'^ Wisconsiii and Missouri Lead Region. 



Expenses of Mast furnace, one shift. 



One smelter, $1 15 



Two assistants, 57^ cts., . . . . 1 15 



Fuel, 8 bbls. charcoal, Vi^ cts., wood, 50 cts., 1 50 



Board, three hands, 50 cts. . . . 1 50 



Ore, 3000 lbs. $15, 45 00 



Hauling ore nine miles to furnace, 75 cts. . 2 25 



Hauling |ead to Galena, 2,100 lbs., . . 4 20 



Daily expense, ..... $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. 



Product 2,100 lbs. worth |63. — Slag worth . 



From both these estimates, it will be seen that the amount of 

 lead obtained from the ore supplied is seventy per cent. 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 

 object. 



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 generally 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 the 

 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 



