The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-05-01


vince the scientists that there was a
plenty here if it could only be found
So great was the confidence that the
town OF lola issued bonds to pay the
expenses of the prospectors, and when
the proceeds were exhausted the city
government entered into contract with
a Cleveland company to continue the in
vestigation, with a liberal franchise as
it's reward if successful. Finally, at
about 500 feet, the company struck
splendid well and the prospecting was
continued until a field of from sixty to
a hundred miles in area was developed.
The first people to use the gas for
manufacturing purposes to any extent
were the canyons, a family of Cornish
men, who came to this country fifty
years ago and settled at Mineral Point,
Wis, where they have been manufac-
turing zinc oxides ever since. There
were eleven children in the original
family, nine of them boys. All married
and raised large families, who have gen
orally followed the occupation of their
fathers, so that scattered over the coun-
try are now eighty or more men named
1anyOn engaged in smelling zinc. You
can find them at Mineral Point, Wis,
LaSalIe and Peru, Ill, Nevada and
Joplin, Mo, and wherever there is a
zinc mine. Most of the machinery and
processes now used in reducing zinc are
the invention of the canyons, and
wherever they have gone they have
been successful in that peculiar trade.
They built and are running the smelt-
erS lola and four cousins are acting as
| managers here. These are said to be
the finest zinc smelters in the world.
The machinery is all new and much of
it is of recent invention, while the nat
ural gas, with its steady flow, enables
them to maintain regular temperature
day after day without varying, which
| is necessary to successful smelling.
They have been in operation only
about two years. The value of the prod
uct in 1897 was 81, S29, $50 and in 1893 it
was $1,339,66S The falling off last year
was due to the destruction of one of
| the largest plants nv fire which has
| since been rebuilt and enlarged, so that
| the product for the current year will
| doubtless exceed 81, 000, 0O0
| The first zinc smelter in Kansas was
| established in 1873 at Weir City. In
| 1898 the total product of the state had
| reached 22,S15 tons, and in 1898 it was
| 33, 443 tons, valued at 81, 755, 703.
The construction of the smeIters at
| lola practically stopped the Importation
| of zinc and gave a surplus for export
/ in competition with the mines of Wales
| and Germany, for they added SO per
cent to the product of this country.
| The zinc ore comes from a strip of
| land about 100 miles long and 40 miles
| wide In the southwestern corner of Mis-
souri, and the southeastern corner of
| Kansas, and the cities of Joplin in the
| former state and Galena in the latter
| are the mining centers. They dig zinc
very much as they do coal and find it
| in pockets or seams from 80 to $50 feet
below the surface. 1t looks like blum
| nous coal when it comes from the
| ground, although it is of a yellowsh
| brown color. There are three kinds OF
] Ore-carbOnates, which are mixed with
| clay; silicate, which is yellow, sparkling
! sand, and reSnOuS or Jack ore, which
! is hard and f1inty and comes like gold
| in crystal quartz 1t is first crushed into
| powder and then subjected to a power
| full and regular heat, which consumes
| the foreign substances and leaves the
| metal
| There is a great boom in zinc just
now, and the price has advanced from
fn wit in hn 1nG fOKx
months. The operators here expect to
I see it go to $50 before the end of the
| month and remain there. The advance
| is said to be due to the demand, both in
| this country and in Europe, and not to
! any speculative influence. Enormous
| quantities of zinc are used nowadays
| in the manufacture of electrical sup
! plies and for galvaniZing, and in an
| ticipatiOn of a still further and perma-
! nent increase the miners and the smelt-
| ers are charging their capacity of pro-
| ductiOn.
! a curious by-product is chloride or
| salts of zinc, which formerly went to
| waste, but now is used as wood pre-
| sentative by railroads. bridge builders
| and dock builders and for the prOtec-
| ton of shingles, cIapbOards, pillars and
| any other wood that is exposed to mOis-
ture or influences that cause decay The
| salts of zinc, in solution, by hydraulic
| pressure, are forced into the pores of
| the wood, which is then soaked in
| strong solution of tannin and glue. The
|
! Fe and Southern Pacific and other
| western roads are treated in this man
| ner. The railway companies named use
| from 5000, 900 to 1000 900 pounds a year
| each. With this treatment a pine tie,
which is the only kind that can be
| found out in the mountain country, will
| last three times as long one of oak.
| have found a good reason why Kansas
City is eating so rapidly into the live stock
| difference in transportation rates. From
| W1chlta to Chcago, Tor example, the
! sas City it is only $50, while the rates on
| dressed beef and live cattle from Kansas
dressed beef represents two cars of live
| cattle, and you can figure out the rest
| yourself
Down here they saw the. horns off the
! wild Texas cattle before they ship
them east. The animals pack better, take
P nr ONE n6 6f6 an Are oo Ro so k key
carry just as much beef and taiIow as a
muley COW, but his long horns make him
| look leaner. Texas cattle have bad rep
| sawed off they lookfas innocent and harm
| less as barnyard heifer.
If Kansan is prouder of one thing than
another it is Of the schools of his state.
the percentage of illiteracy here is lower
York or any other of the eastern states. I
believe it is also true that the amount of
| greater in proportion to the wealth than in
any other state. One of the stock COM
PIalhLs Is lhaI 6ne PsS+oPle, OF Kansas Ii know
| citizen remark that if they had less book
| learning and more sense it would be for
| the general welfare-which means that
| having read and studied and contemplated
| a good deal, they are too much given to
theorizing and are wise in their own con-
ceit.'
At the close of the. war thirty-five years
ago, there was only $4,000 worth of school
! property in the state. Today it amounts
to more than S10.OOO.OG0. Then there were
| $40 teachers employed; now there are 1900
| Then the average attendance was $500;
| now it exceeds 500, 900. Then the school tar
| al bout 900 now it is more