Gold Hill news., January 28, 1926, Image 1

e c&crtb Mill Sitter
TUB TRULY WI8B MAN
18
NBVBR
8BLFI8U.
VOLUME NO. 28
TUB GOLD HILL NBW8, JACKSON COUNTY. OREGON THURSDAY, JANUARY 28. 1928.
Sunset Smelter Men
Break Long Silence
8/
ENERGY 18 TUB SOUL OF
EVERY GREAT ACHIEVE­
MENT.
Woman Worker in Filling Station
'
Pioneers New Field for Her Sex
------------------------------------- ~
<
NUMBER 42.
Smelter Man Meets Mine
Owners at Grants Pass
♦ ♦ ♦
♦ ♦ ♦
. REASONS FOR ABANDONING STACK FURNACE
GIVEN.
DELAY WELL FOUNDED FOR BEST
INTERESTS OF ENTIRE DISTRICT BECAUSE OF
RESEARCH FOR ECONOMICAL TREATMENT OF
SPECIAL ORES IN THIS DISTRICT.
TONNAGE OF ORE POSSIBLE IN DISTRICT IS KEY
TO DISCUSSION WITH 300 TONS ORE AND CON.
CENTRATES PROMISED. ENTHUSIASM HIGH
AND EVIDENCE OF GOOD FAITH MANIFEST.
GOLD HILL PRODUCER MAKES LARGE OFFER.
♦ ♦ ♦
The long »Hence of the men be­ and the cost of coke and silica—fuel
hind the Sunset Smelter propoxition and furnace lining.
tit Gold Hill hua been broken. The
The old method of assaying ore,
reason» for the deluys in the Indus­ let us say, gave returns of 810 per
try have been explained by ofllciuls ton in gold. There are now new
of the company and u practical ex- processes of determination thut on
plainatlon given thut looks K imh I the tunic ore give returns of many
for the entire district. This Is the times the old time processed values.
greatest new» of the hour in South Seeing is being convinced and the
■western Oregon, for it deals With writer ‘has been shown’. All min­
the prosperity of one of the great­ ers will remember thut the best
est industries on earth today—metal* mills in former days, did pretty
and minerals extraction, reduction, wrll if 75% of the essayer» estimate
and by-products.
was realized, which meant thut a
In the beginning of the smelter goo«, 25% of the values wen, down
In
activities in this part of the west we the dump with the tailings.
„lid an attempt was made down on the past smelters operating with the
lower ItogUc River to smelt the stuck furnace, killvst off vegetation
copper ore In the neighborhood of for miles around their plants be­
the Alameda mine.
This plant is cause of the escape of fiinys, gas,
dead and has been idle several years steam and smoke thut with modern
because of the difficulties in secur­ furnaces are fourni to be fur too
ing cheap fuel nguinst high transpor­ vnhiublc to allow to waste und at
tation charges on coke and on the improved smelters delicate nnd
‘mat’ from the smelter to the market beautiful flowers are thriving and
Aguin we learn of the smelter plant nothing comes from the industry to
at Kenneth where we unrierstand a hinder any vegetation.. The same
86(81,04)0.00 plant was abandoned on improvements demonstrated in the
a similar excuse and is now being laboratories and furnaces have been
offered at*the price of iron junk. paralleled in the milling of ore and
The study of both defunct industries the separation of values front the
points one prime fact, ie„ they did enfolding rock.
no, enrn a pro,,, on the investment
Formerly a chunk of coal, was
from ore that according to estimates just a ‘chunk of coal*, hut since the
should have been very profitable. scientists of the world took an in­
Something certainly was wrong in terest in coal and found substances
,1 k * method of treatment or in the therein that were rare elsewhere,
type of equipment. The difficulties they have learned how to take all
thut caused the abandonment of the the substi nees they need from the
two smelters mentioned simply must 'black diamonds* of tile cold fields
be avoided in the smelter ut Gold with tile result that over a thousand
Hi,, or any place else if the plant products arc now possible, among
is to be a profitable proposition. which we find perfumes, extracts,
About three or more years past an dyes, chemical sweet, sour and bit­
attempt wus made at Grants Puss to ter, many gasses, oils, chemicals of
organise a smelter and the result of great value, oils and still very valu­
that flurry will be long remember­ able fuel remains.
The day of
ed by those who lost hnrd earned waste, make-shift mills and furnaces
dollars in the promotion scheme. and the “chunk of coal" is gone for­
Then comes the promotion stun, of ever und the day of by-products is
Percy Johnson nnd the "Finance here. That brings us back to the
Company", the sale by them for cash profitable handling of ore.
Ore
or labor or us n gift of much stock thu, formerly could no, be hundled
and their consequent emburrasment at n profit or was considered worth­
and financial decapitation. All of less is now* possible of undreamed
this makes the financier sceptical of of profits by the use of specially
investment in similar enterprises. designed mills, floatation and fur­
Financial loss leaves a bad taste in naces.
the dispositions of investors that
Todny nulling machinery is availa­
takes a long time to sweeten nnd
ble thn, is guaranteed to save 98%
since success of any enterprise de­
or more of the values in the ore.
pends on investment of large sums
The disruption of the German paten,
o f money, the smelter question, and
bureaus nnd the knowledge gained
in fact the mining question, is up
therefrom by the American scient­
against a hard proposition.
ists has made possible many improv'-’
The major part of the opinion of inents and processes heretofore de­
authorities on reduction of metals clared impossible.
Two of these
and minerals, claim that the ore in gren, improvements of most interest
this district must be handled differ­ in this discussion are the improve­
ently than in any other district ments in furnaces and hot processes
wfiere the old order of things is and in oil floatation concentration.
followed out. Practices elsewhere The Oil Floatation process, develop­
successfully followed on ores in the ed by German scientists, hns opened
districts in their locations cannot be a gren, and profitable field for here­
applied, thus we huve two out stand to fore unprofitable mining proper­
¡ng examples close ut hand to point ties.
Ore so low in values that
to.
At locations in the Rocky milling or smelting under processes
Mountains there is an almost entire of a very few years pas, was impos­
absence of sulphides nnd lime—both sible at a profit, can now lie concen­
properties rich in the ores in this trated thus eliminating the rock
greut district.
Again, smelters in nnd the metal contents shipped to a
moM instances penalize this district smelter or refinery or melted down
orc for arsenic and similar proper­ right nt the mine n, a good profit.
ties so plentiful that in several in­ The stamp-mills are now considered
stances the penalized substance is obsolete by scientists nnd new
the most valuable product. Agnin, crushing processes thn, ea, up the
nickel nnd bisniutii are claimed to hardest ore nt remarkable speed
be trouble makers in the standard are being used.
Changes in the
type of smelter furnace and the machinery to best handle the ore in
orc in this district is constantly Southwestern Oregon nn«l North­
showing higher nickel values with ern California suggested by chem­
development ns in the ense of the Syl ists nnd engineers who have been
vanite mine where nt 400 fee, below employed to ‘expert’ the ores in the
the main tunnel 7% nickel complet- territory include:
Oil floatation
ly pu, their reduction process out concentration, Centrifugal amalga­
of commission nnd the development mators, Chlorination, and n ho,
work at the Kel-mar mine lx bring­ process thn, will eliminate the old
ing out ore increasingly rich in system of loading the furnace with
nickel ns depth is goinel.
Again, rock that mus, be .handled very
the great quanties of iron ore ir. carefully and by the use of much
this nnd neighboring states is report expensive fuel to prevent the valu­
ed to have cost fortunes in attempts es from running out with the slag.
to produce pig iron convertablc Into When the improved metho«,s hnve
commercial steel because of the been »r’e-t on the ore here the tnil-
presence of copper in the iron ore, , ings tested absolute ’nil* against a
Friday was a big day a, the S-W in this district.
Oregon Mine Bureau at Grants Pass.
Nothing definite was undertaken
A member of the Mace Furnace firm
of Denver, Colo., J. M. Meeker, was at .this meeting beyond gathering
present and conducted an enthusi- i data regarding available supply of
asm meeting with the members of ore in the district at this time for a
the bureau assembled in the inter­ possible smelter. Whether the 100
est of a smelter furnace, presumably ton furnace proposed will under­
at Grants Pass, but possibly at any take refining of the crude metal
point in the valley where it would ‘mat’ was not explained, but it is
seem most advisable.
However, assumed that the early history of
since as some of the Gran,3 Pass the venture will deal only with the
boosters claimed, “The Gold Hill ‘mat’ production and will operate
smelter didn’t seem to have gotten to save the gold values and eliminate
very far,” they were investigating tonnage in the marketing of the
the feasability of starting another values from the mines in this dist­
organization, and of course you rict.
couldn’t expect these boosters to
Since Gold Hill has made the most
encourage a pay roll to leave their exacting investigation into smelter
own community if it could possibly possibilities in this district, it might
be located there. Taint natural.
be well to add a little to the findings
It was not necessary to explain to at tfie Mine Bureau meeting by stat­
the mine owners at the meeting, ing that several Nationally recognia
the great need of a hot process to ed authoraties on metalurgy, min-
handle their values against prohibi­ erology, geology and smelter science
tive transportation rates to distant have been employed by those inter­
smelters. No time was lost in call­ ested in the Sunset Smelter at Gold
ing for estimates on ore supply from Hill, with the result that they find
the local mines for a furnace with the ore in Southwestern Oregon in
the result that about three hundred a class by itself, differing in many
tons of ore per day was volunteered. respects from most other fields and
Among these promises of ore for a as a rule will not respond to the
furnace the Gold Hill district featur­ methods employed in other mine
ed prominently when C. A. Olson, and smelter districts without either
of the Kel-mar mine took the floor great expense or great loss of the
and guaranteed 50 tons of ore per 1 values for which is. should be treat
These authorities have also
day right away and 100 tons of ore ed.
if the furnace needed it, in the claimed tha, when this district is in
near future. That was one of the operation there wil, be many ‘mat*
largest guarantees of ore from any­ furnaces operating over the district
one mine represented at that meet­ with a centrally located refining
ing. We don’t think Peterson was plant at Gold Hill where hydro­
‘spoofing’, therefore Gold Hill takes electric power is available- at a low
the lead again in production.
A cost because of the water power
great deal of the values promised available on Rogue River at Gold
for a hot process was in the form Hill. Also that the bulk of the ore
of concentrates from several of the in the district will be concentrated
mines at some distance from the posr and given special treatment in spe­
sible smelter locations in the valley. cially constructed furnaces before
Mr. Meeker explained that he had the most profitable returns can be
All have
made five trips to this valley in the secured from the ore.
past few months in the interest of left the opinion here that this dis­
a smelter furnace and at this time trict (from Eugene to Dunsmuir)
was sincerely convinced that there will eventually «Jevelop into the
was ore enough available to operate greatest mining and reduction dis­
a 100 ton per day furnace at a profit trict on the face of the earth before
based on an average smelter charge the maximum of extraction is reach­
ed in the industry.
of 88.00 per ton.
The fuel question was taken up
It Is the opinion of the men who
and consumed considerable time. know and who have kept themselves
Cost of coke was estimated at 820. posted on the trend of improvement
per ton which is the foundation of in extraction of metals and minerals
the 88.00 smelter charge. Nothing that many organizations can pros­
was said about using local fuel such per here, therefore there is no occa­
as charco’al for reduction of the ore sion for jealousy between Gold Hill
and Grants Pass over the arrival of
the American end of the Von Bauer competition, and a smelter at both
By-products Corporation previous places can operate without friction,
to the World War who perfected depending entirely on results from
many of the scientific processes of the best equipped plant to save the
“making something out of nothing” most values from the ore.
as it was termed a decade past,
when ore and coal and petroleum
yielded substances far more profit­
ably than ever before dreamed and
now considered common in Europe.
Mr. Lively is also known nationally
as a successful engineer and builder
of the finest steel furnaces, by-pro­
Gold Hill is ,0 have a new show
duct furnaces, and the possessor of house in the near future. 'rhe va­
some very valuable patent«*! process cant store -o«.::i in thr
'V'c-s
es for the handling, separation and bnihling on the highway,. fo...it .Iy
refining of the most difficult ralner occupied by .the O.M.B. packing
als nn«i metals known and so com­ outfit under Bill Green, is bring re­
mon in the ore, right here in South­ finished inside for a modern theatre
western Oregon. Mr. Lively is the by Frank Childers.
The interior
engineer back of the Sunset Smelter of the building is being converted
company and is also one of the for theatrical use by building an
directors of that company as one of incline*, floor and erecting a stage
the financially interested parties. Clarence Shaver is to be the man­
Mr. Olson has been, since first in­ ager of the new theatre nrd he and
terested in the smelter, buying up associates, whose names are not
the stock given out by the Finance mnde public have leased jhe build­
Company.
He has spent a great ing and expect ,0 occupy same and
deal of money in the project, has hold their opening performance
not issued any new stock in the en­ about the fifteenth of February.
terprise and according to the char­ More power ,0 you Clarence.
ter cannot go into debt for any­
thing.
He is far too deeply in­
Willes Hayse, better known is;
volved in the finances of the pro­
ject to permit of failure and with “Bill” who for a long time has been
the assistance of Mr. Lively, Dr. Hir- very seriously sick and who for a
sche, Parker, E. Derwent of London, time wns given up as hopeless of
England and other scientists and recovery, was out on the streets of
engineers have solved the difficul­ Gold Hill this week nnd s -emed to
be feeling fine though a little weak.
ties of the enterprise.
♦ ♦ ♦
W T H L E E ti M O L M
CHICAGO — When you drive
your car to a filling station In the
future don’, be surprised if a trim
young woman with bobbed hair und
silk hose steps out and grinds out
a dollar's worth of gasoline for you.
Mrs. Kathleen Nolan in charge
of a Sinclair filling station in Chi­
cago is a pioneer In this new field
for women. She believes many
women will soon follow her ex­
ample.
", wen, into the work nine years
ago when the men of my family
wen, to war.” said Mrs. Nolan,
‘and I'm the only woman heading
such a job in the Sinclair system
throughout the United States.
It’
pleasant work. It isn’t so hard as
keeping house and I’d rather do it
than sit at a typewriter, keep books
or stand behind a counter all day
long.
“I do everything a man does
around a filling station, emptying
and filling crank cases, pumpting
gasoline end manipulating the air
machine. I have to use my brain
as well ns my hands. Every man
that drives up is a new problem in
salesmanship.
I enjoy these hu­
man contacts. I have learned that
good nature and a smile are almost
os important as efficient service in
keeping satisfied customers.
““There is no reason why thou­
sands of women shoulden't be in
this work. It's healthful and will
pu, roses in their cheeks and money
pockets."
former record of as high as 60%
loss.
The new smelter a, Denver is a
lesson for all mining men to study.
There the old order of things have
been changed and many profits be­
fore Impossible are now possible.
The furnaces to be used n, Gold
Hill will be a new departure from
the old system and every item of
former waste and loss will be a
study for improvement and profit..
Where penalize*, ores mtus, be
handled separately from other ores,
und where in the old process, every
ore mils, hnve different flux and
care to produce viscosity, the cost
of operating goes higher and higher
and limitations are drawn that shut
up fairly good grndes of ore.
In
the process maped out at Gold Hill
no ore will be penalized as tha, will
not be necessary nnd very little
difference will be found between
the .many grades of ores..
For
example, the statement of Mr. C. J.
Meeker a, Grants Pass last Friday,
that, “shipments of certain grades
of ore might lay in the bunkers for
many months nnd only a few pounds
used a, a time ns n ‘sweetener’ with
n furnace full of other ore”, demon­
strates with what care the old plan
of smelting must be followed.
We are no, intimating that any
type of furnace on the market will
no, handle ore In this district. We
do not ‘knock’ any furnace company
but we do believe recognized au­
thority when they say that to make
the most profit and operate nt the
leas, cost to both operator and ore
producer, gren, study of the situa­
tion is necessary to learn of the
most economical process and they
hnve stnted that specially planned
equipment, handling only concen­
trates has solved the problems that
will constantly nrise in this district.
Months past, w’hen C. A. Olson be­
came interested in the smelter at
Gold Hill, he stepped into the prop­
osition just where the Finance Co.
left off in their plans of equipment,
operation, and system. That plan
involved a chain of industry link­
ing up n saw mill from which wns
to be taken the waste wood for the
operation of a charcoal and wood
by-products plan, to procure fuel
for the furnace and oil for the float­
ation machines that undoubtedly
would be used at the mines. The
charcoal and by-products plan is
still in the Olson system, but the
saw mill has been abandoned as im­
practical to handle the situation and
was credited to the Finance Comp­
any as one of their mistakes or ns a
stock selling scheme, suit yourself.
Then a quartz mill was propose«, to
handle the free-milling gold ores,
and this also has been abandoned
as unnecessary as n uni, in the chain
of industry. Then the Finance
Company plan included an open
hearth furnace with continuous feed
down the stack, requiring careful
mixture of ore or fluxing to produce
results nnd this has been abandon­
ed as too costly on both the mine op­
erator and the smelter operator. In
fact the problem of handling the
ore in the district was the first ob­
stacle uncovered by Mr. Olson when
he became acquainted with the re­
duction of ores. He ordered every­
thing delayed pending investigation
by recognized authorities with the
result that he found the entire pro­
cess proposed by the Finance Co.,
as impractical, uneconomical, and
impossible of success. His investi­
gation is now completed and much
improvement made in the system of
handling the situation here.. One
thing is certain “no smeller or re­
duction process will be put into
operation by him or his company
until they are certain of success and
continued operation a, a profit for
the stock holders in the Sunset
Smelting and Refining Company of
Gold Hill.”
Stnrting at the mining of ore,
transportation of ore from the mine
to the reduction plant, the method
of crushing, concentration, roasting,
to remove penalized substances,
chlorination, amalgamation, and fi­
nally, after the rock has been sep­
arated from the mclal or mineral
content, a specially constructed and
devised furnace, patterned after
German process furnaces, were on
the program of investigation prose­
cuted by Mr. Olson. His difficul­
ties were solved by no less a per­
sonage than J. M. Lively, formerly
New Show House
About Ready