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By E. Gybbon Spilsbury

In a paper* read at the last meeting of the Institute, in Scranton, Pa., I referred to the proposed introduction at the Haile gold-mine, South Carolina, of a novel method of chlorination. I have since

Jan 1, 1888

Jan 1, 1888

By Byron W. Cheever

At the meeting of the Institute held in St. Louis, in October, 1886 (Transactions, xv., 448), I presented a paper upon the above subject. From the well-known action of certain solvents on phosphide and phosphate of iron, the conclusion was then reached, founded on analyses, that phosphide and phosphate of iron must be present in all iron. But this conclusion was based upon the reactions obtained in the analyses of iron phosphide and phosphate, in which the phosphorus existed in conditions different from those found in commercial iron. In the former, the phosphorus is concentrated ; in the latter, diffused. This fact left a reasonable ground for doubting the existence of phosphoric acid in commercial irons. Some direct method was therefore sought which would prove its presence. After investigating the subject for some time, I came to

Jan 1, 1888

By Theodore W. Robinson

WHEREVER the amount of work renders it practicable the plan of using permanent standard solutions, in connection with the colorimetric carbon test, affords such manifold advantages that it is to be strongly recommended. That it has not attained a wider and more general application, is mainly due to the fact that, as the method is generally employed, the difficulty attending the production of the colors, and their doubtful stability when produced, have been only too evident to those who have undertaken their composition. The old method of using standard solutions made from sugar, coffee, etc., has always been hampered by the tendency of the colors to change upon exposure to the light, and the consequent liability to serious error, unless they are closely watched. Appreciating these difficulties, while recognizing the desirability of permanent colors, Mr. Magnus Troilius, at the suggestion of Prof. F. L. Erkmann, investigated the properties of cobalt, copper and ferric chlorides, with the view of determining their efficacy in the production of standard solutions. His results, as obtained, seem to have been satisfactory, but his treatment failed to eliminate many of the objections that have rendered the use of organic colors undesirable. The

Jan 1, 1888

By Per Larsson

The Chapin Mine, on the Menominee range, Lake Superior, was first opened in 1880 and has since then produced 1 1/2 million tons of soft blue hematite, containing about 63 per cent. of iron and 0.07 per cent. of phosphorus. Up to the present time, the ore has been mined from three separate lenticular deposits, which conform with the Huronian strata of the district, striking N. 75' W., dipping from 70' to 80' N., and pitching about 30' W. The largest of these ore-bodies has a horizontal length of 2500 feet, and a maximum width of 130 feet in the middle, from which it gradually narrows to the pointed ends. Its dimensions have not changed materially as greater depth has been attained. Figs. 1 and 2 show the geology and the mine-workings on the main deposit.. As this main deposit pitches away from the eastern part of the property, it is replaced by another lens, containing ore of the same quality. When first opened on the 1st level, this lens was 150 feet long and up to 50 feet wide, while now on the 6th level it shows a length of 550 feet, and a maximum width of 100 feet. It is separated from the extreme east end of the main deposit by about 30 feet of clay-slates It pinches out gradually between the slates to the west, and stops abruptly against the jasper to the east. Farther east in this belt of jasper occurs the third ore-lens which has a pretty regular length of 100 feet and averages, from the 1st to the 5th level, 20 feet in width. A cross-section of the ore-formation shows, on the north or hanging side of the ore, about 200 feet of clay-slates, and farther north a heavy belt of magnesian limestone. The slates and the dolomite are generally separated near the surface by a conglomerate of broken dolomite and soft slates. The foot-wall rock is also a clay-slate, containing a higher percentage of iron and less magnesia than the hanging-slate. Farther south occur alternate beds of slates and lean ore or jasper.

Jan 1, 1888

By Theo B. Comstock

TO the large majority of visitors the unique features of the National Park are interesting chiefly on account of their novelty. Scientists of all schools may find here food for reflection, and much that is rare and marvelous; but the real, practical uses of the reservation, aside from its pleasure-giving adaptations, are not as yet fully appreciated. Since 1873, the writer has on frequent occasions expressed freely his own views upon the proper means of utilizing the Park for the best interests of science.* Some of the recommendations made have been adopted by the authorities. At the suggestion of friends I present here a brief statement of facts concerning matters which may be of advantage for visiting engineers to know, hoping that the very limited stay of the Institute may thereby be rendered a little more profitable, and that our common profession may possibly receive some benefit. First, then, it should be understood that, as in many other cases in. the West, the present routes to the Park from the south are not the most direct. The expedition of Captain (now Major) Jones in 1873 discovered a practicable route for a, wagon or railroad via the head of Wind River, through To-gwo-tee Pass and Two-Ocean Pass, by which the distance from Point of Rocks, Wyoming, on the Union Pacific R.R., to the Yellowstone Lake, is only 290 miles. Eventually, it is probable that a railway line from Cheyenne or some other point in Wyoming will be constructed, which, taking advantage of

Jan 1, 1888

By Ottokar Hofmann

In tank-lixiviation, the extraction of the silver from chloridized ore by solutions of hyposulphite salts is performed by filtration. The ore-particles are kept stationary, while the solvent moves down through the mass of ore. The quickness of extraction, other conditions alike, is in direct proportion to the rapidity of the movement of the solvent through the ore. The solution, if left in contact with the ore without moving, displays but very little solving energy. If the filtration is interrupted for ten or twelve hours, and thus solution and ore are left in complete contact for that length of time, it mill be found that, when filtration is started again, the outflowing solution is but very little more saturated with silver than it was at the time of interruption, and that the ten or twelve hours were almost a perfect loss in the total time of extraction. Notwithstanding the long contact, the solution had not become saturated with silver chloride to its full solving capacity. A rapid movement of the solvent through the ore is essential to a quick extraction. This fact is well known ; and the endeavor of leachers has been to hasten extraction by increasing the rate of filtration. Siphons, vacuumpumps and other devices have been used with more or less success; but none of them have given full satisfaction. I have found that, if chloridized ore is brought into rapid contact with a proper volume of moving sodium hyposulphite solution, the silver chloride contained in the ore dissolves almost instantly, and that it is rather the volume of the solvent than its concentrated state which produces this effect. Such favorable conditions cannot be attained in tanks. The rapidity with which a certain volume of the solvent can be brought into contact with the ore-particles is limited by the speed with which the solution descends through the ore; and thus the leaching-time in tanks cannot be shortened beyond the limit set by the filteringcapacity of the ore. In a trough, however, these favorable conditions can be attained by gradually introducing the ore into the moving stream of the solvent. The ore can thus be brought into

Jan 1, 1888

By Thomas J. Almy

The Ontario croppings were struck July 19th, 1872, by Herman Budden, who, together with his partners, at once began to prospect their claim. Within five weeks their development work enabled them to sell it for $30,000 to R. C. Chambers, who represented the

Jan 1, 1888

Jan 1, 1888

By Richard Pearce

WHILST most of the silver- and copper-bearing veins of Butte have characters somewhat similar, the Gagnon vein has certain rather remarkable features which are not noticed in any of the other mines. The silver-veins proper, as illustrated in the Alice, Lexington, Moulton, and many others, have certain well-known typical characters. Manganese is always present in variable quantities as rhodocrosite or rhodonite, associated with quartz, pyrite, and sphalerite, and with little or no copper. The copper-veins also have certain mineralogical characteristics, which are very similar, or different only in minor points. Chalcocite, chalcopyrite, bornite, enargite, with variable quantities of pyrite, may be said to represent the general mineralogical features of these lodes. It is worth noticing that while the silver-bearing lodes have more or less sphalerite, this mineral is almost entirely

Jan 1, 1888

By James T. B. Ives

The map exhibited* as an example of my method of construct ing geological strata-maps is essentially an educational appliance. The method, however, is available for the production of maps of comparatively small areas, which, I am confident, will be found of great practical value to mining engineers. Before stating how the method may be so applied I will briefly describe the map exhibited, as the easiest way of making my meaning clear. Almost any region might be taken. This map represents the eastern half of the United States; and the geology is that of the map issued by the Geological Survey, and revised and extended subsequently by Professor Hitchcock for your Institute. I use ten cards, of the colors used in the geological map, each having the geog raphy of the area printed upon it; and I superimpose these in the order in which the colors occur in the index to the map. I next cut away a portion of each card, excepting the lowest, leaving only so much of each as represents the exposure of the formation of that color plus all those which overlie it. When that is done, the whole, looked at from a distance, appears to be an ordinary geological map. Looked at more closely, however, the formations are seen to overlie one another, as in nature. The cards are covered with glass in a frame, which, hinged at the bottom edge, can be let down. The cards are then found to be all hinged in the same manner, and they, too, may be lowered, one after the-other. I am told by teachers of geology of great experience and the highest reputation that by this appliance they will be assisted in im parting to students the first facts and principles of geological sci ence. Having let down the whole series of cards, until that repre senting the Archaean is seen underlying all the rest, the teacher will gradually rebuild it. The Cambrian will thus be laid down upon the Archaean before the eyes of the class, the Silurian upon that,

Jan 1, 1888

By Richard Rothwell

At the last meeting of the Institute, Mr. Per Larsson read a very interesting paper on the Chapin mine of Michigan, in which he described the systems of mining that had, at different times, been tried in that great ore-body, and especially the system now in use, which consists in working the ore out from the bottom upward in lifts. Shortly after that paper was written, but before it had been published, or that I had had an opportunity of reading it, I bad the pleasure of visiting the mine. At that time I was making a profes sional examination of a nnmber of the mines on theGogebic Range, and others in the Menominee region, Michigan and Wisconsin, and had occasion then, as during several previous visits, to study closely the methods and cost of mining in these districts. As the outcome of these investigations, it appeared evident to me that the system of working on the chamber-and-pillar plan, which up to that time had been the only method of underground work adopted in the Gogebic

Jan 1, 1888

Jan 1, 1888

By Thomas Egleston

The uncertainty of finding the exact equivalents fortechnical expressions in different languages has led me to think that a glossary of furnace-terms would be useful to members of the profession. I was led, some years ago, to prepare a small one, which has been found so very useful, that I have arranged one for presentation to the Institute, for four different 'types of furnaces, in the hope that it may prove of use to those who are in the habit of consulting foreign technical journals, I was further induced to make the attempt in the hope that it might tend to make the terminology less complicated than it now is, and also to make it more uniform over larger districts. The idea of referring to a drawing which expresses exactly what is meant, resulted from the necessity of presenting such subjects to students, and will, it is hoped, prove much more useful than the mere dictionary arrangement in alphabetical order. The drawing of the blast-furnace was prepared for me by Mr. J. P. Witherow, of Pitsburgh ; the drawing of the open-hearth furnace by Mr. S. T. Wellman, of Cleveland, and the reverberatory furnace by Mr. John Fritz, of Bethlehem. The bloomary-furnace is taken from my own paper* on Bloomaries, but, in order to have a complete furnace, I have introduced into the drawing of those used at Saranac the guard-plate used at Ironville. The interest which has been taken in the preparation of this paper by those gentlemen who have contributed the drawings, has been supplemented by gentlemen in Europe who have taken the trouble to read the proof. In France it has been read by Mr. Lodin, of the School of Mines, and by Mr. Chaper, of Paris, and in Germany by Dr. Wedding, of Berlin, and Mr. Luhrman, of Osnabruck. The preparation of the paper has been much more difficult than was anticipated, and its value has been very much enhanced by Dr. Raymond's kind assistance and cooperation; and to him, as well as to all the other gentlemen, Iam very much indebted. It was at first proposed to add to the paper the names of all the tools used in these various furnaces. It was found, however, that this would make such

Jan 1, 1888

Jan 1, 1888

By R. W. Raymond

The Mining Law of New Pork, contained in Title XI., Chapter IX., Part One of the Revised Statutes, is as follows: Section 1. The following mines are, and shall be, the property of the people of this State in their right of sovereignty : (1.) All mines of gold and silver discovered, or hereafter to be discovered, within this State. (2.) All mines of other metals discovered, or hereafter to be discovered, upon any lands owned by persons not being citizens of any of the United States. (3.) All mines of other metals discovered, or hereafter to be discovered, upon lands owned by a citizen of any of the United States, the ore of which, upon an average, shall contain less than two equal third parts in value of copper, tin, iron, and lead, or any of those metals. Sec. 2. All mines and all minerals and fossils discovered, or hereafter to be discovered, upon any lands belonging to the people of this State, are, and shall be, the property of the people, subject to the provisions hereinafter made to encourage the discovery thereof. Sec. 3. All mines of whatever description, other than mines of gold and silver, discovered, or hereafter to be discovered, upon any lands owned by a citizen of any of the United States, the ore of which, upon an average, shall contain two equal third parts or more, in value, of copper, tin, iron, and lead, or any of those metals, shall belong to the owner of such land. Sec. 4. Every person who shall make a discovery of any mine of gold or silver within this State, and the executors, administrators, or assigns of such persons, shall be exempted from paying to the people of this State any part of the ore, produce or profit of such mine for the term of twenty-one years, to be computed from the time of giving notice of such discovery, in the manner hereinafter directed. Sec. 5. No person discovering a mine of gold or silver within this State shall work the same until he gives notice thereof, by information in writing to the Secre-

Jan 1, 1888

Jan 1, 1888

By John Fulton

The following table shows the shipments from the four Lake Superior iron-ore districts during the year 1887, and their total outputs from their beginning until the close of 1887.* It will be noted that the Menominee district is second in importance in its total output tonnage to the close of the year 1887. These ore deposits are found in jasper-slates and in the horizon between these and their associated clay-slates; in the latter they are true contact-deposits. They are found in this jasper- and clay-slate formation under varied conditions, yet, in all, certain characteristic laws are preserved. The angle of dip varies from 15° to 20°, and up to 85° and even 90°, with the horizon. The ore is rather soft, bluish-black in color, and is a hematite. It varies in thickness from a few inches to one hundred feet, or more. It is mainly "Bessemer" ore, containing 57 to 63 per cent, of metallic iron, and .03 to .07 per cent, of phosphorus. In the mining nomenclature of this range two conditions of the ore-lens are described by the terms "dip" and "pitch." The former is in common use in defining the relation of the ore-plane to the horizon ; the latter indicates the posture of the ore-body as it inclines east or west from its position at the opening of the mine. In the

Jan 1, 1888

By Frank C. Roberts

Progress in the facilities for handling mining products has been largely superinduced by the necessities of commercial economy ren dered requisite in order to meet the demand of competition. So rapid has been the depreciation in the value of mineral products, primarily due to the disproportionate increase of output over con sumption, that it may be justly claimed that mining, when considered as a commercial success, depends largely upon the ease and cheap ness by which the products are brought to the surface of the ground. In all methods of performing this operation, wire rope enters as an important factor; and the object of the present sketch will be to explain, as fully as is consistent with the space allotted, the various • adaptations of wire rope employed in placing coal and ores within the reach of our overground systems of transportation. These adaptations will be considered in the following order: I. Hoists. II. Inclined planes. a. Engine planes. b. Gravity planes. c. Aerial planes. III. Haulage. a. Tail-rope system. b. Counter-rope system. c. Endless-rope system. IV. Hoists. The term " hoist" is applied to the system whereby the mine product is elevated from the mine-level to the surface through ver-

Jan 1, 1888

By E. B. Harden, J. H. Harden

The practical use to which topographical models or relief-maps have been put, has within the last few years taken a wider range. They are rapidly coming into favor for other than purely scientific purposes, and their value for illustration and instruction is being more fully appreciated. Topographical maps; representing by contour-curve lines the elevations and depressions of the earth's surface, are now demanded in engineering work of nearly every description, and afford a ready means of bringing out the configuration of the country in a simple manner. A beautiful example of recent topographical mapping is seen in the seventeen sheets just issued by the Geological Survey of New Jersey. By reason of the inability of unskilled persons to understand the nature of a topographical map, it is sometimes necessary to con struct the same in relief, with the rivers, canals, railroads, etc., delin eated upon it. With the aid of such a map, problems in engineer ing science which would otherwise require expert assistance to explain them, are reduced to a simple and understandable form. Relief-maps are also of value to the geologist in working out the geological structure. To the instructor they present the most ready and efficient means of imparting clear and accurate knowledge of topography and kindred subjects. To the lawyer they are invalua ble in enabling him to bring into the court-room a representation of a part of the country with all its features accurately shown, to ex plain to the court and jury the special points about which litigation is pending and which would otherwise require long and laborious description. The application of the topographical map to business purposes is shown in a relief constructed by the writers for the Cumberland Valley Railroad Company and used by that company in the various ways of calling attention to the desirability of its route. This model is based partly on actual survey and partly on sketch topography. The horizontal scale is ,%, the vertical 1/19,200 of

Jan 1, 1888