USA > Montana > Silver Bow County > Butte > A brief history of Butte, Montana, the world's greatest mining camp; including a story of the extraction and treatment of ores from its gigantic copper properties > Part 7
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
11
:
BUTTE REDUCTION WORKS. Extreme southern portion of city. Clark property. Employs 350 men.
THE RED METAL.
HE mechanical steps, as fol- lowed in a general way throughout the various developments of a mine, from its in- STEEL STACK 112 FEET HIGH. ception to a stage which surpasses the imagination and makes description impossible, can not fail of a lively interest.
It has already been stated that the mineral right underlying every available inch of surface ground for a large area is firmly held by virtue of location, purchase or otherwise, oftentimes by parties other than the surface owners. That these rights are subject to purchase is as true, in a majority of cases, as is the fact that the surface right may be bought for sufficient con- sideration.
Whoever is fortunate enough to own the mineral right of a particular portion of this
THE PRIMITIVE WINDLASS.
wonderful area has made an important start. Failing this, he is compelled either to purchase such right or to "lease and bond " the same. By the terms of the latter agreement the lessee undertakes to develop such claim to a certain depth, to employ a given number of men, to tim-
ber all shafts and drifts, and to pay the lessee a royalty on all ores extracted from the claim. The lessor, on his part, agrees and undertakes to sell such claim to the lessee within the time stipulated in the lease at a price agreed upon therein. Thus the lessee becomes the nominal owner for the time being, with the right to pur- chase. By this process he either takes up the work where the owner or a previous lessee has
HAND ORE CAR.
laid it down, or starts at the very beginning and breaks ground for the first time upon the claim. In the latter case a " prospect hole " is the first step taken and the thing sought is pal- pably a "lead." If the lead is found and a vein of sufficient value is uncovered to warrant it work is continued.
As the vein becomes more clearly defined and the prospect hole deepens, excavation by the usual methods employed in digging a hole or ditch becomes impracticable, and the first sur- face structure, a " windlass," is erected over the opening or the mouth of the hole, and the lat-
87
THE RED METAL.
ter is thenceforth designated as a " shaft." At this juncture, to prevent shifting of the earth from the sides of the shaft, heavy timbers are installed to brace the side walls, and in this manner the shaft is boarded in on all sides as it deepens. A large bucket is lowered from or raised to the surface by means of the windlass, and as the excavated matter is hauled to the sur- face it is " dumped " into a primitive ore bin if it carries ore values, otherwise onto the waste dump and there to remain.
It is the practice of all mines in this section to establish a "level " at every hundred feet of the shaft, and when this important stage is reached
many instances this order of things is not found expedient, and the gallows frame is erected at the very outset. The bucket, too, has gone the way of the windlass, and the whim and a steel skeleton- like contrivance known as the " cage " is intro- duced as the vehicle for hoisting purposes, the ore cars being run upon them and car and cage raised to the surface. A more pretentious ore bin, too, has been constructed and tracks are run both to it and to the waste pile or dump. To one of these the cars are taken and unloaded, propelled by either man or horse power.
As the drift extends new leads are encountered and new drifts or " crosscuts " are established.
HORSE WHIM.
the mine takes on a new significance. While work continues to be prosecuted at the " sump " end or bottom of the shaft to secure greater depth, a " drift " or tunnel is also started at a right angle to or in a horizontal direction from the shaft and approximately in the direction of the ore body. Thus is established the first or "one hundred" level. Tracks are now laid along the floor of the drift, and along these "ore cars " are run from the point of operations to the " station " at the shaft end of the drift.
Meanwhile the surface structure has taken on a new aspect. The windlass has outlived its usefulness, as greater hoisting power is re- quired, and in its place a horse "whim" is erected. This is soon followed by a more sub- stantial though diminutive hoisting device known as the "gallows frame," made of heavy timbers, and steam power is substituted for horse. In
By the time this stage of development has been reached, if not previously found necessary, al- though it ordinarily has been from the very outset, the rebellious nature of the ground has compelled the use of other implements than pick and shovel, and resort is made to giant explosives in breaking the way. Before these explosives can be used, deep holes are first necessary and, for the purpose of making them, a drill team of two men is put to work, one of the team holding the drill - a cold chisel sort of device - while the other wields his sledge, pounding the drill deeper and deeper into the face of the rock.
No more machine-like exhibition can be found anywhere than is displayed by this class of miner. Every stroke is in perfect rhythm, the sledge strik- ing the drill squarely upon the head with uner- ring precision. Whether swung from above, be- low or either side, the result is always the same,
88
BUTTE, MONTANA.
the sledge always finding the mark. As the first drill, by reason of its inferior length, renders its holding dangerous to the hand, it is neatly extri- cated, while yet the sledge is in motion for the suc- ceeding stroke, and another inserted of greater length, and the blow falls as before, squarely upon the head of the new drill and not a motion or a second wasted. Likewise with the changing of positions of the two men. As the sledge descends
dozen or more have been drilled into the face of the rock. Then is inserted the explosive, a fuse is at- tached and all withdraw to safe distances until the report tells them to return. Thus foot by foot and yard by yard the drift is pushed further an 1 further along toward or through the ore body, cars speedily removing the debris to the station and thence to the surface, while new tracks con- stantly keep apace with the progress of the drift.
1
" TWO-DECKER."
upon the drill and begins to describe a new circle for another blow the member of the team who previously held the drill grasps the sledge without so much as a pause in its course, the other member grasps the drill and the blow descends as before, squarely upon the head of the drill and not a mo- tion or a second wasted.
Thus turn about, first one and then the other wields the sledge until the hole is complete. An- other hole and still another follows, until a half
TWO-POST GALLOWS FRAME.
Meanwhile the ore body is attacked along the ceiling of the main drift by the " stoping " proc- ess, great quantities of ore being blasted away from the top of the drift and, falling to the floor thereof, are carried to the surface. If the charac- ter of the ground through which the drift is run is of a yielding nature common to earth formation, as the drift progresses its sides are timbered by strong beams and boards, and, as the stoping process continues, a timbered roof is built to the
89
THE RED METAL.
drift, which becomes the first floor of the stope. In many cases the character of the ground worked is of such a nature that very little or no timbering is required, the safety of the mine or miners in nowise being jeopardized by the absence of the same.
Skeleton frames of powerful scaffolding are erected, however, from the floor of the drift, even in this class of ground, in order to permit of the laying of additional floors in the stope above. Stoping operations are exclusively followed, in working from one level to another, larger quan- tities of earth being more easily dislodged by working from the ceiling, and the drift floors are
CAGE.
thus kept intact for the rapid transit of cars to and from the station. In many mines of Butte these stoping chambers are three hundred or more feet wide, but the presence of so much timbering renders their illustration impossible. Along the
first few levels, which follow in regular order of one hundred feet as the shaft descends, the stop- ing process does not constitute so large a portion of the operations, the vein at this depth not hav- ing developed sufficient width nor value to war-
1
CARRYING ORE TO THE BIN.
rant it. As greater depths are reached, however, the mine expands in every direction.
Then comes the widening of the shaft. From a " one compartment " shaft, admitting of the passage of but one cage, it graduates into a two- compartment shaft and another cage is intro- duced, each operated separately from the other. A third compartment is also found necessary in most cases, for the running of all manner of pipes and wires necessary to the successful operation of the mines. Unlike many other kinds of mining, no gases are encountered in the mines of Butte. Notwithstanding this fact, every care is taken to supply all levels with a constantly changing air, thus overcoming in short order the bad effects caused by blasting, etc. Immense engines for this purpose are installed at a convenient point near the mouth of the shaft, and are most carefully in- spected. Water, too, is an element to be figured upon no little in the operation of the mine, large quantities of it seeping through the sides and roofs of the respective drifts, and upon its im- mediate elimination from the workings very much depends.
Compressed air for the operation of the air- drills throughout the mines is also found neces- sary with the introduction of this class of drill in
90
BUTTE, MONTANA.
substitution for the hand drill. These drills are many times more efficacious than the more primi- tive drill heretofore described, operating much the same as an auger, boring their way into solid rock with the ease that that instrument would into a pine board. Power to operate them is furnished in compressed air, and when it is realized that no less than 250 of these machines are being oper- ated in one single mine, the Anaconda, this fea- ture alone takes on a gigantic significance.
has the surface appearance undergone a change. Still again has the gallows frame proved its in- sufficiency. A greater hoisting power has been found necessary by reason of increased quanti- ties of ore and waste resulting from the exten- sion of shaft, drift, stope and crosscut, and with this necessity is born the steel gallows frame. So popular is this style of frame becoming that many of the mines are tearing down their old shafthouses, which enclosed the less pretentious
HAND DRILLING. 1,200-foot level, Parrot Mine.
Aside from the proverbial candle with which all miners go armed, a complete system of electric lighting is installed in every mine, lights running along the roof of all drifts and crosscuts, light- ing the dark interiors and permitting of the most expeditious prosecution of all branches of opera- tions. The lamp is an unknown article below ground in this section.
For these pipes of all kinds, wires, speaking tubes, etc., the creation of the third compartment in nearly all mines is a most necessary essential.
But the expansion does not stop here. Again
wooden affairs, and are erecting these mammoth skeletons of steel, securing greater strength and longevity and minimizing the possibilities of fire being communicated underground in case of the burning of the surface works. They are so built as to support the greatest weight at the least ex- pense to the permanent stability of the structure and range in height from 110 to 125 feet.
Nicely poised at the top are two immense wheels, independent of each other, over which a woven belt or cable passes, connecting the cage with the hoisting apparatus. This belt is a powerfully
THE RED METAL.
91
made arrangement about one inch in thickness and about eight in width. So perfect is the ac- tion of this belt over the winding drum of the hoisting machine and the wheel of the gallows frame, and so sure the progress of the cage, either up or down, that the latter seems rather to be
a novice in descending by the cage route, and some of the illustrations are products of his first trip.
In raising and lowering the cages to and from the different levels, broad stripes, painted on the outer side of the belt described, indicate to the
AFTER THE BLAST
Showing a section of drift or tunnel through solid granite, with no timbers.
IN THE STOPE.
Showing how tim- bers are used in con- structing floors from level to level, while tearing out ore.
dropped to the bottom or shot to the top than to be handled like an elevator in our modern busi- ness buildings.
The novice on his first trip can thank his patron saint if his heart still beats at the completion of the same, providing the same degree of speed is given his particular cage as is given those han- dling the hardened miners. It will be observed that some of the accompanying illustrations of scenes below ground are not so good as others. The photographer responsible for the same was
engineer, sitting at his most responsible post, the exact location of either cage and permit the pre- cise stoppage of the same at whatever level is desired. It might be mentioned that safety locks are placed at the top of each cage, which auto- matically fall out, in the event of the breaking of the belt or cable, holding the same and arresting its further descent.
Change is also noted elsewhere. In addition to the increase in the number of shafts or compart- ments thereto, increase also is made in the number
92
BUTTE, MONTANA.
of cages to each shaft. Palpably two cages can not ascend or descend in opposite directions in the same compartment. To obviate further increase of compartments, "two decker " and "four decker " cages, or what is the same as two or four single cages fastened one on top of the other, are employed in many of the mines. In still other mines but two decks are thus utilized for cages, the space devoted in the four decker to the two remaining cages being used for a "skip." This skip is an arrangement not much different from what two cages would be if placed one on top
taneously. Once filled, signals are rung by an electric bell system into the engine-room and the skip and cages are elevated.
Arrived at the top, the cars are run off onto the tracks at the surface, after which the skip is hoisted to about twice its length above the surface, and, by an automatic arrangement, turns completely over and outward from the gallows frame, and empties its contents into a temporary bin immediately alongside of the structure. This system contemplates the use of larger cars, which, propelled by a steam locomo-
STATION
1100-foot level, Original Mine, three-compartment shaft in rear.
of the other with the floor of the upper and the roof of the lower one removed and a sheet-iron or steel jacket placed on the outside of the whole. Thus, both skip or cages or both may be used for hoisting ore or waste to the surface while the cages may be used in raising and lowering min- ers.
In filling the skips at the different levels, a chute is dug a few feet back from each station in the center of the drift, descending for some feet and finding an outlet in the side of the shaft. Into this chute the ore is dumped and is released into the skip at the will of the attendant. In this manner both skip and cages are filled simul-
tive of diminutive size, are backed under the tem- porary bin and transfer its contents to the larger ore bin. So perfect is the discipline maintained in the loading and unloading of cages and skips, and so well timed are these operations that almost to the second the signals to lower the one cage and raise the other are sounded in the engine room.
With the mine's development and the creation of immense tunnels wholly denuded of ore and abandoned, the waste matter, which carries no ore, is thrown into these deserted workings and the necessity of its elevation to the surface is obviated. Long before this period is reached, however, the waste dump has grown to immense
93
THE RED METAL.
1
H
WORTHINGTON PUMP IN OPERATION, 1,100 FEET BELOW SURFACE.
AIR-DRILL. Drilling into solid granite, 1,700-foot level, Anaconda Mine.
94
BUTTE, MONTANA.
proportions, towering mountain high above the ground. The plan usually pursued is to erect an immense trestle, running off from the lower slope of the hill, along which a track is laid and gradu- ally the whole trestle loses its shape, buried be- neath tons and tons of waste matter dug from the bowels of the earth, of no possible value, yet silent witnesses to one of the world's greatest industries. Extension of these dumps are made from time to time, or entirely new ones are erected, running at a different angle.
With development have come other changes in the surface workings. New machinery of pow- erful capacity, and for every necessity has suc- ceeded the old; with the increased demand for timber, large sawmills are erected at convenient access to the shafthouse or gallows frame, and millions of feet of lumber are cut into exact sizes and sent below to reinforce the battered walls.
Where once a series of stacks carried away the smoke from the mammoth furnaces, the single stack, from 100 to 125 feet in height, is gradually superseding them. And thus the development goes on. One mine, older or richer than the other, setting a new example and the remainder falling into line.
Below the surface, also, expansion and growth follow rapidly. Each day sees the drifts and crosscuts extended, the stoping pushed further to either side or higher up and the sump sunk to a deeper level. So consistently, so persever -. ingly is the system pursued that oftentimes a new shaft is sunk at the farthest opposite boun-
STEEL GALLOWS FRAME. 125 feet high.
STEAM ORE CARS. Used in connection with steel gallows frame.
95
THE RED METAL.
dary of the claim, and thus the work of digging, tearing, blowing out is prosecuted from both ends of the vein and the output thereby largely in- creased. In such cases or in groups of mines operated by one company the machinery of one mine is made to do duty for all, supplying fresh and compressed air, electricity, etc., to the levels of all.
One remarkable fact not common to all mining sections is that one can pass from one mine to an- other on the different levels for great distances. It is a truth that one can descend a shaft of a mine in Walkerville and ascend through the shaft of another at Meaderville, two miles or more away, without coming to the surface. So convenient is this system, due to the establishment of regular levels at given depths, that many surface workings of large mines have been wholly abandoned, even the ore being run into the levels of one mine
GOING DOWN.
$
" FOUR-DECKER."
centrally located and all hoisted through the one shaft.
In the case of the recent fire which destroyed the surface buildings of the Parrot mine, the miners, shut off from the raging flames at the very mouth of the shaft, found easy escape through the levels and shafts of no less than half a dozen different mines.
It is upon this fact of proximity and continuity of veins that so many mining suits of such tre- mendous proportions have been based, and which has made the term " apex " so common a word in the Butte vernacular. The generally recognized mining laws hold that the establishment of the fact that any given vein "apexes " in any certain claim gives the owner of that claim the right to work the whole of said vein wherever . it takes him, if across the side boundary lines of such claim, although estopping him from proceeding beyond the end lines. With hundreds of claims,
96
BUTTE, MONTANA.
if not thousands, paralleling each other, some line of one serving as some line of another, the oppor- tunity for irreconcilable differences in many in- stances at once suggests itself.
And thus in a general way proceeds the never- ceasing search and production of Butte's hidden treasures. By day and by night the work goes on - once the elusive vein is found - one shift following the other and taking up the work where it was left off. Each mine has its superintendent or foreman, and also its shift boss, whose duties include a continuous inspection of the work being performed throughout the mine, along the drifts and crosscuts, up in the stope and down in the low levels of the sump.
What the great body of men employed, working year in and year out, have accomplished for these many years the most active imagination fails to grasp. What a honeycomb of tunnels and shafts shooting in every conceivable direction lies beneath the surface of the small area surround- ing Butte, braced and supported by millions and millions of feet of stanch timbers, no pen can describe, no picture show.
And yet a start only has been made. New ma- chinery of greater power is being added to all the plants. Hoisting apparatus capable of raising or
lowering cages from or to a depth of 4,000 of 5,000 feet are being installed, a depth not yet half attained, the average depth of the larger mines being about 2,000 feet, with a few reaching to the 2.300 level. Page upon page could be written of
AN INCLINE SHAFT.
specific incidents which would but reinforce the truth that the half has never yet been told con- cerning the possibilities of the future and increase the wonderment as to what the whole will reveal.
many opera- tions enter- ing into the p r o duction of copper do not end here. In fact they have but be- gun. It has been seen how, in a general way, the ore is extracted beneath the ground, ele- vated to the surface and finds its way to the dump or to the ore bin. The ore bin, in the mine's greater development, is not unlike a large grain elevator. On the side opposite from where the ore is emptied into it and some ten or twelve feet from the ground, large chutes, operated by cranks and gears, are raised and lowered and through these the ore is removed.
In most cases, standard gauge tracks have been run beneath the chutes, which enable ore cars, similar to the ordinary flat car, with sides and special unloading devices, to be run alongside, propelled by the ordinary switch engine. In
other cases much smaller cars, propelled by elec- tric power are used, and, in rare cases, either ore wagons or miniature ore cars, running upon nar- row tracks, are utilized, drawn, respectively, by two and three teams or by a single horse. In cases where standard tracks are used, as the ore accumulates the cars are run in and loaded, and as rapidly as complete trains are made up they are hauled by powerful locomotives to the smelt- ers controlled by the respective mining compa- nies.
So complete has this system of railroad devel- opment proceeded that "the hill" is a perfect network of lines, running in every conceivable direction and at all manner of grades, the hill on closer inspection appearing to be terraced at every few yards by recurring tracks. Much smaller quantities of ore are handled by electric cars and never more than four cars constitute a train of this character. The amount of ore han- dled by horse-power is infinitesimal, and as the mine develops sufficiently to justify it steam power is substituted.
97
THE RED METAL.
In addition to the numerous smelters oper- ated in Butte, immense plants have been erected in Great Falls and Anaconda, and still further additions are in course of construction in the latter city, making that city easily the largest smelter town in the country, if not in the world. Trains consisting of from twenty to forty cars, carrying ore exclusively, are constantly follow- ing each other to the smelters of these cities or those in Butte, in the former case over the lines of railroad operated by the respective railroad companies.
Arrived at the smelter, the ore is again placed
STEAM ORE CARS.
in receiving bins. There are two kinds of ores. in point of quality - first and second class. First-class ore, according to the Butte classifica- tion, runs not less than seven per cent copper and is known as smelting ore or ore that is im- mediately melted without preliminary treatment. Second-class ore runs from two and one-half to seven per cent copper and is known as “ concen- trating " ore, and is sent to the concentrator. The purpose of concentration, plainly, is to eliminate a portion of the foreign matter and thus mini- mize the burden of the smelting department. As the treatment to which this class of ore is sub-
HORSE ORE CAR
ELECTRIC ORE CARS. Operated through center of city.
jected precedes the smelting process, this phase will be considered first.
The principle employed throughout the con- centration stages in every case is specific gravity, the specific gravity of mineral over the other ingredients being utilized to disintegrate the one from the other. The ore is first released from the bin through a chute and fed into the jaws of a powerful crusher, which reduces the rock
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.