Scenes and adventures in the semi-alpine region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas . the furnace; small split logs are then set upall around on the two sides and front; the ore is then piled on until thefurnace is full, and logs are then piled over it, beginning at the back,and continuing over to the front, so that the ore is completely surroundedby wood. This furnace is always built on the slope of a hill, as repre-sented in Plate I., Fig. 1; and the hearth is laid on an angle of 45°, sothat it falls four feet in a distance of eight. Two furnaces of the sizehere described are gen
Scenes and adventures in the semi-alpine region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas . the furnace; small split logs are then set upall around on the two sides and front; the ore is then piled on until thefurnace is full, and logs are then piled over it, beginning at the back,and continuing over to the front, so that the ore is completely surroundedby wood. This furnace is always built on the slope of a hill, as repre-sented in Plate I., Fig. 1; and the hearth is laid on an angle of 45°, sothat it falls four feet in a distance of eight. Two furnaces of the sizehere described are generally built together, by which there is a savingof the expense of one wall, and the work is rendered stronger, one serv-ing as a support to the other. Not only so, but the same number ofhands will keep a double-eyed furnace in blast, which are required at asingle one. It takes three hands, one to cart wood during the day-time,and the other two to relieve each other alternately, every twelve hours, atthe furnace. When a charge is melted oflF, the furnace is cooled, new Log IffeartJt JPurnacf. FislU, METHOD OF WORKING THE MINES. 179 logs and upright pieces put in, and the whole operation begun houi-s is the time generally allotted for each smelting, but itoften takes thirty-six ; and when there is bad wood and want of attention,it requires still longer, and indeed the result is never so good. The ore is estimated to yield, in the large way, fifty per cent, the firstsmelting. A considerable portion of what is put in, however, does notbecome completely desulphurated, and is found in the bottom of the fur-nace after cooling. This is chiefly the smallest lumps, which have fallenthrough the apertures that burn between the logs, before they were tho-roughly roasted, and thus, getting out of the way of the heat, lie entan-gled with the ashes. Some lumps, which are too large, also escapecomplete desulphuration, and either remain unmelted, or else, when thefire is raise
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