The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-05-13
THE PRESIDENTS JOURNEY.

! 1HO@NIAt ATE. May AT congress
| Junction. Ariz.. the Presidents special
| train left the main line and ran three
miles up into the mountains to Congress
Mine. the largest goid mining property in
the Territory of Arizona The train stop
| ped at the mine station surrounded with
a little huddle of miners homes. in the
midst of a bleak and desolate looking
country encircled by a barren mountain
| range. 1t was the Presidents first visit
| TO gold mine and no member of the
party enjoyed the experience more than
he did
Congress mine was discovered by pros
pectors for gold about twenty-five years
ago. They struck good vein and worked
it. taking out enough ore to assure them
selves that they had a rich and profitable
lead. They soon found however. that the
rich deposits lay far beneath the surface
and that a large expenditure of money
was needed to develop the property. This
they could not undertake and the mine
was sold to Diamond" Joe Reynolds. Of
Chi ago, who formerly ran the famous
Dial nond Line of steamers on the Mssis-
sippL This was in 1851
Reynolds sunk two shafts, and then in
1894 sold the property to its present own
ers the Congress Mining Company. 1t
was not until then the real development
of this rich property began. Then the
deepest shaft went but 1000 feet below
the surface. and now shaft No. 3. sunk
oy the company. is $50 feet beneath the
surface. 1t was down this shaft that
Secretary Hay, Secretary Hitchcock, and
Postmaster General Smith. together with
a number of the ladies ard several other
members of the Presidential party, went
and witnessed the practical operations of
gold mine. a drill was set in operation
for the benefit of the party, and the
miners, in their rough dress, were very
courteous in explaining all the workings
Of the mine. This shaft is the deepest of
any gold mining property in the country.
There are six shafts sunken into the
mountain. and five OF these are now
working. There are tso stamping or
crushing mills where the ore is broken
and pulverized, one of which was but re-
Gently built, and has thus doubled the
capacity of the plant. Three hundred men
are employed by The company at
the mine. about one-nalf of whom
are miners. who labor hundreds of
feet below the surface, bringing
up the precious metal. on an average
about $50 tons Of ore are taken out of
the several shafts daily. and this runs
about so of gold to the ton.
The process by which the glittering par
ticles of gold are extracted from the
Jumps of ore and are separated from the
quartz and the crumbling earth is an in
teresting and somewhat intricate one. The
ore is brought to the mouth of the shaft
in cars and in passing to the mills the
cars run through long tunnel through a
portion of the mountain, and the ore is
dumped into large receptacles. from
which it goes into the crushing machine
and Is pulverized by the stampers.
The dust is then concentrated on the
shaking tables. where the sul.,hides which
contain the bulk of the gold are separated
from what is known as the tailings. These
sulphides are shipped TO the smelter at
Ell PasO. where the gold is extracted. The
mine sends on the average about fifteen
car loads of sulphiGes a month, and the
yield of gold varies from $50 to $3.50 a
ton The tailings are worked at the mine
by the cyanide process. After being seq
reSated from the su1phideS the tailings
are roasted, then treated with cyanide of
potassium and leached. This solution is
then passed through the precipitating
troughs where 1t is precipitated on zinc
shayings. After this it becomes necessary
TO treat the combination with suiphuric
acid to separate the gold from the zinc,
and the precious metal then comes out in
a powdered form IL is then gold dust.
The next step and the concluding one
at the mine is to melt the gold in a cruel
BILE and pour it out into bricks or bars.
This Is usually done once month. and
the process was delayed several days in
order that the President might see the
melting of the gold and the making of
the brick The one turned out while he
was at the mine weighed about Loo
ounces. and was worth nearly $4,000. 1t
contained an alloy of about $3.50 worth of
silver, as a small amount of the white
metal is found mingled with the yellow in
the Congress mine. and a snail trace of
baser metals. The bricks are sent to the
mint at Denver. where the gold is refined
and all of the ALLOW taken out. i. b. j.