El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-03-25

: tomato skips Of five tons each that
! load and empty themselves. moving
( on day and night all the year through.
| The ore comes from the mines on
| trains drawn by electric engines It is
/ dumped by electricity upon screens the
| wires of which are as thick as your
thumb, and IL passes thence into i'm
mense crushers, which take the largest
/ pieces and break them into Jumps
about two inches thick.
From these screens the ore goes into
storage bins OF 10000 tons each, and
from them It is carried by skips and
wide belt conveyors through sets Of
steel rollers that work on the princi-
pie OF a clothes wringer. The rollers
are so graduated that they crush the
ore finer and finer as it goes through
one set after another, until the great
rocks are reduced to a powder as fine
as the flour of which cream crackers
are made.
Process Of Separation.
The flour, which contains the rock
and gold. is then passed over shaking
tables flooded with water in such
way that gravity separates the miner
ais from the rocks, the heaviest parti
cles falling to lower side of the table
You can then see the various minerals,
each having its own streak Of color.
There is the lead with its mixture OF
god ard silver. there at the bottom
the pure gold, a streak Of yellow grains
and dust. Above the lead is the lighter
black iron sand
After the gold and lead are thus sep
arated they are passed over Whitley
tables covered with mercury. The
mercury takes up the gold, and it is
then put through the furnace and va
porized, to get the gold out
Until now the mines and mills have
been working at four or five thousand
tons per day, but during the present
year the manager expects to increase
this amount to at least. 10000 tons.
Hknr- rr~fTT he
steady stream Of gold ore moving out
of the mountains through the mills and
down to the sea Ten thousand tons OF
ore at $3.50 Of gold to the ton means
$4,000 per day added to the gold sup
DIV Of the world. II means that the
output of this mine will eventually be
more than $4,000, 900 worth OF gold per
year, and II the estimates OF the en-
gineers are correct il means that this
output will continue for from - 70 100
wears to come. To return to my for
mer comparison. all this will be made
Of peas Of gold and pinches Of dust.
The Human Element.
As to the human element in the
Gastineau mines. the labor and man
agement seem to be excellent There
are now about 100 men employed upon
the property, and ] am told that the
number will not he greatly increased
when the mine is working at double
it's present capacity, the machinery be
the same men do double the work.
The men are of a better class than
the average miner of the United States
proper Fully one third of them are
Americans. and, in addition, there arc
large numbers of English, Irish and
Scotch. There are also Slavs. Italians.
Swedes and Norwegians. Not a few
have come here as prospectors and
have been attracted to the work by the
high wages paid. Common labOrers
get 80 and upward a day. and the
skilled men $3.50 and s.. The experts
and officers receive the highest OF sal
aries. The general manager Mr.. &. l.
Thane.is a young Californian who has
made a record for his efficiency and
mining ability.
/ find that the employees are well
cared for. The company has large
bunk houses or dormitores in which
the men sleep. and il also has dining
halls which will seat 500 at one meal
satdOwn with that number at one
meal. ! sat with that number at din
ner The food was excellent and better
cooked than in most OF the restaurants
scattered throughout the states. The
company serves 1000 such meals every
day for the miners and an equal num-
ber I Judge, to the hands in the mills.
In the kitchen they have steam cook
ers and bakers. They have boilers that
will cook a barrel Of soup at time and
ranges as wide as a dining table and
twelve feet in length. The vegetables
are peeled by electricity. the coffee Is
ground by an electric current. and the
same force washes the dishes and mixes
the bread. taking n whole barrel OF
flour for one big lump Of dough.
Connected with the eating establish