. The cattle queen of Montana . ngs, large graniteboulders, the lower surface of which would but just touchthe upper surface of the rock floor, and thus as the postwas revolved the heavy rocks would describe a circle intheir course, crushing and grinding all rocks, and ore inthe arastra to a fine sand or flour. At the time the ore was placed in the arastra to becrushed a quantity of quicksilver would be scatteredthroughout the mass and at the same time a small streamof water would be turned on. As the process of grindingcontinued the gold would separate from the ore in smallparticles, and, bei
. The cattle queen of Montana . ngs, large graniteboulders, the lower surface of which would but just touchthe upper surface of the rock floor, and thus as the postwas revolved the heavy rocks would describe a circle intheir course, crushing and grinding all rocks, and ore inthe arastra to a fine sand or flour. At the time the ore was placed in the arastra to becrushed a quantity of quicksilver would be scatteredthroughout the mass and at the same time a small streamof water would be turned on. As the process of grindingcontinued the gold would separate from the ore in smallparticles, and, being attracted by the quicksilver wouldform into chunks or balls varying in size from that of ahickory nut to that of a goose egg or larger. The ore andquartz having been ground to sufficient fineness the pow-dered product would be transferred to gold pans—smallsheet-iron, flat-bottomed vessels resembling much the ordi-nary milk pan, with the exception of being larger—andwith the aid of water the powdered rock and what little. o3 o -t-3 A STORY OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN THE WEST. 63 earth there might chance to be mixed therewith, would becarefully washed and separated from the gold by hand. The gold and quicksilver was then enclosed in a smallbuckskin bag and subjected to a steady but heavy pressurewhich had the effect of forcing the greater part of thequicksilver through the buckskin, leaving the gold contents of the bag would then be placed in an openpan and be subjected to an intense heat, the effects ofwhich process would be to evaporate the quicksilver,leaving the pure gold dust intact. Thus did these hard-working miners secure their treasure. The quartz at this place was of the white crystal varietyand was considered quite rich and productive, although,as a rule, white quartz is not good paying ore. This town, like Denver, was a lively one, and as was thecase in all frontier towns at that time, was inhabited withmany rough characters. Were it known that a per
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectfrontie, bookyear1894
