The toiling miners wore heavy shoes, and warm felt hats were on their heads. Over their deerskin garments they had “wamuses” (jackets) and overalls made of bed-ticking. For lighting they used wax candles set in gobs of gummy clay, which seemed to stick to the rock walls at any and all angles. Wheelbarrows were employed to take the crude ore to the foot of the shaft for hoisting to the surface.
Presently the two boys rode the bucket to the top again; and after Bill Brown and Bright Star had had their turn, they all strode off with Hamilton to view a smelter. This proved to be a rock structure, built against a hillside. Large oak logs, about four feet long, rested on ledges near the bottom of this smelting furnace. On top of these the crude ore was piled. Other logs were then packed around, top and sides, completely enclosing the mineral.
“It takes about twenty-four hours of steady firing to smelt out the lead,” their host explained. “As fast as the hot lead flows out from the door at the bottom of the furnace, we ladle it with metal dippers into iron pig lead moulds.”
“Is this quite a rich vein?” asked Tom Gordon.
“Just average,” Hamilton replied. “Has a normal yield of about one hundred fifty pounds per worker each day. But let me tell you about a really rich vein! Old John Bonner over at Hazel Green blundered onto an ancient Indian diggings, back in 1824. A few feet down he struck “block mineral.” Imagine it, pure lead in solid chunks.”
The Colonel’s face shone with enthusiasm; and his deep voice trembled with excitement, as he continued:
“The very first day Bonner took out seventeen thousand pounds, and in a short time had one hundred thousand pounds piled on the bank near his shaft. Great Jupiter, what a find!”
CHAPTER 17
******************************