Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1906-03-24

w mere WdIers WAS dVdlldDle, IL Is piOD-
able that the crushed ore was washed
over mating to catch the gold, in the
way now practiced in Japan. The
numerous excavations, and the remains
of stone mills used in grinding the ore
in the ancient gold-quartz mines of
Zanzibar (by whom, or when worked,
nothing is KNOWN, show that even be-
fore the historic period, the arts Of
mining and treating ore were well ad
vanced. Beyond the sphere of influence
of modern civilization, the east changes
little its ways of doing things in the
lapse of ages, and it is probable that
the primitive methods of extracting
and refining the metals, in use in re-
mote regions at the present day, close
ly resemble those employed in the time
of Job.
Gold obtained from dry placers or
from, river gravels, was of a finenoss
suitable for immediate manufacture
into ornaments, the 'jewels of fine
gold" but much of the gold of the veins
was combined with silver and had to be
first refined. The refining of the vein
gold was long and tedious process, re-
curing so much fuel that it was usually
carried out at the mines, in mountain
GUS districts where wood could be
readily obtained. Fuel was possibly as
scarce in the grszing country in which
Job lived, as it is on the plains of the
west. AS practiced in remote parts of
the east, gold alleged with silver is re-
fined for the manufacture of jewelry,
by native goldsmiths, whouse a process
of concentration with salt that is prob
ably of very ancient origin. The gold
is melted and cast in thin discs, which
are packed on edge in furnace, i'm
bedded in a mixture of wood ashes and
crude salt, and subjected to prolonged
heating at temperature such that the
silver is converted into chloride, with
out melting the gold. The discs are re-
moved from the furnace, and while hot
are thrown into strong solution Of
salt to dissolve the silver chloride
formed. After cleaning by securing
with ashes, the discs are melted, re-
cast in discs, and charged as before in
the furnace. The process is repeated
until the gold is of the desired fneness.
The salt used, obtained from the nat
ural salt lakes of the country, is often
mixed with sodium sulphate, which in
the concentration aids the chloridizing of
the silver by decomposing the sodium
chloride. The terms filming the gold,
seems to have been sometimes applied
ia the whole process of extraction of
the gold from the ore and the subse-
quent removal of the silver. The re-
fining of silver and also of gold (al-
Logged with copper and other base
metals), by cupellation with lead, upon
a hearth of leached wood ashes or bone-
ash, is supposed. to have been first
practiced in the mines of Greece and
the Mediterranean provinces. Whether
the process of refining by cupellation,
was known in the time of Job, the
fragment preserved of the 18th chapter
gives no information. It is probable,
however, that the knowledge of fusion
methods of refining, came from the
west, with the knowledge of mining for
the ores of silver and lead.
Job closes with these words; "But
where shall wisdom be found? and
where is the place Of understanding?
MAN knoweth not the price thereof;
neither is it found In the land Of the
living. Mining and Scientific Press.
''Fair are the flowers and the children,
but their subtle suggestion is fairer;
Rare is the roseburst of dawn, but the
secret that clasps it is rarer;
Sweet the exultance of song, but the
strain. that preceedes it is sweeter;
And never was poemi yet writ, but the
meaning outmastered the meter.
Never daisy that Grows, but mys-
terry guideth the growing;
Never a river that flows, but majesty
sceptres the flowing;
Never Shakespeare that scared, but
a stronger than he did enfod him;
Nor ever prophet foretells, but a
mightier seer hath foretold him.
Back of the canvas that throbs, the
painter is limited and hidden; !
Into the; statue that breathes, the soil
of the sculptor is hidden;
Under the joy that is felt lie the in
finite issues of 'feeling;
Growing the glory revealed is the
! glory that crowns the revealing.
Great are the SWIM hole Of hainn hut