Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 9, 1888, Page 12

Easement Christmas Presents for Everybody, IN. ADDITION TO THEIR MAMMOTH HOLIDAY STOCIX Have purchased the entire sample line, 2,600 different styles of FINE ENGLISH CUTLERY. :rom one of the leading manufacturers in England, consisting of Pocket Knives, Scissors, Shears, Toilet Cases, Ink Stands, Clocks, Bric-a-Brac, Etc. Also the entire sample line of fine French, German and Bohemian GLASSWARE, Consisting of all the novelties brought out this year, in Vases, Toilet Bottles. Pitchers, Etc.—about 2,300 pieces These two lines we offer at 50c on the dollar. There never was a time when you could buy a Fine Holiday Present so cheap as now at Barr’s. Our Art Department Has received many noveltles within the past few days. We also call especial attention to the new line of Furs Just Received Which we offer fully one-third less than the same are usually sold for. Those Seal Sacques, Newmarkets, Handsom Muffs and Boas, for Ladies and Children, should be seen to be appreciated. Every department in our est i S has received new additions, from which a Holiday present maypbpe selected. P Co il o Barr’s Basement, , The Great Depot for Santa Claus, where he has established his headquarters, is worth your inspection. Our prices a more uniformly adapted to all classes than any other house in America. You can take your choice from thispimmengg stock, from 5c¢ to $400.00. We will not only convince you that ariety from which to make your sel i i but that our pricesare LOWER than at any store in the c%/ty. NEiT : A kL DON’T MISS BARR’S, THE POPULAR PLACE TO BUY YOUR HOLIDAY PRESENTS. WM. BARR DRY GOODS COMPANY, SIXTEENTH AND DOUGI,AS STREETS, OMAHA. N. B. Mail Orders receive pronipt attention. Express paid within 48 miles of Omaha. Send for Catalogue STREAMS OF MOLTEN METAL. The Wealth of Gold, Silver, Copper and Load Therein! THROUGH THE SMELTING WORKS. A Glimpse at Seething Cauldrons and Blazing Furnaces— Description ofthe Process of Smelting and Refluing at the Works. Omaha’s Great Smelter. Down by the bank of the Missouri tiver is a ciuster of many buildings, the majority of which have the appearance of mere sheds, but are surmounted by tall and characteristic chimnies which send forth black smoke, white steam. and invisible gases that make theire #stence known by strong and disagres able odors. Railrond tracks run on each side of it, and wagons loaded with coal, or eoke, orlime, or something that Yooks like broken rock and gravel are continually disgorging their contents T'his is the famous Omaha & Grant sme ter, though the oftlcinl name hardly porresponds to the work done, which in= eludes refining. The mere smelting of pre into bullion pigs is a comparatively gimple and inexpensive process. But refimng, which xtracting from them their gold, silver and copper, and fre fog them of their impurities, is both costly and complicated. A bul- lion " pig, such as comes in such uantities from the Colorado smelters, 0 this institution contains 98 per cent lead, and in a ton of it there will be rom $20 to $100 worth of gold, and from 100 to $250 worth of silver, besides con- &l)derublu copper. Butthemain work is make pigs of refined lead, which go rom this spot all over the United tates. FROM THE ORE HEAP UPWARD, i i which employs in and year out, is man- pged by the Hon, Guy C. Barton. The Grant smelter at Denver is a partof the eoncern, and sends here all its bullion igs, but in addition the company buys argely the crude ore from the mines of olorado and Utah, and some from D: kota, Montana and Wyoming. These pres are assayed by the chemist of the eompany,and he gives a schedule of the old and silver and copper which cach ar-load of ore contains, and it is the business of the refining department to ot them out with as little loss as possi le. There are, therefore, two depar ents, the reflning conducted by M , Garlichs, and the smelting by Mr. alter T. Page, The work of the latter fomua first. The gmelting furnace shed s in two stories. In the upper one the pre is shoveled into openings in the flooring, communicating with the fur- maces below. The ore has no Emtullio appearance, stranger to and no one, the business, :ould suppose that it was any thing but ery coarse gravel mixed with broken rayish quartz, The men who feed the ’urnuwl throw in with the ore, coke, ime and iron scraps. the two last as Buxes. The ore comes up into the feed ©hamber by an inclluud‘ffluua. and the koke and lime are loaded on an_eleva- for. The furnaces are below, directl uader the iron flooring where the rs are working, and yet the heat from em does not penetrate, and the men when it is cold extemporise a stove in a 0st primitive way out of two pieces of cylinder and an iron slab resting pon a foundation of fire brick. IN FRONT OF THE FURNACE. Down below it is hot enough in alf hnlolnnem The furnaces are built b, azer & Chalmers, of Chieago, an odd from the very looking pro two precious metals, and this is done by mineral acid. The metal is placed in tanks containing sulphuric acid, which dissolves the silver, and leaves the gold at the bottom in the form of fine pow- der. But assome gold would still re- main, the silver-bearing acid is siphoned into another tank—a settler, where this remainder is precipitated. This gold is now washed with hot water to get rid of the acid clinging to it, and is then melted and run into an ingot, averaging from 200 oun to double that amount. Then the silver-bearing acid is siphoned into large vats, over which are placed wooder. poles, from which are suspended large strips of me- talic copper. The acid having a greator aflinity for the copper, absorbs it, and releases the silver, which falls to the bottom, as a precipitate of pure silver, though, actually, it looks like cement, This process of precipitation is assisted by continually stirring the liquid with poles, The silver cement 1s melted and run into ingots that ave practically ab- solutely pure—999. TREATMENT OF COPPER MATTE. The copper used in precipitating the silver s obtained from the ¢ matte lying in heaps in th matte contains sulphur, and this must be reduced by roasting. This process takes place in aroasting chamber whe are four great furnaces about seventy feet long. ™ In these the matte is pla with coke, but without fluxes, the object being to disengage the sulphur only. Naturally, as the sulphur passes away in fumes, the grainsof copper havo a tendency to eake, but this is prevented by continual stirring with iron rods. All sulphide ores have to be treated in this way, and there are many that contain from 30 to 40 per cent of this evil smelling but useful mineral. Some of the copper is converted into con- venient strips for the silver reduction chamber, and some is run'into ingots to be subsequently taken to the granulat- ing room, where it is molted and pre- cipitated in a fluid condition into cold water, the result being a form of cop- per appiicable either to the uses of clectricians or for conversion into blue stone. This latter product is manufae- tured in very large quantities in this ies to work upon—the skimmings of gold and silver and the great kettles full of lead. All the substances that were with the lead in the ore, have now been got rid of. Most of the copper is in the matte heaps awaiting treatment, and the remaining copper and anti- mony were got rid of by oxidization. The gold and the sjjve have also been separated, and the lead would now be pure were it not for the zinc that has been added. This has now to be re- moved, which 15 necessary because the zine would by no means add value to the lead for any of the many purposes for which it is used. The great kettles where the skimming of the gold and silver takes place are upon a raised piatform, and below them ata convenient dis- tance that can be easily reached by a syphon is the last furnace, the refining lead furnace Here by the steady ap- plication of a low heat, the zinc rises to the top and is skimmed off, and then the pure lead is run into a cooling ket- tle, whence it is run into iron moulds arranged on a semi-circular stand around the kettle pidly does the metal cool that it lid already in the first moulds before the men have gone half their round, and in an incredibly quick space of time the moulds are emptied and the pigs are removed and stacked in squares, each one bearing the inscription, “Omala & Grant Re- fined. fact that on each side there are five tubes through which a blower drives fierce blasts of air. Sointense isthe heat that the iron facings would melt were they not cooled by a currentof cold water which runsall the time, and is carri off in a semi-boiling condition by a systemn of pipes. This is called the water jacket. In frontof each fur- nace is a metal hood to carry off the gases, some of which are most naus ing. When the fumes are arsen the visitor smells whiffs of r garlic; when they come from antimony the odor is less easy to describe, but in- finitely more overpowering. On the right hand side is a small kettle into which the molten lead with its con- cealed wealth of gold and silver con- tinually dribbles, and as it is necessary to keep this molten, there is a coal fire under the kettle. Every few minutes a workman comes to the front of the fur- nace, pulls out a plug of fire clay, and allows a stream of slag to runintoa huge pot on wheels-—-the smel- ters’ wheelbarrow, When it is full he replugs the furnace, wheels off his slag to a point where there is another slag pot, to which he proceeds to pour all of the slag that is not matte—which is the refineries word for the bottom er containing some of the copper of the ore. This matte is taken to the ore crushing machine and pulverized, and is dumped in heaps about the yard special treatment. THI G DEPARTMENT. The lead that dribbles into the small kettle is ladled into moulds, and is bullion pig, being identical with the sume article that arrives from the Grant smelter at Denver. These pigs contain besides lead, some gold, some silver, , some antimony, and they arve first treated in furnaces to get rid of all save the gold and silver and the lead by oxidization, which is assisted by adding pulver- izedzine, When this is accomplished, the metal is run into an enormous kettle built into the flooring, having fires beneath to keep it liquid, At this stage the metal is lead, with gold and silver, the copper and antumony having risen to the top through the kindly as- sided at the reception at her new home, and has spent her time since in ca fully nursing her to per health again. Mr. and Mrs. W will start on their deferred wedding wip in a few days. FROM THE QUIVER OF CUPID. Sorrows and Joys of the Mated and Mismated. Swore Away His Girl. Philadelphia Record: There was a curious sensation ata church i Bridgeport, Conn,, ently. groom, a person of violent temper, swore because the bride and her varty were behind time. Duaring his ravings to his best man the bride arrived and overheard her fiance roundly abusing her and swearing outrageously. The bride’s face assumed a deadly pallor. She approached the al and stood mo- tionless untii the minis asked if she would ‘‘love, cherish and obey,” to which she replied in a clear, ringing “Not by along shot.” and ma- »d oat of the edifice. right is said to be the pop- MARRIED UNDER DIFFICULTIES. Miss West's Love Affair—Swore Away His Girl—, Ancient Bride and Groom—American Wives of Englishmen. Miss West's Love Affair, According to a Washington disp to the New York Herald, a heart affair has prevented Miss Sackville-West frora encouraging the attentions of a number of suitors for her hand. Tt is seven years since Miss Vietorin West emerged from a French convent and, with a govorne ss for a companion, camne to Wushington to preside over her Britavic majesty’s legation, her father g minister plenipotentiary st was a givl of cighteen, cha of f Italians call ular verdict. Bride 83, Bridegroom 82, w York World: A man eighty- two years old and a woman a year oldor were united in marringe in Boston a few days ago. The groom was Perry J. C 5 ved merchant ride was Mus, | Tilton, of Boston. The nd the bride a is stated by those who ought first ence, Ann 2room wis widow, sympathe cyes. Countess Lewenhaupt, the wife of “the Swedish minister, young, handsomne, high born, chaperoned Miss West, . At- tached to the Swedish legation was o young man with one of those sorrows for which ti is no p. Mr, De Bildt, while living in Philadelphia had met and married the handsome and wenlthy daughter of Mrs. Bloomfield Moore, the lady whose name has long been associated with that of the poet Browning. Mr. and Mme. De Bildt were very happy, especially when two ch dren were added to their pleasant home in this eity. After the birth of u third child the mother was i!l and 3 She has never regained her Shehad to be sent to a priv 3 Mrs, Moore came to Washington, kept house for i 1d took chavge of the children. was on Con- necticut avenue, near the British log TIL The precic OLD AND SILVER. ous skimmings from the great kettle were poured into flattish moulds, and have now to be turned into ingots of gold and silver. When removed for this purpose they certai bear no resemblance to those objects for which all the world pants, but the richuess is still concealed by the lead, though the percentage of the latter is now comparatively small. These skimmings are removed to the retort furnace room, a noble and spacious chamber with two great square brick chimneys in the center, To each of these chimneys is attached six retort furn where the high-grade metal will be made still higher by volatiliza- tion and condensation. In the center of each furnace is a retort-pot made of fire-clay and graphite, and this is stuck yes- naking four time n 1d visit he propos Til- ted at fivst, but without much > on his part yielded. At the nts were made for re Mprs. Tilton was formerly a Boston milliner. She believes, it 1s stu spiritualistic wonders. She is have visited a seance a week ago,where spirits gathe that he ¢, = Mrs. Tilton's dec ime and “asl the whol reside in | has fitted up a lux fered « ol Mrs., Adair, Mra. ictor Drummond, hus- L service; Mrs, Jack Leslie, husband heir to the barone f\]x's. Archibald Forbes, Mrs. Alastair Gordon-Cumming, husband heir pre- sumative to baronetey; Mrs. Pelham Clinton, Mrs. Ritchic, Mr Ronald’s daughter and M hur Page. Marriage of Actor Downing. Minneapolis Tribune: TRobert L. Downing, the tragedian, and Eugenia Blair, his leading lady, were made man and wife at the West hotel, Minneap- olis, quite recently. Rev. T. B. Weller, of the Church of St. Maric’s, performed the ceremony, ch was according to he form prescribed by the Episcopal church. Mr, and Mrs, Joseph H. Mack were the only attendants, and besides the mother of the bride only a few friends from the company were present. After the ceremony adinner was served, with the complimentsof the West hotel, while Colonel West telephoned his con- gratulations and the wish that his hand- some apartments be se of the young couple during their stay in Minne A protty little romance is s wedding. years Slair wa : was in Minnes company in “Monte Cristo.” ympany was @ handsome actor y shingon. It was win- party was organs Wl of “the compuny participated, ‘1 rh o merry party had an unfortuna ling. The slc wits overturned and Robinson quite se fously injured. Through the sickness which f od Miss Blair was a .d voted nurs 1 when the actor recov- ered they marrvied. Robinson prove siputed and worthless, and wife was compelled to earn liviog. The love grew she was finully compelled a divorce for non-support. th the natural void in her he met Downing, who had suf- wvement in the loss of his » mutual attraction resulted 1pol 1ing seve '} own and to obtain Then heart wi and t} in a weddi »om in the Style of 1857, Hevald: A queer looking john Lochliead, of Luke A Brideg Ch brid Amcrican Wives of Englishmen Pall A vemarks on | the suc ntly mudo by Amerie sistance of the zine, and having been skimmea off. Exactly the same process isresorted to, for separmting the gold and silver from the lead, and the skim- ming process in the grent kettle is re- plete with inter Square cakes of shining zinc are slid into the mass, and then refined lead is added to bring the metal as nearly as possible to the top of the kettle to aid the skimmers. When the kettle is ready theve is upon the wop a floating velvety scum that is brownish and greenish and blueish, But all the silver and gold is not there, and it is necessary to assist the zinc in catching the precious metals by a good stirring up. This is effected by inserting an iron pipe connected with a steam tan In aninstant the le becomes a ma fountain of the most extraordinary character, Sometimes when the steam first enters the iron pipe a little is con- densed into a drop or two of water. This makes the metal send out one or two flying specks, and if there were much water there would .be an explo- sion, The liquid metal acts exactly like water, and series of concentric waves force the scum to the edges. while the whole surface dances an brates and the center sends up jets that fall down like miniature ~cascades Then the men take long skimmers and skim off that precious scum and pour it into moulds. “Another workman takes a sample of the:lead in the kettle to as- certain how mueh precious metal still remains, and the process is repeated until the lead is bereaved of all its noble MAKING REFINED LEAD. alliances. The refiner now has two distinct bod- establishment entirely from the copper separated from their o " CONCLUDING REMARKS, This account must necessarily be bald and insufficient,but it will serve to give the people of Omahasoms idea of one of the greatest of their industries, Noth- ing demonstrates more clearly the victory of mind over matter than the admirable way in which the rude and obstinate orve is compelled to give up one by one its treasures. This method of reduction is an absoluwe triumph over the profound ana my ious complications of metallurgy metals ave conquered iin turn knowledge of their idiosyncra their secret preferences and disli and the variation 'of /their melting 0ints, ch works us this have their Eusin in science,and not in localities, therefore it is no small honor to Omaha to have such an establishment amongstus. It is not an industry that will pass away further west, for no matter where the mines are, the ores must come where they will be scien- tifically treated, A hundred years ago men of the highest knowledge did not dream that gold and silver were associ- ated with this class of lead ores, though the presence of silver in lead was known even to the ancient Sicilians, But that was argentiferous galena, con- taining actually more silver than lead, and such mines ave rare. We of to-day find riches in what has hitherto been unknown, or at least unwoticed, and to- morrow will witness seientific victories even more astounding than those of to-day. tion. Mr, De Bildt a Miss West were thrown much together, and but for ti obstacle would have been declare lovers, It was deemed prudent for Mr. De Bilet to be transfe. sweere, and Mrs. Moove, hopin t something might bedone forhera ted daughter, took her _to Burope Miss West has D through her trial and kept up her cheerfulness. She styled herself “an old maid” at twenty-three, but continues the hand- somest and most attractive of the three siste ght amgles. The zine is mostly and escapes in beautiful flumes from a plug-lole at the top of the retort, while some of the lead runs off into a small kettle. When this process has been exhausted, the wor men run hand-spikes into receptacles of the furnaces, which are mounted on trunnions like the guns of a vessel, and turn the whole thing clean over, Tt the retorts are transferred to spe ladles on wheels, made of fire clay, and stoutly hooped with iron, and these are trundled off to the cupelling room. THERE IS STILL SOME LEAD, The contents of these ladles is very high grade metal, but there is still some lead, for it clings to its bullion with the tenacity of a miser. But it is now going through a process which will finally divorce it. Hitherto the treat- ment has been mild, but in the cupell- ing chamber it is exposed in a furnace to the terrific heav produced by a strong air blast, and everything that is not gold and silver runs off as litharge. The blast makes a perceptible ripple in Jhe altan maial T Whiak I now vaiuly silver, and has & 1008t picturesque ap- rance as the flerce current drives tinto silvery waves and causes the whole surface to be agitated. For eighteen hours at a stretch the men keep adding the metal from the con- deaser retorts to this cupelling furnace until there is a charge of sufficient size, and until all the litharge has been got rid of. The result is now silver dore, or silver 990 pure, containing gold. SEPARATING THE GOLD, The next process is to separate the linble and f some interest to place before general list—not by i complete—of p thin the lasi traders in Bri ish matrimonia s The following is a fairly complete list of Ameriean la dies married to prominent Englishmen The duchess of Marlhorough, | Mandeville, future duchess of Man ter; Lady Randolph Churchill Harcourt, Mrs, Rober /i countess of Oxford; Arthur Butler , wife of by B i Under Dificult ¢ Miss Hattie ) B She Married Hin Philadelpk Re: Lies, the pre of Geor, Lies, the millionaire cigar manuf; urer, and Frederick W, W, Woerz, son of E. G. Woerz, of Philadelph were married last Wednesday evening in a rather more romantic manner than had been originally intended, The cere- mony was to have taken place at their handsomely furnished residence, No. | Japan; the Honorable Mrs. 26 Fast Kighteenth street, the jont | the Honorable Mrs. H. Olive gift of their parents, but a few hours be- | cote, the Honorable Mrs. By fore the time appointed the cold with | the Honorable Mrs, Charles Hamsay, which young Mr. Woertz had been [ Mvs. Adam and Mrs, suffering for a few dn rew 80 mMuc husbands in the diplomatic p worse that his physician absolutely for- | Mrs. George Cavendish-Bentincle, Mrs. bade him leaving his bed, Miss Lies | Beresford-Hope, Mrs. Krnest Chaplin, was us averse as her fiance to fall under | Mrs. Lewis Molesworth, future the ban of the popular superstition that [ Molesworth; Mrs. Ernest Beckott, declares o postponed marriage to be | Charlion, of Heshyside: Mr: a frightfully unlucky thing, and pluck- | Strange, of Huntstanton; Mrs. Wilton ily accepted the alternative of having | Phipps, Mrs. Ranulph Mostyn, Lady the ceremony performed at her lover’s | Waterlow, Lady Coke, wife of Sir bedside. After the marriage she pre- | Francis Coke; Mrs. David Sellar, Mrs . W. Carring Lady Pluyfair Plunkett, wife of ou | Lunke us he stood before Justico in Chicago and promised to rish and protect Mary Butt, of v. He county, Murphy one y st from the green mountains of Vermont, His long hair was well brushed back under his Louis Kossuth hat, his whiskers trimmed in the style of General Win- field Scott, and” his well-preserved black silk encireled in its ample folds an immacnlate but not very stiffly 1 linen collar of great depth. About thirty-on s ago, he said, with his father and ‘mother and three sisters he left mont and came to county. Here bis sisters died and his fathér and mother followed Through their last illuess ag they had been nursed withful Mary Butt, who, since her th year had never swerved in her faithful devotion to the family., And now he had made her his wife ‘and when he came to die he doubted not that Mary would as lovingly s cyos for his last sleep as she ather’s and mother’s, and sur- viving him she would own as fine a farm as there is in Lake county and some of the best stock that ever trod on hoofs. Mr. Lochhead is fifty-one years old “and has not before married, - No Christmas Table should be without a bottle of Angostura Bitters, the world renowned appetizer ({)' exquisito flawer, Beware of counler~ vits, stocl