The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-06
now THE INDUSTRY GREW.
Review Of American Progress in
Mining and Metallurgy.
An svolvr,on OF Is Years.

AN EVOLUTION or Is YEARS.
Wonderful Advancement Made I'm
the Treatmsnt Of Gold Ores Since
che Frfmitive lnventioh Of the
CrusAers and the CALIFORNIA;
STAMP SGill--Modern success In
Hanaling Complex Mineral Bodies
An elaborate ana important review OF
American mining and metallurgy has
been contributed to current literature BY
CHARLES Kirchoff. He says that prac-
tfcaily seventy-five years ago our great
NJ mining and metallurgical industries
we're in their infancy. and many were not
even started We had only begun 70 mine
small quantities OF anthracite coal We
wore producing iron. but had at an earlier
date been relatively more important as an
lron-manufacturing nation. Silver, cop
per and lead were made In irregular, very
small quantities. Zinc was not produced.
and the gold output. with the Georgia
8old rush OF $50, was about to begin.
III other words, our mining and metailur-
8fcal industries were OF so limited Q char
3cter that. compared with the ancient
operations OF the leading European ma
lions. they were insignificant to D degree.
IN the work OF excavation proper pro-
3ress has been most striking. 1t was
3. ]. Couch. Philadelphian, who. In 40.
patented the first percussion drill ever
made. Herman Haupt experimental
with rock drills at the Hoosac tunnel
from 81 TO 81. while the frst drill
tried in mining was that OF Schumann,
at Treiberg, in 81.
Introducing C0mpressed AIR.
Colladon had proposed to use compress
Cd air TO work drills as early as 81,
but general attention to rock drills driven
~ compressed air was attracted by their
employment at the Mount Gents tunnel
IN 81. the plan to adopt having been
msilier's work. Quickly following upon
the start thus made by power drills came
the introduction Of high explosives. Mo-
bel hrst applied nitroglycerin In 1, ana
is use was begun in '6s at the Hoosac
dynamite, and since then power drills
and high explosives have wrought
complete revolution In mining. BY increas-
a se.e as i g srs q AZ
cheney per man employed under ground.
and BY. heavily reducing the cost: BY
Snsi snsS svnssssdn a and r d as
wonderful life and efficiency, consider
ing the adverse conditions under which
they are expected to operate. What the
defects in design IN the early days meant
II Illustrated by the fact that In "a, In
The Mount Gents tunnel, Il took an equip
ment Of seventy 6ommeiller drills to keep
eight steadily at work, and in 81 200 were
needed to maintain sixteen In actual oper-
alton.
Ameriesn Mechanical Engineering.
The mechanical engineer and the ma.
~ r<xxf1 Har kAv rrSxf
aid. too, In improving pumping and hoist
Ing machinery. The simple and effective
American direct-acting pump has done
heavy service and large quantities of
engines. In hosting appliances TOR deep
pean practice. our shallow mining not
calling for heavy engines. During the
last decades, however, some splendid
economy 81 operation has been designed
in this country.
Underground traction has undergone
was Introduced in coilieries long before
San Francisco led in surface cable trac-
ton. and In this country pneumatic and
saopsa and Very we're rapidly
lnents. progress in UNDERGROUND hauiage
In tlmberins the ccmstock, Square set
was q Enthusiastically American crea-
ton to meet exceptional conditions, and
+ e true that the preparation Of mine
frst practiced In this country.
Evolution of the stamp MIL.
For long time the concentration Of ores
was neglected, simply because in many re-
mote sections of the United States 1t did
and because the oxidised surface ores,
easily smelted, did not offer opportuni-
ties. An exception must DO made Of the
BAH steam Stamp quickly Inc the
time honored battery Subsequently.
Leavitt reduced the steam consumption
tee has proven that the ' springs seen fonna sa
ton is not equal to the solid anvil in bring
ing out the highest efficiency. Ore con-
IL sssn an LATER tier
iow-grade lead and copper camps of Colo
RADIO, Utah, Idaho and Montana:
II would be q serious oversight. in deal
Ing with the treatment of ores to over
look the enormous influence which the in
PRODUCTION of the Blake crusher has WELD
ed in the efficient handling of rock. Nor
should later types of crushers, like the
Gates, be overlooked
Developing Ore Concentration,
An example Of steady progress in crush-
Ing apparatus Is furnished also by what
Y known ds,a as the stamp mill
worked out for decades, and a number Of
efficient self-feeding appliances have been
added, until today there are enormous
plants pounding away. year in. year out,
without any intermission, with merely a
crew Of inspection to represent the labor
account.
A splendid achievement In mining was
that of handling auriferous sands by hy-
draulicking. The further stages of its de-
velopmsnt are coupled with the names OF
o number Of inventors of nozzles and many
Ingenious hydrodynamic and hydrostatic
contrivances, and In Its greater days, be-
fore the anti-debris laws in 1882 cut off
the work. bold and splendid engineering
work was done In connection with these
undertakings.
In the metallurgy Of the precious metals
marked progress has been made, although
no really. revolutionary. methods have come
to the front until the present decade
brought the cyanide process. In gold ex-
traction the Improvement in the Califor-
mia stamp mill. largely mechanical. has
already been alluded to. There have been
added In the amalganation process, some
ingenious contrivances. The chlor.nation
process. together with the Improvement
In the design and operation of the batter
les, and the Introduction OF the Frue van
NO nd rpachipae ~ lie bot