Hi -

Couple of easy-to-locate background sources to check are:

1. State Bur. of Mines and Minerals reports.

2. US Bur. of Mines and USGS reports.

3. Professional mining journals such as the E&MJ.

These are the basic sources that I usually start with.  These can usually
be found in a good college library.

Most State's also had an Office of State Mining Inspector, or some title
like that.  You'd have to visit that state agency to see those out. They
are good sources for info on specific operations, including material on
equipment used by a particular, numbers of employees, and state or
condition of the works.

It was often produced by vaporizing copper, gold/silver, or lead ores, and
colleting the dust from the smelter flues. The Cottrell process was a
common one.  Your chimmey probably served in that role, and as a vent.
There was an arrangement just like that for the Butte copper smelters at
Anaconda.

Toxic as hell.

Carl Barna
Regional Historian
BLM Colorado State Office


                                                                           
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Nov. 22, 2005

Hello,

I need some direction on locating information about arsenic mining methods
during the 1920s and 1930s.  They were mining arsenic as their main
product, to be used in pesticides.  Our site includes a 180 foot chimney
that snakes up the mountainside, in San Diego County.  Any pointers?
Thanks,

S. Walter