. Transactions . it progressed until running water wascalled in to aid human muscle, and in the machine of the Hun-garian peasant, it reached the primitive type from which ourpresent mills were evolved. How great has been the comparativelyrecent improvement can be seen by stepping from Hungary to Cali-fornia. In the valleys around Yerespatak, in Transylvania, the largermillsf consist of twelve stamps, in coffers holding four each. Thepower is derived from an overshot water-wheel 10 feet in cam-shaft is of iron, and revolves on agate bearings, lubricatedwith water. The lifter, or c
. Transactions . it progressed until running water wascalled in to aid human muscle, and in the machine of the Hun-garian peasant, it reached the primitive type from which ourpresent mills were evolved. How great has been the comparativelyrecent improvement can be seen by stepping from Hungary to Cali-fornia. In the valleys around Yerespatak, in Transylvania, the largermillsf consist of twelve stamps, in coffers holding four each. Thepower is derived from an overshot water-wheel 10 feet in cam-shaft is of iron, and revolves on agate bearings, lubricatedwith water. The lifter, or cam, is iron-shod. The stamp weighs250 pounds, and has an agate head. The stem, the coffer, and all * A Chinese System of Gold-Milling, by Henry Louis, Trans., xx.,324. t Modern American mills have been lately introduced, and can be seen workingside by side with those dating back to lUO For the particulars above given,I am indebted to Mr. E. H. XXIII.—10 14G LIMITATIONS OF THE GOLD \. •?-? i 1-, ~i LIMITATIOXS OF THE GOLD STAMP-MILL. 147 the rest, are made of beechwood. Each stamp drops 30 times perminute, and crushes about 300 pounds of soft ore per 24 machines have changed but little since the time of the Romanoccupation under Trajan, when this district was a part of the provinceof Dacia.* Let us now go to California, whose record is little more than therecord of a generation. Among the foothills of the Sierra Nevadav/e find mills containing 80 stamps, weighing 750 to 850 poundseach, and dropping 95 times per minute. Those of the workingparts which are not of iron are made of steel. At single mills, 200tons of ore are crushed per day. The mill building has a heightof 70 feet, and the ore is never touched by manual labor from themoment that it arrives at the top in the mine-cars to the time whenthe waste is discharged at the bottom. In Transylvania, the individual shareholder often has his ownmill; in California a thousand unite to
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectmineralindustries
