Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-02

They had stamp mill of ten stamps, whicn
consisted of solid framework, heavy IRON
stamps and attachments, mortars' lnchheu
tables, and other accessories.
The framework and the stamps are uprlght,
the latter made to fall and rise by means OF
cams, OF arms extending from the revolving
shaft above The stamp itself weighs from
FIVE to seven hundred pounds, is about twelve
feet high, and consists of a stem, head, snoe
and collar, by means of which the cam raises
them.
The stem is made of wrought iron, and is
from two to three inches in diameter, while
the shoes attached to the lower part OF the
steam, and which come in contact with The
ore, are thicker, and made of steel OF hard
ened iron.
These stamps rise from twelve to eighteen
inches, and drop on the ore In iron mortars
or troughs beneath from twenty-seven to
thirty76ye times per minute.
The mortars are several feet long, from
twelve to fourteen inches high, nine or ten
deep, and rest on solid wooden foundations.
They are placed between the upright wooden
posts of the frame, and the stamps, usually
five in number, that rise and fall thereon,
form what is termed battery.
The mortars are the receptacles for the ore,
which is shoveled or fed into them as fast as
1T can be crushed by the stamps, at the same
time that constant stream of water flows in
the same direction.
On the side of the mortar where the ore
feeding is done the framework is boarded up
some distance, and on the other side are iron
screens through which the pulverized ore and
water is forced on to the. sloping, copper
plated inclines OF tables below.
Quicksilver is fed into the. batteries and
on the tables at intervals This retains most
of the gold on the tables while the pulp from
the batteries is being carried onward by the
water to the pudding tanks or stream be-
yond.
The stamps are stopped, the water turned
off, and the mortars and the tables are clean
ed once in one or two days, and the amalgam,
or gold and quicksilver combination, is taken
to the retort room. Here it is skinned,
cleaned and pressed into cloth, to get rid
of as much of the quicksilver as possible, and
the remainder retorted.
There are several other ways of extract
ing precious metals from ores, but this pro-
cess, which Mr.. Sheldon had adopted, is the
only one there is any necessity for describing.
1t was after the ore had been taken from
the ledge, crushed, and the metals retorted,
that the three partners stood awaiting the
test of the assayer, for it must be known that
bullion, when it comes directly from the ore,
contains more or less silver and "copper"
That the vein would pay as richly as Bart
and jim had at first believed had already
been demonstrated, and the question of value
of metal alone remained to be solved one day
about two weeks after the machinery had
were in one portion of the works.. discussing
the possibilities of going on another prospect
ing trip, when Jim burst in upon them ex-
citedly;
to the ton clean, boys" he shouted, "and if
you want to find any better property, you'll
have to go good ways after it. Two hun
dred and ten dollars to the ton! Hurrah for
the Kirk Sheldon"
The three owners of the mine were not
long in catching Jim's enthusiasm, and as
they cheered for joy, the workmen caught
up the cry until the miners in adjoining
claims and the people In the town knew pre-
cisely what ore in the Kirk Sheldon was
paying
The yield from the placer mines was be-
ginning to decrease, as had been expected,
and all of the original firm who had leased
them from Bart and the boys were in Shell
don. making arrangements to sell them at
a good price. 1t is safe to say that they
were by no means behindhand in celebrat-
ing the good news and even red-nosed Jer-
ry, whose hotel was quite a gold mine to
him, insisted on congratulating the boys in
HYou didn't have any idea when we want
ed to. start out prospecting that it would lead
to this, did you, fatherY Kirk asked, as ne
ter Mr.. Sheledon, Bart, Dory, Jim and him
self had escaped from the crowd, whose con-
gratulations had grown rather too boisterous,
and were seated in front of the same canvas
Indeed | didn't! | was willing for you
to start after you got guide ON whom l
thought 1 could depend, because / believed
the outdoor life would do you good. Besides,
| wanted you to see the country; but on the
day you left l would have been willing to
have entered into contract to pay you
a hundred dollars an ounce for all you brought
back" ~ ,ou Won .rs taking care of one Of
the hest mines in the State. one-third of