Show THE SINGISERrfllLU + iEl iii An Idaho Enterprise Backed By the 1 Captain I I x 1 I A MAMMOTH UNDERTAKING IJ I J i HDttIFTWOODS DESCRIPTION OF THIS GREAT ENTERPRISE ThE Week at BinghamThe Bulletins Bul-letins Story of the Doings of the Camp Nevadas Great Copper j ltOffer of An English SyndiJ cat For the Delano Mine In a communication to the Recorder I j cf Salmon City Ida Driftwood gives an interesting description of Captain T F Singisers enterprise on Arastra I cr ek together with an account in detail de-tail of the magnificent mill erected on th ground which was built by Joe Ifexierichs the well known millwright or this city and over which Ed X Kirby also of this city has charge dm ing its initial run Regarding the mine and mill Drift wrod says The town of Singiser which sprung into existence during the past five mcnths lies west of Salmon City about tiC miles and is built upon Arastra cieek a tributary of Silver creek and atout two miles from the latter A number of years ago there was discov cied where now the above named town is located a very large vein of quartz upon hich three locations were made known as the True Blue Monument and Watch Tower In the course of time this property fell into the hands i ci Senator George L Shoup and Mich al Spahn and a United States patent v as secured upon them Subsequently some effort was made in a small way tJ work the ores but by the crude pro ctss used the vein was abandoned and permitted to lie Idle until this summer v hen Captain T F Singiser took hold of them His first step was to go over the vein and take a sample of 4500 pounds and send it to Denver St Louis and Chicago and have it tested for richness and process of treatment 1 ft Everything being perfectly satisfactory to He captain he at once negotiated for the mines and proceeded to organize organ-ize a company of Pennsylvania capitalists capital-ists and order machinery for a 0ton plant in which the Pelitan Clerici I cyanide process Is used Hence it is that r uv this line mill is in full operation cui the town of Singiser booming My icUa at this time is to give as near f possible a description of this mill in the order that the quartz is passed through and the precious metal extracted ex-tracted or it is interesting from the fc tt that It is somewhat of a departure depar-ture from any other treatment used in this county The claim from which the ore is now being taken to the mill js the Monument and the mouth of them the-m < ii tunnel is 1200 feet from the ore bin at the mill which distance is tra ti tised by a narrowgauge railroad track the cars being propelled by mule power The ore bin at the ton of the mll where the quartz is first deliv deliv r the quartz passes through a large Blake rock breaker and drops thence into a bin that will hold iro tons From here the quartz passes into a Challenge ore feeder The said J ore feeder is so arranged that it will I h jld 4500 pounds of quartz the precise I pre-cise quantity that is required to charge I on < of their electric tanks The ore passes from the Challenge feeder into a = T i Bryan mill or crusher which consists I of a heavy > castiron pan with three I rolls each of 1500 pounds weight driven by proper gearing around a center II cen-ter cone at a speed of 2S times a minute I min-ute The ore thus crushed parses f I through a 40mesh screen into lead boxes which carries it to the electric tanks where the process for the extraction ex-traction of the metal is completed At I the mill here under consideration therd are ten of these tanks each eight feet I in diameter and four feet deep and as above stated receives at each charge I 4500 pounds of quartz This with the I proper quantity of water makes the charge that is treated with cyanide and II the electric current from ten to twelve hours when the pulp is run to waste I there having been extracted from it I from SG to UG per cent of its value in I gold and silver Each of the tanks are I lined in the bottom with a solid sheet of copper which reaches to three inches up the side of the tank Upon each of I these copper bottoms is placed 500 pounds of mercury also each tank is i filled by an iron moIler or stirrer which I I I is made to revolve at a speed of about I 20 revolutions keeping the charge in J lively motion This iron stirrer comes i down within about four inches of the i coated copper plate on the bottom of I the tank The electric current is made to pass down through the iron post or j i shaft that supports the stirrer thence i through each arm of the stirrer j through the pulp to the copper bottom I thence back to the dynamo forming the I circuit The electricity in its effort to pass the three or fourinch space that intervened inter-vened between the arms of the stirrer and the copper bottom tank does its work causing the gold and silver to be precipitated into the mercury where it is held fast until a cleanup is made which may not occur until after many I days run The quicksilver is then drawn off and goes ipto a cleanup pan where it is I ground until all of the sand is gotten rid of It is then drained through Suitable suit-able bags where the amalgam is left It is then now ready for the retort and the bullion moulds I cahnot enter into details about the electric plant for I could not fully comprehend I com-prehend all of its details although Mr I Ernest Moulton the mill electrician and Mr R L Masson district electrical engineer of the Westinghouse Electric Manufacturing company did all they could to explain it Suffice it to say there are two dynamos each of 15 horsepower 125 volts compound generator gen-erator furnished and erected by the said Testinghouse company One of the dynamos is used exclusively for the electric current that is used in the treatment of ores and the other for lighting the mill and premises The battery of three boilers will generate 120 horsepower and furnishes steam to an SO horsepower Corliss engine Mr Ed X Kirby has charge of the mill during its test run James G Forester is the mill superintendent and William Stetham mine superintendent In conclusion I will state that I was highly gratified with the process and believe that the ores of many of our mines will be treated by it I learned from Mr George W Wilson the com panys assayer that he also was highly gratified with the process When it is considered that on Aug 1 there had not been a board or timber cut for the erection of this mill plant and that if the dynamos had been promptly received the mill could have been started by the last of October great energy and promptness is shown If at liberty I will have something more to say about both mill and mines |