Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-03-22
SILVER dollar.
Its History Traced From Mint to
Mint.
Gold and Silver Go Into the Melt
ing Pot ogether-Afterward Sep
arated by Powerful Acids-Cut
Into Discs, Weighed, Milled and
Stamped-Vaults Contain Wealth
that is Measured by Millions.

The making of a silver dollar is a
longer and more complicated operation
than the expending of it.
The usual visitor sees only the final
process Of coinage, and is not admitted
to the mysteries Of the score Of cunning
operations that precede.
The rough silver comes to the mint
in many shapes, mixed with gold, in
bars from the Western mines, in family
plate, for the melting pot, or mingled
with gold in jewelry. The greater part
by far is the ponderous pigs" or bricks
from the West. These are not pure sill
yer. They may be a quarter silver and
the rest gold or in varying proportions;
some dull yellow with the preponder-
ance of gold, others paler with the mass
of the intermingled white metal.
Some of the bars have their rough
sides stamped with the figures of the
Western assay offices, and little pieces
have been Clipped from the corners for
the testing of their firmness. The con-
signments are carefully weighed as they
come in the deposit room, the first Of
the long series of weighing operations
that the precious metal undergoes both
going in and coming out of every room
in the mint, which is the surest safe
guard against loss through carelessness
or dishonesty.
From the weighing room the bars are
each locked in a strong box, with rec
ord and number of the depositor and
are carted off to a baptism of fire. Gold
and silver go into the incandescent
melting pot together. If there is more
gold than silver in the lot to be melted,
silver bars are put in until there is
twice the proportion of the yellow met
al, so that the acids used for separating
may part the metals thoroughly.
The acids introduced in the molten
mixture separate the gold from the sill
yer, and each form the copper or other
organic substances in the mass. The
silver.is taken out in the form of dry
! brown powder that looks like snuff, and
would be kicked aside by the most mi
serly man in a hunt for treasure. This
dirty powder, without sheen or glitter,
is compressed in cakes that look like
small grindstones, and crumble to the
touch like rotten sandstone.
These unpromising chunks are again
melted and run into molds, coming out
as shining white bars, purified and pre-
cious 10 look at. The gold is treated in
the same way. These bars are taken
back to the deposit room, where a small
piece is Clipped off for the assaying de-
partment. when the fineness is ascer-
tanned and the depositor paid.
The silver bar from which the dollars
are to come is now fairly started on its
long route. 1t is reweighed and enough
| copper added to make the proportion OF
the standard alloy-900 parts silver to
100 parts of copper. The silver and cop
per are again plunged into a glowing
| furnace The workmen are somewhat
sheltered by iron hoods, and wear
gloves as big as pillows, but the novice
expects to see the buttons on their
shirts melt and evaporate.
The silver and the copper are thus
welded into a state of alloyed harmony
and in the ingot room take on a new
form. if wanted for coinage. If for
storage, the bars are put away in great
vaults.
To return to the plebeian silver dol
lar, the ignots are run into moulds that
fasten them in strips about foot long
and a couple of inches in thickness.
These ignots are now in shape for treat
ment that will prepare them for the
rolling and punching and stamping that
will take them into the coinage room.
The ignOt room is red with the glare
from the furnace mouths, and the bare
armed men in this livid glare, pouring
molten gold and silver like water, sug-
gest the laboratory of some cunning
alchemist of the olden time triumphant
in the searching for the secret of the
transmutation Of metals.
The floor is a fine network Of heavy
iron meshes or grating over the wood
floor. All of the molten splashing
from the molds falls through this graf
ing, which is removed daily, and the
solid floor carefully swept and the
sweepings put in the melting pot Every
room in the mint is swept daily and
the sWeepings are worth from $4,000
to $4,000 yearly.
AS the ignots come from the molds
they are rough and ragged on the ends,
and powerful machines grip them in
giant jaws, and bite them smooth and
even. Then they go to the breaking
down rolls in another room where they
are subjected to terrific pressure that re-
duces the ingots several times their
original size. Each time the shining
silver ingOts passes between the great
steel rollers the pressure is increased,
and this process naturally hardens the
metal until it becomes brittle.
So before further punishment the long
suffering ignot is anneaied, as the in
QUESTION used TO revive its victims to
make them equal TO another course Of
torture. The ignots have been squeez-
ed ont TO such length that they are
now cut into strips about two feet
long and stacked in trays. are plunged
into the annealing furnace. From this
they come out looking like sticks Of
cherry red candy. and are plunged hiss
ing into a cold bath.
The strips, now discolored. looking
like lead, are rolled again, and then
sent to the draw bench" They are
uneven in thickness after their ordeal
between the rolls, and this imperfection
will never do. The draw bench" looks
like a long horizontal bicycle chain in
motion, along the top of which runs a
little cart up and down, ceaselessly,
like shuttle. The little cart has two
jaws on the front which grasp strip
and start swiftly along the endless
chain with great energy.
II d1.n on. tho ctr.ir. Of eiIunt. hot rrrnnr,