The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-09-26
MODERN GOLD INNING.
Dates From the Return of Columbus
to spain-Efective Processes of
the Mexicans. - e


From an article on the Machinery of
Mining. in Modern Machinery, of Chi
cago: tn. modern history of gold and
silver mining begins with the return of
Columbus from his first voyage. The
supply % bullion had fallen far below
the requirements of trade, and there we're
only $780, O01,010 worth known to be avail
able for exchange. The return of Queen,
Isabella's cases of jewels, bestowed on
the navigator for his venture. filed the
Golfers and prosecuted tue wars of Spain
for three centuries From Sl50, ,0c0 of
gold produced annually in the SlxLeenth
century, the figure has run up 10 near
SJ3OUo,UOO per annurn In the nineteenth;
but tue Cnly im30rlant discovery in the
process OF extraction of gold in 10
centuries prior TO 1919 was the chemical
metals. Ihe use Of quicksilver Is Of
great antiquity; the elder piiny referred
10 it as to fact well known. But posing
as tiley DID as far gods, We Spaniaras
Claimed to have inVented tine process Of
&malgamaton, which they introduced
into the mines OF Mexico after the con-
quest Tley trst applied II to quartz
mining by q system of working invented
by Bartholomew Medina in 15ol one of
u1e trSt horn OF tne invading SD1niards
W men the CdcdDne5S OF MeNiCdn- lnG .3l
labor IS considered. the extremely low
grade OF the ores worked and the scarcity
Of fuel and water power, the primitive
simplicity of the patio process, archaic
as II seems, could scarcely be improved
upon for the region, and so Eorougn IS
the extraction OF tlhe precious metals NAT
nails VIII never be erected to cork ny
the tailtngs a. & now done in newer,
rlche, regions where the early working
was wasteful. For $50 years, 20 genera
tons OF men and women, as the short
generations go among these toilers of
MeNlcO. have crushed rock by hand with
heavy hammers. and like slaves are stiu
az their tasks.
In the patio process the quartz broken
by the hammers 10 the size of ones fist,
IS sent to ths Stamping mill, a most
primitive apparatus driven by mules s
,ong horizontal shaft in the center Is
armed with half a dozen cams placed on
an axle, Sc as 10 act in succession on the
projecting teeth of me upright wooden
stamps ShOd with iron, each weighing
about 200 pounds and working in a CORE
spending mortar. IN front of which is
placed a screen uierced With small round
holes Wtth human rock breakers and
this crude battery Of eight Stampers three
tons OF ore can be reduced to powder in
a day; task the first part of which the
immense Gates crushef, shown on our
first page, acconpl.shes in one minute
The graduated ore is then transferred
to an araStr4, there to be still further
reduced by the aid of water 10 an impal-
pable slime. The grinding tones and
..ning OF the arastra are made of
porphyry, smooth as glass and imper-
ccplibty Joined. The arastra is about u
feet in diameter, and is worked by mules
which turn a vertical shaft armed with
cross bars.
From the arastra and auri-argentifeTous
mud IS removed to reservoirs and partly
dried by the sun, 1t Is then transferred
to the patio or amaigamatins f'oor, d
paved space hundreds of feet square,
where the mud is spread in nat circles t1
feet in diameter and six inches in depth
Salt and mercury are added. and other
chemicals. according to the character of
the ore. after which the mules trample
the mass every cay for two weeks in
summer. and often as long as six weeks
in winter. before the amalgamation is
complete. The waste mattAr IS then
washed away through a sluice gate, and
the amalgam collected and retorted This
was practically the mthod of quartz min
ing in the early days of California Until
mills we're erected in the rich gold
regions of Nevada county. But until the
opening of the Constock mines in the
co : placer and hydraulic milling offered
greater rewaards for both individual and
hereafter. these had their place in the
development Of the machinery of mining.