| Tates From the Hills
THE LIQUID METAL AFFORDS GOOD PAY
By Albert S. Wilkerson Instructor in Geology and Mineralogy, Alaska
Agricultural College and School of Mines.
Several days of hard work had
passed since Larry had visitfed Nels
j Anderson in his blacksmith shop. It
was rather late in the evening and
Jack had turned in for the night.
Larry was seated on a box and con
tinued to read a newspaper that was^
. but three weeks old; continued to read
in spite of words other than praise
from his partner.
A prospector is wise if, while
searching for gold, he keeps his eyes
open fer other metals,” thought Larry
. and, as usua, his thoughts took the
form of words.
“I know one prospector that will be
wise if he rolls in,’” grunted Jack.
But upon second thought, or rather
upon first real thought, he added,
‘ "but what have you?”
“Well, I was just reading, and when
I read I usually think. It states here
! that there have been good mercury
: showings in the Kuskokwim. Some
fellows, you know, would overlook
t that in their search for the yellow
; stuff and—”
“And nothing,” broke in Jack. “Call
it a day. Overlook mercury, bah!
Anyway I happen to know that mer
cury is a liquid and I ask you as to
what man wants to mine liquid.
Liquids are used to build bridges over
c and otherwise.”
“Yes, mercury is a liquid,” an
swered Larry, slowly putting down
. his paper and relighting his pipe, “but
the mercury of commerce is obtained
. from the sulphide of mercury. It oc
„ curs as a mineral, a solid mineral like
any other mineral. The stuff is called
» cinnabar.”
v.\J pn hearing the name of the latter
part of the mineral, Jack was wide
. awake. “What’s that?” he inquired.
" “Oh, yes! Cinnabar, to be sure. And
\ who said that anyone wanted to find
t the cinnabar from which liquid mer
* cury is obtained?”
‘“Well, both you and I—if this gold
, proposition does' not smile upon us,
- and’smile often,” retorted Larry. “You
? know that mercury is now bringing
. $136 a flask, according to the papers.”
“Flask?” inquired Jack, with sur
: prise. “Is that a new name for ton?
Flask? Is cinnabar found in flasks?”
“A flask is a metal container and is
made to contain 76 pounds of mercury.
This is the way it is sold and is done
in this convenience,” answered Larry,
in partial disgust if not total disgust.
“One hundred and thirtyt-five dol
Iars for a 76-pound flask of mercury
sounds good. Let me see—that fig
ures out better than $1.75 per pound.
What does this cinnabar look like,
where is it found, how is it found,
what is it used for?” flashed Jack in
a manner wholly unlike him. Jack
usually was slow of speech, but it
seemed as if the liquid metal idea hit
in a spot that made him question his
partner as if he really wanted to
know something about it.
“Hold your malamutes,” from Lar
ry. At least he could talk and he was
happy. “Hold your malamutes,” he
continued, “and we will travel one
trail at a time. What does it look
ilke ? Well, as I said before, cinnabar
is the sulphide of mercury, and as
such it is usually of a scarlet hue, but
it may be red, brown or even a gray.
But usually it is a scarlet colod. If
cinnabar is ri bbed upon unglazed
porcelain a colored streak will remain
that is scarlet or reddish-brown. But
jasper or red quartz looks like cinna
bar, but quartz will not 1 eave such
a streak. C'nnabar can easily be
scratched with a knife, but jasper
cannot. It is a very heavy mineral,
since it weighs eight times its volume
of water anti three times its volume
of granite Maffy valuable minerals
are heavy* so always keep your eyes
open foritieavy minerals. From some
t cinnabar pure mercury globules can
be knocked out upon the palm of the |
hand. Itts hardness, color, streak and !
its weight easily make it recogniz
able.”
“Cinnabar,” continued Larry, “is
is found in veins, disseminated, or in
rregular masses in sedimentary rocks,
;uartzites, porphyries, and even in
erpentines. A great deal of the
time it occurs in sandstones and
hales. With cinnabar are associated
pure mercury, stibuite, pyritc, realgar
,\vh ch. looks like cinnabar but is not
nearly so heavy), and quartz. Some
more minerals that I forget—knew
.hem when I took the'short course at
the School of Mines.”
“All this sounds good, but it must
take a-'large company to successfully
put across the working of a mercury
prospect. Returns are good especially
if a fellow like you and me could do
all of the work and reap all of the
profits.”
Larry was up on his mercury too
well for Jack. “Cinnabar is a poor
man’s proposition. It does not take
a rich company to make a mercury
mine pay. Right at this moment there
is a one-man mine and plant in oper
ation near Tonopah, Nevada. The
owner and operator not only performs
the actual mining operations alone,
but runs a successful reduction retort
at the same time; being thereby per
mitted to make a product directly sal
able to the • consumer or the con
sumer’s agent. Obtaining mercury
from cinnabar is a very easy process.
This man’s, property is producing
about five flasks per month. Not bad,
is it? There are no difficult trans
portation problems confronting the
producer of mercury."
“In normal times between 30 and
40 per cent of the domestic produc
tion of mercury is used in the manu
facture of mercury fulminate for ex
plosive caps, one flask of 76 pounds
making 100 to 200 pounds of deton
ator. Mercury is also employed in
the extraction of gold by amalgama
tion and in scientific and electrical ap
paratus. The chloride of mercury is
called calomel and is used for medic
inal purposes.”
“Well,” spoke up Jack “1 do not in
tend to quit this gold game as long as
there is a sKc)w of colors, especially if
the colors are loud. But believe me
that we will keep our eyes open for
this cinnabar when we are soaring
around over the country, t Our gold
might die out—sometimes does, you
know. Mine cinnabar. Not so bad,
in fact pretty good.”
EVERYONE KNOWS HOW
TO MAKE A NEWSPAPER?
Getting out a good newspaper is a
fascinating task, tut it is also a diffi
cult one. No other job that comes to
mind is quite so taxing, so hurried or
demands greater pains. From the
moment a newspaper is started, be it
either daily or weekly, the work is
carried on under pressure, a race
against time. Put yourself in an ed
itor’s position—could you do it?
Could you, for example, spell cor
rectly, offhand, the names of a large
percentage of the residents of this
town? If you could do that, could
you write their initials correctly with
out resorting to the telephone direct
ory or other authority? Could you
write down, offhand,, the names of
your city officials, your leading state
and national officials, getting all the
'ames, initials tfbd offices correct?
ould you gather the threads of a
story from a dozen people and weave
them into anintelligent, readable ac-;
count the first writing? Could you I
write seven columns of material of
1,200 to. 1,400 words each in two or
three days, week after week, year
after year, and when you had finished
these those seven pound out two or
three columns more before pres* I
time? In writing a headline, could >
you call to mind .in a moment enough
synonyms so that you would not re-!
peot the main thought in the same ;
wards ? Could you judge in a mini
mum of time what size, headlines* and
what position in the paper, should be
given to each of the 75, 100 or more
stories thot might go into your
paper? Could you decide in. a mo
ment, or exercise “snap” judgment, on
the dozens of questions/a newspaper
man must face daily and. get a ma
jority of them correct?
We won’t tire you—-but if you codld
do these few simple "things and s
thousand and one more difficult ones,
you should be a newspaper editor.
The point we wish to make is, that
one can produce a good newspaper
only after continual, diligent study
and years of practical experience.
You have heard dozens of persons re
mark that they could turn out a news
paper, and a good one too, a bit bet
ter, in fact, than the one they are
getting. That is not true, unless they
have gone through the years aiid'
study that a good newspaper demands
of its makers.
Were it .not for the peculiar fasci
nation associated with '■ newspaper'
work, there is no greater taskmaster,
and money alone wuld be far tooj
scant compensation.—Redwood (Min
nesota) Gazette.
■ BOOTLEGGERS QUITTING |
USE OF COSTLY CARS,
WASHINGTON.—Bootleggers are
beginning to quit the use of the high-;
priced and flashy automobiles in:
which they commonly hauled their il- |
legal wares, E. W .Camp, commie !
sioner of the United States Bureau of!
Customs, told a House appropriation
committee.
Liquor dealers and haulers, it was'
said, choose to lose less when a car is
■confiscated.
The border patrol • of the customs!
service seised 1,330 automobiles in the j
1927 fiscal year and confiscated 571 |
boats. The total number seized at all,
sources was 2,157 automobiles and 761 j
boats.
Some of the boats and cars are sold,'
but many are turned into pursuers of:
the class of lawbreakers from which1,
I they are taken. The Coast Guard;
gets many of the boats, and prohibi-1
tion agents most of the automobiles, j
Liberal Yet Restricted.
“Modesty is the concealment of
what is ugly. There is nothing im
modest in the display of what is beau- j
tiful.”
Lady Millicent Hawes, formerly the i
duchess of Sutherland, was talking
about the fashions of 1928.
“I have seen a number of 1928 din
ner gowns,” she said, “and they are
, lovely.”
j She added with a laugh:
! “Of course, they are remarkable for
latitude rather than longitude.”
Are you a subscriber to The Knsko
Times ? Why npt ?
I TABLE OF DISTANCES BE
TWEEN NENANA AND FLAT
Miles |
; Nenana . 00
Tavern Roadhouse . 17%
j Knight’s Roadhouse . 11%
i Nineteen-Mile Roadhouse . 58
j Diamond Roadhouse . 76
Roosevelt . 80
; Lake Minchumina . 115
Trappers’ Cabin . 132
! Lone Star Roadhouse . 150
; Telida Roadhouse . 169%
j Slow Fork Roadhouse .187 j
! East Fork Roadhouse T.) 206
Berry’s Landing Roadhbuse . 227%
Big River Roadhouse.241 i
McGrath . 263
Takotna . 280 !
Bill Goss’ Roadhouse . 291 j
Ophir.300
McCafferty . 306 j
Brown Creek shelter cabin .318 j
Fritz shelter cabin . 333
First Chance shelter cabin . 346
Schermeyer R. H. . 360
Iditarod...376
Flat ... 384
Bonanzza sheler cabin, 12 miles
from F’at.
Crooked Creek shelter. cabin, 19
miles from Bonanza,
4
Babeesch Moosehide Mitts and Boots
Furs Bought and Sold Clothing
All Kinds of Nice Fresh Groceries and Fruits
Canned Goods of AH Kinds Beds and Beddmg
A. R. Bdridge - McGrath
TAKOTNA ROADHOUSE
' i
Best/of Meals and Rooms
Wh*rt Everything Is Homelike and
Whore Yon Are Cordially Wclwnai*
' GOOD DOG HOUSES "BATHS
Ivar Chilstrom - Prop.
■.'i
Rough and Dressed Lum
her of All Kinds :
fij;
'& ■
i _■ «■'
=S
rf
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