Lieutenant Loeser and I,
with a couple of soldiers, went along. At San Jose the Governor
held some kind of a court, in which Ricord and the alcalde had a
warm dispute about a certain mine which Ricord, as a member of the
Larkin Company, had opened within the limits claimed by the New
Almaden Company. On our way up we had visited the ground, and were
therefore better prepared to understand the controversy. We had
found at New Almaden Mr. Walkinshaw, a fine Scotch gentleman, the
resident agent of Mr. Forbes. He had built in the valley, near a
small stream, a few board-houses, and some four or five furnaces for
the distillation of the mercury. These were very simple in their
structure, being composed of whalers' kettles, set in masonry.
These kettles were filled with broken ore about the size of
McAdam-stone, mingled with lime. Another kettle, reversed, formed
the lid, and the seam was luted with clay. On applying heat, the
mercury was volatilized and carried into a chimney-stack, where it
condensed and flowed back into a reservoir, and then was led in
pipes into another kettle outside. After witnessing this process,
we visited the mine itself, which outcropped near the apex of the
hill, about a thousand feet above the furnaces.
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