Show florence mining and milling company opens big bicy potash mill at mary Marys val below is shown picture of new plant on an first day of operation 0 k P 1 aa 6 fi A 5 4 NN saturday april 21 saw the practical completion of a new potash plant and the inauguration of a great industry at marysvale Marys vale when at nine on the morning of that lay day the big steam siren at the plant of the florence mining milling company was heard for the first time in the valley aud and the heavy machinery that will give the country american potash was set in motion while the country rings from coast to coast with the call to war and the word preparedness is on every c veri lip lip while men are being urged to till the soil as it was never tilled before and conservation of resources has become the watchword watch vatch word of the nation a great measure of conservation and preparedness has become an accomplished complis hed fact american potash to to make more fertile fields potash for the farms that will be called upon to feed not only the millions of 0 our own people but ant to teed feed the millions of war crushed and starving europe the new plant of the florence mining milling company is located about half a mile south houth of marysvale Marys vale valc station on oil the site purchased by the company in april 1916 the site ite contains acres and is admirably situated for the companas comp anys purposes lying east of the state highs ay and running to the river mole moie than half a mile away for the most part the land lies about 75 feet higher than tile the tracks of the denver T rio I 1 grande grandc railroad at which point it i drops steeply to the river bottom land the companas comp anys engineer engine cr was quick to recognize the value of this natural hillside and lie he utilized it to its utmost possibilities in his hh plans to construct an ail up to date plant where all material passes by gravity from one biage of treatment to another until the finished finis lied product is delivered at the ready for shipment the gravity idea in tre treating abing large quantities of material is brought to a high state of perfection in practice in the florence mill there is no of material a 1 it is handle once when it goes into the hopper of the crusher at the highest point in tile the plant after that it automatically goes where it is wanted from crusher to rotary screen to tile the crushed ore bin bill to the kiln where it is roasted to the rotary cooler and then either directly to the cars for shipment or to the steel storage bins bills waiting shipment in this type of mill and economy is developed into a science A very few highly trained men on each shift will meet all the requirements in a plant designed to get out oui I 1 I 1 tho the maximum output at t the he minimum cost the men who will run the plant are the men who took the eil ed machines out of the cars assembled them and then ran them they know the machines because they built them actual construction work on the plant began august 1 1916 when the first stake was driven and grading for foundations was commenced on the hillside since that time the work has gone forward as rapidly as transportation and weather conditions would permit in ID some in instances stan shipments of machinery from the east were greatly delayed and an exposed location tended to greatly hinder the work during the severe winter days of high winds and intense cold but the work of putting in the massive re enforced concrete foundations and piers upon which the enormously heavy pieces of machinery rest went on steadily very early in the work the necessity of a Tail railroad road siding to the plant arose many car loads of machinery were on the way from the eart fire bricks for tile the kiln lining had been ordered and cement and other supplies were coming in daily but railroad officials do not like to be hurried labor was scarce they said excuses were made and there was talk of delays then the florence company undertook the worl work Z and finis finished lied it in short order some two thousand feet of grading for main and spur track was finished before the middle of august auguse and as fa fast ast as tile the railroad company could be induced to furnish rails and lies they put down by florence employees plo ploy ces during august also the company put in twenty dundr gundrid 1 I feet of rive inch water main extending from continued on pal page e three N E fill OPENS AT continued from page one the state road where it connects with the city water system to to 0 the mill vii ere it is connected to fire hydrants on tb the hill bill overlooking the mill and to other hydrants distributed throughout the several the plant is b built in two sections or two separate buildings the first 1 is a long nar narrow row building beginning at tile the top of th the e hill it descends to the cast and Is feet long in this building beginning at the top is the crusher with a capacity of tons of crushed ore per day the rotary screen for dividing the fine from tile the course crushed crus lied ore the big reinforced re cond concrete rete bins with a capacity of tons tolls of crushed ore and at tile the lowest point the feed end of f the great foot rotary kiln the kiln kill exten extends ds through the end of this building across an intervening space of 20 feet and on enters the second or main building which v aich is log feet G inches long and fifty feet ft wide this building has a floor space of square feet and houses the power plant coll consisting of two bricked in boilers and horse power a horse power frick co corliss aliss engine an air compressor and compressed air con container thiner in this building also is the rotary coal dryer and the fuller lehigh ball mill for pulverizing ver izing the dried coal used in firing the kiln here too is tile the driving mechanism of the kiln which can be regulated to any given number of revolutions per minute the fire box end of the kiln and the ample steel storage bins for pulverized coal and for the finished product awaiting shipment in planning the present mill the florence company has kept well in mind the future needs of the company inasmuch as the entire plant with the exception ot of the kiln is designed to handle several hundred tons of material per day while only about tons can be treated by the 1 kiln the crusher has a daily capacity of tons and the power plant coal drier and coal can easily supply power and material enough for the installation of at least three additional kilns kalns of the capacity of the present one with improved transportation facilities from the mine the additional kilns kalns will be installed but until a tramway can be built from the mine to the mill it is considered doubtful that more than tons can be brought down by teams A more immediate improvement and one that will be made during the coming summer is the installation oi of a separating or plant t I 1 which will separate the potash from esthe the and give the company two high grade products to market for which there is great demand at i high prices until this installation is made the company will ship or roasted alunite which will be ground fine and go into fertilizers without further treatment the building 0 of a mill along modem and approve l lines was by no means the end of florence activities during tile the past year having a mill they must necessarily keep keel it run ning to do that new roads must be built and old roads repaired and r mine developed and opened up for a large dally daily tonnage so early in the spring of thu the order came from the home office in philadelphia to local representative of the company to get ready to supply loo tons of alunite per day from january first at the same time the company called tor for surveys and estimates for a new wagon road 3 y from cottonwood Cotton canyon to the mine during the summer months the road building was completed avith I 1 cie exception of a dugway on the north side of the canyon about 2200 feet long enough work however had bad been done on this small piece of road before the winter storms came to permit ore b abling during the winter months As early in the spring as tile the company could put its men ar ac road work this piece was lini finished shed this gives the florence company several miles of splendid road from the old canyon road at the crook creck level to the log cabin camp which by the way has been greatly enlarged and improved by the addition of a number of new buildings from tho the camp the road follows an ail easy grade to the big ore bins also built last summer to facilitate the loading of ore into wagons while this work was going on oil active preparations were immediately st started arted to meet the demands of th the e new mill for a large tonnage two tunnels were driven to the alunite vein and a third that will give a depth of feet was started work on the third tunnel was stopped a few weeks ago because the development in the two upper tunnels will met all possible demands of tile the present mill for the next eighteen months tile the construction of the new plant was placed in the capable hands of A P obrien a building engineer well known in the southern states as the builder of a number of successful fertilizer plants mr obrien rendered valuable aid to the officers of the florence company in the selection of the machinery that has gone into the plant he inspected each machine as it was purchased visited the shops where tile the machines made and in ili other ways familiarized himself witla the work lie he has brought to so successful a conclusion the reaper re induced mr obrien to tall talk of his work and obtained from him the following detailed description of the mill the alunite is received by into auto trucks and teams weighed and stored in a concrete floored stock pile of tons capacity this will avill be our our reserve stock pile to be used to keep the mill going to capacity should the road or other colidis condito ona iu delay the hauling from the mine when the mill is running most of the ore is dumped fiam wagons or trucks into the crusher hopper which has a c capacity y of 25 tons toils should we need more ore 0 e at any time than the teams can haul we ave load from t L stock pile in 3 ton quarry cars and run these cars over a G ton industrial track scalp scale and on to the track dump clump over the crusher hopper usually lily the trucks and teams haul a surplus which after weighing goes to the stock pile from the discharge spout of tile the no 5 mccully crusher which has a capacity of tons toils per day tile the orp ore passes over a foot revolving perforated screen the rejections go to a jeffry continuous bucket elevator and ail d thence to the crusher hopper to bo be further reduced and the fines pass by gravity to an a 5 00 ton reinforced concrete bin from which in ill turn tile the crushed and sized ore passes to an ail automatic weigh hopper of I 1 ton capacity thence to tile the kiln feeding machine which can be adjusted to feed from 0 to tons per day here also is drawn the sample of ore tor for our daily analysis this feeder is driven by the kiln and at this end is the dust arresting and gas scrubbing apparatus and also a stack to the atmosphere for the cleaned and cooled gas to escape means are provided for removing the dust continuously as this is a valuable part of the product the rotary kiln gallo feet Is lire fire brick lined throughout and is driven by a meriable vcr veri lable able speed mechanism with a range of speed from 0 to 2 revolutions per minute the kiln fire box is adjustable on a track to or from the kiln end and can be withdrawn 10 feet so as to facilitate cleaning or repairs to either cither kiln or fire box the kiln is fired by the finely pulverized coal which is dried before grinding this powdered coal is fed to the kiln by a mosser variable speed coal feeder and is sprayed into the he fire box by a compressed air jet all the kiln and fire box mechanism is under control of one man and at this end is the testing apparatus an and pyrometer and here also is drawn the samples for the dally daily an alisis also the hourly test by the kiln man aiom this kiln end the hot ore is delivered to a foot rotary cooler which reduces the temperature pera ture so BO that the product can be loaded direct to box cars should we ine be short of cars we can deliver to a steel bin of 75 tons capacity which is high enough to spout by gravity with sufficient force to reach each end of a car this bin is fitted with gates and fi flexible elble spouts for quick loading A ton railroad track scales is at this point where wo we weigh both in and outgoing cars from this thih scale our tracks have bave a down grace through the yard sufficient for safe coasting we can also bring down the empties for loading by gravity from the empty car storage track to the south of the mill the power plant consists of wo 11 P high pressure frio erie city tubular boilers with feed pumps in ejectors jec tors etc in duplicate the main engine is a il II P frick corliss with ehaust connected to ample feed Y water ater heaters all condensation 13 returned to a hot well and is pumped to boilers the steam piping is as seni bled with long radius bends and all ind and valves are arc for nig pressure the main is 4 71 7 ag 1 G inch and et extends ends across the main building and is cited belted east cast and west to countershafts counter shafts for the different machines chi lies all the heavy shafts are on oil concrete piers with cast iron adjustable sole plates all the pillow bl block oclus cliaL chaband shaft hangers are ring or chain oiling compression grease cups are used where necessary all pulleys gears sprockets ets and set collars are split either steel or cast iron clutches are used to cut 0 out ut tile the heavier machines and tight and loose pulleys for the lighter machines the bulk of tile the coal used is taken from the car to an ail elevator over a screen where the fine goes to a storage bin to feed the coal dryer and the coarse to the boilers from tile the coal dryer the coal goes to a steel bin over tile the fuller lehigh and after grinding is elevated to a powdered coal steel bin for use in the kiln all bins have capacity for ovir over 54 24 hours run should this bo be necessary and it Is fis planned not to run several of these machines more than 8 hours per day this th is will be I 1 sufficient to keep the one kiln going 24 hours TM the crusher air compressor coal dryer and will avill keep 3 kibis supplied if necessary we have a coal storage pocket of ten cir car loads capacity for our surp surplus us and reserve coal kept for emergencies I 1 our water or fire protection system consists of a main from tile the larys vale water works borics whit which li pounds lare pressure sure al t 0 0 t liyim aits nits which ar are rland ard pvc a also Is t lae a A L standard 2 58 5 8 inch underwriters hose in approved hose houses and at several points in the mill we have 1 12 1 2 inch rubber hose in 50 foot lengths barrels of water with covers and pails are also albo placed at convenient points our pumps can deliver into the main or to independent hoso hose connections we have a gallon elevated tank for emergency use filling both boilers and washing out boilers aud and to be used should city supply be cut off all the building machinery stock bases and other foundations are concrete the roofing is IS 18 bague galvanized corrugated iron riveted ted the mill machinery room floors are arc concrete all hoppers bins chutes etc where there is hot ore or AN wear ancar car are either concrete or steel we have an extension of tile the main line of the larys vale branch of the D R G railroad up to and past our mill mil also a of sufficient length to serve tor for some time the track is well ballasted ballested bal lasted with gravel and well drained with sufficient cul verts we have a complete repair shop equipped with both |