Year: 1875

A CITIZEN of Des Moines has a son EN-
ployed in the Assayer's Department o
the San Francisco mint. In his last let
ter home the young man gives the fol
lowing description of the manner of th,
manufacture of filthy lucre:


Gold ordinarily comes into the mint il
the shape of dust, scales or bars, the frs
three coming from the placer or grave
mines, and The last usually from the
quartz, having been melted and retorteC
at the mills. Each deposit is separately
weighed and numbered by the receiving
clerk and is placed in an iron box by
Itself, accompanied by tag indicating
its number, and thereafter that deposit
retains that number until it is ready for
coinage, the name of the depositor only
being known to the receiving clerk and
the assayer. 1t is then sent to the melt.
lng-rocm, in charge of the melter and re-
finer, where it is melted and run into a
bar about the shape of Ga brick, and
stamped with the number of the tag by
which it was accompanied, and is re
turned to the receiving clerk to be
weighed again, to ascertain what loss, if
any, has occurred in the melting Then
1t Is sent to the sampling room. where "A
is cut from ofie'Ss .i-e size Of half-dime
like piece from the ~tf. the top, and a
the bottom, and the bar is then returned
and locked UP In the vault to await the
report of the assayer upon the value of
the deposit, which value Is to be ascer-
tanned by assays from the pieces Clipped
from the bar as before Indicated, and
upon his report the depositor, if he SO de-
sires, is paid at once without awaiting
the process of coming the metal demos.
tied by him.


Deposits are only received up TO twelve
O'Clock m, and all the deposits received
are melted and Clipped 0ad the assays
made during the day, each deposit being
kept separate. The following day these
several deposits are run into what are
termed impaired bars, which are also
Clipped and assayed, and these bars are
sent to the refinery.


Gold very rarely, might say never,
comes to the mint perfectly pure. 1t al
ways contains more or less silver, and
generally some iron or other base metal.
1t is parted or separated from these at
the refinery, and the gold and silver con-
tanned in the bars sent from the mint to
the refinery is returned to the mint in the
shape of fine gold and fine silver, sup.
posed to DE freed from all impurities
These bars are weighed, and the gold
bars are again Clipped for assay in the
same manner as the original deposits
and if found to be pure the gold is al
loyed with the necessary quantities of
silver and copper to bring it to the coin
standard-900 gold, .005 silverShd .095
copper-and is melted and run into in
gots. These ingots are also Clipped and
assayed, and if found to be of the eX
act standard of fineness Src sent to the
coiners' department.


In the coiners' dcpart1-.nt the ingots
are first rolled into strips about five feet
in length and of the required width and
thickness of the coin proposed to be
made. They are then annealed by being
placed in copper tubes, probably fifteen
or twenty strips in q tube, which is
closed up and put into an oven and
treated TO a cherry-red heat, and after
being cooled they are taken out and run
through cutting machine which cuts
out the shape and as nearly as possible
the size of the required coin. These
blanks, as they are called, are then taker
to the adjusting-room, where each piece
is carefully weighed, and if found to bt
too heavy enough is filed off the edge:
to bring it to the standard weight, and
any that are found to be light are re
turned to be re-melted.


The adjusting-room is connected witt
the coiners' department and the adjuster
are all women, the only females EN-
ploycd in the mint. There are from
twenty to thirty of them. Their work il
not heavy, but, as YOU will see, requires
some degree of skill and very grel
care.


After being properly adjusted tn,
blanks are run through the milling ma
chine, which thIckens the edges anC
makes it the proper size. They are theI
stamped by press of immense power, ;
power equal to 175 tons weight being re
| quired and used to stamp each double
eagle, the impression being made OF
both sides at the same time. This is th'
last process and the coin is then turned
over to the Treasurer, to be paid out al
| rcquired-Ioud State Register.