Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-02-02
TT eatment of Custer County Ores.

Heneu III Inc SHRONICLE TWO weeks age
under the head "What Custer Needs"
spoke Of water for fire protection, dom.
este purposes, and how to obtain it.
AS self preservation is the first law OF
nature. l gave the water question the
place of prominsnce as the most impor-
tant acquisition of"What Custer Needs u
Next to this comes the question.
How shall our ores be treated" /
think l will no: be disputed when I
claim that our mines are the foundation
of our prosperity, and upon their sue
cess or failure our future welfare as q
community must rest. do not mean
by this statement that we haye not
other resources, for our farming in our
rich little valleys is success, and the
raising Of cattle, sheep, and horses is a
source of profit to those engaged in the
business. They are successful for the
reason that by long experience, and the
experience Of others, they have master
ed some Of the main secrets of their
various occupations. BY close watch
ing, many trials. and by the reading OF
many books on these subjects they
have learned what kind of seed TO SOW,
what kind Of vegetables to plant, and
what kind of cattle and sheep to raise.
Leaving out at all times the varieties
which investigation has proved are not
adapted to the climate and the soil.
| / fn ha toh II
wish to ask, and it is this. Among all
of our mining men, prospectors, miners,
mine owners, mine contractors, mine
operators and mine promoters, how
many ofSod know positively what is the
best process for treating the predominant.
ing ores of this county? Now, please
don't all speak at once. L know many
of you like myself have given this SUBJ
ject much thought and considerable in
vestigation, but many, aye the large ma
jority, have paid the subject but slight
attention, and in reality know but very
little about it. There are some ofthe
latter CLASS who are prone to say, that
all Of the gold in our rock which cannot
he saved By amalgamation, or what is
called the free milling process" is not
worth the expense Of extraction. But
this most assnredly depends upon what
that expense may he. Those who have
given the subject the most attention are
almost unanimous in the opinion, that
not more than one tenth Of the gold in
our ores can be saved by ahalga nation.
The gener = concensus of opinion seems
to be that what we need is acyanide
plant, but this is mainly based upon
theory and it is not yet known to what
extent our ores are amenable to that
Treatment. The result Of my own in-
vestigaion thus far has shown, that
while We have some kinds of ore that
yield about 70 per cent Of its gold when
treated by that process, we have large
amount which seems not to be affected
by the cyanide solution In the least.
The most Of my Investigations along
this line were made while working with
S. ID. Porter and in his laboratory while
he was alive. From the many tests we
made at that time, and from The results,
| must most unqualifiedly give my pref.
erence to the process of chlorination.
1t is better too that this should lie made
cold, for, although roasting hastens the
process and would be better in many
respects, yet we found it unsafe, as even
at the low heat required by roasting still
a considerable of the gold combined as
it is with tellurium and bismuth, would
volatilize and pass off in fumes or as
gas. Nevertheless, believe, that with
a roaster where the heat could be regu-
lated to d nicely, and never allowed to
get above a certain degree land that de-
gree must first be ascertained by expert
ment and repeated trials) that very
much of the base material might be
eliminated by roasting and would be of
great benefit, but 1 am not certain Of
this. At the time I speak of we carried
on our investigations continually during
the greater part Of the winter, and al
though l would not have it understood
that my ability in these investigations
cut any figure, still do but justice to
the dead when I say that Mr.. Porter
was, in my opinion, by far the most
skillfu!, the most thorough and PAINS
taking chemist and assayer that has
ever tarried in our midst. A man of
few words, stammering in his speech,
and given to periodic spells of drink, he
could not expect to retain the highest
respect of the people, and only very
few gave him credit for the great ability
he possessed.
The work we were engaged upon at
that time was at my instigation and l
was intensely interested. He possessed
knowledge which I sought, know
ledge of the characteristics of the ores
of this county. assisted him, I work
ed, saw, listened, and 1 learned
something. Since then have at short
intervals sent away ores for test to many
who advertised themselves as experts
in that line. In some cases where these
samples fell into hands OF men who un-
derstand their business Mr.. Porter's
tests were verified. while very many
showed by their return certificates how
weak and superficial was their educa-
tion in their profession.
l will say here that after many trials,
some with concentration and some with
out, we came to the conclusion that our
ores were not at all adapted TO the pro.
cess of smelling. Further, we conclud-
| SJ that cya lido uao nnt tho ,.oon,, .. j..