El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-05-21
CLARKDALE HAS
MODEL SHELTER
New Plant of United Verde
Is Now in Operation;
Marks New Era.

C1arkdale, Ariz., May 2L-Begin-
ming Of operations by the new Clark
dale smelter has attracted the attention
of Arizona mining men generally. The
new smelter is model plant and op-
Grated in connection with the United
Verde properties, it is one Of the big
industries Of Arizona.
Clarkdale is seven miles from the
United Verde mine and SO miles from
Cedar Glade, the nearest point on the
Santa Fe, Prescott & Phoenix railroad
Standard gage lines conect Clarkdale
with Cedar Glade and the mine. The
road from the S. F. P. & p. was built
by the Santa Fe company and the
shorter line by the Verde Tunnel &
Smelter Railroad company, a subsi-
diary OF the United Verde.
The tunnel extends 1000 feet right
into the heart of the great United
Verde mine. On each side Of the
tunnel are ore bins. the total capacity
OF which is $4,000 tons.
Ore is dropped from the bins into
five ton hopper cars, which convey IL
to the mouth OF the tunnel There IL
is transferred to so ton pressed steel
cars, which carry 1t to the smelter.
Thirty Of these big cars are in use.
At the smelter the ore is discharged
into steel storage bins which have a
combined capacity OF $4,000 tons In
addition to these bins are yards for
the storage Of coke and surplus ore.
Tunnel Road for Ore only.
Practically nothing is TO be hauled
over the tunnel railroad except ore.
The United Verde ores are diversified
in character and are easily mixed in
self 1uXing combinations. y small
amount Of calcite is necessary, show
ever. Nature has placed a lage deposit
Of calcise where 1t can be reached easily
from the tunnel.
Manual labor is practically elimin-
ated in the handling Of ore at the
smelter. Electrically driven cars and
great belt conveyors carry ore. coke,
Stag, matte and everything else that
has TO be moved
Some Of the ore does not require
crushing. It is drawn directly from
the bins into cars, through Weighing
hoppers, and is conveyed to the fur
naces. Most of the ore, however. passes
through the crusher plant and from
that to the sampling mill
Catching Plant Has Six Furnaces.
There is a calcining plant having six
furnaces, each with capacity Of 90
tons every q hours. This Ia. can
be enlarged indefinitely The plan is
to add two more furnaces shortly.
Each furnace is so nicely bals iced that
one man can turn II.
The calcines, mixed with the proper
proportions Of oxidized ores, are fed
to three 19x100 foot reverberatory
furnaces. The MATES from the rever-
beratories, with the richest oxidized
and sulphide ores, ae smelted in four
4Sx32O inch blast furnaces. All the
furnaces are water jacketed. The
water jackets are part Of an elaborate
cooling system far surprising anything
ever before constructed
There are four converters, tilted by
electricity. The blister copper Is
poured out OF the co..verters into 20 ton
ladies' and taken to two great casting
machines There is a IS ton relocating
furnace to be used when necessary.
Most Of the electric power used in
the Clarkdale smelter is transmitted
from the Fossil creek plant OF the
Arizona Power company There is,
however, an electric plant in connec-
ton with the smelter. It has six Eoilers
Which are capable OF generating 713 ]
horsepower. Each boiler is equipped
with an oil burner, but usually they
Will be run with waste heat from the
reverberatOry furnaces
Water from Verde River.
Water for the boilers and for cool
ing purposes is drawn from the Verde
river. great concrete intake has
been constructed right in the middle
of the river and two pumps force the
water up to the smelter. The pumps
have a capacity Of 100000 gallons in
q hours
Oil is used exclusively for fuel It
tank
The smeIter stack is striking
feature Of the Verde valley landscape.
It is 400 feet high and rests on a con-
crete uase ~ Ie6L Lulck ana 40 IeeL IN
diameter. The diameter of the stack
is so feet, nine inches, and It IS lined [
with ID inch brick walls
Is Important Industry.
The completion of the Clarkdale I
smelter marks an important point in
the mineral development Of northern
II is to handle all the ore I
produced by the United Verde and also /
by the blackberry and Copper Giant. I
two Mohave county properties con- I
trolled by the United Verde company.
In addition it will treat much custom
ore. and thereby give a stimulus to the /,
development Of other promising mines. /
DOOLEY OFFERS WATER