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MINING FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES. 581 tubes or pipes inserted. These are called " blowers," and through them the air is forced into the furnace to increase the process of com-bustion. By the aid of the blowers the furnace is made hot enough to melt the ore, etc. Now you observe men opening a spout near the bottom of the furnace, and draining off a red- hot liquid substance, which looks like melted iron, into cast- iron molds shaped like an in-verted cone. This is the slag or waste, and is composed of the sand, iron, lime, and all other base metals which the ore contained. The silver and lead, which are heavier than the slag, go to the bottom of the melted mass, and are taken out at the side of the furnace, from a round opening called the well. Near the well you see a long row of cast- iron molds, each capable of holding about one hundred pounds of bullion, or silver and lead combined. Into these molds the melted bullion is poured, and when cold it is ready to ship. The silver and lead are not separated at the smelter, but are sent as bullion to St. Louis, Philadelphia, New York, and other places, to be separated and sold. Some of the ore is very rich in silver, and contains but little lead, while other grades have a large per cent, of lead and but little silver. Some of the bullion averages as high as twenty- five per cent, in silver. When all the furnaces about Leadville are in operation they can reduce two hundred and twenty- five tons of ore every twenty- four hours, which will make about five tons of bullion, and will contain a ton of pure silver, and perhaps more. Three hundred men are em-ployed when all the furnaces are running to their fullest capacity. Great care must be taken by the workmen not to get " leaded ; " that is, not to inhale the fumes from the melted lead, which are very poisonous, and, if inhaled to any great extent, will bring on a very painful sickness, and perhaps result in death. I have said that the pilgrim would seldom if ever recognize the richest ore; that his eye would be caught by the glitter of the cheap galena ; and this is as good a place as any to give some of the reasons why. First, it is to be noted that though the simple elements in rock and mineral are few, their combinations are almost endless ; and the merest trace of some element like sulphur will entirely change the ap-pearance of an ore. In gold mining there is little chance for techni-calities, for gold is " free" that is, in its native matrix of quartz it does not combine with other minerals, and the separation is simple. But silver is the metal with which true science comes in play ; for of the sixty or more simple elements of which all creation is composed, he would be a bold miner who would put his finger on one and say, |
