Enter a name, company, place or keywords to search across this item. Then click "Search" (or hit Enter).
Go to the Archive Home
Go to Thumbnail View of this Item
Go to Single Page View of this Item
Download the Page Image
Copy the Page Text to the Clipboard
Don't highlight the search terms on the Image
Show the Page Image
Show the Image Page Text
Reset View and Center Image
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Toggle Full Page View
Flip Image Horizontally
More Information About this Image
Get a Citation for Page or Image - Copy to the Clipboard
Go to the Previous Page (or Left Arrow key)
Go to the Next Page (or Right Arrow key)
Page: of 430
66 MINING AND SCI ENTIFIC PRESS. (January 31, 1874.
White Island. .
M. Morhange, Consul-General of Belgivm
in this city, gives the following interesting account of a visit to a remsrksble volcanic island,
known a8 White Island, off New Zealand, and
which he described in a paper read hefore the
California Academy of Sciences: .
; When Icame on deck the morning after_we
had left Auckland harbor, we were in the Bay
of Plenty, (Whaksri, ss the natives csli it),
and White Island ‘is situated in that bay. For
honrs I stood watching its gradual appearance,
I saw-first, inthe dim distance, a mere greyish:
spot, Aftér some time the spot” hsd “enlarged
snd assumed the vaporous shape of a column
of smoke; then it looked like an opalescent
clond resting on the horizon, and soI kept it
in sight forahout two hours. Atlsst it stood
there as itrcally was. “I was ‘aware then” that
what I took at first for the island was only the
Isrge crest of vapor which crowns its snmmit,
for White. Island is nothing less thsn a voleano,
isolated in.the midst of the sea; a. perpetuslly .
active crater, which, in the course of time, like
the molluse’which secretes its little,shell, hsd
built up a huge cone, 34% miles in circumference and 860 feet high, of indurated ashes and
scozim.;The walls of this cone are perfectly
straight, of a dsrk ash-grey color, cut at _intervals with deep longitudinal furrows, and hsving on the northwestern side a few small patches
of sparse vegetation, which resemble, when
viewed from a distance, hollows in, the grey]
walls, so that I thought they were the ‘depression of the crater; but it is inside the walls, on
the eastern side, Looking north, it seems as
if the bsse of the island had beennpheaved snd
left deeply inclined towsrd the weat.
' As the walls rise perpendicularly from the
level of the sea, I could not understand where
we should find a landing place, and still less
how wo could ever penetrate into the interior
of the hollow cone. Atlsst two quarter hoats
were lowered, with our small party of eight or
ten, including the captsin and some officers.
As we proceeded, I-noticed toward the southern extremity of the islnaud an opening, a
gap apparently prodnced by the falling down
ofa portion of the circular wall. On the left
rose a high pyramid of consolidated ashes. On
the right stood two separate walls of the same
formation, several hundred feet high, covered
with a whitish crust, full of cracks, like ‘old,
dry plaster. There we landed, walking with
care over a succession of boulders, ‘accessible
in smooth water, but which in a few hours
would be washed by the rollers. Through the
gap in the, wall we entered an immonse funneléhaped circus, 144 milee in circumference, almost at the sea level, the-walls of. which were
of a lighter gray inside, but ridged and strated
longitudinally, like the outer surfaces. , We
were hreathing in a sulphurous atmosphere.
We trod upon a warm soil, slightly indurated,
soft and crackling, ‘full of reuts and fiseures.
T felt as.if I wore walking over a floor of heated
gutta-percha. In every direction were’ carpets
of white and yellow efflorescences, hard noduies incrusted with sulphur and gypsum,
narrow streams of tepid, acidulated water.
Stooping down, I could easily detach from the
ground sheets of thé gray crust, and on examining the nnder surface’ I found them
covered With ‘native sulphur of varions‘tints,
from'straw-yellow to orange and saffron, all
bestrewn with fine granulations aud elegant
needles’of crystallized sulphur. Wherever I
introduced my stick a foot déép into the soil,
@ jet of hot vapor was emitted, eo hot indeed
that ‘could hardly hold my band over it.
Sometimes, instead of vapor, water or mud
came out. In several places the ground was
quite perforated, and numhers ofthin jets, one,
two and three feet high, poured out, condensing in little rills. The tsste of this water was
generally either markedly acid or alkaline. —
Not a blade of grass, not a mark of vegetation, not the bnzz of an insect, in this” vast,
gloomy solitude; but a constantly increasing
noise, as of a seething sea. While we were
walking on the treacherous, yfelding ground,
moving slowly and frequently sounding with
onr sticks, wé were suddenly ‘almost suffocated
by a dense blast of aulphurous vapors, with a
greatly intensified heat. I retreated fora few
moments to take breath, and when, somewhat
relieved,{I looked {around and recoguized.my
companions I noticed where the pungent exhalation was coming from. It arose from a lake,
in abont the center of the solfatara, a boiling
Jake of the most gorgeous yellow green color,
which I could easily compare to a sea of molten
gold, combined with malachite; and all around,
filling up an area of over fifteen acres, at various hights above the basin, numberless fumeroles and geysers sent up fifty or sixty feet their
jete of vapor, or of boiling water, with a writhing, roaring, deafening noise, asif 1 hundred
high-pressure engines were blowiug off steam
on the epot. Columns of Vapor, visible in the
upper part of the hack-ground, far away, at a
hight of perhaps 800 feet, indicated tho presence of other fumercles aud geysers. The captain told me that, ahout a year ago, there was
aking of natural sidewalk, between the lake
and the foot of the walls; but it was no longer
80, and wo were compelled to stop, in front of
the, boiling sea, towards the entrance, recent
eruptions having covered up the side-ways.
._ No descriptiou, howevor masterly, be it hy
Dante himself, could possibly convey to the
imagination of those who have not witnessed
it, the wild grandeur and desolate sublimity of
this barren, Plutonic. island. I stood’ spellbound, looking abeut me, and so utterly ' be. It is hound to be the banuer mining county of,
wildered that I seemed to have lost even the
idea of tinie. “But onr kind captsin had not
forgotten it. There might *haye been some
danger in a protracted visit on such a shifting
gronnd. Besides, there. was “another ,danger,
threatening from without. The swell was
coming in as the tide rose,.and it might have
been difficult to resch onr boats. It was high
time, indeed, to return. We had. landed dryfooted on this broken, rugged besch, but now
we could not escape the roaring rollers, which
tumbled npon us as we jumped from boulder to
boulder. . : ‘
But who would mind a thorongh ducking, to
say nothing of» the dsnger, for suoh 2 glorious
sight? We spent on White Island ahout an
hour and a half; it seemed to\ me & few 'miomeuts therbut now, in the recollection, with
all its associations,’I almost fancy we were
there a whole dsy.
“Lida Valley and Sylvania.
Mr.J.,L. Darrah returned a few days_since
from a visit to the mining. camps east of the
range.” Mr. Darrah is eminently-a>practicsl .
man, and while at-Lidé he submitted the plump
question to Mr. Hiskey, msnager of Hiskey &
Walker’s mil] and mines, to’ know ‘‘what they
were doing, whether he might have an abstract
of assays and working resnits of the. ores of
that section that would give a reliable idea of
their average value, ete.’’ In reply. to this
Hiskey told him that there was his office and .
books to ‘‘pitch in and copy the ore, assay and
bullion books, from one end to the other if he
wanted to.” Dsrrah ‘pitched in,” and after
carefully transcribing the figures'on the mill:
books as they were sot down from day to day,
the results are as follows:
The assay valne of 219 samples gives the
extraordinary average of $292 per ton! One
assay from the Brown’e Hope, which, by the
way, in the richness of its ores has not more
than two or three superiors on the coast, gives
ayield of $4,351.41. This was the largest
assay; the smallest, which was a simple prospect specimen, $6.13. 4 o :
The working result of 668 tons pnt through
the mill since last March, gives au average
value of $244 per tnn, or an aggregate product
of $163,000. This ie certainlya showing not
often excelled.in any camp, and the entire
statement may be accepted as perteotly reliable.
Mr. Darrah is confident that thé seotion embraving Lida Valley, Gold Mountain (20 miles .
to the south) and Sylvania (15 miles west of
Lida) is inevitably bound to prove itself, soouer
or later, the most prolific mineral section east
of the Sierra Nevadas. Our own personal
knowledge of the two ‘dirst.-named inclines, us
strongly to that opinion,’as the, numher of rich
silver mines is innumerable. Tho: prospects
are, however, that the newer district of Sylvania will do more to determine the status of]
the entire région than either or both the others,
though, cither ‘one is undouhtedly capable of
adding greatly to the world’s wealth, and .
of making a noise in the world in conse-’
queuce. 7
Sylvania district hasono feature worthy of . .
special mention, even in a necessarily brief
local reference: For a width of about 3 miles,
and 10 miles in Jength, the country rock is-a
perfectly defined body of granite. Through
the center of this streak runs another of softer
and whiter rock than the grauite, and again
through the center of this soft rock rnnsa large
lode of rich argentiferons galena, which whereever uncovered for fulleight miles invariahlyyields ore ideutical in characteristics, one place
with another, and thus proving this lead to be
full; eight miles long—eight miles of, a lode
composed of the best quality of emelting ores;
superior, Mr. Darrah thinks, to those of Cerro:
ordo, in the reduction of which he was ac-.
tively engaged for threeyears. . , ’
_ There is the greatest abnndance of timber
for wood and charcoal all along the lead, and
water can be obtained in numerous localities
close at hand. Wood and its product, charcoal, can be furnished fifty per, cent, ‘cheaper
than at Cerro Gordo; and, taking that famons
locality. still further as a standard of, comparison, the ores of Sylvania are said to be many
times more abundant, and presumed to be generally richer in silver and. quite as easy to
smelt; further, Cerro Gordo bullion has to be
hanled 275 miles on' wagons, while that from
the other will be bnt 195. ‘In the nature of
the case, however, ‘it may’ cost, as much or
inore per ton to land it in San Francisco from
Sylvania than Cerro Gordo, but in other important particulars the advantage appears to bé
entirely _in fayor of the former. Unless people’s hopes are allowed to rnn away with their
judgment, Sylvauia district is surely capable of prodneing more bullion of a richer quality and at a cheaper rate than Enreka with its
seore of big furnaces. Looking at the prospects for Sylvania and Waucoba, at one end of
the connty, as it were, with Panamint, equally
undeveloped but promising, at the other, and
our present mainstay of Cerro Gordo, and other
important mining operations now or likely},
soon to bein fnll blast, it strikes us that the
futnre of Inyo is about as flattering, prospectively, as any reasonable person could desire. .
thie State. It needs but a narrow gauge rail-.
road, or oheap freights, to enable it to hold its
head up with the higgest mineral producing,
connty of any State or ‘Territory. Nevada and
Arizona papers will take noticé.-Inyo Independent. ne Oe
“Cottonwood Ganon Miness
+ From the correspondence from Alta, Little
Cottonwood, in the Salt Lake Tribune, we make
’ e
the following extracts: *
The resumption. of work on the Flagstaff
mine last week hss hada visible effect on, the
times. The daily shipments of ore from the
mine are forty tons. This amount is to be ines. The
of George W.
fat down te ‘the
tramway in cars, there not being gsnfficient
snow to run the boats. .
The roads between this place and the terMinus are in'a splendid ‘céndition, and never
was there a better opportunity offered for the
chesp and easy transportstion of ores from
Little Cottonwood; and still, the best of onr
mines are lying idle, either awaiting the arbitration of quarrels in England or the adjnstment of Iswsuits at home.
‘eqn The Valleja-Mine _
ill ‘continues to ship ore whenever required.
If a.good customer is found the ore is forthcoming. ‘“ Bnsiness is business,’’ and it takes
wealth to buy ore from the Vallejo.
The Emma
Is shipping ebont five or eleven ' tons per dsy
—that is as mesr'as one can come to the shipments, unless he, keeps tally of the tesms as
they.leave the ore house. As this procedure
would not pay, a marginal guess is the best your
correspondent can do. If the reports nf.men
who are working in the lower levels are:to be
believed—and I can see.no reason why they
shonld not be given the fullest credencé—they
have nndonbtedly struck the Isrgest, richest
and best-defined body of ore ever revealed in
the mountsins of Utah. Itis said they hsve
gone through the limestone formation, and
have found a ledge thirteen ‘feet in width,
enclosed in granite;walls. , The ore does not
require sorting, and is.sackod in the mine.
Hannibal ., Williama, the ,superintendent, ia
always at his post, and is one of the hardest
working;men ahout the mine.;, He always receives his, visitors very, courteously, and will
allow them to go anywhere around the mine;
but not into it,, The information that one
receives from him the public may rely on,
; ‘The: Davenport
Mine is'‘closed, nobody can tell for how long.
It may he for weeks, 'and possibly for months.
Lawyers, sheriifs, etc., are eating up the profits
nf the mine, if it ever made any. The surroundings of ‘the Davenport look oheerlese and
gloomy, suggestive of bad management, either
here or over the water. That as fine a property as thi@should he suffered to remain idle,
when it is known by all the miners who have
ever worked init, and by itd late, snperintendent—Joe Farren—that it can be’ made to pay
large dividends on the capital invested within
thirty days, is a dissrace to Utah; and is of untold injury to her mining interests. By the
time Cottonwood is visited hy séveral more
European “experte,’’ and their ideas of mining
are fully carried out, Alta will-become depopu:
lated and the mines will he abandoned.
Other Mines.
The Grizzly mine has closed shipments for
the winter, as the owners cannot afford to keep
the roads open between.the mine and Alto.
The closing of the Davenport mine necesitated
the clositg of the Grizaly) » >. coal
The City of Rocks still, continucs to work ‘a
few men, and the prospects of ‘the mine are
extremely favorahle. aaa Ns 4
_ The Utah mine, now being worked by Matt.
Gisborn, of Mono notoriety, is looking well,
aud is one of the best defined lodes in the
c.
ive s
The Wellington mine is now looking better
than ever. The shipment of ore from it next
season,, will not probably be’ exceeded by that
of any other in the district. ~ . *
, The Oxford and Geneva still continues to
produce’ argentiferous wealth in paying qnauti-,
tiee, but is not shipping ore.on account of the
high tariff charged for transportation ‘in tho
winter. , <— e ,
*. Work is going on in the Fuller miino, and the,
indications in the lower workings were never
better. The ledge.still ‘continnes on the even’
tenor of its way, not varying far from ten feet’
in width.. Its shipment record for this coming’
season promises to be large. : ales
The McKay continnes to keep up its wellearned reputation. The ledge in the incline
shaft,is so wide that thé wealth cannot bede.
termined ‘until they drift acroes the vein. . The
body of. ore is solid, filling the sides, bottom,
top, and breast ofthe incline: The ore'is of
yery high grade. Preparations are being madé
to ship the ore thatisnowgn'thedump. '
‘ ‘The Victoria and Imperial tunnel’ company
have made arich fiud inthe stope eighty-five
feet above the tnnnel level. The vein is four
feet in width, and increasing daily. ‘ The’ tunnel is still being pushed forward, and has now
reached a length of 640,foét.,. The indications
in the breast of the tunnel are not flattering,
but they are bound tostrike it if they persevere.
The great excitement of Alta is the working
of the Burleigh drilland patent air compressor.
The machinery arrived here some weeks ago,
and was placedin position and wasin working
order yesterday. ‘Chereis no doubt of its provjug entirely-snecessful; as the manner of
working this drill will be of ‘importance tothe
mining men of this Terfitory: ) « i: { «1
Trang haa a more powerful siége gun. than
either Krnpp or Armstrong have tnrned ‘ont,
‘. not only have a number of new, works aprang
Colorado’s Milling Capacity.
The present capacity of the’ metallnrgics!
bworks in Colorado is abont 165 tons per diem,
of‘ which total Clear Creek-connty represents
50 tons; Gilpin, 25; Jefferson, 20; Boulder, 15;
Park, 45, and Arrapahoe, 10. ‘This does not
include the numherless stsmp-mills that are
sesttered all over the gold bearing sections of
the Territory, and Which wonld swell the total
to fnlly, if not over 800 tons. Against this
. treating capacity isa production of ore that
rarely exceeds 300 tons dsily, and Ayerdges
throughout ‘the: year ‘abont 300, worth, taking
all together, between $50 and $60.per ton: Of
this sum abont 125. tons may be considered as
stamp, rock, requiring simply crushing and
raw amalgsmation, and the remaining 175 tons
as more or less refractory ore, needing rcasting
hefore heing smelted into matte, rundown into
pig-lend, oramalgamsled. . 01.59 » «rns
To one who has watched the:progress-ofonr:
ore-milling business during. the, past three
years, a great change will have been noticed in,
Ist, the class of ore handled; 2d, the system
of treatment; 3d, the location of works. Iu
1870 the gold prodnction exceeded that of silver by at least a million dollars; that is to say,
the raise of ore chiefly valned on sccount of
its gold. Now, the production of the two
metals is at least even, with the balance
probably in favor of the leact valusble one. As
this change has taken plsce, the yield of the
Gilpin county mines, while it has not decreased, has increased but little, the prodnction
of the Georgetown minégs haa more than
doubled, and the new silver districts of Csribon and Park connty havesprung into prosperous existence. Gold Hill is the only new
gold district that has heen opened siuce the
beginning of the present decade, and it seems
quite likely that at the close of the year the
production of the two metals from that point
will ‘he nearly equal. This change has thrown
into the shade the stamp-mill treatment (always
a costly system) and created a demand for
smelting works that is ever on the inoreage.
The. change in the methods of treatment is
ovineed by a tendency towards the produotion
of matte, and especially so since the completion
of the Separating Works at Black Hawk. But
three companies now milling produce bullion
without previous smelting, viz.; the Stewart,
Masonville and Caribou Mills, whilethe Boston
& Colorado, the Whsle, Swansea, Dudley,
Alma and Golden Works prodnce eitber a copper matte.or a lead prodnct; from which the
gold and silver is afterwards separated. Amal{-:
gamation, hoth raw and after roasting, is therefore losing place in the working of . Colorado
ores, and smelting gaining in fayor, while
battery and plate amalgamation, which scarcely
saves its thirty per cent, of metal, is rapidly
being dorie away with’ as cbucentration takes
its place. ha eo ae
In early days it was considered necessary for
every large mine to have its mill. *In'dbedience
to this idea nnmerous stamp mills were erected
in Gilpin’ county, and wherever gold qnartz
was found; and the Brown, Baker and International mills of Clear Creek county Were
‘built.’ Only a few of these are now in operation,
the majority having shnt down for want of ore,
or failed by reason of nunsneoessful processes.
The Caribou mill is noW the only silver works
in the Territory that is supplied hy the prodnet
of a single mine, and even it is ar present
preparing to receive custom ores. It seems to
have been clearly shown that mining and milling operations are seldom profitably carried on!
‘hy one and the aamé organization, and custom’
works will hereafter be the order of the'day.
More*than this, our ore mills ard every year
becoming congregated, .as it were, around central points, instead of being scattered over the
country, one for each great mine. aBlack-Hawk and Golden are at present preeminently the two prominent smelting oenters
of Colorado, and by their location and connections command.a larger portion of the ore supply than conld any other points. oN ali
This centralization of the smelting indnstry
is bound to proceed, asit becomes evident’ that
the whole mountain area of Colorado is* one
vast mineral district, or a segregation of small
ones so close together that the in.erest of ‘one
becomes the interest ofall. "We may look for
the ‘successful establishment of beneficiating
works of large proportions in the neighborhood
of Fairplay; at Boulder City; in Baker Park,
when the San Juan district is developed; and
in the valley of the Bine. The progress during
the past year has been very encouraging; for
into existence, but the problem of profitably
hardling most of the refractory ores has been
solved. We are now shipping away a very
small quantity of ore, and no matte, which two
iteme amount to a saving of about a quarter of
a million of dc lars. Wee
In England timber is jealously guarded, and
farmers have commenced to plant trees, and
there are a greater number of acres under Scotch
pine now than at any other period in Scotland’s
history, notwithstanding the immenee quantity
that has been cnt down for lmmber. Monch of
'this pine, however, will not be available for
many years, and larches are therefore : being
planted, as they are of rapid growth and yield
good timber. The‘ timber’ ouestion shoild
have more prominenoe in thie country than ig
now awarded it—Am. Manufacturer, ‘