The San Francisco call., 1896-05-24
They Are Separating Platinum,
Silver and Gold From
Refuse Dumps.
WEALTH UNDER AN OLD WHARF
Mining the Black Dross and Accre.
tions of Smelters at the
Abandoned Works.


has been found to contain wealth beyond
the miners expectations. How much OF
this wealth lies there is purely matter of
conjecture, though experts look forward
to rich harvest that may take some years
TO gather in.
The strangest part OF it all is, nature
never placed the precious metals there.
They were taken thither some years ago
from the Sierras and other mining dis
tricts and represent a very slight proper
tion of loss in the refinement of ores and
bullion by the Selby Smelling Company.
The mine, for such it really is, lies in the
dump-heaps of the abandoned Selby
Smelling Works on the bay shore, between
Hyde and Leavenworth streets.
Nobody ever dreamed that precious de-
posts lay in these refuse heaps, until
about two years ago young man named
Watkins, with considerable skill and
knowledge OF refining ores and of mining
in its varions aspects, introduced himself
10 w. 3. Cluff, one of the owners of the
tottering works and the real estate upon
which they stood.
~ want the privilege of mining over
these old smelling works, he explained.
The men spoke OF terms
That part of it is all right" replied the
enterprislng young stranger. "I'll work
ii on shares or pay for the privilege"
He was taken at his word and a con-
tract was signed.
Then Watkins with two experience ced
miners went to work in the ruins. They
laboreu with evident enthusiasm. 1t was
partnership arrangement, and so one
We'd with the other in producing ore of
different kinds. Watkins knew MANY Sc
crets about abandoned smelling works,
and this, too, was the secret of his pne-
nomenal success. One day he got permis-
sion from Cluff to take a felt covering off
the roof of a shed. He burned the cover
ing and refined the ashes, and in it alone
got snug little fortune in gold dust, sill
yer and platinum.
Shortly after this incident he called on
Cluff in the latter's store on Sixth street.
''Good-by,' was his laconic greeting.
"Well, I've got all there's in it; I've
made enough out OF it, and my partners
are satisfied Also
He left San Francisco to try his fortune
on an old smelter in Idaho, or somew here
in that part OF the country.
He made many thousand dollars, but
he only raked over the place" said Mr.
Cluff's manager, Ben janlin Duncan. 1.-The
men who have gone into the work now
are in earnest. They have discovered a
mine that was never dreamed of. They
take out gold, silver and platinum in
large quantities and are making money
last The ore or products averages $3.50 a
ton, and there is a tremendous heap to
draw from"
The miners who are now delvirg in the
refuse came here from Siskiyou recently
and undertook to operate on shares with
the owners. Messrs. Cuff 6 Harris. After
making careful prospect of the premises,
one OF them went underneath the old
wharf to further investigate.
The wharf projects into the water about
100 feet and 1t Is wider than it is long At
high tide the waves wash under this
structure almost to the fence on the south
side OF the works at one end. When the
tide IS out, however, there is black hump
on the strand at this point. Ashes, debris
and the recremert of metals dumped from
above had accumulated by degrees into
quite a respectable headland. During
this slow process the sea washed over the
heap at each tide. Thus did nature wash
the metals from the light dross, leaving
nothing but the Yltreous stuff and free
minerals to sink in the sandy beach. One
may go there and pick up a vitreted
cinder containing a chunk of pure silver
or, perhaps, the "color' of gold. Any
how, the attrition of the waves left little
else than a solid mass of material which
has assayed $3.50 a ton.
at low tide this is mined and hoisted to
the wharf in buckets and in wheelbarrows.
Then, when the rising water prevents fur
ther work, the miners transfer operations
to their washing troughs and arastras.
There is big pump on the outer edge OF
the wharf. From it a wooden trough is
laid at slight incline 10 a cradle. The
dirt" is put into the trough nearest the
pump. Water is then pumped upon it
and the lighter part washes into the bav.
The residue is treated in the cradle and
arastra repeatedly, so that little but free
metal remains. TAis is packed and sent to
the smelling works In Contra Costa
County to be melted and refined. To get
at the ore the men have to go beneath the
wharf and dig as if they were in a natural
mine. They have found that the metallif-
erous dump heap sank below the level of
the sand, its greater weight no doubt hav-
ing pressed the sand and mud away on all
sides.
A week ago the miners turned their
attention to the hues. These lead from
where the various smelters stood, and
below the surface, to the tall chimney
shaft. The interstices of the bricks form
ing those conduits were found to be reek-
ing with gold dust and silver and plati-
mum, and the furnaces and soil around
them are also saturated with the precious
metals.
They have been talking of pulling
down the chimney" said Mr.. Duncan.
"They said il contains thousands of dol
lars worth of gold in the crevasses and it
NOulu pay 10 tear Gown tne DTlckS ana
treat them. | understand that the flues
are supposed to be quite as rich. The men
at work there are taking out some hum
dreds of dollars week and have made
several thousand dollars clear so far.
"One would hardly think that so much
valuable material should have been over
looked by the smelling company. But
that was how they refined ores in the
earlier days. Times have changed since
then. Th old methods were crude in COM
parson with the new, and nowadays the
abandoned refuse-dump is treated on mod
ern principles and made to yield consider
able gold and silver"
The miners were quite enthusiastic over
the work last week. They were digging
around the arches at the base of the smoke
stack and cleaning up the pay dirt in
wheeloarrows. They were constantly add
ing to the supply of minerals stored in a
shed to await shipment to Port Costa. 1t
was better than mining in mountains, and