El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-22
MINING THE FOUNDATION
OF INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS
Without the Miners Work Industry Would Cease.

IT is said that So percent of the
traffic of the railways in me
- United States originates in the
ers constantly are engaged in mining
operations. The miner declares that
after all. his work is the foundation
stone of American progress; that with
out the products of the mine, the fac
tories of the nation would stand still
for lack of fuel; that the railways
never could have been built or oper-
ated because of the lack of coal and
steel; that the agricultural machin-
cry Of tht country would have been
impossible, because there would be
no metal from which 70 manufacture
them He. therefore. places himself
at the head of the list of American
workmen.
Many of the most important opera
tions in the mining of gold are of
American origin. One of these is the
hydraulic process, which originated
in California in 1852 BY this process
creeks. and even rivers, are diverted
into huge reservoirs where their wa
tiers are impounded. When a suff:-
cient head is obtained, the water *
conducted through large pipes to a
point where the mining operations are
carried on and is there concentrated
on the soil to be broken up. Thou
sands or acres of soil are thus WASH
| ed out and the gold-bearing rock sep
arated from it.
Waters Tremendous Force
The tremendous force of the stream
or water played upon the spot where
the operations are being carried on,
IS illustrated by the fact that an eight
inch nozzle has been known to- release
pressure Of water sufficient to move
a two ton boulder at a distance of 20
Ieet, and to throw a 500 pound rock
as easily as man might cast a 20
pound weight. 1t is said no man ever
lived who could strike a miners crow
par through such a stream and that
human being struck by it would III
stantly be killed and pounded into Il
shapeiess mass Hydraulic mining
works great damage to the agricuI-
tural sections in the valleys below,
any many states have prohibited It by
law.
Another gold mining operation that
IS the result of the ingenuity of the
american mining engineer is that of
dredging A dredge resembling the
old French ladder dredges used in the
work on the Panama canal, is fitted
with centrifugal pump. 1t costs
about $4,000 and its equipment s12,-
500. The expense of operating one of
these dredges is about $4,000 a year,
during which time it will dredge 10
acres Of water covered ground to a
depth Of 80 feet. The huge stamping
mill, which is used to break I'D gold
bearing rock, is also largely an Amer
lean invention. Some of these mills
are so strong that they are able to
strike blow Of 80 tons.
The Cyanide Process.
one OF the most valuable inventions
Tor the recovery of gold is known as
the cyanide process, the first patent
Tor which was granted to J. W Sfmp-
son of New Jersey. BY this process
gold may be secured from sources
that could not be worked profitablv
In any other way. The rock first s
mashed into pulp by huge stamping
machines, and this pulp is mixed with
cyanide Of potash, chemical for
which gold has a strange affinity.
Inc mixture is then poured into sheet
IRON boxes containing zinc shavincs.
This causes the gold to break awav
from it's first affinity and make
friends with the zinc 1t is then
treated to washing, which RECEIVERS
goodly portion of the gold. and then
small quantities of sulphuric acid are
added to it and this produces zinc sal
phate. This is washed out with boil
ing water and the gold residue is then