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"The power development at these falls, three miles below the city of Great Falls, was made in 1891 by the original Great Falls Water Power & Townsite Company, and the Boston & Montana Consolidated Copper & Silver Mining company, the predecessor of the Boston & Montana Reduction Department mentioned above.The dam is 746 feet long, placed a short distance above the crest of the falls, and giving an effective head, as now constructed, of from 42 to 44 feet. There are power houses on both banks, those on the south bank belong to the Great Falls Power company, the successor of the Great Falls \!\Tater Power & Townsite Company, and the Great Falls Electric properties. The water is led from the dam to these power houses through sheet iron pen-stocks the water wheels are of the horizontal turbine type, and of various sizes.The water is here carried from the dam to the power houses by an open canal or headrace, the walls of which are concrete. This headrace is 100 feet wide at the widest point. The available head was originally less than 40 feet, but this was increased to about 44 feet by means of flashboards and tailrace wall, seperating the tailrace from the main river and delivering the water to the river at a considerable distance below the power house, thus taking advantage of a considerable fall in the river below the sheer fall at Black Eagle.A total of about 12,000 horse power 1s developed at these falls, the Great Falls Power Company, and Great Falls Electric properties developing about 2,000 horse power, and the Anaconda Copper Mining Company developing the balance."

Jan 1, 1913

By W. A. Barrows, Carl Zapffe

Jan 1, 1913

By R. H. Sweetser

There are probably as many variations of the method for blowing-in blast-furnaces as there are furnace superintendents. That some of these variations are poor practice is shown by the troublesome and sometimes disastrous experiences of many furnace-men, even within the last few years. It is the object of this paper to put on record a blowing-in practice that has gradually developed to the point where the results are sure, safe, and satisfactory; and also to bring into discussion several variations that are questionable. The blowing-in of a modern blast-furnace is one of the greatest of metallurgical operations. On its degree of success depends much of the future life of the lining and the subsequent behavior of the furnace; and it involves possibilities of danger to the men engaged in the work. The objects to be attained are the heating of the interior of the furnace to the high temperature necessary for smelting iron; the starting of the smelting process; and the gradual movement of the stock in its downward course. The most critical points are the placing of the kindling-wood, the " bringing down " of the gas, the closing of the iron-notch, and the first cast. The lighting of the first gas, the opening of the cinder-notch for the first flush, and the running of the first cast are anxious times for the superintendent and the furnace-men. Drying-Out the Furnace. As soon as a furnace-lining is completed it should be thoroughly dried out, whether it is to be blown-in soon or not; and the longer it is dried, the better for the furnace. At least two weeks is desirable; but good results can be had with 10 days of firing. The crudest and least desirable method of drying is to build a wood fire in the bottom of the furnace, throwing the wood in through a tuyere-arch, and using the iron-notch for

Jan 1, 1913

"The zinc concentrator of the Butte & Superior Copper company, shown on the opposite page, represents an industry which is coming into importance in Butte. The existence of large bodies of zinc ore in some of the silver veins of Butte has been realized for years, but it is only recently that some of them have proved amenable to successful concentration. Most of the zinc ores thus far found in the camp are mixed with considerable pyrite, but those found in the Black Rock and Elm Orlu mines contain very little pyrite, so that a concentrate low in iron is possible.The Butte & Superior mill is rated at 1,200 tons daily capacity. The ore is sphalerite, most of which is finely disseminated through a hard quartz gangue, with small quantities of galena, pyrite, chalcopyrite, rhodocrosite and rhodonite. In mining, the included granite and the low grade vein matter are sorted out and used for waste filling so that the ore as it goes to the concentrator will carry about 20 per cent of zinc, 1 per cent lead, .25 per cent copper, 8 to 10 ozs. silver and a little gold. The ore bodies ranging from 5 to 103 feet in width, are mined by the square set method and filling of stopes with waste rock.The ore is hard and tough requiring extensive crushing and grinding equipment, consisting of Blake and gyratory crushers, 54-inch and 42-inch high speed rolls, Chili mills, Tube, and Conical mills. All of the lead con¬centrate and part of the zinc concentrate are recovered in the upper part of the mill by jigs and tables. The classifier overflow and the re-ground jig and table tailings go to settling tanks and from there to the Hyde Flotation process, where the balance of the zinc concentrate is recovered, and the tailing go to waste."

Jan 1, 1913

By C. K. Leith

The ores of the region are contained in rocks of pre-Cambrian age, which, for most of the country up to recent years, have usually been referred to as “crystalline schists” or “crystalline complex;” and regarded principally as a metamorphosed basement-unit upon which the sedimentary rocks, beginning with the Paleozoic, were laid down. In the Lake Superior region this pre-Cambrian complex presents an' unusual variety of rocks with determinable relations. It has been possible, with the large expenditures which the magnitude of the iron-mining industry warrants, to work out their stratigraphy to a larger degree than bas been possible in almost any other area of pre-Cambrian rocks. [The portion here omitted contains descriptions of the Archean, Algonkian, and Keweenawan rocks of the several districts, their structure, distribution, correlation, and succession. Table I. and the geological map of the Lake Superior region belong to this portion, but are here reproduced on account of their value as guides to the readers of the rest of the paper.] The simplest and clearest conception of the pre-ambrian succession for the Lake Superior region may perhaps be obtained by thinking of it as primarily divided into six series-Keweenawan, Upper Huronian, Middle Huronian, Lower Huronian, Keewatin, and Laurentian-all but the last two separated by unconformities of varying and disputed relative im-

Jan 1, 1913

By Charles H. Fulton

There are comparatively few accurate data on the melting-or the freezing-point temperature of metallurgical slags, or on related physical phenomena, such as fluidity near the melting-point, specific heat, latent heat, etc. With the exception of the work of H. 0. Hofman,' and some older work by R. Akerman, P. Gredt, and H. M. Howe, no information is available that is of direct interest to the metallurgist. Hofman's valuable work is the only one that refers to slags produced in the metallurgy of copper and lead. The classic work of J. H. L. Vogt,2 who views slags from the standpoint of physical mixtures (solutions in which the entities are minerals), has opened up a new field in the study of slags, and has placed the investigation of such properties as melting-temperatures, etc., on a rational basis. The recent work of A. L. Day, E. T. Allen, and W. I?. White, of the Carnegie Institution, at Washington, and of European investigators3 on certain systems of silicate minerals confirms the value of the investigation of silicate series from this standpoint, and it is my aim to apply this method to metallurgical slags, in order to gain exact data of value in metallurgy. The work recorded in the present paper is the result of an investigation of reverberatory-furnace slags made for a Western smelting company to determine exactly the influence of change in composition, within comparatively narrow limits, on the melting-point. For a general discussion concerning the mineralogical character of slags and the principles on which this investigation is based, reference should be made to other work: for the subject is too large to be stated in this paper, except very briefly in the following outline:

Jan 1, 1913

By J. B. Dilworth

The purpose of this paper is, first, to give a general account of a little-known coal-district of SE. Kentucky, its topography, drainage, and mineral resourcee, for those who may be interested in its economic development; and secondly, so to describe the geologic features of the field as to furnish available data to those engaged on the broader problems of Appalachian coal-geology. The data from which the major portion of the paper has been prepared were obtained, in professional investigations for private individuals and corporations, within the last decade. The area under review, defined by a heavy line on the map, Fig. 1, lies between Little Black and Pine mountains, and extends from Harlan on the west to a N-S. line crossing Looney creek 3 miles from its mouth on the east. This area can be divided for description into a Western and an Eastern Division. The character of investigatioil pursued in the Western Division, below Fugitt creek, was very different from that employed in the Eastern. In the former, only a rapid reconnois-sance was attempted: such coal-openings as had been made by prospectors or by citizens in obtaining fuel were visited, their

Jan 1, 1913

By William Campbell

In the olden days the making of alloys was an art, and the secrete of the craft were jealously guarded. To-day it has become a science, though the old ideas in regard to the secrets and formulæ are dying hard. Modern progress may be attributed to scientific research and testing of materials, and the substitution of chemical analytical control for " cook-book " methods. We know to-day a great deal about the constitution of alloys, the reasons of the change in structure and physical properties by heat and mechanical treatment; and this new knowledge is due for the most part to the physical chemist and metallographist, who have shown us that alloys are simply solutions, and as such obey definite laws. The application of the theories of solutions and of the phase rule tells us what ought to happen when our alloys are in a state of equilibrium. The working-out of the temperature-composition diagram (thermal diagram) for numerous alloys has thrown a light on the structure and constitution which has dispelled most of the darkness in which we labored before the advent of metallography. The work began with the determination of the freezing-point curves, and here the research of Le Chatelier,' Gautier,2 Roberts-Austen,3 and the other pioneers broke the ground. Next the physical chemists, Tammann,4 Rooseboom,5 Bancroft,6 and their colleagues, showed us the complete thermal diagram and its meaning. Then the researches of Heycock and Neville7 on the Cu-Sn series and of Shepherd 8 on the

Jan 1, 1913

"The mines of Butte, in addition to the square timber used, consume each year large quantities of round timber, which are called stulls. The Stull business is an important industry, as will be seen from a brief description of the operations of the Mines Timber Co., which institution furnishes most of the stulls and lagging poles used in the Butte mines.Timber produced by the Mines' Timber Co. is mostly cut on the government forest reserve, on California gulch, American gulch and French gulch. To bring the timber to market, a flume 16 miles long has been constructed from Big American gulch to Mill creek. The flume, which heads on Big American gulch, on the Atlantic slope, crosses the Continental Divide at an elevation of 6,525 ft., and delivers timber at Mill creek on the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific railway, which is on the Pacific slope. Timber is loaded on cars at Mill creek and shipped to the Butte mines, a distance of twenty-six miles. There are 29 trestles on the flume line over 25 ft. high. The highest trestle is 78 ft. and the longest is 775 ft. The longest tunnel on the line of the flume is 565 ft. from portal to portal."

Jan 1, 1913

Jan 1, 1913

By G. A. Collins

Being much interested in efficiency-work in general, and an ardent reader of writings on this subject by Frederick W. Taylor and others, as applied to manufacturing-plants, and having served my apprenticeship from mucking to the engineering design of ore-dressing and underground plants, I hope that this paper will lead others to investigate the field more fully, to the improvement of general mine- and mill-operations, as well as the advancement, intellectually, physically, and financially, of the employee and his relations with the employer. If a man who is prepared to look closely and observe broadly starts in Canada and zig-zags from camp to camp to southern Mexico, taking time casually to inspect mines, mills, and smelters, he will be pitifully impressed by the great difference in customs, and the general waste of labor, time, and money throughout the country. He will so seldom observe a dollar's worth of results given in exchange for a dollar spent that he will form a poor opinion of operating-efficiency and management. This highly-scientific department, requiring an amount of skill and executive ability equaled in few, if any, of the professions, certainly falls short of the standard established in our greater manufacturing industries. It is easily said that this is due to the diversity of conditions in mining, milling, and smelting. But on second view it must be admitted that there is room for tremendous improvements in nearly every mining-organization. The proposal of such improvements is often met by the argument that any mine is but a temporary affair, yielding such profits as to make efficiency-work of no consequence; but any business which is profitable and worth doing at all is worth doing on a basis which gives the greatest return on the investment.

Jan 1, 1913

By R. C. Canby

The American water-jacket furnace is the outgrowth of lead-smelting at Eureka, Nev., subsequently developed in Utah and Colorado. Early smelting in Virginia, New England, or the Missouri-Kansas-Illinois district seems to have had no direct influence in the development of this furnace. First Decade, 1870 to 1880. In 1870, the draft-furnace was used in Nevada, coincidentally with the first crude sandstone blast furnaces, which were 2 or 3 ft. sq., with Sturtevant fans or small Roots blowers, and sheet-iron or water-cooled tuyeres. Stetefeldt, Liebenau, Albert Arents, and 0. H. Hahn mere the early metallurgical leaders. Arents's siphon-tap and the re-establishment of the furnace-bosh mere the most important improvements of the decade. Second Decade, 1880 to 1890. At first there were ,many small local plants; but by the time Eureka had reached its maximum production of lead-ore, two custom works (the Eureka and the Richmond) were treating all the ore, the miners having learned the economy of smelting at larger and well-constructed plants. In the early eighties, most of the features of modern practice were already discernible at Salt Lake, Leadville, Denver, and Pueblo. The small square sandstone furnaces had been replaced by rectangular water-jacket furnaces, mostly 36 in. wide, and from 60 to 80 in. long at the tuyeres, which entered between cast-iron water-jackets. Subsequently, Franz Casin, at the Holden works, Denver, put the tuyeres in the middle of the jackets, and many other improvements were made by him and others, so that the cast-iron jacket became the favorite, until the possibility of

Jan 1, 1913

By S. Arthur Krom

ThE James diagonal-plane slimer is specially adapted to handle the finest slimes, but it will also handle sands as coarse as 40-mesh. The saving efficiency of this machine is due to the original construction ,of the deck, and to the rapid reciprocating movement imparted to it by the head-motion. The deck consists of a plurality of connected planes, having a certain fixed ratio of inclination one to another. These planes intersect each other diagonally to the stroke-line of the table and are arranged so as to give the pulp on the table a double treatment. This double concentration performed by the diagonal-plane deck produces cleaner concentrates and tailings than those obtained by the operation of two separate machines. The action of the diagonal planes settles, combines, and holds all the concentrates in one compact mass, sharply defined from the gangue, and easily cut away without loss. Many slime-concentrating machines distribute the feed-pulp for a distance of 4 or 5 ft. only, and upon a very limited settling-surface. This results in a thick, heavy deposit, from which it is impossible to stratify the values and wash away the gangue, the resulting products being dirty concentrates, and tailings carrying high values. The diagonal-plane slimer distributes the feed-pulp for a distance of 10 ft., and upon a settling-surface having an area of 40 sq. ft.; in other words, it spreads the pulp thinly on the table, which allows the metallic values to settle through the gangue quickly, forming a bottom stratum from which the thinly-distributed overlying stratum of gangue is easily brushed away by the feed-water without disturbing the underlying concentrates. Referring to Fig. 1, plane A is the main settling-section of the table. The feed pulp flows gently down this plane and is

Jan 1, 1913

By Charles W. Dickson

CONTENTS. [ ] I.THE RELATION OF NICKEL TO PYRRHOTITE. Introduction. The Sudbury district is to-day one of the two great sources of nickel in the world. The peculiar geological relations of

Jan 1, 1913

By Hjalmer Sjögren

AMONG the feldspar-rocks there are certain types which occur constantly in different areas-viz., the aruphibolitic plagioclase- rocks and the granulitic rocks Composed of quartz and alkaline feldspars. Among the latter soda: granulites as well as potash are met with; also the corresponding gneisses occur. GROUP I.-THE ORES OF THE ARCHEAN CRYSTALLINE SCHISTS. The Rocks. The ore-bearing rocks of the ore-province of central Sweden are chemically and petrographically unlike the more monotonous gneiss- and granite-areas which surround them. On the whole, they constitute a quartz-feldspar formation in which purer quartzitic rocks, limestones, " skarn " rocks, and ore-bodies are very subordinate members. (Skarn is the Swedish name for rocks of varying composition, mostly consisting of lime, magnesia, iron, and alumina, silicates of the pyroxene, amphibole, and garnet groups; as secondary minerals, epidote, chlorite, biotite, and talc occur. The skarn is scarcely an independent rock but is connected with the ore-deposits. It is formed through an interchange between the silica of the quartz-feldspar rocks and the basic constituents of the ore-formation.) [A BRIDGED SUMMARY.-The amphibolites must be considered as stretched and dynamo-metamorphosed dioritic rocks. The granulites are divided into two groups, one showing predominant plagioclase, the other equal or predominant orthoclase. Evidently, the iron-ore deposits are connected in some way with the

Jan 1, 1913

"Power is transmitted to Butte, a distance of 130 miles, over two separate lines running parallel on the same right of way.The transmission line embodies the most approved ideas in construction. The conductors are No. O. B. & S. gauge, hard drawn copper strand. The insulators are of the suspension type, each insulator consisting of six units, 10 inches in diameter. The insulators will stand a wet test of over 300,000 volts, and were selected after long and careful tests by the company's engineers. The wires are carried on steel towers of four-legged, single crossarm type, manufactured by Milliken Bros. The three conductors are suspended in a horizontal row from the crossarm, and there are no transpositions in either line. Above the power wires and symmetrically located are two galvanized steel strands, Vs-inch in diameter, grounded at each tower, which serve as a protection against lightning.The distance between towers in level country is 600 feet. In mountainous country, however, the spans are irregular in length and spans of 1,500 or 2,000 feet are common. The longest one in the line is that crossing- the Missouri River and is equal to 3,034 feet. The length of this span is such that a person standing at one end of it can sec the wires go off and vanish into space, while the tower at the other end is barely visible to the naked eye on a clear day. The towers at one end of this span arc shown in the accompanying photograph. The line starts at an elevation of 3,200 feet, rises to an elevation of 8,200 feet as it crosses the Continental Divide, and again descends to 6,100 feet, the elevation at Butte.Quantity of coppc1· in transmission line, 1,330,000 pounds.Number of towers, 2,-1-00.Steel used in construction, approximately, 2,-1-00 tons."

Jan 1, 1913

By John Jermain Porter

THe value of any particular ore, coke, or limestone, for iron-making, depends upon its effect, first, upon the quality or value of the resultant product; and second, upon the cost of smelting. The factors under the first head are the percentages of phosphorus, manganese, and other elements, which remain in the pig-iron ; while those under the second head are the percentages of iron, carbon, or lime, the slag-forming constituents, which must be fluxed, and any other ingredients which give rise to variations in cost of fuel and flux. The first of these criteria of value is perhaps not capable of being reduced to a general formula embracing all cases, since it must vary to a great extent with market-fluctuations. For example, Bessemer pig is worth sometimes more and sometimes less than foundry-pig; and the premium paid for high manganese varies within wide limits. The second, or smelt-ing-value, however, can be expressed numerically with a fair degree of accuracy; and it is with this phase of valuation that the present paper is concerned. The utility of a means of comparing numerically the relative smeltiug-values of difierent ores, cokes, and limestones, is self-evident, although it may not have importance in Northern practice, where materials are largely standardized. On the other hand, there are, especially in the South, many furnace-managers who must use a great variety of materials of widely varying grade; and it is with special reference to this district, and in connection with the efficiency-methods which I have elsewhere proposed,' that the methods herein described were devised.

Jan 1, 1913

Jan 1, 1913

"The reduction works of the Boston & Montana Reduction department, near the north end of this dam is one of the reduction plants belonging to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, the other being at Anaconda. These works employ about 1,100 men and have a capacity of about 3,800 tons of crude ore per day. This plant is now being remodeled to embody results of experiments and investigations which have been made with a view to more economic.al treatment of ores. A brief description of the plant as it will be after the remodelling is as follows:Concentrator Department: Consists of six units or sections, each section treating from 550 to 600 tons of crude ore per day. This department is not being. remodelled at the present time. A concentrating process, however, has been developed and partially installed in the old mill, and an experimental section embodying this concentration process has also been installed at the concentrator at Anaconda."

Jan 1, 1913

John P. Thomas, President. B. W. Snodgrass, Secretary-Treasurer. San Andrews, mine boss, Morley. Richard Bickerton, Tabasco. E. P. Bayles, superintendent, Cokedale. Clyde Campion, parting tender, Valdez. O. C. Cook, 406 East Seventh, Street, Trinidad. James Cameron, superintendent, Hastings. Charles Chambers, superintendent, ,Sopris. Arthur Dennison, Trinidad. Samuel Dean, mine inspector, Delagua. F. S. Dunlevy, assistant engineer, Hastings. L. R. Douglas, assistant engineer, care Danford & Sanderson, Trinidad. W. E. Danford, superintendent, Segundo. M. O. Danford, superintendent, Cedar Hill Coal & Coke Co., Trinidad. John Dougherty, mine foreman, Morley. J. C. Davidson, timberman, Valdez. William Easton, fire boss, Valdez. George Fortune, electrician, Primero. D. J. Griffiths, chief mine inspector, Trinidad. J. E. Hanes, assistant engineer, Hastings. Joseph Haske, superintendent, Primero. O. C. Erwin, electrician, 714 Pine Street, Trinidad. R. J. Jinkins, superintendent, Morley. Thomas jolly, superintendent, Gray Creek. James Jamieson, assistant mine boss, Valdez. James Kilpatrick, fire boss, Tobasco. L. M.. Kuhns, first-aid miner, care Mine Safety Car No. 2, Trinidad. William B. Lloyd, 404 East Seventh Street, Trinidad. J. C. Lawrence, machinist, Starkville. R. A. McAllister, mine inspector, Trinidad.

Jan 1, 1913