Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-08-28
AROUND slLvERToN.

The finest Offices and milling build
ings around Silverton are those con
nected with the Silver Lake mines.
About two miles out of town and at
the bend of the river and of the road
going to Eureka, the power plant and
Offices are situated. the latter being a
well planned and beautiful structure.
with extensive and nicely kept
| grounds. The motor house adjoins 1t
ana is constantly at work, supplying
the power for the mill and mine. A
little further on, hidden from the first
buildings by turn in the road, is the
mill, its various stories climbing up
the side of the mountain. Considera-
BILE addition has recently been made to
the mill so that it has almost double
its original size. There are also black
smith. carpenter machine and other
shops. alive with the hum of busy toll
throughout the day. Up the steep
grade from the shops to the top of
the mill and to the tram terminal a
little car ascends. drawn by motor
power from the tower above, carrying
| logs, lumber and other freight, and
often human passengers Only one
the cable broke and the car. with an
unusually heavy load. came crashing
down the track, spilling its contents
along the way, and at the end crash
| ing with disastrous effect among the
| logs at the foot of the track
The mill is like others of its kind.
except that it is larger than many
( The ore goes in at the top chute, be-
| ing crushed smaller and smaller as il
| descends toward the jigging tables,
where the gold. silver, copper and
iron bearing ore is separated from the
rocks. At the summit of the mill
building is the usual tram tower, and
the buckets come in all day and night
from the far away mine, emptying
their rich loads. and whirling back
over their silent mid-air road above
the mountain wilderness. after more
| And in the distant heights. separated
from their kind below, the miners toll,
| the night shift and day shift vieing
with each other to see which shall
turn out the most and richest ore
Tor the hungry tables in the never
ceasng mill.
one of the most interesting places
connected with the Silver Lake prop
erty is the assay office Two men are
employed there all the time and to
watch the ore dust as it comes from
the tables, placed in the crucibles.
covered with material for melting,
turned to liquid fire in the fierce heat
of the furnace oven, cooled again, and
the metal button taken away from the
bottom by pounding away the Stag is
not only amusing but vastly instruc-
! tive. Nor is this all We watched
the buttons, thirty-six of them, repre-
senting the work of the different shifts
and the various qualities of the ore,
according to the tables. extracted from
the Stag and set aside for further dis
integration. When they were all TAX
en- ont and the oven was empty, tiny
bone crucibles were placed in the red
/ heat. and into each button was de-
posted. Gradually they melted the
lead and copper running into the por-
GUS body of the crucible, the silver,
which was the mineral sought in this
| case, staying in little bubble at the
| top. Some of these were very large
others so tiny that they could hardly
be seen. The smallest ones came
| from the slime products, and shows
| that even what is supposed to be waste
| from the richer gravel, contains a
| large proportion of metal. These lit
| tie bubbles We're carefully weighed
their respective weights being pre-
served for the estimation of the value
of each days and each nights produc-
ton from the mine.
Twelve little crucibles of lead-bear-
ing ore We're also put into the oven
and yielded up their value in large
and small quantities under the fierce
heat of the furnace.
| In the other room of the Office, an
other process was going on, intensely
interesting, but not so easy to under
/ stand by the unintiated as the first.
| BY the use of various acids the cop
per in the ore was being tested. and
the changing colors and rapid results
made pretty picture, and made one
| feel how wonderful are the creations
of Gods hands, who made one thing to
work upon another in such way for
the wealth and beauty of His earth
and for the good of man. And still
more wonderful is the power given to
man to discover all these elements
hidden in nature, to extract them
from their sources. to learn their uses
and to apply them with such astound-
ing results. We see the gold. the sill
yer. the numberless everyday objects.
and never stop to estimate the toll and
the ingenuity that have brought them
forth for mans use. PAULINE.
| BUT ONE THING TO DO