Show the prospector and his burro f we were exceedingly lucky said the prospector to his burro in getting into this old mill before this heavy rain storm deluged the country or we should have experience peri ence a good drenching and the flour in the sack you seem to taken such a fancy to might have ben a mass of paste by this time the roof I 1 see is somewhat baky but a poor roof is better than no shelter at all during these sudden desert rains so we will rest here awhile until the storm has passed over and if you will pay less attention to the grub pile and more to what I 1 am saying you may be able to store some useful information in the grey matter you are enough as to call brains brains and at the same time learn the secret of why so anay old and abandoned milling plants dot the country from boundary to yuma an old mill idle and deserted des ened continued the prospector is always full of human int interest to me like the hieroglyphics on the cliffs out yonder which depict the history of a long forgotten race the twisted belts the broken cams and the warped plates of this old mill have a story to tell could they but give voice to their experiences and wis is why i love to to i sluty treso mute evidences of failure for a failure this old plant has been and the more I 1 ponder on the conditions which led to the clos closing ln down and abandonment of these works the more I 1 am persuaded that there was something wrong with the management there have been instances of course where a number of complications have entered into the general scheme of failure and these have been seized upon as so many valid excuses but in the case of this old mill ignorance of the true principles of ore treatment was the prime factor in its practical failure As a general thing the true reason for the close down is not given and the managers makes an effort to hide their incompetence behind the old and threadbare sign of closed down for repairs in this old mill this sign is conspicuous and they are often found tacked upon the doors of mills concentrating plants and even smelters shelters sm elters all over the country the trouble with this mill is that it is not adapted to the treatment of the character of ore furnished by the companas comp anys mine it was probably all right in the beginning for the surface ores were oxidized and free milling but with depth a condition the management should have taen kaaen into consideration in the first place the mine product changed largely to a sulphide in which there was some free gold this fact might have been overcome had the plant been equipped with arting but this was neglected and the bulk of the ore values went out with the tail ings and into the creek while the millman whose experience was but limited was puzzled at the small amount of bullion secured in the cleanups clean ups when the ore assayed as a general thing about 25 to the ton As a matter of fact he even failed to test the tailings and so he came to the conclusion that the gold had escaped somewhere in the mortar boxes or through crevices in the plates and this is the reason why the plant looks as if it had been wrecked by a cyclone for he pried out the cams ripped up the plates and made a general overturning in his efforts to ascertain where the gold had gone to did he find anat any you ask none whatever and when the board directors oF arrived and saw the wreck of the once fine 1 little ittle milling plant they decided to close down permanently and to shield the mill manager who was the son of the president of the company they hung up the old and libelous sign closed down for repairs 1 I want to tell you old long ears concluded the prospector it is well enough to give a man a position because he is a good fellow because he is your sisters husbands grandmothers uncle but he should begin as a or in sweeping the mill floor he may be all right in his way and excellent company but such qualifications ficat ions will not pile up the amalgam on the plates or help swell the bank account of the company he is working for As for me when I 1 want a millman I 1 will engage some red haired irishman who does not shine in society but who knows milling practice from A to Z and who can tell when the quick is fouled or floured when the ore is free milling or base and there you are and then some |