USA > California > Placer County > History of Placer county, California > Part 48
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94
IRON MINES.
Among the early miners of Placer County were Pennslyvanians, who were familiar with the appear- ance of iron ore in their native State, and they recog- nized on the lower American River bars many of the bowlders forming the gravel as iron ore, which upon breaking would show their unmistakably meta- liferous character. The source of these bowlders was pointed to as up the river. The ore, then, was sought only as a curiosity, gold absorbing all the attention, and the impracticability of mining and smelting iron at the rates of labor, supplies and interest on money being apparent, though, perhaps, some looked forward to the day when the rich ore would be available and iron mining a great industry.
IRON ORE ON LOVELL'S RANCH.
In 1857 the attention of the public was drawn to the great masses of iron ore on the ranch of S. W. Lovell, near Clipper Gap, about six miles northeast of Auburn, and in June of that year a few tons were taken to San Francisco to test its value; therefore, June, 1857, may be regarded as the first of iron min- ing in California, although it can hardly be called a beginning, as some years intervened before any real developments were made. The ore, however, was ascertained to be very pure, and of a good variety. making excellent iron and steel, as experiments proved. The ore body was first described as " crop- ping out of the ground on a hill-side in the shape of large bowlders, while ore in smaller particles is found over the adjacent ground to the extent of forty aeres." A test of the ore was made which showed extraordinary richness, yielding abont eighty-three per cent. of iron. This was taken from the croppings without selection. The test was so favorable that hopes were entertained that a furnace would be constructed during that or the succeeding year, and that soon thereafter Placer pig-iron would supply the California market. The high rates of interest, the timidity of capital, the condition of trade, and other circumstances forbade any enter- prise of the kind at that time. In 1862-63 there
208
HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
were efforts to enact special laws of encouragement, offering a bounty, ete., for the manufacture of iron, and these attempts were subsequently renewed when iron ore was discovered in Sierra and other counties. No laws of the kind were passed, and the iron min- ing industry was left to future development.
There were many conditions favorable to successful iron mining about the ore body at Clipper Gap. The ore was abundant and rich on the surface of the ground. grand forests of pine and oak for the supply of charcoal were in the vicinity and adjacent to the ore were vast ledges of limestone to flux the melting iron. The question of transportation was one of difficulty, but the construction of the Central Pacitie Railroad in 1865, passing the locality, removed that objection. After the completion of the railroad more attention was paid to the iron mine, and in 1869 an organization, known as Brown & Co., com- meneed taking out ore for shipment to the Pacific Rolling Mills, at San Francisco. In July. 1869, twenty tons were sent to the mills at one time, which yielded seventy-six per cent. of pure metal.
REPORT OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.
In the report of the Geological Survey of the State by Professor Whitney, from 1860 to 1864, the follow- ing reference is made of the occurrence of iron ore in Placer County :-
Large masses of serpentine occur among the meta- morphic rocks near the granite to the north of Auburn. Iron ore was also observed in this vieinity of excellent quality, and in larger quantity than has as yet been discovered anywhere in the auriferous Nato series. The locality is on the land of Lysan fer Utt, abont one mile north of Willis' Ranch, which is on the Grass Valley road, six miles from Anburn. The ore crops out on a side-hill. and forms a mass more than thirty feet thick, of which the longitud- inal section is not known. although it is evidently considerable. It is hematite. perhaps mixed with some limonite, and has not yet been analyzed; it appears, however, to be of excellent quality, and is remarkably pure and free from intermixture with rock. With the present prices of fuel and labor. it is not easy to say how soon California will be able to manufacture her own iron: but this locality is per- haps more favorably situated than any yet discov- ered in the State for trying the experiment.
THE IRON MOUNTAIN COMPANY.
In December. 1860. a company was incorporated to work the mine. styled the . Iron Mountain Com- pany," with a stated capital of 5300.000, and princi- pal place of business at San Francisco. The incor- porators were John R Brown. B. F. Myers. Charles F. Robinson. George W. Applegate and A. C. Neal.
" An Act to encourage iron mining." was the title of a bill introduced in the Legislature in February. 1870, by Hon. M. Waldron, Member of Assembly from Placer County, and intended to aid the Iron Monntain Company in the development of its prop- erty. The company was composed of men of limited means, and it was hoped to give encouragement to
them so as to invite capital to the work. The bill provided that when the company had reduced 2,500 tons of good merchantable pig-iron, the State should pay the company a bonus of $12.00 per ton. This was to be paid only on the first 2,500 tons. The bill further provided that the State pay the company annually for ten years an amount of money equal to the taxes that would be due on iron and products of the mine, if they were assessed at the market value in San Francisco, and the refunding of the taxes paid by the company on their other property. The bill limited the company to five years time in which to produee the required quantity of iron, and in default of which the State would pay nothing.
The bill failed to become a law, and the iron rested in its original mountain pile until private capital could be induced to undertake its development.
IRON MINING IN OREGON.
Other experiments had been made in working iron on the Pacific Coast. where success seemed most promising. At Oswego, Clackamas County, Oregon, are located the Oregon Iron Works. The ore is found in a bed beneath the soil, a few miles distant from where the works are located; assays from forty to sixty-five per cent. in iron, is easily and cheaply mined, and the forests of pine and fir are extensive and convenient. Furnaces were erected in 1865. and put in blast in 1867, but the company failed. Soon after, the Oswego Iron Company was incorporated, succeeding the other, remodeled the works, and put them in blast in 1874. A fine water-power is avail- able at Oswego, and it is reported the company, can make pig-iron at 825.00 per ton.
PRACTICAL MINING COMMENCED.
In 1880 Messrs Egbert Judson, Anson P. Hota- fing. and Irving M. Scott, of San Francisco, and Mr. P. Fitzhugh, of the Iron Mountain Company, pur- ehaved the property of the company, located near Clipper Gap, and commenced the erection of smelting works in a practical and business-like manner, Mr. Fitzhugh, being experienced in the business, the pro- jeetor and general Superintendent. The works were ereeted about three and one-half miles from the railroad station at Clipper Gap, and are the first of the kind in California. This corporation is styled the California Iron Company. Of the works
THE BLAST FURNACE
Is the chief object of interest. This has a capacity of forty tons in the twenty-four hours, and possesses all modern improvements, being nearly copied after a blast furnace in Chicago-sixty-six feet high, and seventeen feet in greatest diameter. This furnace, however, is only forty-seven feet high in all, and con- sists of a vertical shaft lined with fire-brick, and eased in sheet-iron. The lowest part is ordinarily in the form of a cylinder, and is known as the hearth. In the masonry of the hearth are built five tuyeres (pronounced tweers), which are hollow truncated
CALIFORNIA IRON COMPANY. HOTALING PLACER CO. CAL.
209
MINING LAWS.
cones of metal, supplied with a constant stream of cold water, and should the stream fail, as is sometimes the case, they will be speedily burned ont. Into these tuyeres project the nozzles of the pipes that supply the blast, and at the lower part of the elbow of the pipe is a sort of spy-hole, covered with a mica shield that glows like a polyphemic eye. Through this the furnace-men can see and judge of the state of the fused metal inside, although to a novice the situation is only an indistinguishable glare. The part of the hearth below the tuyeres is called the crucible, and in it the iron and slag accumulate. The hearth is prolonged toward the front of the furnace (fore hearth), and is closed in by the dam and covered in by the tymparch. At the bottom of the dam is a channel communicating with the bottom of the crucible, through which the iron is tapped off, and on the upper edge of the dam is a "cinder notch," over which the slag flows. The tymparch is covered by the tymp, a long, hollow casting, through which the water circulates. The sloping walls connecting the hearth with the belly of the furnace, or widest part, are called the boshes, and the distance from the hearth to where the vertical shaft rests on pillars is ten feet. The boshes and the shaft are in a measure independent of each other, so that the former can be removed, if necessity for repairs requires it, without disturbing the latter. The furnace stands in the southerly end of the building, which covers an area of about 150x200 feet, and the beds (thirteen) to receive the castings lie terrace- like and gradual in descent in the opposite direction.
THE HOT BLAST
Is an essential accessory of the blast furnace. The blowing engine is horizontal and of 135-horse power, discharging 4,000 cubic feet of air per minute. From the blowing cylinders the air passes to the hot-blast ovens, which contain nearly fifty-six tons of iron tubes arranged in a fire brick chamber, and heated by the combustion of gases drawn from the top of the furnace by means of an obliquely-placed pipe, about six feet in circumference, called a " down- comer." The quantity of gas evolved from this furnace is extraordinary, and is due, no doubt, to the resinous nature of the wood used for making charcoal. At the ontset the gas was in such excess that when the doors of the boiler furnace were opened the flames shot out a distance of two or three feet, to the imminent danger of the stoker. Some of the surplus is carried off by a tall pipe at the top of the furnace, and at night the colored flames pre- sent a grand sight. They light up the surrounding country like a beacon of promise to the hopeful and industrious.
THE PROCESS OF SMELTING.
The process of the manufacture of pig-iron by blast furnace process is, we presume, sufficiently well known to render an extensive description unnecessary. In the present instance the furnace
is charged from the top with ore, charcoal, fuel and limestone as a flux (abundant quantities of the latter being found in the vicinity), which gradually descend the shaft as the smelting proceeds. The air of the blast, on coming in contact with the incan- descent fuel, is converted into carbonic acid gas, but speedily taking up another atom of carbon, is reduced to carbonic oxide, which, together with the inert nitrogen of the air, rises through the descending charge, abstracts the oxygen of the ore, and passes out of the month as earbonic acid. When the reduced iron reaches the vicinity of the tuyeres it takes up carbon, melts, and drops down into the crucible of the furnace, where the earthy ingredients, with the flux and fuel, also drops and floats on the top of the molten iron.
FEEDING THE FURNACE.
This is a most interesting operation. The ore, flux and fuel are fed in at the top by means of what is known as a bell and hopper, which keep the furnace almost hermetically sealed till the "topmen" sink the bell by the movement of a lever, in order to renew the charge. The charges are raised from the ore-room below by a compensating elevator that works with admirable ease and precision. Counter- balancing is done by means of filling and discharging a water-tank placed under each of the two platforms. To illustrate: One platform has just ascended with its car load of 800 pounds of ore and thirty pounds of limestone flux- a "buggy " with 500 pounds of charcoal is waiting in the ore room. As soon as the ore is received above, the empty tank is filled with water, the weight over-balances the elevator plat- form below with its load of charcoal, and it rises as the other descends. An automatic valve is affixed to each tank, by which the water is discharged as soon as the platform reaches the lower floor, running off through a small flume into the creek. When the furnace is to receive a fresh charge, a topman ascertains, by means of a wire probe, the height of the mass already inside, and if addition be needed, the charge is dumped into the hopper, the bell sunk by raising the immense lever, and the ore, flux and fuel are thus evenly distributed on the inner sides of the furnace. In some instances a wheel is used in working this lever, but in the operation under notice it is worked by hand. The descent of the bell is a reminder of descriptions we may have read of a descent into hell. Smothering gases stream out, and thick and blinding smoke, and it is not until the bell is in its place again, and the vapors have been carried off by the mountain breeze, that the visitor feels at all comfortable. In the ore-room below everything proceeds with the regularity of clock-work. The ore is reduced to a large nut size by an Eclipse rock-breaker, worked by a thirty-horse- power engine, and capable of sixty tons a day. Each ear load with its flux, as well as the " buggy " of charcoal, is carefully weighed before it is sent aloft.
27
210
HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
THE SCENE AT A CASTING.
The beds are ready where the moulds for the pigs lie in order, looking in the gloaming like monster piano keys. The superintendent is there, and the founder with their tried and trusted assistants. i Every man is in his place, and takes up his work at the proper moment. The word is given to " tap off," and the clay that stops the aperture of the crucible at the base of the furnace is punctured. Then a long bar of iron is driven into the heart of the incandes- cent mass by repeated blows of a sledge hammer, and becoming expanded by the contact, its with- drawal is slow. It is out at last, however, followed by the liquid iron in a fast and furious stream. It takes less than ten minutes for the active metal to lie cooling in the beds carefully prepared for its lodgment; and then from the "notch," a second aperture in the crucible, comes the fluid cinder, or slag, composed of the earthy ingredients of the ore the flux and fuel that had been floating on the surface of the released mass, and runs off in a direction aside from the beds, trailing its slow length along like a monstrous fiery serpent. It may be compared to a lava stream from a volcano. When large casts are made, this slag flows many yards outside the furnace building. It is almost a waste product. excepting, perhaps, for road-making, and in the greater iron manufacturing centers of Europe, many acres of valuable land are often sacrificed as a dumping-place for it-a sort of " slickens " question, from a different point of view and on a smaller scale. Five minutes after the slag has left the furnace the blower is again at work, energizing the heat and preparing for the next cast. The interval of the casts is about eight hours, but the time varies according to circumstances.
The pigs are cool enough to be handled in about fifteen or twenty minutes, and they are then torn from their smoking bed and borne off by stalwarts to a platform-scales, where they are weighed, graded and piled np ready for export order. Each pig is about three feet long, and averages ninety pounds in weight, with the usual lateral groove every nine inches, indicating the point where they are to be broken for the founder's cupola.
This description of the works and the process is as they were when in operation in May, 1881. At the foundries where it has been used, it has taken some sixteen blows to fracture a pig of Placer County iron, while a Scotch pig of the same thickness and area has yielded at one blow from a sledge-hammer in the same hands. But a more satisfactory, because more exact test of the tensile resistance of this iron, is that made under rule. It is as follows :-
Samples marked
Resistance
No. 4
18,387 Ibs per square inch
No. 2
18,629
do
do
No. 1
17,887
do do
In the case of Scotch pig-iron, same conditions;
resistance ceases at a strain of about 16,000 pounds. The Placer iron is said by all experts to be equal to the Salisbury (Conn.) metal for the manufacture of car wheels, and can be rolled into " merchants' bar" of the best quality.
THE ORE AND ORE SUPPLY.
The furnace is supplied with ore from deposits immediately in the neighborhood of the works, to which it is conveyed in carte. There are some five cuts within a short distance of each other, and, in one or two, true fissure veins, with well-defined walls, have been developed. The 640-acre tract, on which the buildings are situated, and where the mining is yet in an incipient stage, is no doubt one vast iron field, 'as evidences of the existence of ore appear in every direction. Besides this apparently inexhaustible supply, the company have in posses- sion some eighty acres, called the "Scott Mine," about four miles from the works towards Auburn, on a portion of which, visible from the road, two cuts have been made revealing ore of the richest quality. A magnificent body of ore has been exposed here. The fear expressed by some persons at the commence- ment of the enterprise that the supply of ore might run short appears to be groundless. The character of the ore is generally what is known as red hematite, of a cherry-red to a reddish-brown color, and which, with the exception of magnetite, carries a greater percentage of metallic iron than any other variety. While magnetite assays 72.41, hematite will give 70. Pure hematite is the ore that furnishes the iron for the manufacture of Bessemer steel.
THE FUEL SUPPLY.
One of the most important features of this enter- prise is the means taken to insure an ample and continuous supply of charcoal for the blast furnace. In this direction a large amount of money has been expended by the company, and such breadths of woodland acquired respectively from Government, State and railroad sections in the county as will give unlimited fuel for many years to come. The com- pany have three charcoal camps situated respectively three, six and eight miles from the works. At the first, on the banks of Bear River, over which the company have thrown a bridge of 146 feet span, there are six conical kilns of the latest invention. Each kiln is twenty-nine feet high to the apex of the cone, and thirty-two feet diameter across the bottom . The charge for each is forty-five cords of oak or pine wood-chiefly the latter-which yields 2,250 bushels of charcoal. Kilns of the same construction, twenty in all, are at the remoter stations, and over the well-made roads-enormous teams, locally dis- tinguished from each other by the terms "gun-boat," " schooner " and " sloop," according as they vary in size, or employ a greater or less number of animals to draw them, are passing all day long with their black freight or returning for fresh loads. In order to facilitate matters and save time, the coal is loaded at
211
MINING LAWS.
the kilns by a chute, and at the works, the wagons being fitted with movable floors, the unloading is still more speedy. It is not improbable, says Professor Hanks, that anthracite coal may be dis- covered in this neighborhood. It is found in the vicinity of iron fields in nearly every part of the world. At present the only known deposit of this coal west of the Rocky Mountains is in the State of Sonora, Mexico.
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS.
The general superintendent of the works, Mr. James M. White, is a native of Rochester, New York. He is yet young in years, but judging by his labors in this instance, he has evidently made himself thoroughly master of his business. He drafted the engines and put them in position, drafted and super- intended the erection of the furnace and hot-air blast; drafted the kilns, and can open a mine, lay off a road, or build a bridge with equal readiness. His chief experience in dealing with iron ores and iron mannfactures has been in the Lake Superior region and in Michigan. So far as the operations in Placer County are concerned, evidences of his splendid executive ability are seen in every direction.
The chief founder is Mr. Richard Dundon, who also has had large experience in the Eastern and Western States. Ile is from the North of Ireland- a man of few words, a grave man who evidently feels the importance of his responsible position. But, when there is any crookedness in the operations, any interruption to the smooth flow of the work, any infraction of discipline, why, then he is no longer a man of few words. His expletives come thick and fast, and are as hot as the metal he controls.
The clerk of the works, Mr. E. W. Cowles, is a son of the late Judge Cowles. lle is an active, intelligent young man, thoroughly responsible-the worthy son of a worthy father.
Mr. Shepherd has charge of the engine room, and proves himself a competent engineer.
The company seems to be singularly fortunate in their present executive force, each man being well- fitted to the situation he occupies. The iron interest is so new in California that there has been no experience, comparatively; no chance to judge by observation of the fitness of men for the work. Though the company did not escape the consequences of ignorance and inaptitude in the beginning, now the right men seem to be in the right place.
THE FORCE EMPLOYED
Varies with the season. In winter, when work is scarce in the valleys, the number of hands is increased for mining and charcoal burning. In summer, of course these seek the better prices and somewhat easier work of harvesting. The help about the furnaces does not materially vary in number the year round, as those employed must possess more or less skill in manipulating the iron. The operatives may be distributed and numbered as follows :-
Furnace hands. .50
Employed in mining. 40
Charcoal burners and teamsters 75
Ineidental 12
Total . 177
In winter this number will be nearly doubled, No Chinamen, except in pit-burning, are employed. At the elections some sixty-eight votes were polled by the employees.
THE TOWN OF HOTALING.
A short distance from the works, the company has erected a number of neat one-story cottages, intended as dwellings for the operatives in its employ. Twelve of these buildings are finished, including a large dining hall for men, and offices for the superintendent and clerk of the works. The situation is picturesque, and to say that it is salubrious in this delightful portion of Placer County, is unnecessary. The object, if possible, is to encourage family men to occupy these dwellings, as every arrangement has been made for their comfort. In several the " olive branches " are clustering around the threshold-the future fathers and mothers of a new generation of Californiaus. For these a school house is in contem- plation, and soon there will be educational as well as all the other accessories of civilization. As this settlement is rising into importance, there is a question as to its name. The superintendent-more from the practicality of his nature than from his love for classic nomenclature-suggested New Troy, while others used to the softer California names, thought Fierrovilla, as indicating the iron origin of the settlement, would be more in harmony with the Spanish name system of the State, but in honor of one of the capitalists who aided the project to success, the new town is called Hotaling.
WHAT OF THE FUTURE ?
The successful establishment of these smelting works gives one pause, and leads to an inquiry as to what we may expeet a few years hence. The con- sumption of pig-iron on this coast is estimated at about 20,000 tons per annum. There is no reason why, in a decade, this consumption may not be increased to three times that quantity. Guarded by a protective duty of seven dollars a ton on the foreign article, and the cost of transportation hither of the Eastern iron, the California product being much superior to either, must certainly command the home market. Additional rolling mills will be one of the outcomes of this new industry, and also the establishment of a plate mill, and with this may be contemplated the construction of iron ships. In fact, it is reported that Mr. Egbert Judson, one of the proprietors, visited the East early in 1881, to make arrangements for new rolling mills in San Francisco to work the product of this furnace.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.