El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-22

| placed in a furnace with soda, bOr4X
and sand. When heated. these form a
flux which allows the pure gold to
settle to the bottom and the impuri-
ties to be eliminated.
Must Find New Method.
1t is said by mining men that new
methods of gathering gold must be
found or the value of this metal will
be so Increased as to require The
change of all standards of value Of
the world. Nearly all of the profit
able gold fields are being worked
thoroughly, and unless the precious
metal can be taken from sources not
now susceptible to profitable opera
ton, ii Will cost more in the future
ID produce pound of gold than ever
before 1t has been prOfitabIy mined
from materials which yielded only ,
cents worth TO the cubic yard of dirt
1t is said there is one grain of gold
in every ton of sea water. and invaa-
tors are directing their energies to-
ward its profitable extraction.
The demands upon the coal mine in the
United States are so heavy that every
sort of mechanical appliance for the
mining of coal is now in use. The
pneumatic drill, driven by compressed
air, is able to do the work of a dozen
men. From the figures of Mulhall as
to the working power of the average
human being, it appears that the coal
which is taken out of the American
mine in a years time is, even under
present wasteful conditions, capable
of doing as much work as could te
accomplished by every man. woman
and child on the whole earth in five
years Many of the inventions for the
operation of coal from slate and other
wastes have been brought out ty
Americans. One Of these is coal
washer. Pulses of water are thrown
up through a sieve containing the
coal and slate. The coal being lighter
than the slate, is forced out with the
stream of water and is thus separated
from the unusable material. 1t is the
Relief Of many mining experts that the
day will come when coal will be
tt transformed into electricity at the
mine carried to the user by giant
transmission plants. A rece ntly in
is an acetyline mining lamp, which
is said to be superior to any other
kind of light for the miner.
Cheap Iron Mining.
In the mining Of iron ore the Amer
lean inventor has given to the world
some of its cheapest processes. 1t is
said that nowhere else in the world
can ton of ore be taken from the
ground and transformed into iron and
steel so cheapIy as in the United
States. Huge steam shoveIs, immense
| ore-carrying steamers, giant leaders
and unloaders, and a thousand and
one other contrivances have so cheap
ened the cost of iron that lit is now
beyond the competition of any foreign
nation
1t is in the application of metaIlur-
gical science that the American inven-
tor shines When the alchemist Of
centuries ago sought to transmute the
baser metals into gold, he laid the
foundation of modern chemistry. Ry
the aid Of chemistry the American
metallurgist Is able to give to iron.
properties which do not actually make
gold. but do make riches in a hun
dred forms. Many people believe that
Bessemer of England first Invented
the modern process for making steel,
but Andrew Carnegie, certainly an
eminent authority, gives the credit to
Pig Iron" Kelly, an American The
invention OF this process has revolu-
tfon1zed mining and metallurgicaI
science Today steel is being pro-
duced by electric furnace methods and
II is generally believed by metallur-
gists that it marks as important an
era in the manufacture of iron ore
into steel as did the invention of the
hearth processes
By the use of various rarer metals
IN combination with iron ore, the met
aIIurgist is able TO produce steel of
widely varying qualities One Of the
most interesting of these is combining
vanavium with the ore in, the fur
mace, A small percentage of vana-