The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-24


creeks. and Hcnrys and Jacobs forks of
the Catawba river in Mcdowell and Burke
counties; the Second Broad river iH Nc
Dowell and Rutherford counties; and the
First Broad river in Rutherford and
Cleveland counties North Carolina and
Spartanburg county, South Carolina.
These streams have their sources in the
South mountains, an eastern CUTLER of
the Blue Ridge. The country rock Is
granite botite gniess and dlortic horn
blende gneiss, intersected nearly at right
angles to the schistosity by a parallel
system of small auriferous quartz veins.
Most of the stream deposits of this re-
gion have been worked for placer gold.
The existence of monazite In commercial
quantities here was first established by
w. r. Hidden in 1879 The thickness OF
these stream gravel deposits is from one
to two feet, and the width OF the noun
tain streams In which they occur is sell
dom over twelve feet. The percentage
of monazite in the original sand Is very
variable, from infinitcsimal quantity
up to 4 or per cent. The deposits are
naturally richer near the head waters of
the streams.
/ 1.-THE monazite Is won by washing the
sand and gravel in sluce-boxes exactly
after the manner that placer gold is
worked. The sluce-boxes are about eight
| feet long by twenty inches wide by TWEEN
| ty inches deep Two men work at box.
| the one charging the gravel on a perfor-
ated plate. fixed In the upper end of the
| box, the other working the contents up
| and down with gravel fork or perforated
| shovel in order to float Off the lighter
sands. These boxes are cleaned out at the
end of the days work, the washed and
concentrated monazite being collected and
dried. Magnetic, If present is elimi-
mated from the dried sand by treatment
with large hand magnet. Many OF the
| heavy minerals such as zirc0n, menace
| at
etc. cannot be completely eliminated. The
! commercially prepared sand, therefore.
| after washing Thoroughly and treating
with hand magnet, Is not pure monazite.
A cleaned sand containing from 60 to 70
| per cent monazite is considered of good
! quality. From twenty to thirty-ive
pounds of cleaned monazite sand per hand,
that Is, from forty to seventy pounds TO
the box is considered a good days work
| "But very few regular mining opera
| tons are carried on in the region AS a
| rule each farmer mines his own monazite
deposit and sells the product to local buy-
ers. often at some country store In ex-
| change for merchandise.
| "At the present time the monazite la
the stream beds has been practically ex-
hausted, with few exceptions, and the
ma jority of the workings are in the gravel
| deposits of the adjoining bottoms. These
deposits are mined by sinking pits about
| eight feet square 90 the bed rock, and
raising the gravel by hand labor 10
sluice-box at the mouth of the pit. The
overlap is thrown away excepting in cases
where It contains any sandy or gritty ma
terlal The pits are carried forward ia
! parallel lines, separated by narrow belts
of falling dumps, similar to the methods
pursued in placer gold mining Al the
Blanton and baltimore mines on Hickory
i creek, two miles northeast of Shelby,
| Cleveland county, North Carolina, the bot
| tom Is 300 to 400 feet wide, and has been
partially worked for a distance OF one
| fourth of a mile along the creek. The
| overlap Is from three to four feet, and the
gravel bed from one to three feet thick.
| 1.-The economic value of monazite lies
in the incandescent properties of the OK
ides of the rare earths-cerum, lantha-
num- didymium and thorium--which IT
/ contains These are utilized principally
| the thoria, in the manufacture OF the
Welsbach and other incandescent gas
lights The cerium goes to the drug trade
as the oxalate.
| The Welsbach light consists of cylin-
dricai hood or mantle composed OF
| hbrous network of the rare earths. the
| top of which is drawn together and held
| by a loop of platinum wire II Is perman-
entity suspended over the flame of a spec
! ially-devised burned constructed on the
| principles of the Bunsen burner. in which
| the gas Is burned with the access OF aic,
thus utilizing the heating and not the IL
| Illuminating power or the HYDROCARBONS.
| The mantle becomes incandescent, glow
| ing with brilliant and uniform light.
"The method of manufacturing this
mantle Is in brief as follows: A cylindri-
| cal network about one and one-half
| inches in diameter, is woven out of the
best and strongest cotton thread. This
| is first washed in ammonia and then In
warm water, being wrung out in a me-
| chanical clothes wringer each time. 1t
| is then soaked In solution of the rare
| earths and dried in a revolving hot-air
bath. After being cut 10 the proper
| lengths, each cylinder is shaped over
wooden form, and the upper end is drawn
| together by loop of platinum wire. The
cotton fiber is then burned off under the
! flame of a Bunsen lamp, which leaves a
network of the rare oxides exactly resem-
| bling the original woven cylinder, each
| fiber being identically preserved except
| Ing that the size is somewhat reduced by
! shrinkage. After a series of tempering
! and testing heats of various intensities
the mantle is ready for use. The exact
! composition of the solution of the rare
earths is not known, being one of the
trade secrets; but it is wel-known fact
that monazite rich in thoria is sought af-
| ter, and the natural inference Is that this
element constitutes one of the most I'M
portant ingredients"
/