Volume 29 (1874) (428 pages)

MINING AND! SCIENTIFIC ORE SS. [November 7, 1874. DEWEY «& CoO., Publishers. A. T. NEWEY, GEO, H. BTRONG w. Re EWER, JNO. Le ROONE Office, No. 224 Sansome St., S. E. Corner of Oalifornia St., San Francisco. " SUBSCRIPTION ANO ADVERTISING RATES. ” Supsoxrwriona payable in sadvanoe—For ona yaar $4; six months, $2.25; threa months, $1.25. Oluhs of ten Rames or mora $3 aach perannnm, $5, ln advance, will pay for one and one-third year. Remittances hy reglstered letters or P. O. orders at our risk ADVERTISING RaTES.—1 week. 1 month. 3 months. 1 year. ry 80 $2.00 $5.00 $1.00 3.00 1.50 24.00 One inch. «++ 2.00 5.00 14.00 40.00 Large advertisements at favorable rates. Special or reading notices, legal advertisements, notites appearing in extraordinary type or in peculiar parts i the paper, inserted at apecial rates: We Will Prepay All Postage On this paper after the 1st of January, 1875, a8 the law demands. This is eqnivalent to reducing the snhBcription price 20 cents per annum. Besldes, it will gave suhscrihers the annoyance of paying petty postge hills every quarter. San F'ranoisco: Saturday Morning, Nov. 7, 1874 TABLE OF CONTENTS. . EDITORIALS AND. GENERAL NEWS— Purifying Quicksilver; Patent Nonsense; Academy of Sciences, 289. Street Sweeplngs and Fertilizera; ‘The Belcher Mine Fire; ing the Grape; San Francisco Tanneries; Artificial Wine, 297. The Elections; Epidemic Among the Celestlals; Public School Notice;; Snow in.the East; Connty Judge; Lahor Trouhles in England; The Carlist War; Narrow Gauge Locomotive; Case of Cremation; Pacific Coast Appropriations; Murdered his Brother's Wife; San Francisco Harhor; Thanksgiving; Troops for the South; An Expensive City; The General Post Office; Patents and Inventions, 300. ILLUSTRATIONS.—Eandol & Wright's Quicksilver Puritying Apparatus, 289. Grafting the Grape, 297. SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS.—Singular Effect of Great Heat—Fire-proof Constrnction; Variahility of the 8un’s Diameter; Triumphs of Science; A New Lamp; Purificatlon of Water hy Contact with Iron; Whitworth Steel; The Vibratory Note; A New American Barometer; Putrefactlon; Pyrometers, 291. MECHANICAL PROGRESS.—Grossy Water in Steam Boilers; A 6,000-ton Steamer for the MisslsBippi; Portable Fire Walls; Simple and Ingenious Device; A New Mechanical Separator; Thin Saws, 291. MINING STOCK MARKET.—Tahle of Daily Sales and Prices and Comparetive Prices for the Week; Notices of Assessments; Meetings and Dividends; Review of Stock Market for the Week, 292. MINING SUMMARY from various connties in Californla, Nevada, Arizona, Coforado and Utah, 292-3. GOOD HEALTH.—Good Food and Good Health; What Girls Should Drink; Red and White Muscles; Bathing in Cold Water; Tncrense of ShortSighted: ness; Bone Felon; Hash and Health, 295 USEFUL INFORMATION. —Strength of Various Kinds of Glass; Mine of Liquid Sulphur; To Make Good Dutch Cheese; Wind Power; How Eggs are Hatched; Oause of the Rusting of Iron; To Extinguish Kerosene Plames; Explosive Paper; A “Cure for Gorna; To Remove Perspiration from Kid Gloves, 205. DOMESTIC ECONOMY. — Economize Yonr Strength; Spiced Tomatoes; Lemon Tartlets; Sugar Snaps; Flannel Rolls, 295. MISCELLANEOUS—Mining i in Colorado; Buying the Right of Way; Montana Mining Matters; Mining in Yavapai and Mohave: Salmon Hatching; Steel for Cannon; South Monntain; Quicksilver, 290. The Sweepstake Plow Company’ 8 Works; Rights of Locators; The California Mine; mierostoness Metal Manuf: of the J . 294. The Fall of the Leaf; Columhia Distros Manzanita San! Steam Packing; Lida Valley; Oriental Mill, The New Mint. The new Mint was thrown open to public inepection on Satnrday laet, and wae visited by several thousande of our citizens. It was on Thuredey handed over to G. H. La Grange, who has been appointed custodian of the eame. The San Francieco Mint building has been erected and fnrnished apparently without regard to expense, and when fully fitted np will be the most extensive and perfect inetitution of the kind in the world. We have noknowledge of ite cost; bnt it must he very large. The bnilding is a very imposing and enbstantial structure, perfectly fire-proof thronghout. It i3 classical in desigu and ornamented with Dnorio columns and pilasters. The building is of two stories with a baeement altogether above ground, The boilers and some of the heaviest machinery are in the basement. The engine, which ie of elegant and massive coustrnction, is npon the second floor. The Treasury snd banking rooms are large and elegant, ae are aleo the officere of the melter and refiner. The offices throughoutarelarge and’commodious. The machinery ie all eubetantial ‘and ‘elegantly finished, and ‘every detail of the interior of the buildin appears to be perfect. The only objectionable featnre connected with the strncture is the fanlty character of the outer portion of the walls, to which fect we have alluded several times during the constrnction of the building. It will be recollected thet Mr. Mullet, the architect, himeelf has epoken disparagingly of that portion of the work. We understand that certain portions of maThat Tea Set, 296. Graft. gems in the old Mint walt be at once traneposed to the new, and that coinage will immediately commence there, aud with very little iuterruption in coneeqnence of the removal. Actuel coinage operations. willnot be suepended for over fifteen days. Bullion deposits will, however, be received: within .one or two daye after the tranefer has been commenced, and ‘. gold deposits aseayed and paid' for from the U. 5, Bullion Fund. The coinage: at the new ‘Mint will be confined for several < days to silver, The Director expresees his determination to so arrange Mint mettere on thie coest as to insure ‘the coinage of trade dollars? in snch quantities as will meet the increasing demand for the samé. ‘ Street Sweepings a and Fertilizers. In the lerge centers of, , of ‘population i in ‘Europe considerable attention has ubeen , paid of late years totheutilization of sewage. “In this country few attempte have as yet" Been. made in this direction, thongh jit is -piobeble . that hefore many years it ‘will become a, eubject of more importan2e than we coneider it at preseut. In England fertilizing “substances of every description are extensively used, and ‘the land ie supplied with what it needein the proper quantities according to the clase of crop. Detailed ecientific experiments have been made and the results given to the pnblic, and thepeople have not been slow to adopt the eyetems and substances that have been proven practically to be snecessful. The main thing, of course, has been to get a substance which wae plentiful, efficient and at the same time cheap. Near some of the large cities in Europe eetablishments have been put where night soil is collected, deodorized and prepared for fertilizing pnrpoees. In somo of the English towns the ‘‘pail’’ system of removing night eoil hae been edopted. Thie system consiste in placing an iron pail under the seat of the privy to receive the night Soil, and which is removed ae frequently as necessary throngh a emall door. The paile are covered with a lid and placed in a wagon specially constructed for the purpose, provided with a roof and doors at the eides for the admission and removal of the pails. An empty pail ie substitnted for a full one at each collection. This system is in vogue in six or seven of the principal towns in Lanoashire, having originated in Rockdale. The company which collects thie material have mechinery, retorts, elc., for utilizing the sweepinge of the streets. -The eweepinge are expoeed to an intense heat in the retorte and are couverted into a finely pulverized charcoal. Thie mekee a very efficient charcoal solely from etreet sweepings, and available for deodorizing purposes, being adapted for nse in dry closets, the warde of hospitels, pubdlio urinels, months of'sewers, and for using with all kinde of offensive material. By ite uee all decompoeing enbstencee are rendered -perfectly harmless, 20 that they may be removed without offence or demage in the daytime instead of at night, On the arrival at the yards of the wagon with the paile above epoken of, their contents are emptied into a shallow tank formed in the floor of the shed and a few chovelfule of the charcoal are immediately thrown on the night soil. A reporter of the Zngineer, who witnessed the operation saye the effect ie certainly eurprising, the offensive odor being immediately removed. The mixture is then well incorporated, placed in sacks and sold for manure at a very reasoneble price, which, however, leavee a profit to the company. The stréet eweepings are aleo ground and mixed with certain proportions of clay and then charred, in which condition they ere used for the filtration of sewage. The manure made by this procese is very good, ae it ie composed entirely of night eoil and cerbonized street eweepinge, which letter contain a large quentity of animal droppings, The works where this bueiness is cerried on were erected at Salford to aecertain, experimentally, whether charcoal poseeesing powerfnl deodorizing properties could be mede from the street sweepings at a cost which would be commercielly profitable. On the 13th ult., the Tacoma saw mill cut 82,159 feet of nmber, an average of 8,000 feet an hour, dnring the 1114 hours’ working. Tue Vellejo barrel factory commenced operations Mouday, after a enspension of eeveral months. Menevryvitie ie the name of the town just etarted on the grade between the Missonri mine and Geyser hotel. Tue Originel Gold Hill mine, on the Comstock, is to have new hoisting works. Tue Vallejo foundry hae shipped 2 quicksil81 ver furnace manufactnred for a Colnsa mine. Tue Gold Mountain miniug company, San Bernardino county, have 200 men employed.: THE mining excitement at Hab onal St. Helena contiunes. : Tux Eastport coal company are now shipping about 2,200 tons per month. { distence of several hundred feet, hurling frag. ’ The Beleher ‘Mine Fire. At about 20 ‘clock last J Friday afternoon the timbers in the new. air shaft in the Belcher Mine, on the Comstock, was discovered ‘to be on fire. The fire etarted on thé 800-ft. level, and a few momente afterward a hnge volume of smoke pouréd out of the mouth of the ehait. The alarm was promptly sounded by the various fire bells and hoieting -worke’ whistles throughout the town. The fire department turned out in full force aud hurried to the scene of the conflagration, followed by thonsands of spectatore, including women andchildren, who were eobbing hysterically, fearing that their hnsbande and fathere, who, were working in the mine, hed perished in the flames. The whole energies of the officers end men employed in the mine wore devoted to extingnishing the flames. Snperintendent Smith and Foreman Donnelly were on the ground pereonally superintending the work. An immenee stream of water Wae brought, to bear on the fire throngh the hoieting worke’ hose. Half an hour after the commencement of the fire, the flames, which had hitherto been -emouldering, ‘buret out into the air with terrific violence, a ments of rock in every direction, At this stege ‘the fire resembled a huge volcano in active operetion, The few men who worked in the shaft when the fire broke ont had a narrow escape from death. The last one who came’up through the sheft had to pass through the flames a portion of the way, and Game near being suffocated. When it wae found that the flamee could not be extinguished,from above, eight men were lowered from the hoisting worke to the drift et the 1,000-ft. level to tear * out the timbers and the track communicating with the air-shaft, and bnild a bulkhead to prevent the spread iu that direction. The current of air is usually down the air-shaft, but the heat from the flamee reversed the process, avd the wind sncked down the shatt at the, hoisting works. The men were engaged in the ‘work, and succeeded in tearing up the timbers and the track, and partly aecompliched their object, when a fearful cave came down the air-shaft, which forced the flames ae from the mouth of a huge cannon, full nponthem. Theresult was moet fearfnl. Six of the eight men were severely bufned, and the other two more or lees injured. The nnfortunate men were speedily brought to the surface. They had done eufficient to prevent the flames from reaching the stopes connected with thie level, wherein had been the chief danger., From this time the flamee began gradually to subeide. The opinion as to the origin of the fire ie that it arose from the carelessnese of one of the men employed in the 850-ft. level in leaving a burning candle eticking in the timbers. There are about 1,000 men employed in the mine, and although strict injunctions are given to use every precaution with candles, still among eo many there are sure to be some of carelees habits The following is a list of those who accompeied A. S. Burt and John Downey, foremen of the mine, inthe attempt to erect a bulkhead, and who were more or less injnred: William Upham, foreman, somewhat severely burned; it ie expected that he will recoverin a few days. John Bigge, aleo an underground foreman, was burned abont the arms and chest and face. Patrick Cloheey, foreman, terribly burned about the face and body. William Johns, very seriouely burned all over, died thie week. Thomas Treglown, not serionsly injnred. Frank Leclare, a Frenchman, not much burned. Richard Pollard, very seriously injured; burned all over the body, beside which he is suffering from inhalation of impnre air; it ie hoped he ‘may recover, bni the physiciane consider this case a bad one. Jamee Thomas, bnrned, bnt not dangeronsly. Charles Sweeney, bnmed very seriouely, hie ekin being off on nearly the whole of hie body. William ‘Thomae, very seriouely burned over the body.’ The men who were injured were all volunteers. The amount of damage done ie estimated at between $20,000 and $30,000. On Saturday morning the workmen found in the mine the dead body of Patrick Kelly, brother of John Kelly, the well-known mining expert. Patrick Kelly wae one of thoee who volunteered to deecendinto the mine for the purpose of preventing the spreading of the flamee, and lost his life in the air shaft, which tnrned the cnrrent of fire down the shaft. He got badly scorched by the eheet of fire which burst in upon him, and in the confusion wandered off in the wrong direction. He fell down a chute a distance of twenty-flve feet iuto an incline and then crept into » emall drift, where he was fonnd. m Tut Crown Point mine ie looking well thronghont, and promises a rich yield for many months yet to come. Opening ont the 1,600ft. etetion is making rapid progress; the mille areagain rinning up to their, fnll crashiog capacity, and the future proepecte of the mine look bright and prosperous. A TURNPIEE and toll road is soon to be bnilt from Knight's valley to the Great Western qnicksilyer Mine, in Lake county. Theright of way is now being eecured. THe minee in Winnemucca mountain are now yielding eufficient ore to keep the Humboldt reduction: works in constant operation. Bows e ial . .) £sThat [Tea cset,) The editorial columns ¢ of ‘the ad American, ‘our New. York contemporary,” are ‘6 generally well and. ably edited, and their -articles are nsually besed ‘on sound sense and jndgment, but we are compelled to find decided fault with the article i in its issue of October 81st, headed A Penic in the Patent ‘Office. ” “Why the Scientific American should demand thé discharge of the entire Patént Office force; from the Commiesioner down to the petty clerks, simply because the latter contrihnted towerde purchasing the retiring Commissioner , a tea set, as a tokén of their regard for him, “we eénnot eee, unless the proprietors of that’ paper think to make capital ont’ of a cirenmetance nitterly trivial in itself, bnt by a legal qnibble involving theee people in the legal meshee. Had the tea set been purchased by contributions of the office, and presented to General Leggett, when he first entered npon the dnties of hie office, or dnring his active management thereof, we would then consider that the law had been violated, and the eevere article of the Scientific American wonld not be out of place. But we must'be exenséd for not'séeing dny wrong in the donation, after Commissioner Legpett had handed in hie reeignation and hig snecessor had béen’ appointéd; but* not’ yet -qnalified. The extreme bitterness of the article above referred to ie évidence that it wae either written in a spirit of vindictivenese, because Oomnhissioner Leggett would not allow the proprietors of thet paper to manage the Patent Office, or they expected to obtein control of its next officers, who, in case they eucceeded in their efforts to have the whole present forée expelled, would naturally etand in fear of guch @ power. One thing ie certein, if Mr. Thatcher should sneceed General Legpett, ae Oommissioner of Patents, the Scientific American Patent Agency cannot expect any favors from that quarter, other than what the strict letter of the law and justice provide for it. This we look upon 26a natural eequence of the article above referred to: We ehould look upon the expnieion of the entire Patert Office force ae ons of the moet calamitons occurrences that conld befall our country. If there is any one department of our government in which a too frequent rotation in office worke evil, that department is the Patent Office. No person, whatever his other qnalificatione may be, is fitted to be an examiner until he has epent several years inside’ the walle of the Patent Office. We agree with the Scientisie American that some—a few—of the examinere, might be removed for incapacity and illiberal viewe towarde inventors ‘with benefit'to the country, but to demand the expulsion of the entire force is to demand the total disruption, for a season at least, of onr patent affairs, Msny of the officers and exeminers are worthy and competent, and it would he impossible to fill their places as well as they are now filled. Still the Scientific American would make no exceptione. General Leggett has made a good Commicsionér; he has instituted mauy reforme in the office, and hie decicions ae a rule have been just and equitable. We are only sorry that we did not get 2 chance to contribute towarde that tea set. Tue death ie annonnced of Sir John Rennie, the eminent civil engineer, under whoee direction come of the most important engineering worke of the past helf century bave beén carried out. Sir John was born in 1794, and was the eon of the late Mr. John Rennie, who designed New London bridge, and who also deeigned and executed Southwark and Waterloo bridges. Mr. Rennie edneated his son for his own profeesion, and left to him the task of executing his designs for London bridge. Among his other important works we may mention his completion of the drainage of the Lincolnshire fens, commenced by his father, and the works connected with the harbor of Ramegate. Sir John wee employed by the Karl of Lonsdale in the construction of the, new docks atWhitehaven, end through hie career he was largely interested in railway operations. q We are informed by a‘ gentleman juet in from Bear valley mining district, seys thée’San Bernardino Argus, that the Gola Mountain compeny have 200 men em ployed at their mine, and that they intend to pnsh things. He Saye they have one of the biggest’ minee he ever aaw, and he hae traveled all over this State ‘and Nevade. Tux Coneolideted Virginia mine is looking splendidly at all points, and the prospecting being done is proving the greater extent of the ore bodiee in almost ‘every direction, and showe the mine to be ae yet but ecarcely proepected in any direotion whatever. Last week Cherles Robineon, an old quartz miner, ‘dieoovered a ledge below Auburn, 60 rich that he ponnded out ahont $200 in lees than a day in a hand mortar, c Esrmatse pyt the yield of the precions metals this yearin Utah at $10,000,000. This is against $5,000,000 last year. a Frrtzen miles of the Santa Cruz and Watronville railroad have been graded, Treck laying will coon be commenced, ceueeneeiillnasilllso-caueeeen a

MINING AND! SCIENTIFIC ORE SS. [November 7, 1874. DEWEY «& CoO., Publishers. A. T. NEWEY, GEO, H. BTRONG w. Re EWER, JNO. Le ROONE Office, No. 224 Sansome St., S. E. Corner of Oalifornia St., San Francisco. " SUBSCRIPTION ANO ADVERTISING RATES. ” Supsoxrwriona payable in sadvanoe—For ona yaar $4; six months, $2.25; threa months, $1.25. Oluhs of ten Rames or mora $3 aach perannnm, $5, ln advance, will pay for one and one-third year. Remittances hy reglstered letters or P. O. orders at our risk ADVERTISING RaTES.—1 week. 1 month. 3 months. 1 year. ry 80 $2.00 $5.00 $1.00 3.00 1.50 24.00 One inch.. «++ 2.00 5.00 14.00 40.00 Large advertisements at favorable rates. Special or reading notices, legal advertisements, notites appearing in extraordinary type or in peculiar parts i the paper, inserted at apecial rates: We Will Prepay All Postage On this paper after the 1st of January, 1875, a8 the law demands. This is eqnivalent to reducing the snhBcription price 20 cents per annum. Besldes, it will gave suhscrihers the annoyance of paying petty postge hills every quarter. San F'ranoisco: Saturday Morning, Nov. 7, 1874 TABLE OF CONTENTS. . EDITORIALS AND. GENERAL NEWS— Purifying Quicksilver; Patent Nonsense; Academy of Sciences, 289. Street Sweeplngs and Fertilizera; ‘The Belcher Mine Fire; ing the Grape; San Francisco Tanneries; Artificial Wine, 297. The Elections; Epidemic Among the Celestlals; Public School Notice;; Snow in.the East; Connty Judge; Lahor Trouhles in England; The Carlist War; Narrow Gauge Locomotive; Case of Cremation; Pacific Coast Appropriations; Murdered his Brother's Wife; San Francisco Harhor; Thanksgiving; Troops for the South; An Expensive City; The General Post Office; Patents and Inventions, 300. ILLUSTRATIONS.—Eandol & Wright's Quicksilver Puritying Apparatus, 289. Grafting the Grape, 297. SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS.—Singular Effect of Great Heat—Fire-proof Constrnction; Variahility of the 8un’s Diameter; Triumphs of Science; A New Lamp; Purificatlon of Water hy Contact with Iron; Whitworth Steel; The Vibratory Note; A New American Barometer; Putrefactlon; Pyrometers, 291. MECHANICAL PROGRESS.—Grossy Water in Steam Boilers; A 6,000-ton Steamer for the MisslsBippi; Portable Fire Walls; Simple and Ingenious Device; A New Mechanical Separator; Thin Saws, 291. MINING STOCK MARKET.—Tahle of Daily Sales and Prices and Comparetive Prices for the Week; Notices of Assessments; Meetings and Dividends; Review of Stock Market for the Week, 292. MINING SUMMARY from various connties in Californla, Nevada, Arizona, Coforado and Utah, 292-3. GOOD HEALTH.—Good Food and Good Health; What Girls Should Drink; Red and White Muscles; Bathing in Cold Water; Tncrense of ShortSighted: ness; Bone Felon; Hash and Health, 295 USEFUL INFORMATION. —Strength of Various Kinds of Glass; Mine of Liquid Sulphur; To Make Good Dutch Cheese; Wind Power; How Eggs are Hatched; Oause of the Rusting of Iron; To Extinguish Kerosene Plames; Explosive Paper; A “Cure for Gorna; To Remove Perspiration from Kid Gloves, 205. DOMESTIC ECONOMY. — Economize Yonr Strength; Spiced Tomatoes; Lemon Tartlets; Sugar Snaps; Flannel Rolls, 295. MISCELLANEOUS—Mining i in Colorado; Buying the Right of Way; Montana Mining Matters; Mining in Yavapai and Mohave: Salmon Hatching; Steel for Cannon; South Monntain; Quicksilver, 290. The Sweepstake Plow Company’ 8 Works; Rights of Locators; The California Mine; mierostoness Metal Manuf: of the J . 294. The Fall of the Leaf; Columhia Distros Manzanita San! Steam Packing; Lida Valley; Oriental Mill, The New Mint. The new Mint was thrown open to public inepection on Satnrday laet, and wae visited by several thousande of our citizens. It was on Thuredey handed over to G. H. La Grange, who has been appointed custodian of the eame. The San Francieco Mint building has been erected and fnrnished apparently without regard to expense, and when fully fitted np will be the most extensive and perfect inetitution of the kind in the world. We have noknowledge of ite cost; bnt it must he very large. The bnilding is a very imposing and enbstantial structure, perfectly fire-proof thronghout. It i3 classical in desigu and ornamented with Dnorio columns and pilasters. The building is of two stories with a baeement altogether above ground, The boilers and some of the heaviest machinery are in the basement. The engine, which ie of elegant and massive coustrnction, is npon the second floor. The Treasury snd banking rooms are large and elegant, ae are aleo the officere of the melter and refiner. The offices throughoutarelarge and’commodious. The machinery ie all eubetantial ‘and ‘elegantly finished, and ‘every detail of the interior of the buildin appears to be perfect. The only objectionable featnre connected with the strncture is the fanlty character of the outer portion of the walls, to which fect we have alluded several times during the constrnction of the building. It will be recollected thet Mr. Mullet, the architect, himeelf has epoken disparagingly of that portion of the work. We understand that certain portions of maThat Tea Set, 296. Graft. gems in the old Mint walt be at once traneposed to the new, and that coinage will immediately commence there, aud with very little iuterruption in coneeqnence of the removal. Actuel coinage operations. willnot be suepended for over fifteen days. Bullion deposits will, however, be received: within .one or two daye after the tranefer has been commenced, and ‘. gold deposits aseayed and paid' for from the U. 5, Bullion Fund. The coinage: at the new ‘Mint will be confined for several < days to silver, The Director expresees his determination to so arrange Mint mettere on thie coest as to insure ‘the coinage of trade dollars? in snch quantities as will meet the increasing demand for the samé. ‘ Street Sweepings a and Fertilizers. In the lerge centers of, , of ‘population i in ‘Europe considerable attention has ubeen , paid of late years totheutilization of sewage. “In this country few attempte have as yet" Been. made in this direction, thongh jit is -piobeble . that hefore many years it ‘will become a, eubject of more importan2e than we coneider it at preseut. In England fertilizing “substances of every description are extensively used, and ‘the land ie supplied with what it needein the proper quantities according to the clase of crop. Detailed ecientific experiments have been made and the results given to the pnblic, and thepeople have not been slow to adopt the eyetems and substances that have been proven practically to be snecessful. The main thing, of course, has been to get a substance which wae plentiful, efficient and at the same time cheap. Near some of the large cities in Europe eetablishments have been put where night soil is collected, deodorized and prepared for fertilizing pnrpoees. In somo of the English towns the ‘‘pail’’ system of removing night eoil hae been edopted. Thie system consiste in placing an iron pail under the seat of the privy to receive the night Soil, and which is removed ae frequently as necessary throngh a emall door. The paile are covered with a lid and placed in a wagon specially constructed for the purpose, provided with a roof and doors at the eides for the admission and removal of the pails. An empty pail ie substitnted for a full one at each collection. This system is in vogue in six or seven of the principal towns in Lanoashire, having originated in Rockdale. The company which collects thie material have mechinery, retorts, elc., for utilizing the sweepinge of the streets. -The eweepinge are expoeed to an intense heat in the retorte and are couverted into a finely pulverized charcoal. Thie mekee a very efficient charcoal solely from etreet sweepings, and available for deodorizing purposes, being adapted for nse in dry closets, the warde of hospitels, pubdlio urinels, months of'sewers, and for using with all kinde of offensive material. By ite uee all decompoeing enbstencee are rendered -perfectly harmless, 20 that they may be removed without offence or demage in the daytime instead of at night, On the arrival at the yards of the wagon with the paile above epoken of, their contents are emptied into a shallow tank formed in the floor of the shed and a few chovelfule of the charcoal are immediately thrown on the night soil. A reporter of the Zngineer, who witnessed the operation saye the effect ie certainly eurprising, the offensive odor being immediately removed. The mixture is then well incorporated, placed in sacks and sold for manure at a very reasoneble price, which, however, leavee a profit to the company. The stréet eweepings are aleo ground and mixed with certain proportions of clay and then charred, in which condition they ere used for the filtration of sewage. The manure made by this procese is very good, ae it ie composed entirely of night eoil and cerbonized street eweepinge, which letter contain a large quentity of animal droppings, The works where this bueiness is cerried on were erected at Salford to aecertain, experimentally, whether charcoal poseeesing powerfnl deodorizing properties could be mede from the street sweepings at a cost which would be commercielly profitable. On the 13th ult., the Tacoma saw mill cut 82,159 feet of nmber, an average of 8,000 feet an hour, dnring the 1114 hours’ working. Tue Vellejo barrel factory commenced operations Mouday, after a enspension of eeveral months. Menevryvitie ie the name of the town just etarted on the grade between the Missonri mine and Geyser hotel. Tue Originel Gold Hill mine, on the Comstock, is to have new hoisting works. Tue Vallejo foundry hae shipped 2 quicksil81 ver furnace manufactnred for a Colnsa mine. Tue Gold Mountain miniug company, San Bernardino county, have 200 men employed.: THE mining excitement at Hab onal St. Helena contiunes. : Tux Eastport coal company are now shipping about 2,200 tons per month. { distence of several hundred feet, hurling frag. ’ The Beleher ‘Mine Fire. At about 20 ‘clock last J Friday afternoon the timbers in the new. air shaft in the Belcher Mine, on the Comstock, was discovered ‘to be on fire. The fire etarted on thé 800-ft. level, and a few momente afterward a hnge volume of smoke pouréd out of the mouth of the ehait.

The alarm was promptly sounded by the various fire bells and hoieting -worke’ whistles throughout the town. The fire department turned out in full force aud hurried to the scene of the conflagration, followed by thonsands of spectatore, including women andchildren, who were eobbing hysterically, fearing that their hnsbande and fathere, who, were working in the mine, hed perished in the flames. The whole energies of the officers end men employed in the mine wore devoted to extingnishing the flames. Snperintendent Smith and Foreman Donnelly were on the ground pereonally superintending the work. An immenee stream of water Wae brought, to bear on the fire throngh the hoieting worke’ hose. Half an hour after the commencement of the fire, the flames, which had hitherto been -emouldering, ‘buret out into the air with terrific violence, a ments of rock in every direction, At this stege ‘the fire resembled a huge volcano in active operetion, The few men who worked in the shaft when the fire broke ont had a narrow escape from death. The last one who came’up through the sheft had to pass through the flames a portion of the way, and Game near being suffocated. When it wae found that the flamee could not be extinguished,from above, eight men were lowered from the hoisting worke to the drift et the 1,000-ft. level to tear * out the timbers and the track communicating with the air-shaft, and bnild a bulkhead to prevent the spread iu that direction. The current of air is usually down the air-shaft, but the heat from the flamee reversed the process, avd the wind sncked down the shatt at the, hoisting works. The men were engaged in the ‘work, and succeeded in tearing up the timbers and the track, and partly aecompliched their object, when a fearful cave came down the air-shaft, which forced the flames ae from the mouth of a huge cannon, full nponthem. Theresult was moet fearfnl. Six of the eight men were severely bufned, and the other two more or lees injured. The nnfortunate men were speedily brought to the surface. They had done eufficient to prevent the flames from reaching the stopes connected with thie level, wherein had been the chief danger., From this time the flamee began gradually to subeide. The opinion as to the origin of the fire ie that it arose from the carelessnese of one of the men employed in the 850-ft. level in leaving a burning candle eticking in the timbers. There are about 1,000 men employed in the mine, and although strict injunctions are given to use every precaution with candles, still among eo many there are sure to be some of carelees habits The following is a list of those who accompeied A. S. Burt and John Downey, foremen of the mine, inthe attempt to erect a bulkhead, and who were more or less injnred: William Upham, foreman, somewhat severely burned; it ie expected that he will recoverin a few days. John Bigge, aleo an underground foreman, was burned abont the arms and chest and face. Patrick Cloheey, foreman, terribly burned about the face and body. William Johns, very seriouely burned all over, died thie week. Thomas Treglown, not serionsly injnred. Frank Leclare, a Frenchman, not much burned. Richard Pollard, very seriously injured; burned all over the body, beside which he is suffering from inhalation of impnre air; it ie hoped he ‘may recover, bni the physiciane consider this case a bad one. Jamee Thomas, bnrned, bnt not dangeronsly. Charles Sweeney, bnmed very seriouely, hie ekin being off on nearly the whole of hie body. William ‘Thomae, very seriouely burned over the body.’ The men who were injured were all volunteers. The amount of damage done ie estimated at between $20,000 and $30,000. On Saturday morning the workmen found in the mine the dead body of Patrick Kelly, brother of John Kelly, the well-known mining expert. Patrick Kelly wae one of thoee who volunteered to deecendinto the mine for the purpose of preventing the spreading of the flamee, and lost his life in the air shaft, which tnrned the cnrrent of fire down the shaft. He got badly scorched by the eheet of fire which burst in upon him, and in the confusion wandered off in the wrong direction. He fell down a chute a distance of twenty-flve feet iuto an incline and then crept into » emall drift, where he was fonnd. m Tut Crown Point mine ie looking well thronghont, and promises a rich yield for many months yet to come. Opening ont the 1,600ft. etetion is making rapid progress; the mille areagain rinning up to their, fnll crashiog capacity, and the future proepecte of the mine look bright and prosperous. A TURNPIEE and toll road is soon to be bnilt from Knight's valley to the Great Western qnicksilyer Mine, in Lake county. Theright of way is now being eecured. THe minee in Winnemucca mountain are now yielding eufficient ore to keep the Humboldt reduction: works in constant operation. Bows e ial . .) £sThat [Tea cset,) The editorial columns ¢ of ‘the ad American, ‘our New. York contemporary,” are ‘6 generally well and. ably edited, and their -articles are nsually besed ‘on sound sense and jndgment, but we are compelled to find decided fault with the article i in its issue of October 81st, headed A Penic in the Patent ‘Office. ” “Why the Scientific American should demand thé discharge of the entire Patént Office force; from the Commiesioner down to the petty clerks, simply because the latter contrihnted towerde purchasing the retiring Commissioner , a tea set, as a tokén of their regard for him, “we eénnot eee, unless the proprietors of that’ paper think to make capital ont’ of a cirenmetance nitterly trivial in itself, bnt by a legal qnibble involving theee people in the legal meshee. Had the tea set been purchased by contributions of the office, and presented to General Leggett, when he first entered npon the dnties of hie office, or dnring his active management thereof, we would then consider that the law had been violated, and the eevere article of the Scientific American wonld not be out of place. But we must'be exenséd for not'séeing dny wrong in the donation, after Commissioner Legpett had handed in hie reeignation and hig snecessor had béen’ appointéd; but* not’ yet -qnalified. The extreme bitterness of the article above referred to ie évidence that it wae either written in a spirit of vindictivenese, because Oomnhissioner Leggett would not allow the proprietors of thet paper to manage the Patent Office, or they expected to obtein control of its next officers, who, in case they eucceeded in their efforts to have the whole present forée expelled, would naturally etand in fear of guch @ power. One thing ie certein, if Mr. Thatcher should sneceed General Legpett, ae Oommissioner of Patents, the Scientific American Patent Agency cannot expect any favors from that quarter, other than what the strict letter of the law and justice provide for it. This we look upon 26a natural eequence of the article above referred to: We ehould look upon the expnieion of the entire Patert Office force ae ons of the moet calamitons occurrences that conld befall our country. If there is any one department of our government in which a too frequent rotation in office worke evil, that department is the Patent Office. No person, whatever his other qnalificatione may be, is fitted to be an examiner until he has epent several years inside’ the walle of the Patent Office. We agree with the Scientisie American that some—a few—of the examinere, might be removed for incapacity and illiberal viewe towarde inventors ‘with benefit'to the country, but to demand the expulsion of the entire force is to demand the total disruption, for a season at least, of onr patent affairs, Msny of the officers and exeminers are worthy and competent, and it would he impossible to fill their places as well as they are now filled. Still the Scientific American would make no exceptione. General Leggett has made a good Commicsionér; he has instituted mauy reforme in the office, and hie decicions ae a rule have been just and equitable. We are only sorry that we did not get 2 chance to contribute towarde that tea set. Tue death ie annonnced of Sir John Rennie, the eminent civil engineer, under whoee direction come of the most important engineering worke of the past helf century bave beén carried out. Sir John was born in 1794, and was the eon of the late Mr. John Rennie, who designed New London bridge, and who also deeigned and executed Southwark and Waterloo bridges. Mr. Rennie edneated his son for his own profeesion, and left to him the task of executing his designs for London bridge. Among his other important works we may mention his completion of the drainage of the Lincolnshire fens, commenced by his father, and the works connected with the harbor of Ramegate. Sir John wee employed by the Karl of Lonsdale in the construction of the, new docks atWhitehaven, end through hie career he was largely interested in railway operations. q We are informed by a‘ gentleman juet in from Bear valley mining district, seys thée’San Bernardino Argus, that the Gola Mountain compeny have 200 men em ployed at their mine, and that they intend to pnsh things. He Saye they have one of the biggest’ minee he ever aaw, and he hae traveled all over this State ‘and Nevade. Tux Coneolideted Virginia mine is looking splendidly at all points, and the prospecting being done is proving the greater extent of the ore bodiee in almost ‘every direction, and showe the mine to be ae yet but ecarcely proepected in any direotion whatever. Last week Cherles Robineon, an old quartz miner, ‘dieoovered a ledge below Auburn, 60 rich that he ponnded out ahont $200 in lees than a day in a hand mortar, c Esrmatse pyt the yield of the precions metals this yearin Utah at $10,000,000. This is against $5,000,000 last year. a Frrtzen miles of the Santa Cruz and Watronville railroad have been graded, Treck laying will coon be commenced, ceueeneeiillnasilllso-caueeeen a