The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1907-10-18
'T1xSs Stat at a Glance
TbsBsst ef All the Neus Tersely Told
The Prospcctor and His Burro.

.s..l.sll.s s..sss. sA.1ls ..sss
Tho Prospcctor and His Burr0.
"Quite a number of years ago.
said the prospector to his burro,
when you were too young to dis
tinguish the difference in taste be-
tween gunny sack and a rind of
bacon, metallurgy, as an established
science, had not reached that stage
of perfection that it enjoys today.
Mining men were then studying the
rildimea is in the old school, and
what they didn't know would fill
a big book. Men in those days had
but one or two ideas to take car of
the same as you have when you think
it is about time for me to open the
barley sack. One of these was that
Gre, to be of any account Or value,
must be free milling, or in the form
of ~carbonates or oxides. The term
'sulphide' had hardly been coined
at that time, and when the ordinary
mining man came across the word in
scientific journals, he thought it was
Greek for some new-fangled brand
OF salaratus, or a new ingredient
for %fumigation purposes, and when
they encountered sulphides in mine
operation and development, they
cursed their luck, and quit in disgust.
Now, however, times have
changed. and sulphide ore has the
right of way in many of the mining
camps of the west, and this class and
character of mineral is coming into
it's own No it is not as pretty as
native gold, and has not the color
ing of ruby and peacock copper. the
beauty of sulphide not being in its
personal appearance, but what it
looks like on the right side of the
ledger; for, when sulphides are en-
c%ountered gigantic deposits of miEer-
al may be looked for, and a con-
tinuity and pepmanelscy that will
Withstand generations of heavy pro-
duction. 1t is largely for the treat
meut of sulphide ores that mammoth
concentrating plants are erected in
this day and age. and for the hand
ling of which million-dollar smelt-
ing plants are going up in the lead
ing mining camps of the west; and
this, in itself, shows to what promi-
hence, in the mining world, the sui
fhide ore has attained.
II want to tell you, Old Long
Ears" continued the prospector, "a
iran m,{st know something about
geology and metallurgy, in these
DAYS, if he expects to make a sue
cess in the mining industry. Oxi-
died ore, in many cases, are but the
surface covering of almost %inexhaus-
tible wealth in the form of sulphides;
the butter on the slice of bread, as
it were. At a pinch we can get along
without the butter, but the bread
we must have. And yet, in my early
experience in mining | have always
quit when the oxides and carbon
atcs gave out, little realizing that
] was always suspending operations
aust as ! was getting to the really
rich and proft-making portion OF my
mine. In Bingham the Utah Con-
solidated built a mill for the reduc-
ton of its gold ores, and the plant
had hardly been in operation for six
months before snlphides were en-
|conntered in the mine workings. This
did not look like Greek to the mine
management, however, and now the
con1pany lF working hundreds of
r,en and paying millions in diyi-
dc,sds where it would have probably
chronicled q failure hassd Its gold mine.
met been sen the Gaping for a great cop
|rHSs snlphide zone. The same n
dillon has been experienced in other
camps throughout the west, and to
such a extent that I am now a
sulpi ide enthusiast. I battle in sui
[Fiaiac. take sulphide as a regular
If'et. and dream of sulphide. / have
made small fortunes in oxidized
ores, but now l am going to lay the
wealth Of Rockefeller in the shade;
and my money will come honestly,
without injury to no man, and no
water will be used excepting that
fulfilled on the two-score tables with
which | propose to equip my con-
templated concentrating works. 1 feel
that ! am on the right road now;
end, as for small though, rich bod
les of oxidized ores and carbonates,
none for me, none whatever."-Salt
Lake Mining Review.
I1asH TEaHa.T.