Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1899-02-01

veiy muddy for q great many miles
below. The ranchers in the valley be-.
low are complaining because the. wa s.
ter which they use for irrig ating pur !
poses leaves a sediment which they
claim destroys the fertility of the soil.
There is a law in this state which pro-
vides that all tailings from concentrate
ing mills shall be impounded and not
allowed to pol]ute the waters of the
streams, but it is disregarded. The
mill and mine corporations probably
reason that but for the mil S theranch-
ers would soon lose the market for
their produce and for that reason will
be slow in making trouble. But we
are told that some litigation has be-
gun and that an effort is being made
to ascertain what detriment, if any,
the tailings are to the land.
x x
The work in the big mining proper
ties never ceases. A days work is
eight hours, for which the minimum
wages are $3.50. There are three
shifts. The day shift goes to work at
a. NJ. and works until 1850 p. M, the
night shift works from D. M. to r.
O'Clock p. m, and the "grave-y ard"
shift works from IL .: m. to 8 a. m.
Every two weeks the men change shifts.
~ ~
There are no smelters here. All ore
must be shipped to Denver, Pueblo,
Omaha or some other point for treat
ment It evidently does not make any
difference to the railroads to which
point they haul it, as the rates are the
same. Before going to the smelter all
ore is sampled. Samples from all
parts of the ore is mingled and after
thorough mixing portion is assayed
in order to give the miner an idea of
what his ore is worth. The cost of
treatment at the sme]ter varies accord
ing to the nature Of the ore. On all
silicious ore, for instance, a penalty
is charged based on the number of
units Of the Objectionable material
found in the ore. Certain ingred dents
are needed in order that the smelling
may result successfully. The ore that
contains the necessary materials to
flux the melted metal ore is very desir-
able to the smelter, and many times a
premium is paid for it. Thus miner
that has an ore Astounding in lime car
Donates or heavy in lead may not be
required to pay anything for smelling
because of the premiums Oh the quail
ty OF the ore.
The rates charged for transporta-
ton, sampling and smelling, however,
appear to be based on what the ore
twill stand' rather than on the cost
of the work. Hence a ton of low
grade ore will be shipped to the smelt-
er for about $500 a ton while the rates
for richer ore will run up to $1,000 a
ton or more. Poor ore will be sam
pied for 80 cents a ton while richer ore
will cost more, though the hauling of
1t Involves no Smofe@wOrk: It is the
same old story. Every looks out
for No. /, and the rich corporations
always have the advantage
~ II
The miner who leases finds himself
confronted with the same difficulty in
the scale Of roy alties to he paid the
mining company. In ono mine here
the rate of roy atty runs from Is per
cent on ore running 20 ounces ofsilver
to 20 per cent On ore running 100 oun-
ces. This fact taken with the other
compound sliding rates makes it a
matter of little moment to the leasing
miner whether his ore is very rich or
only medium.
We visited the plant of the Roaring
Fork Power and Light Company the
other day. They have fine water
power. The water is piped down the
side of the mountain. The fall is
about 900 feet and the pressure is
about 4OO pounds to the square inch.
They do not use turbine water wheels,
but simply wheels Of about two and
half feet in diameter with insignificant
looking cups bolted to the rims. These
wheels are attached directly to the
power shaft. The water is turned on
against the rim of the wheels from
inch nozzles. The power from one of
these nozzles sutfces to run a good
sized dynamo. The plant IS quite an
extensive one, and we are under obi
cations to Mr. Mathieson, the electri-
clan, for his kindness and efforts to
make our visit interesting.
V. E.. L.