Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1907-03-02
A NEW PLACER INVENTION.
AuGusrA, Kansas, Feb. %, 1907.


TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRONICLE:
When / left Custer and the Black
Hills thought l had said farewell to
mining and that henceforth my inter-
ests in temporal affairs would be cen
tered in hogs, cattle and farming, the
wealth producers in this part of the
world. What is my astonishment TO
find right here in Wichita an invention
so closely allied to the mines that my
heart beats once more for the southern
Hills and my numerous friends there.
An invention which will be Of incalcul.
able benefit to the gold industry and
bring into use placer fields which hith.
erto have been too arid to be worked at
a profit, has been perfected in Wichita,
Kansas. The patent of f. f. Mckinley,
nephew of the late ex.president, for sep.
arating the gold from placer dirt will al
low gravel which pans out only so cents
to the ton to be mined at a fair profit
while higher grade dirt will look after
itself. One of the great problems of
placer mining has been to find a process
by which the gold could be separated
without water, but nothing better than
the ordinary hand working fan machine
has ever been invented until Mr.. Nc
Kinley succeeded with his invention.
This invention will handle eight tons of
dirt an hour at a cost of twenty five
cents ton. Thus it will be seen that
the poorest grade of dirt panning only
| fifty cents to the ton can be mined adj
vantageously. The gravel is first run
through pulverizer of a very elaborate
| mechanicism for which the writer be-
leyes a better and cheaper substitute
might be found in the pulverizer known
as the McCullogh now being installed at
the Saginaw mine. All substances which
will not pass through three quarter
inch screen are carried out to the dump.
The rest is conveyed TO system of four
screens which separate the dirt into four
grades. These are passed into as many
different tanks in the concentrator pro-
per which is really the only part of the
whole machinery which is patented, the
rest being merely an adaptation of ma
chinery commonly in use. The concen-
TRAITOR works upon the compressed air
and gravity system. Gold naturally
sinks to the bottom and the compressed
air blows the dust away. 1t is then in a
condition to be shipped at small cost to
the mills in the form of concentrates
Tests have shown that the Mckinley
invention saves from 80 to 80 per cent of
the precious metal. A Wichita COM
pany has been formed called the Boil
! ing Pot Concentrator Co., of which the
inventor, f. h. Mckinley, was elected
president, o. A. Keach, vice president,
A. A. Hyde, secretary, f. ID Kimball
| treasurer, and Lincoln Mckinley, gem
eral manager. The machine has been
built here in Wichita and in its devel-
opment and construction $4,000 has
been expended among Wichita jobbers
and workmen. A car load of dirt has
vention has been doing its work per
fectly. 1t is the intention to lease ma.
chine on royalty.
The miners dream has now passed be-
yond dream and become reality.
| The Mckinley invention of Wichita will
open vast fields heretofore closed to the
gold hunter and turn valueless lands in.
to veritable gold fields. DIR. Z. w
Knickerbacker, Wichita, Kansas, will
be pleased to answer any inquiries, as
will also any of the officers above men
| toned.
As there are number of citizens in
| Custer interested in placer claims hope
the above description may find corner
| in the CHRONICLE.
Vnnrp SinnaraIU