anaheim-gazette 1948-12-02

Looking Backward C. E. Holcomb Death Valley It was in the early "teens" that I became acquainted with "Bull Frog Taylor" who formerly lived near Buena Park. Taylor had come in from the "Bull Frog" mining district in Nevada at the close of a very hectic mining boom. As I remember, he had a, as he said, very capable and inventive scientist, who had patented a rather simple but effective machine or mill for grinding ores found in that mining district and extracting the gold and silver contents contained therein. In payment for this operation a royalty fee would be charged for doing the work. "Thar was gold in them thar hills." Here were the hard working prospectors and miners producing valuable ore, without means of reducing the ore to cash, with any profit left to the miner. Transportation rates were too high to ship the crude ore to a smelter, so a corporation was formed, consisting of Taylor, the inventor, whose name I have forgotten, Dr. Johnston and the writer from Anaheim, an architect and an undertaker from Los Angeles and several others whose names I do not now recall. It was lucky that we had an undertaker in the corporation. The mill was being constructed by an iron works firm in Los Angeles of a supposedly, very hardened steel; I think they forgot to put the hardening ingredients in. The mill consisted of a large bowl in which there were three geared grinding cones, connected with a geared track inside the bowl; the mechanism being night of the Jeffries-Johnson championship fight at Goldfield, Nevada. There was a "grand ball" given at Beatty in the school house that night. Men and women came to Beatty from mines thirty to forty miles away, to celebrate the Fourth of July. Strange as it may seem, there were more ladies present for the dance than men. Beatty was "dry," but Rhyolite, four miles away was not; so, a good many men left the feminine members of the family in Beatty and then went to Rhyolite, so as to get the fight returns and possibly allay a thirst as well. The writer was the "Belle of the Ball". First time that he ever attended a dance and had all the dances taken. The ladies would start the conversation by asking about the latest feminine styles of dress in Los Angeles. Now I can truthfully say that I never, well hardly ever, pay any attention to feminine dress styles. Now my better half has told me, that Arthur Lewis could go to a ball in Anaheim and afterward give the description of each dress worn and by whom. He ought to have been with me in Beatty that night. I had the first dance with the wife of the inventor of our gold recovery mill. She asked me how I liked the piano music. It really was awful, but I wanted to be nice, being a guest, and said, "why its fine;" and she said, you know, it was badly out of tune, so my husband tuned it yesterday. I asked if he was a piano tuner also and she said no, he is a scientist and can just do anything. Say men, would it not be a wond- over. The next time that I went Beatty a proposition was put to me. A miner had a idea that he was developing a mile from town. He had a shaft about one hundred feet on one wall and tunnelled two or thirty feet to the footwall uncovered good ore. I wrote my friend and he sent out sampling bags, with instructions from his engineer, how to samples of the mine. I followed instructions as well as I could sent in the samples that I taken. The next train broke out the mining engineer, who met that if his samples show even one-fourth as good as we would take an option. When I saw the way he sampled, it was a revelation. Found in the floor of the turp where I had secured some samples, that the rock had lifted and some rich ore put He took his samples as foll He had the empty sample set in a large leather bag with a lock attached. He gave them me to keep in my possession to let no one else touch them soon as he had taken a sand he would bring it to me and would unlock the leather give him an empty sack and one he had given me in leather bag. After taking a number of samples, he asked the miner to show him the richest ore the miner had uncovered. Miner did this and a sample taken in that place. This sample assayed $12.00 a ton; the other ran from a trace to a few dollars My samples had run from about $25.00 to $150.00. Some slight difference so we did not take an action. I no more acted the part of a mining engineer than Southern gentleman of pre-1861 days resembled a lion. The mill was being constructed by an iron works firm in Los Angeles of a supposedly, very hardened steel; I think they forgot to put the hardening ingredients in. The mill consisted of a large bowl in which there were three geared grinding cones, connected with a geared track inside the bowl; the mechanism being operated by a thirsty horse power gasoline engine, which the inventor said would produce ample power to operate the mill. The crude ore came into the mill over a "grizzly" which prevented over sized pieces of ore from going into the crusher. The revolving cones and the bowl revolving in opposite directions, would grind the ore between them down to a fifty mesh size and the gold would be picked up by the mercury as it was discharged over ripples in the tail race. The mill was shipped to Beatty, set up under the direction of the inventor, started grinding the ore, made a few revolutions, then stopped. The grinding cones instead of remaining equal distances from each other, bunched together and stopped the mill. The inventor had made a mistake in calculating the gear ratios, so what to do. There were some mining claims a few miles from Beatty belonging to some Boston people and they had put a M.I.T. engineer in charge. Mr. Taylor went to him and explained the dilemma. This engineer came to Beatty, looked the machinery over, resigned the ratios in the track and gears and prepared the necessary drawings and instructions for the foundry so that proper tracks could be made. This engineer was much interested in the process that had been devised by our engineer, and hoped that it would work. These plans and instructions were sent to the foundry and in due time the finished parts were received and put in the grinding mill. The mill was started up and it operated as it was supposed to do. The building housing the mill was on the bank of the Amargosa river, which runs under ground at Beatty. It might be of interest to know that the water used in the mill was pumped from a well dug outside the building. As the well was dug, 2x6 inch planks were used as "lagging" to enclose the well pit and prevent caving in; when completed the well was about eight feet square and twenty-feet long with me in Beatty that night. I had the first dance with the wife of the inventor of our gold recovery mill. She asked me how I liked the piano music. It really was awful, but I wanted to be nice, being a guest, and said, "why its fine;" and she said, you know, it was badly out of tune, so my husband tuned it yesterday. I asked if he was a piano tuner also and she said no, he is a scientist and can just do any thing. Say men, would it not be a wonderful world, if all wives had such implicit trust and confidence in their husbands? Well Jeffries lost his crown, and, to make a long story short, the men who put money and time into this gold milling plant lost their dough. Retracing during the time the milling plant was being put in readiness, I was in the old German American Savings Bank in Los Angeles one day talking to the cashier, Roy Hillman, who I knew quite well and we talked about the milling plant that I was interested in, and he said that he had put a little money in "holes in the ground" a few times and if I ran across any good prospective mining claims, he would send out a friend of his, who was a well known and competent mining engineer to look it over, and if this engineer thought it showed any merit, we three would take it The building housing the mill was on the bank of the Amargosa river, which runs under ground at Beatty. It might be of interest to know that the water used in the mill was pumped from a well dug outside the building. As the well was dug, 2x6 inch planks were used as "lagging" to enclose the well pit and prevent caving in; when completed the well was about eight feet square and twenty-five deep. That the river really had a current and ran under ground, was easily demonstrated by dropping a piece of paper on the north side, on the water in the well and it would be carried to the south side by the current and held against the lagging on that side. After the changes had been made in the gears, they were installed and the mill started to operate again; but the ore was harder than the grinding material. However some gold had been recovered through the operation and our inventor started to make a gold brick. He started to separate the gold from the amalgam and had trouble; it did not separate. He added chemicals and the longer he worked the more refractory the mass became. So our M I T friend was given the amalgam and recovered the gold content. He told me afterward that it was the worst mess he ever worked over. He left directions for treating further recoveries, which were followed with good results as far as recoveries were concerned; but the ore was low grade and very refractory and total recovery of ore handled would not pay operating costs. While waiting for the change: that were being made, the writer went to Beatty and was there the People are coming from all over to get their first look at the lovely new Ironrite! Come in and see it! You, too, will marvel at the wonderful Ironrite way to iron...the rhythmic, restful, automatic Ironrite way to do beautiful ironing without getting the Open Saturday Evening Till 9 No City Sales Tax FREE PARKING Complete Furniture 151 N. LOS ANGELE The next time that I went to try a proposition was put up once. A miner had a claim that he was developing a few mines from town. He had sunk a shaft about one hundred feet into the wall and tunnelled twenty dirty feet to the foot wall and covered good ore. I wrote to my friend and he sent out some filling bags, with instruction to his engineer, how to take samples of the mine. I followed instructions as well as I could and in the samples that I had examined. The next train brought the mining engineer, who told me if his samples showed one-fourth as good as mine, would take an option. When I saw the way he took samples, it was a revelation. He fell in the floor of the tunnel, where I had secured some rich mines, that the rock had been broken and some rich ore put in. I took his samples as follows. And the empty sample sacks were large leather bag with a pad attached. He gave them to me keep in my possession and no one else touch them. As soon as he had taken a sample should bring it to me and I unlock the leather bag, him an empty sack and put mine he had given me in the ear bag. After taking a number of samples, he asked the miner how him the richest ore that miner had uncovered. The miner did this and a sample was found in that place. This sample cost $12.00 a ton; the others from a trace to a few dollars. Samples had run from about $150.00. Some slight difference so we did not take an opinion. I no more acted the part in mining engineer than the German gentleman of pre-war days resembled a lion. The story goes, that a Southern Gentleman was being dressed by his colored valet to attend a big party at a neighboring plantation and when he was dressed and ready to go, his valet said, "Massa Porter, you looks as bold as a lion." The master puffed up at the praise, then said, "You fool, you never saw a lion." The valet said, "Deed I did massa Porter." The master said, "Where did you ever see a lion?" The valet said, "Down in massa Johnsons barn." The master said, "You fool that's not a lion, that's a jackass." "Cain't help it massa, you look just like him." Notwithstanding this more or less personal tenderfoot history, the Bull Frog mining district in Nevada had a very striking, and to some a very profitable history; which will be related in articles following. The writer had the pleasure of meeting a number of interesting men in Nevada; including the man who was elected sheriff and brought the "Law" to Goldfield. Mr. Whitney who bought the Bonnie Clair mines between Beatty and Goldfield. Incidentally there are probably more chapel Whitney organs in churches all over the country than any other make. ANAHEIM MAN GUEST AT WILLOW RUN PLANT Laurence B. Klentz of 10781 Euclid avenue, is enroute to Anaheim today after taking delivery on a new Kaiser deluxe automobile at the Willow Run plant of the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation. After traveling to the Michigan auto center by train, Klentz was guest for a day at Willow Cottage, the company's unique new retail customer drive-away building. Klentz made arrangements for factory delivery through H. and K. Motor Sales local K-F dealer. HEADQUARTERS FOR Christmas Trees DOUGLAS FIR WHITE FIR SILVER-TIP HUNDREDS TO CHOOSE FROM Quality Trees at Lowest Prices NEW LOCATION N.E. Corner Los Angeles and Sycamore Sts. Opposite Elks Club IN KNAPP BERT ARNOLD E HAPPY THRONG! IS BEAUTIFUL NEW "Ironrite TODAY!" Most Wanted of All Ironers! Factory Demonstrator will be on hand Thursday and Friday to show the full operation of COLORFUL CABLE STITCH! FOR ONLY... Number one on any man's gift parade... all way men like them—long sleeves, trim v-neck sortment of colors men prefer—camel, lustre bl white. You'll wonder how we can sell this fine proof—you do save at Penney's! So cash lots of men on your gift list happy this Christmas Boys' Sweaters 3.98 Women's 3.98 Most Wanted of All Ironers! Factory Demonstrator will be on hand Thursday and Friday to show the full operation of the Ironite Ironer. Pays for itself in laundry bill savings! 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