1876 in the erection of a furnace, building roads and making other improvements; but the enterprise having failed to prove remuncrative, work was soon after suspended and has so remained since. The principal obstacle in the way of success here was the cost of transporting supplies to and the ore and metal from the mine, which is situated high up in the mountains and a long way from the railroad. A similar enterprise attended with not unlike results was inaugurated about the same time at the Stayton mines in San Benito county, California. Two furnaces were put up here and other improvements made at considerable cost, but the undertaking, though well managed, had to be given up after a few years' trial, the cost of production and transportation to available markets being too great to leave any margin for profits. And yet the ore of this locality would in most countries be considered high grade, having averaged about 40 per cent. metallic antimony.

Under the impression that they would be able to obtain an adequate supply of antimonial ores cheaply, Messrs. Starr & Mathison, of San Francisco, erected in that city several years since works for the reduction of this class of ores. Although these works were of limited capacity and the metal produced was equal to the best imported, the proprietors after struggling along for a few years were obliged to close the works, having been unable to get enough ore of suitable grade to keep them running. As they had to market the product of their works in New York, they were unable to smelt ore carrying less than 55 or 60 per cent. metal. The consumption of antimony on the Pacific coast is inconsiderable, amounting perhaps to not more than 25 or 30 tons per year; not much is used except in the manufacture of type, britannia ware, and babbitt metal.

The shipments of antimony ore from San Francisco to England amounted in 1882 to $5,850. The Southern Pacific railroad carried east during the same period, 60,130 pounds of metallic antimony, shipped from San Francisco and Oakland.

Antimony occurs as a sulphide, and probably in other forms, associated with silver, lead, copper, etc., in many veins and deposits of ores of the latter metals throughout the Rocky Mountain region, but as yet has not been found in sufficient quantity to become commercially valuable. In the Wood River county, Idaho, it occurs in association with the argentiferous lead ores, as is very generally the case in the silverlead districts of the Far West. The distance from reduction works and the high cost of transportation will prevent the successful working of any but the richest and most accessible deposits.

BISMUTH.

Bismuth ores occur in many of the States and Territories of the Far West. One deposit of some importance is reported from Utah. Carbonate of bismuth has been found near Phoenix, Arizona. The usual ore is the sulphide. This ore is found in small quantities as a sulphide in a large proportion of the refractory ores of the Rocky mountains, and in considerable quantities in certain veins in Boulder and La Plata counties, Colorado. The Bismuth Queen lode, about five miles north of Golden, Colorado, shows a vein of bismuth ore varying from 2 to 8 inches in width, in which the metal occurs in the forms of bismutite and bismuthinite, carrying in some cases 80 per cent. metal. Small quantities have been smelted for experimental purposes, with highly satisfactory results. Tetradymite (telluride of bismuth) has recently been identified in Arizona.

The production of metallic bismuth in the United States has thus far been of no importance. The ores, which in small quantities at least are widely distributed in this country, give promise that in the future the production of bismuth may become a regular industry. The metallurg ical processes for the extraction of the metal from its various ores are quite simple.

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ARSENIC.

Arsenic is widely disseminated throughout the ores of the Rocky mountains, occurring principally in combination with iron forming the mineral mispickel. In Gunnison county, Colorado, it occurs in combination with cobalt and iron, probably as the mineral lollingite. On the Pacific coast the mispickel is frequently auriferous, and is treated by the chlorination and leaching process for the extraction of its gold contents. Mispickel is also found, in more or less quantity, in almost every portion of the United States; and is often mistaken by farmers for silver

ore.

Large quantities of arsenic pass off in the fumes from roasting and smelting furnaces and are lost, no attempt being made to save the volatile elements in the ores. Arsenious acid occurs quite frequently in fragile white crystals in the dust chambers of smelters, forming beautiful specimens for cabinets.

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PLATINUM.

American occurrences.-Platinum, either comparatively pure, but more commonly alloyed to a considerable extent with iridium, osmium, or other metals of the same group, is found in small quantities in many of the gold placer regions of the Far West and Pacific coast, notably in California; and also occurs associated with placer gold in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and other Southern States. A nugget of platinum found near Plattsburgh, New York, weighing 104.4 grains, is described in the American Journal of Science, III., xxi., p. 123, 1881.

Platinum usually appears in the form of small rounded and flattened grains. The occurrence of platinum in the United States thus far has been a matter of scientific interest rather than of any economic importance. Small quantities have from time to time been saved from the sluices of hydraulic mines, but were merely kept as a matter of curiosity. In 1877, 1878, and 1879, an irregular search was made for it in view of the then existing and prospective demand for the metal for incandescent electric lighting, and samples were obtained from many points, but many of the localities reported in the Southern States, as well as elsewhere, failed to afford specimens when specifically tested. No platinum in place, that is as ore in a lode, has as yet been discovered; its occurrence being confined, as above stated, to the placer deposits. A vein of platinum is reported to have been recently discovered near Hailey, in the Wood River country, Idaho, and small shipments of the ore have been made to the smelting works at Omaha. Although this find is called a vein, in the absence of definite particulars it is reasonable to assume that the metal is found in the usual form of stream platinum.

It is quite probable that in the future the production of platinum in the United States may become a regular industry; though from the indications which have been observed it does not appear likely that it will ever reach any very considerable importance. The quantity of American platinum marketed in 1882 was about 200 troy ounces. There are no regular quotations for the domestic metal. One manufacturer reports that the crude, unrefined American platinum which he has handled ran as low as .520 in fineness, as against .850 for the average crude Russian.

The method of mining is analogous to that of placer gold, with the exception that the apparatus for saving platinum depends upon gravity alone, and not upon gravity and amalgamation. The plant required for manufacturing platinum is simple and inexpensive, and the art has been developed to a high extent in this country. The best crucibles, etc., are made by hammering plate of the greatest possible density into

shape. It is said that the cheaper spinning process which is sometimes employed has the effect of opening the texture of the metal and rendering utensils so made short-lived and unsatisfactory.

Imports.-The supplies of platinum consumed in the United States are derived from the Ural mines, where it is found in placers. The Russian platinum, however, mostly comes through French, English, and German laboratories, where the native grains are worked into merchantable metal. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1882, unmanufactured platinum (wire or rod and sheet or plate) to the value of $304,290, and manufactured platinum (consisting of three or four large stills for rectification of sulphuric acid) worth $32,360 were imported, and during the same period manufactured platinum articles (consisting mainly of used-up stills sent to Europe for repair, or of scrap-metal) were exported to the value of $19,244. Very little native Russian grain platinum is imported. The price of Russian unmanufactured platinum in New York at the close of 1882 was $6 per troy ounce. The terms "manufactured" and "unmanufactured" are used in accordance with an old ruling of the Treasury Department drawing the line between dutiable and free entries. "Vases, retorts, and other apparatus, vessels, and parts thereof, for chemical uses," are now on the free list.