ee. 
48 Wisconsin and Missouri Lead Region. 
Ezpenses of blast furnace, one shift. 
One smelter, . ‘ , " , ‘ $l 15 
Two assistants, 574 cts., : . ‘ 2g’ 
-Fuel, 8 bbls. charcoal, 124 cts., wood, 50.cts. 1 50 
Board, three hands, 50 cts. ‘ * 1 
Gre, 3000 lbs. $15, : : > 
Hauling ore nine miles to furnace, 75 cts. . 2 25 
Hauling lead to Galena, 2,100 Ibs., betel gh 2B 
$56 75 
One fifth ore rent saves $9. Hauling the ore and board may 
be much less. The wages as estimated, are lower than work- 
men can generally be employed for. e¢ 
Product 2,100 lbs. worth $63.—Slag worth a fe 
' From both these estimates, it will be seen that the amount of 
lead obtained from the ore supplied is seventy percent. Ten 
to twelve per cent. then is lost, and remains in the slag. The 
walls and front of the furnace are always covered with a thick 
incrustation of oxide and sulphate of lead, and much more goes 
off in the white smoke, all of which might be saved were it an 
t 
Daily expense, 
; In estimating the importance of this business, it must be taken _ 
into account that it is not always an easy matter to keep one fur- 
nace supplied with ore, much more several. And on the other 
hand, that the returns for the sale of the lead are at the price it 
bears at Galena with the merchants there, who make their profits 
by shipping it to the eastern market. | 
The slag furnace, of which a drawing is given on the next page, 
(Fig. 3,) is often connected with a blast furnace or a reverberato- 
ry, particularly when the smelter can obtain any of the old slag 
from the now abandoned “ash furnaces” to mix with what he 
makes. At some furnaces the slag is beaten up under stampers 
and washed through a series of vats, but generaliy it is merely 
broken by hammer into small lumps, and then thrown into the 
furnace. The principle of the slag furnace differs from that of thé 
blast furnace, in which the ore is exposed to the greatest oxidizing 
action to be obtained ; the object being thoroughly to melt the 
slag and keep it in a fluid state until the metal Separates itself, and 
both run out together through the hole in front. The lead.sinks 
i 
