Denver labor bulletin., 1917-08-04

nne-Ine motive power from nome 10
work. Some of them buy farms. Sew
eral have bought homes in Nederland,
Lakewood and Boulder. The mine fore
man, instead of complaining because
his men are not on time, not infre-
quently finds excuse for them in the
possibility that they have had tire
trouble on their own cars on their way
to work.
"Another difference in the early day
and the present boom. Leadville was
| filled with the scum of the earth. Men
came from all quarters-good men,
bad men, worse men. And on their
heels came a thousand women to feed
on them from their passions. This
tungsten boom witnesses employment
of men of Colorado, mostly from Boul-
der county, who go to labor with the
feel of the kiss of good woman upon
their lips and they are never far away
from home. There has been absorp-
tion of idle labor, there is testimony of
willingness of men who haven't worked
at hard labor to dig for ore and in
parlors, we have quiet, orderly, in
dustrious community making the
world richer and better for its labors."
In the early days of mining in
Boulder county, ores under $4,000 per
ton in value could not be hauled at a
profit on account of the distance from
market and the high cost of reduction.
The new cyanide and oil fiotation proc
esses are able to save the value in the
ores above four dollars, and makes
such low grade, gold bearing ores
profitable.
Boulder county produces one-seventh
of the worlds output of tungsten and
60 per cent of the output of the United
States, and exceeds the rest of the
world in the purity of its tungsten de-
posits, ferberite predominating This
rare metal is used principally in the
manufacture of cutting tools, which
can be made to operate five times as
fast as ordinary steel without being
stem steel contains II to 20 per cent
tungsten. This grade of steel has the
peculiar toughness and cutting quail
| ity that makes it ideal tool steel. 1t
is also used in the manufacture of
electric light globes, electric appli-
ances and laboratory equipment. 1t
is an interesting fact, that two or more
of the large manufacturers of incan-
descent lamps specify that Boulder
tungsten must be used in the fila
ment. Most of the foreign tungsten
deposits are associated with, or con-
tain, minerals carrying elements that
are said to be very detrimental to the
filament. Tungsten is not used in mu-
nitions of war. Seventeen mills in the
county are reducing the tungsten ore
to concentrates, with a recovery of 60
to rs per cent. AS an improvement
over the reduction process, the chemi-
cal process and electric furnace is
rapidly becoming the popular means of
purifying the ore, as it makes a COM
plete saving of the tungstic acid.
There is one plant in Boulder using
this process and another under con-
struction.
Since the demand for tungsten ap-
parently regulates the price, the price
now being SIS unit (Which is four
teen times as much as it was in April,
1915, twelve months ago) the demand
is very great. Because of the fixed
ment of the industry, the price of
tungsten that prevailed before the Eu-
ropean war will not prevail again at
it's close. In speaking of the value of
tungsten, ferberite commands prem
ium over the hubnerite, wolframite and
scheelite.
The resources of supply in this
county cover an area twelve by twelve
miles. Within this area there is not
mine that is eight hundred feet deep,
large number are not more than two
hundred and fifty feet, and the major
ity are less than a hundred. The
great production in the past has come
largely thru surface workings. The
prospector has been in paradise. But
this will not continue long, as he must
have means for sinking, and this will
demand plant of machinery. Capt.
tai must come in to assist the pros
pector and miner to develop his tung-
sten claim. The tendency is for these
claims to be bought up by the larger
Continued on Page 6, This Section.)