Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-02-04
The Improved Methods of Smelling.

| Ing processes nave been SO wOnderIul
within the past fifteen years that sinelt-
ing men are of the opinion that periec-
ton in that industry has been almost at
tanned. Smelling charges, they think,
will not be reduced much below those
which at present obtain. Methods will
practically remaiu as they are. The
changes, they think will be confined
mainly to greater economy in moving
the ore to and from the furnaces and
roasters-more labor saving devices.
The losses in smelling are reduced to
the minimum. The smelling depart
ment of the Globe company was last
year kept up to its former high order of
efficiency. The employees in all depart
ments Of this company connt from 750
TO 8U0 and the Disbursements for wages
amount TO over $4,000 monthly. Last
year this company paid the railroads for
| freight charges more than million and
a quarter dollars. The acreage eJnbrac.
ed in the company's plant and yards is
about SO, the various buildings covering
more than twenty acres, and there are
from ten to twelve miles of railroad
tracks within the grounds. Other i'm
provements and additions which we're
made by the company last year we're
twelve new Bruckner roasters water
service having direct connection with
the. mains which pass through Globe
vile. enabling the company to handle
fires without having resort to the pumps
located about the works; an electric
| lighting plant; two locomotives for
hauling the ashes and Stag to the dumps I;
a steel bridge over the county road and
viaduct Of the same kind for the sup
port Of its dust fues.
The smelling industry as it is followed
in Colorado at the present time is as far
ahead of the methods in vogue fifteen
years ago as the best cyanide works are
in advance of the old Mexican arastra
Smelling has been reduced to scienti
| fic and business basis, whereas l. used
! to be a pursuit in which those engaged
in it would either go bankrupt in year,
| or double the amount of their original
investment. The palmy days Of the
smelter men were those of the Leadville
excitement. and the few years preced
ing it-from 1875 to 1882. The ruling
price for treating ore then was from $50
to 500 ton, and the usual discounts.
The per cent of moisture always was
high. A miner did not get very much
money for even high grade ore. Some
times he felt very thankful to get the
sacks back in which his shipment had
been made. The carbonate ores OF
Leadville were the most easily reduced
Of any that were found in the world
They contained almost an exact per
cent Of lime and iron, and "a Surplus of
| lead, to make them melt like butter.
The Leadyille smelters never thought of
charging less thar $50 for treating that
| class of ore, paying 80 per cent of the
New York quotations for silver and 80
cents for each per cent Of lead over 30,
and discounting 90 cents for each per
cent under that. An ore at that time
which contained fifty ounces of silver
and 40 per cent oi lead, was worth about
S25 per ton. Today, despite the fall in
the price of silver, the same ore is worth
from $44 to $40 per ton. The cost of
smelling q ton Of ore in 1898 i'm Denver,
| Pueblo and Leadville, varied between
S4 and $40 per ton. The latter price is
seldom paid, and only for ores which
are particularly rebellious in their ma
ture. Ore which runs a high percent
age Of lead-40 per cent or upwards,
commands premium-that is. it costs
nothing for treatment, and the miner
receives bonus above the gross value
of his ore. In 1890 the smelling price
for treating a ton Of Aspen ore was $l2
The same class of ore was smelted in
1898 for So, and the seller receives a
bonus besides.
1t is thus seen that while the miner
may have suffered by the fall in tn.
price Of silver, he has been ompensated
in the reduced expense of smelling his
product. Lower grade ore, lower prices
for silver, have necessitated progress or
the part Of the smelter men who would
survive. The greater competition in the
smelling business has enforced the ap
plication of new principles and more
economical methods in order to save
those engaged in it from bankruptcy
In the earl days smelling was done il
the most primitive way. The ore was
shoveled into the furnace, the molter
bullion was baled out Of the lead well
and that was about all there vas to it
There was no special effort to save the
Stag, or at the top in the fumes If i
were followed on the same H., es today
there is not financial institution in Den
yer strong enough to back smelling
company on large scale for year. A,
conducted today the loss in smelling, il
the Stag and fumes is reduced TO mini
mum. One Of the leading smelling mer
Of Denver declares that there is not
loss Of 10 cents ton in his Stag anC
that the loss in the fumes is not tn,
millionth part of per cent Now anC
then there Is talk among mining mer
who ought to know better, of the super
Tor smelling processes there are abroat
lat Swansea, or Freiburg There is, ir
| c,n M vi haf a
ters at those places and those in Denver
tiquated, and many of their methods s,
obsolete that Colorado metallurgists dis
carded them years ago. Not one O
those Old World smelters could be oper
ated in competition with those in thi
state A modern lead and zinc smelte
is being built by Denver concern a
the present time for Manchester, Eng
land and when completed will be back
ed by Colorado capital and managed b,
Colorado brains.
The building In which this intricat
and beautiful process is conducted is al
unpretentious brick structure. No on
would suspect that the product create,
under its roof Is worth millions of dol
lars annually. To be admitted to it
, precincts is special privilege conferre'
on very few people The windows ar
iron barred and the doors are KEEP
locked, as the indscriminate admission
of visitors would entail too mrch sui
veillance to be economical. Even III
ingress and egress of those connec' a.
with the plant is expensive. Gold b.
it's nature is especially prone to stick Z
things 1t would be an easy matter 70
q careless person to carry out SIS wort
OF precious metal by its adhering to hi
shoes.
The men who are employed IN thi
department are the most trusted on IN
company's attaches. Wh-n thev 90 {
work in the morning they change thei
leboee and all their clothing. Wbe