Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-22

~
~ H3&. we'll mine on Douglas island,
M WSlNl Alaska, has aroused so much
la mi interest that the national
bureau of labor is preparing
to issue q bulletin on the sub
ject. Many labor authorities declare
this mine to be one of the most dan
gerous in existence, while the owners
reply that nowhere else are men better
cared for. The Treadwell is one of the
largest gold mines in the world, and
has contributed much to the fame OF
Alaska. For many years this wonder
ful mine has paid its owners proht
of nearly $4,000 a day, and there is
enough ore left to keep the monster
plant working day and night for prob
ably twenty years to come.
The man who discovered this extra
ordinary mineral deposit did not realize
its value and sold 1t for $4S5. Almost
every schoolboy has heard about the
glory hole" of the Treadwell, but few
of them know how 1t came to have
that name, French Pete was the dis
coverer of the mine which has already
produced $25, 100000 worth of gold. lie
was a small merchant in Juneau, who
had a hard time to make both ends
meet. In the fall of 1881 he received a
shipment of goods to replenish his
stock for the winter The freight
charges amounted to $685. and Pete did
not have this much money. A pros
pector of the name of Troadweu was
panning along the beach, and Pete Of
fered him the claim on Douglas island
if he would redeem the goods. Tread
we'll paid the freight, and the mine has
been called by his name ever since.
The property which changed hands
by this deal contained one of the largest
bodies of goldbearing rock In the
world The ore is located favorably at
the waters edge, whore steamers can
tie up alongside the mills. Several city
blocks could be dumped into the glory
hole" 1t is a monster pit where the
ore has been lifted out In chunks like
building rock is taken from ii quarry.
Men working i'm the bottom of it look
like crawling flies. The thunder of the
blasts, the clouds of smoke and the. hol-
low voices of the men combine TO make
an effect so uncanny that il would not
seem at all surprising If his Satanic
majesty should bound out of the rock
at one side or come soaring up through
the smoke from the depths
Douglas island is twenty miles long
and eight miles wide. Although the
Troadwell is best known on account of
the glory hole" the fact is that there
arc over sixty miles OF tunnels under
ground. one of these extends out
under the sea for nearly quarter of
mile. On the surface there are six
miles of track which run inside the
buildings to and from the different
structures and along the piers. Nu
merous dummy engines push and pull
long strings of little cars and make
more fuss about it than as many
moguls.
The Treadwell runs twenty-four
hours every day in the year except
the Fourth of July and Christmas. 1t
takes 200 tons of coal every day to
keep the many wheels moving, and the
roar of its machinery may be heard a
mile away. There are $50 massive
crushers, called stamps. each consist
ing of five heavy upright bars of steel
that are lifted up to fall with terrific
force on fiat, hard plates. The rock
passes under these pounding bars and
Is smashed into dust. These noisy,
powerful machines consume about $500
tons of rock daily. In order to keep
the ore rolling into their Unsuitable
mouths. $l400 worth of powder is used
in blasting every day. The amount of
gold realized from every twentyfour
hour run is about $4,000, and the eX-
pense of operating is about $4,000. The
ore is low grade-the lowest in the
world TO pay such profits. II averages
only S265 ton. but there is so much
of it, and it is handled in such a whole
sale and economical manner, that it
runs fast into money.
on account Of the Treadwell being so
remote from civilization, 1t is necessary
to maintain a most complete plant.
There is a fully equipped foundry
where any piece of broken machinery
may be replaced Immediately. A fine
assay Office makes it unnecessary to
send the ore away to have its value es-
tablished, and a modern hospital is
maintained for the sick and wounded.
So many people work in the mine that
it supports United states pOstoffice
of the third class. The company store
has n stock of goods valued at $4,000.
the stock Of iron and steel kept con-
stantly on hand is worth $4,000 and
the supply Of powder is worth $4,000
The company store butcher shop and
cook houses are large departments be-
cause the firm boards its men. 1t
is no small undertaking to feed all
these robust miners. The butchers in
the company shop cut up three beeves
every day, besides quantities of fish,
pork and mutton. 1t takes 5000 pan
cakes to go round in the morning, and
four barrels of flour are made into $500
biscuits every day, Another daily
ration is sixty pounds of coffee and 175
pounds of butter. The number of eggs
used daily Is 2300.
The usual working force of the
Treadwell consists of 1900 men. There
is such a mixture of nationalities that