The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-26


US -this,las we ride upon the cars UP
OF an engine on a trestle work track
which lands the ore at the top OF the
mill. Tor the rock Is carried from one
leyel. to another by means of gravity.
we lock- down at the load as we 60
upsss There ara specks OF stone the size
or the head Of a pin, and there are
immense boulders weighing hundreds
Of pounds.ssAH this must be crushed
to powder befnre 1t can be worked.
Inc car stops at the top and the ore
is loaded intoi what looks like
gigantic coffeeA mill, the top OF which
is as Dig around as a hogshead. AS the
rock falls into 1t the mill seizes the
stones In Its great steel teeth and
gr1nds them toopieces. You hear them
apparently groan as they are crushed
ana you shudder at the thought Of
getting into the jaws Of the machinery.
This mill grinds the ore to the size Of
a walnut Another takes it and re-
duces it to pieces the size of a pea,
and 1t is Them ready for the dryer.
Every molecule of moisture must be
taken out of the ore before 1t can be
ground to powder. This Is done by
passing 1t through enormous steel
tubes of the length of an ordinary rail-
road passenger coach and as big
al Ouud CTS q hour DdITel.
these tubes flames Of gas continually
blow. They are inclined at such an
angle that the ore going in at the top
as they revolve rolls slowly down to
the bottom AS it rolls 1t has this
frey bath, and the heat takes all
the moisture cut Of the rock. Then an
elevator of iron buckets, much like
that which carries wheat up in a -four
mill, carries the ore to the top of the
md ie Tod 4y, cfa o1
crushers, which grind 1t to powder.
The ore which we saw before as cobble
stones and broken rock, has now be-
come flour. 1t looks like dust, and
1t is composed Of millions of grains,
but each Of those grains contains an
1nf1nitesimal quantity Of gold, and this
costly dust is worth a fortune The
rock was hard and rough. The dust
is so soft and fine that you can rub
it to ands.fro in your hands without
scratching the skin, and it looks much
ike powdered pumice stone. 1t has.
however, no CLEAN Of gold, and were
1t on the road, you would drive your
carriage through it without thinking.
GOLDEN MUSH.
The dust is now ready for its cyanide
BATH 1t is loaded into cars and wheel
ed into what might be called the bath
room. This is an immense room, filed
Each tank is about thirty feet in diam
eter and as high as your waist. Each
Will hold 100 tons of this powdered dust.
The cars run along a little railroad
which leads from one tank to another
and from which the dust is dumped
into the tanks. When the cyanide So
luton is introduced by means of pipes.
The solution is fluid as clear as crys-
tai. 1t looks like water but 1t is water
q i10i n In MD Of
potassium. 1t takes about one pound
of cyanide to set the gold out of each
ton of ore, and as the stuff runs
through the dust the mixture looks for
all the world like brown mush. 1t is
mush, but it is mush mixed with gold.
Now, by the affinity which the cyanide
of potassium has for gold, as the solu
ton runs through the sandy dust, the
gold leaves the earth and melts and
assumes the form of a liquid and be-
comes a part Of the solution. 1t is just
as though you had a lot of salt or
sugar mixed with dirt. If you should
put water on the dirt the salt and
sugar would be dissolved and go into
the water. Well, that is the way the
gold does with the mixture of cyanide
of potassium and water. 1t takes
some time, however, for the solution to
| soak all of the gold out Of the sand,
At the end of this time the gold has all
gone into the solution and you have
this fluid made UP of water and gold
and cyanide floating around through
the mush The solution is still as clear
as crystal, and there is no sign of gold
Now, each of these immense tanks has
two bottoms. One Is of solid material
through which the water cannot pass
and the other is Of canvas When the
6IlC mt iY1sf t,n Iof1 DC, n
with the solid bottom beneath. After
| the liquid has been long enough on the
mush the Old bottom is taken away
and the solution containing the gold
drains out through the canvas and is
| carried away, leaving almost nothing
| but the dirt behind. One tank Of dust
! at the estimate of half an ounce Of gold
! to the ton contains a thousand dol
| lars worth of gold. Of this $3.50 worth
waste of only $50 in one hundred tons
! of ore.
GOLD FROM WATER.
| We have now several hogsheads Of
| golden water. It looks like common
! water. 1t is clear as crystal, and
! were it in q pitcher you might drink
| it by mistake. We know, however
| that it has that 1910 worth Of gold in
| it, and the question Is how to get it
| evaporate the water and the residue
| at the bottom would be a part of the
l sugar and salt within it. But gold Is
! not to be gotten out in that way 1t
! is taken from the water much on the
same principle as that by which it has
| been extracted from the rock Gold
! as 1t exists in the cyanide solution has
a peculiar affinity for zinc. IF there Is
an atom of zine next to one Of these
molecules of gold it will leave the
cyanide water and stick to the zinc.
| But zinc is expensive, and large sur
face is needed to- gather all these little
! molecules of gold. The surface is got
ten by having sthe zinc prepared in
circular disks of the size of a dinner
plate and abouts as thick as the head
OF pin. These, by means of lathe,
are turned into fine shavings, much
like the excelsior used for packing
dishes. This zinc excelsior is now put
into steel watts about eighteen feet long
! and four feet wide and two feet deem
| These Yates have partitions running
i through them, and each compartment
| is loosely filled with this zinc excelsior.
Now the cyanide solution, with it's gold
| in 1t, is turned into the vat and so
! arranged that it will slowly flow about
through the zinc excelsior. AS the
golden water washes the zinc shavings
the atoms Of gold leave the water and
| stick to the zinc until at last every bit
4 of water has given up it's gold. The
zinc under It's influence gradually turns
from a bright silver to q dirty yellow.
! 1t grows heavier and heavier with its
! golden load. until it has at last gathered
all the gold. The solution is then
t drawn off through holes in the bottom
of the vat and strengthened up in or
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