The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1923-09-07
SENATOR w. a. GLAEKS STORY OF THE BEGINNING OF HIS
CAREER I'M MONTANA; SOME PIONEER NERCAMTDLE HISTORY

ELL u " uS u WI u u
Il samples I concluded might subserve two
/ fold purpose, that is, in the technical work
| of determining their values, and the pos
sibility of discovering some valuable ores
Of which I might avail myself
II In Columbia University
HI / therefore took passage for New York
: with my wife, leaving our children in safe
hands with our friends in Pennsylvania
and upon arriving at New York | entered
the mining school of Columbia university
as a special student. The school was then
located on Forty fourth street on the east
side Of Broadway. In the course of my
exercises under the direction of the pro-
fessor availed myself of the samples from
the Butte mines, and in some of them /
found encouraging results. In others the
values determined were very low, but al
together I had the assurance that with
railroad facilities some of these ores might
be profitably worked.
At the same time / learned the practice
of making tests of values by means of a
blow pipe, which was very useful in pros
| pecting where one could not have an assay
office available. Determinations by the
blow pipe, as is well known among assay
ers, could be quite accurately made with
| ores having value as the little button pro-
duced from the melted ore with proper
reagents by the blow pipe can be very
closely gagged by moving the button along
triangular scale where its value is indi-
Gated by its size In practical work /
found these determinations fairly accurate
and very advantageous to prospector.
Branch Line Acclaimed
The Utah Northern railway was then be-
ing built northward from Logan valley,
Utah. and pushed quite actively As freight
was being constantly moved it was neces-
sary to make a new terminus from time
to time. In 1876 this line was extended to
Deer Lodge with branch from Silver Bow
to Butte, distance of only a few miles.
The completion of this branch was ac-
claimed with joy by the miners who had
been holding on to prospects for many
years. as they could now see hope of
awaiting themselves Of the ores in the dis
trict.
The extension of the railroad also en-
couraged the construction of quartz mills.
One of the first of these was undertaken
by William L. Farlin, in 1875, who had
discovered the Travona lode the ores of
which consisted principally of black man
ganese gangue with high gold and silver
values. This was the first mill erected in
the camp, and was soon afterward followed
by the construction of the Centennial mill
in 1876, which also was beneficial and help
full to the development of the ores of the
camp.
Alice Mill Completed
Soon after this time the Walker brothers,
merchants and bankers of Salt Lake City,
Utah, sent representative to investigate
the prospects and mines of the camp which
they evidently found promising, as they
undertook and completed the construction
of the Alice mill for the treatment of ores
from claims the Rainbow lode which
had been obtained by them. The first mill,
completed by them with 40 stamps was
on the surface of the Alice mine and was
worked for years with great financial sue
cess.
/ likewise had made location westward
from the Alice, but on the same vein, which
I named the Frank Moulton. l was unable
to treat the ores except by chlorination,
and therefore built 20-stamp mill on the
claim, and erected Cornish pump for the
Of the mine. This operated very
successfully for several years.
AS there were many base ores in the
camp, which could not be treated without
as was the case with the ores
If the Alice and Moulton mines, furnaces
we're constructed by which the ores were
'oasted with salt and thereby deprived of
heir sulphur and other bases that inter
cred with their successful treatment. The
,nly available salt was in Utah. which was.
by rail in large quantities. By
he operation Of roasting with salt the
Concluded on Agricultural Page)