side
walks to make them impervious to
water.
This method of procuring tar was
formerly much used, but of late years
tar is so much more easily obtained as
the result of the manufacture of ordi-
nary illuminating gas, that it only pays
for the ''poor whites to engage in
the work. So plentiful, indeed, was
coal tar at one time-and that not SO
very long ago-that it was almost a
waste product. But the process of dis
tillation has now become so perfect,
through the discoveries of chemists.
and the use of the products thus OBJ
tained is so extensive that alomst all
the tar is utilized. 1t is simply astound-