University of Oregon monthly., April 01, 1908, Image 28

■ -PU niversït ' y
of
O regon M o n t h l y -
31
paid our respects at the office and were extremely impressed by the
kindness and courtesy accorded us by everyone with whom we
came in çontact. We >could not help but admire the neatness,
that.^rarywhere peryaded the place. -The office buildings and t^ol
shops, all- painted white and green, and each bearing its respective
sign, lined one side of a short street or quadrangle, while the
furnacé, buildings bulked just across the why. Between these the
vivid green of a well-kept grass plot added a touch unusual to the
environment of., most fur.naÇes. The .furnace; being an objective
point oft Our interêst/ we made for it first
all. It -was roughly
square about 30x40 and perhaps 50 feet high, and built of brick.
Following this were several sections -of condensers. Either iron
orÇearthen ware piping about 18 inches in diameter and set in bases
.of brick and concret*^ Water was flowing’“over some of these"
and we were told that when the furnace was completed entirely,
would be arranged to flow over all. The ore iS;fed in at the top of
the' furnace and zigzags its^yfay down .^ e ? a ’ se^es^pf grates,
alternately arranged, the. edge of one being just above fhe,apex
of the one beneath. At the side of"the dtfe compartment is another
for wood“' whichj is also fed in at the top, the draft being drawn
downward by means'of, a fan at the end of the condensing system..
The principle of/ counter currents is preserved in part, although
there is a hot -zone both at the bottom and top of the roaster.
Thé produêf as it -cpmes from the condensers is a rich, velvety-^
brown m,ud which must be slowly dried before the “quick’-’ or
ine'reury Separates out. The ore iskçrushed to assize somewhat
smaller than .one’s fist and the surface moisture" is driven off by
an ingenuous arrangement similar in principle to the roaster. Î$o
flux is used, heat alone sufficing to drive off the mercury. The
furnace, as-At " stands, is<a„ modification of an older furnace, but
conserves substantially th e . design of the new Dennis furnace, of
which the- - manager' of the mine, Mr? W . B. Dennis, is the designer
and .patentee. The tunnels were about 1200 feet’ above the furnace
the first day we climbed the" switchback trail and the ore' is brought
down by -a gtavity' tram whose buckets ’ hold about 100 pounds of
•ore'. The tunnels were about 12,000 feet above the furnace the
last day we went up and the fervency' of our regret that the tram
was not adapted to passenger service, passeth understanding. There
were-four , main levels and several intermediates at the mine, but
H the company were operating but one, we had a< clear field for