The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-06-08

Samuel r. Dawson, because he De-
lleves himself to be the rediscuVerer
after thousands OF years of the lost
art OF making bronze capable OF hold
ing a cutting edge and able to do the
work of hardened steel
Many centuries ago man fought ana
labored with implements of bronze
before iron and steel found their place
In the march of human progress. That
the bronze of the distant past was not
the comparatively soft metal OF To-
day, but a material that was able to
stand rough usage end cleaye its way
through wood and stone has long been
asserted The modern metallurgist
knows how often the secret of that
supposed ancient alloy of copper ana
tin and third unknown component
is needed in the technical arts
When King Solomon had reached
certain stage in the building OF the
temple at Jerusalem he wanted the
help of metals workers, for his people
knew little OF that art. Therefore he
sent to his neighbor. Hiram, king oil
Tyre. traditional descendant of Tubal
Cain. the pioneer of workers in brass
and iron Brass in those days was
not brass as 1t Is understood now, but
properly bronze. So King Hiram sent
his master of craft, one Hiram Abif.
The Bible relates that, "he was
4ntts 81 Ma nh
and his father was a man OF Tyre,
worker In brass and he was filled
with wisdom and understanding ana
GINNING to work all works In brass"
Masonry holds Hiram Abif as its
founder and Masonic tradition has II
that this master metal worker never
returned to Tyre, but instead was
murdered by jealous artisans in Solo
mons service.
II seems that Solomon wanted Hi
ram Abif to teach one of his men how
to fashion and to mix that wonderful
bronze. so that he too should have a
master of the craft In his own king
dom. News of this came to the ears
of a lesser artisan, who also had as
pirations. Therefore when the tenn
pie was finished and the night before
native city he was waylaid and MUIR
dered after refusing to divulge the Sc
cret of his cunning.
From that day on, the tradition is,
~ ,,onra af tbot wnndarflll material
was made but existing bronze imple-
ments etc, were melted up and work
ed over from time to time that weap-
ons might be fashioned for the fight
ing men. The warlike Joshua, who
led the Israelites into the land OF
promise, captured and sacked many
cities. His orders were first to take
all brass (bronze) that could be found
then to appropriate all women of child
bearing age, and next to garner what
gold there wcs to be had, Joshua
knew that without arms of bronze
his armies would avail him little.
Samuel r. Dawson was born in
Green county, Tennessee, on June 20
tS47. His people came from South
Carolina, the Palmetto state, and, as
he expresses it, Luther Burbank ant
his followers would probably call me
palmetto on a hickory stem" Curl.
ously, Mr.. Dawson comes of a meta
working ancestry on both sides of the
family, and his mother was a direct
descendant of Ralph Hogge. who In
1543 cast the first iron cannon made
in England Two Of those Original
pieces are still preserved in the Tow
er of London.
In the '90s Mr. Dawson had foun-
dry in Des Mones, Iowa, and in July
1898, he cast a number of brass spear.
heads for Cyrus w. Field Sd, who
wanted them for the appointments OF
q lodge to which he belonged. In the
course of ordinary routine the castings
were made and delivered to Mr.. Field
who was to bore out the holes for the
supporting STATS. Mr.. Dawson thus
describes what followed;
Cyrus had funny way of stamp
ing ike an dSltUleu CHICKEN WHeH he
was mad. and the next day saw him
coming down the road literally pranc-
ing with Indignation, and when he
reached the shop he threw the spear
heads at my feet, angrly exclaiming
What sort of stuff is that brass?
can't bore it, and it's broken my tools
True enough. there was drill
stuck in the unfinished hole of one OF
the spearheads. l was surprised OF
course and finally pacited him by
promising to make him a new set OF
spearheads and to cast the holes in
them. / did not then realize that the
brass was abnormal
After Cyrus was gone / picked ur
the spearhead with the broken drill in
IT, and finding no apparent reason fol
the difficulty knocked off piece OF
the brass with the hammer, and ther
saw that the metal had a bright
crystalline fracture similar to that OF
steel and quite unlike ordinary com.
position. ! knew then that had hi
upon the secret of the ancient bronze
about which | had dreamed at inter.
walls ever since the days of my boy