Back in November Neville Ritchie and Alexy Simmons requested information on
in-ground roasting kilns. I have had one report on what seems to be one in
Northern Nevada, but have been unable to visit the locality to confirm this
possibility. Above-ground metal roasters are common in this area.
Finally my files have yielded a report that Jen Huntley-Smith (University
of Nevada, Reno) gave me a while back:
"Though several large stamp-mills are at work in Black Hawk, I believe the
smelting process is thought to be the best, as saving the largest
percentage of gold. Hill's smelting works are the most extensive. In a
large yard the ore is first subjected to a desulphurizing process. Wood is
piled up as for charcoal burning, the ore laid on it, and covered with
earth; then the wood is fired, and the precious mass above compelled to
render up its unpleasant ghost. The smoke of its torment ascendeth up, and
chokes the traveller on the high road. There is something fearfully
suggestive in that dark hollow, with its never-quenched fires, and those
columns of yellow, suffocating smoke; and I did not doubt the story I was
told of a drunken man, who, having wandered in here and fallen asleep,
awoke in the sulphurous atmosphere to gasp out, 'In ------ at last!'"
from Grace Greenwood NEW LIFE IN NEW LANDS: NOTES OF TRAVEL. J.B. Ford &
Co., New York, 1873. Microfilm Women's History C-24(1), Getchell Library,
University of Nevada, Reno.
Best of luck on your project, I am most interested in seeing the results
when available.
Ronald L. Reno, Ph.D.
Archaeological Research Services
P.O. Box 701
977 South D Street
Office (702) 847-0615
Virginia City, NV 89440
Office Fax (702) 847-0616
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