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diff --git a/35121-h/35121-h.htm b/35121-h/35121-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a2ca248 --- /dev/null +++ b/35121-h/35121-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3297 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Asbestos, by Robert H. Jones. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + p { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + h1 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h5,h6 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h2 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h3 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h4 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + a {text-decoration: none} /* no lines under links */ + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + ul {list-style-type: none} /* no bullets on lists */ + ul.nest {margin-top: .15em; margin-bottom: .15em; text-indent: -1.5em;} /* spacing for nested list */ + li {margin-top: .15em; margin-bottom: .15em;} /* spacing for list */ + + .cen {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} /* centering paragraphs */ + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} /* small caps */ + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} /* no indenting */ + .hang {text-indent: -2em;} /* hanging indents */ + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} /* block indent */ + .right {text-align: right; padding-right: 2em;} /* right aligning paragraphs */ + .totoc {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} /* Table of contents anchor */ + .totoi {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} /* to Table of Illustrations link */ + .img {text-align: center; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} /* centering images */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + .tdr {text-align: right;} /* right align cell */ + .tdc {text-align: center;} /* center align cell */ + .tdcb {text-align: center; vertical-align: bottom;} /* center align cell */ + .tdl {text-align: left;} /* left align cell */ + .tdlsc {text-align: left; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdrsc {text-align: right; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdcsc {text-align: center; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tr {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 1em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} /* transcriber's notes */ + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + color: silver; + background-color: inherit; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers */ + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 90%;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right; font-size: 90%;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: text-top; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem span.pn { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + color: silver; background-color: inherit; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers in poems */ + + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Asbestos, by Robert H. Jones + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Asbestos + Its production and use, with some account of the asbestos + mines of Canada + +Author: Robert H. Jones + +Release Date: January 30, 2011 [EBook #35121] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASBESTOS *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Kosker and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h1> ASBESTOS</h1> +<h2>ITS PRODUCTION AND USE</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4> WITH</h4> + +<h3> <i>SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ASBESTOS MINES<br /> OF CANADA</i></h3> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2> <span class="smcap">By</span> ROBERT H. JONES</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="img"> +<img border="0" src="images/deco.jpg" width="8%" alt="Publisher's Mark" /> +</div> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>LONDON:<br /> +CROSBY LOCKWOOD AND SON<br /> +7, STATIONERS' HALL COURT, LUDGATE HILL<br /> +1888</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The substance of the following pages was originally comprised in a +series of Letters from Canada to a friend in London, who was desirous of +obtaining all the authentic information possible on a subject on which +so little appears to be generally known.</p> + +<p>The use of Asbestos in the arts and manufactures is now rapidly assuming +such large proportions that, it is believed, it will presently be found +more difficult to say to what purposes it cannot be applied than to what +it can and is.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances, although much of the information here given +is not new, but has been gathered from every available source, it is +hoped that the compilation in its present shape may be found acceptable.</p> + +<p class="right">R. H. J.</p> +<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Hotel Victoria,</span><br /> +<span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 1em;">Northumberland Avenue,</span><br /> +<span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 2em;">London.</span><br /> +<i>April 20, 1888.</i></p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="80%"> </td> + <td class="tdr" width="20%" style="font-size: 80%;">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Introductory</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_5">5-8</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Asbestos at the American Exhibition</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_9">9, 10</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Where Found</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12-15</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Italian and Canadian Asbestos compared</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_16">16-18</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Where Used</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">The Asbestos of Italy</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_19">19-24</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Mining for Asbestos</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24-29</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Asbestos Mines of Canada—</td> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap"> The Thetford Group</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_29">29-36</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap"> The Coleraine Group</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_36">36-42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap"> Broughton</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_42">42-46</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap"> Danville</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap"> South Ham</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47-50</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap"> Wolfestown</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Uses to which Asbestos is Applied</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55-72</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl smcap">Index</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_75">75, 76</a></td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2><a name="Introductory" id="Introductory">ASBESTOS.</a></h2> +<br /> + +<p>One of Nature's most marvellous productions, asbestos is a physical +paradox. It has been called a mineralogical vegetable; it is both +fibrous and crystalline, elastic yet brittle; a floating stone, which +can be as readily carded, spun, and woven into tissue as cotton or the +finest silk.</p> + +<p>Called by geologists "asbestus" (the termination in os being the +adjective form of the word), the name of the mineral in its Greek form +as commonly used (ἄσβεστος), signifies "indestructible." The +French adopt the same derivation, calling it "asbeste" (minèral +filamenteux et incombustible). In Germany it is called "steinflachs" +(stone-flax); and by the Italians "amianto" (from ἀμίαντος, +pure, incorruptible); so-called because cloth made from it was cleansed +by passing it through fire. Charlemagne, we are told, having a cloth +made of this material in his possession, one day after dinner astonished +his rude warrior guests by throwing it in the fire, and then withdrawing +it cleansed and unconsumed.</p> + +<p>As a modern pendent to this well-known legend, the following is current +in Quebec. A labouring man, who had left the old country to seek a +better fortune in the Dominion, found employment at once on arrival in +one of the many lumber yards on the St. Lawrence, where his energy and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>activity, supplemented by great bodily strength, soon secured for him a +good position. It so happened, however, that one evening, on returning +from their daily toil to their common apartment, some of his +fellow-workmen saw him deliberately throw himself into a seat, kick off +his boots, and then pull off his socks, and having opened the door of +the stove, coolly fling them in on to the mass of burning wood. Possibly +no particular notice would have been taken of this, judged as a mere act +of folly and waste on the part of the new-comer; but when, almost +immediately afterwards, they saw him open the stove door again, take out +the apparently blazing socks, and, after giving them a shake, proceed +just as deliberately to draw them on to his feet again, that was a +trifle too much! Human nature could not stand that. Consequently the +horrified spectators, having for a moment looked on aghast, fled +precipitately from the room. To them the facts were clear enough. This, +they said, was no human being like themselves; such hellish practices +could have but one origin. If not the devil himself, this man certainly +could be no other than one of his emissaries. So off they went in a body +to the manager and demanded his instant dismissal, loudly asseverating +that they would no longer eat, drink, or work in company with such a +monster. Enquiry being at once set on foot, it turned out that some time +before leaving England the man had worked at an asbestos factory, where +he had learned to appreciate the valuable properties of this mineral; +and being of an ingenious turn of mind, he had managed to procure some +of the fiberized material and therewith knit himself a pair of socks, +which he was accustomed to cleanse in the manner described. He was, as +has been said, an unusually good workman, consequently his employers had +no wish to part with him. Explanation and expostulation, however, were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>all in vain; nothing could remove the horrible impression that his +conduct had made upon the minds of his superstitious fellow-workmen; go +he must and did, nor could the tumult be in any way allayed until he had +been dismissed from his work and had left the yard.</p> + +<p>Leaving this digression, however, it may be said that the peculiar +properties of the mineral were known long before Charlemagne's time. The +ancients, who believed it to be a plant, made a cere-cloth of it, in +which they were accustomed to enwrap the bodies which were to be burned +on the funeral pyre, so that the ashes might be retained, separate and +intact, for preservation in the family urn, an aperture being left in +the cloth to allow a free passage for the flames. How they succeeded in +weaving this cloth is now unknown. It has been suggested that its +accomplishment was effected by weaving the fibres along with those of +flax, and then passing the whole through a furnace to burn out the flax.</p> + +<p>The lamps used by the vestal virgins are also said to have been +furnished with asbestos wicks, so that the modern adaptation of it to +this purpose is only another exemplification of the truth of Solomon's +saying that "there is nothing new under the sun."</p> + +<p>The mineral has been variously described. In general terms it may be +said to be a fibrous variety of serpentine, closely allied to the +hornblende family of minerals, the Canadian variety of which is called +by mineralogists "chrysotile." In the local vernacular of the mining +districts this is "pierre-à-coton" (cotton-stone), perhaps as expressive +a term as can be found.</p> + +<p>The ore takes a variety of forms; much of it (especially that found in +the States) is of a coarse woody character, of but little value for +mercantile purposes.</p> + +<p>Sir William Logan, in his "Geology of Canada," says <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>that foliated and +fibrous varieties of serpentine are common in veins of the ophiolites of +the Silurian series, constituting the varieties which have been +described under the various names of baltimorite, marmolite, picrolite, +and chrysotile. The true asbestos, however, he says, is a fibrous +variety of tremolite or hornblende.</p> + +<p>In <i>Le Génie Civil</i> for September, 1883, Canadian asbestos is thus +described: "La chrysotile du Canada n'est pas comme l'amiante ordinaire +formée d'un paquet de fils d'un blanc verdâtre et remplissant des +cavités irrégulières: c'est une véritable pierre d'une densité comprise +entre 2 et 3, qui se trouve en couches de 3 à 10 centimètres +d'épaisseur. Cette pierre possède la propriété de se reduire en fibres +perpendiculairement à sa longueur sous un effort très faible. Ses fibres +transversales sont plus résistantes et beaucoup plus facile à filer, à +tisser, et à feutrer que l'amiante ordinaire." This is as good a +description of chrysotile as can be found anywhere.</p> + +<p>Until the discovery of the Canadian mines, the variety here spoken of as +amiante (amianthus), was esteemed the most rare and delicate kind, on +account of its beautifully white, flexible, long, and delicately laid +fibres. This variety is generally found buried in the centre of the +older crystalline rocks in the Pyrenees, the Alps of Dauphiny, on Mount +St. Gothard, in North America, in the serpentines of Sweden, the Ural +Mountains, Silesia, and New South Wales. The most beautiful specimens, +such as are preserved in museums and mineralogical collections, have +mostly been brought from Tarantaise in Savoy, or from Corsica.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> In +this latter place it is said to be so abundant that, its mercantile +value being unknown, it has often been used, instead of tow, as a +material for packing.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>In a handbook published by the Dominion Government in 1882 (before the +discovery of the mines of chrysotile) on the mineral resources of +Canada, it is said that—</p> + +<p>"What is commercially known as asbestos is really a term used to denote +a peculiar fibrous form assumed by several distinct minerals, rather +than to designate any particular species. Tremolite, actinolite, and +other forms of hornblende and serpentine, passing into fibrous +varieties, assume the name of asbestos, and the 'Geology of Canada' does +not give the mineral as a distinct one, but recognizes it under these +different headings. As yet comparatively little asbestos has been found +in Canada."</p> + +<p>This is sufficient to show how small was the interest, even so recently +as that, attaching to this substance in the very country which was so +soon to find it taking important rank amongst her natural productions.</p> + +<p>That singularly beautiful mineral termed "crocidolite," which displays +such sheens and radiances of gold and bronze and green as give it the +appearance of satin changed into stone, is nothing more than compressed +asbestos. The derivation of its name is not happy. It is said to be from +κροκος λιθος, simply crocus-coloured or yellow stone. This is +doubtless its general colour, but the finest crocidolite is anything but +yellow.</p> + +<p>Having heard that there were some fine specimens of asbestos on view at +the recent exhibition of the United States products at Earl's Court, I +made a journey there specially to see them. In this, however, I was +disappointed. There was but one small tray of so-called asbestos +(amphibole) on view; and this was of a coarse woody character, very +similar in appearance to a sample I had had sent to me recently from +California. It was, moreover, of a very poor colour and certainly not of +the kind that would readily find a market. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>I found there, however, a +piece of unmistakable chrysotile, grouped amongst a miscellaneous lot of +American minerals. The exhibitor at once told me, in reply to my +questions, that this was not an American product at all, but that it was +a "vegetable matter" found in Canada. He evidently did not know much +about it, and said it was not asbestos at all. It was not by any means a +fine specimen: it had somewhat the appearance of ordinary Thetford No. +1, though differing slightly in colour. I could get no further +information about it, except that it had come from near Ottawa.</p> + +<p>At this exhibition I found a splendid display of crocidolite, the sight +of which well repaid the visit. I secured a good specimen, but found, on +enquiry, that like all the superior qualities of this mineral, it had +been brought from Griqualand (South Africa). The sample I secured was of +the kind that in the States is called "Tiger-eye," as I presume, from +its general tawny-coloured streaky brilliancy. The exhibitor said it was +a silicate of iron occurring in asbestos-like fibres. It is of an +exceedingly hard, densely compact nature; from its hardness difficult to +work, but susceptible of a very high polish. A few years ago it was +thought to be a precious stone and accordingly commanded a high price, +but recent discoveries of large deposits considerably reduced its value. +It is used for a variety of ornamental purposes, for which, from its +extreme natural beauty, it is peculiarly adapted. The grain is very fine +and in its rough state the fibres are singularly distinct.</p> + +<p>There is another very singular substance worth alluding to here, which +is often put forward as a substitute for asbestos, and which is said by +the manufacturers to be fireproof, frost-proof, vermin-proof, +sound-proof, indestructible, and odourless. This is a good deal to say, +but is in a great measure true. It is largely used in the United Slates, +especially for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>insulating and other purposes of a like kind. I mean the +artificially manufactured material called "Mineral or Slag Wool," which +is made from the refuse of the furnaces at ironworks, by, it is said, +passing jets of steam through molten slag. This material is manufactured +on a somewhat extensive scale by the Western Mineral Wool Company, of +Cleveland, Ohio. There is no doubt it is a very useful substance for +many of the purposes for which it is recommended, but it can scarcely be +expected to compete to any material extent with asbestos from its total +want of elasticity and lubricity. Even the finest quality on being +crushed between the fingers has a harsh, gritty, metallic feeling, very +different from the silky, springy, and greasy feel of the natural fibre.</p> + +<p>In connection with this manufactured article, a very curious natural +production is called to mind, the origin of which is somewhat similar +though brought about by natural causes. I refer to the product of the +lava-beds of Hawaii, called by the natives "Pélé's hair." Miss C. F. +Gordon Cumming, in her "Fire Fountains of Hawaii," speaks of this as +"filaments of stringy brown lava, like spun glass, which lie scattered +here and there, having been caught by the wind (when thrown up) in +mid-air in a state of perfect fusion, forming fine lava drops, a rain of +liquid rock, and so drawn out in silky threads like fine silky hair."</p> + +<p>"In fact, this filmy, finely spun glass is known as Pélé's hair—Rauoho o +Pélé. It is of a rich olive green or yellowish brown colour—a hint for +æsthetic fashions—and is glossy, like the byssus of certain shells, but +very brittle to handle. Sometimes when the great fire-fountains toss +their spray so high that it flies above the level of the cliffs, the +breeze catches it sportively and carries it far away over the island; +and the birds line their nests with this silky volcanic hair. Sometimes +you can collect handfuls clinging to the rocks to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>which it has drifted, +generally with a pear-shaped drop attached to it." This, it is evident, +would crumble and break off short in the fingers, and the mineral wool +when handled has just the same gritty brittle feeling one can imagine +Pélé's hair to have.</p> + +<p>Returning to asbestos, however, its formation or actual origin is at +present unknown. In its pure state it is as heavy as the rock in which +it is found, so closely are its fine elastic crystalline fibres +compressed together. These have a beautiful silky lustre, varying in +colour from pure white to a dusky grey or green, sometimes of a +yellowish green; the direction of the fibres being transverse to the +walls of the vein. The essential point in which it differs from any +other known mineral consists in its being at once fibrous and textile. +Its quality is determined by the greater or less proportion of silicious +or gritty matter with which its fibres are associated. When crushed out +from the rock, these fibres, which vie in delicacy with the finest flax +or the most beautiful silk, can be corded, spun, and woven into cloth in +precisely the same way as any other textile fibre.</p> + +<p>Of good quality it is only found in serpentine. One instance of its +having been found in quartz is mentioned; but, even in that case we are +told, when six feet of the superficial quartz rock had been blasted +away, the inevitable serpentine was found cropping through.</p> + +<p>According to Mr. Ells,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> the serpentines in which it is found are +intimately associated with masses of dioritic or doloritic rocks, of +which rocks certain varieties, rich in olivine or some allied mineral, +the serpentine is, in many cases, an alteration product. They are +frequently associated with masses and dykes of whitish rocks, which are +often composed entirely of quartz and felspar, but occasionally <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>with a +mixture of black mica, forming a granitoid rock. They occur generally +not far from the axes of certain anticlinals which exist in the group of +rocks called by Sir William Logan the "altered Quebec group."</p> + +<p>For centuries asbestos was regarded merely as a mineral curiosity. +Indeed, it is only within the last few years that it has developed into +a valuable article of commerce, the first modern experiments in the use +of it practically extending no farther back than 1850.</p> + +<p>Its uses in the arts and manufactures are of a very important character, +and now that it is clearly demonstrated that a fairly abundant supply +can be obtained at a moderate cost, there seems no reasonable limit to +be put to the demand, new uses for it being continually found. These +will, of course, rapidly increase as its value becomes more clearly and +widely known.</p> + +<p>It is found in most parts of the world, but in only a few places of a +sufficiently valuable kind or in quantities large enough to give it any +commercial value. The main sources of supply at present are Canada and +Italy.</p> + +<p>A good deal has, at times, been found in Russia; and I remember an +incident which occurred a few years ago at some extensive ironworks in +that country, with which I was at the time connected, which amusingly +illustrates how little was then known there of the nature and properties +of the mineral. The iron ore, in the district referred to, is found in +bunches or nodules, near the surface of the ground; and in order to get +it, the peasants dig out pits about seven or eight feet in depth, and +then burrow, rabbit-like, into the surrounding earth in all directions +below. When all the ore is got out from one spot, they dig another pit +further afield, and so they go on until the particular patch of ground +they are working on is exhausted. On the occasion referred to, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>some of +our men, in their burrowing, threw out a considerable quantity of +asbestos. They had not the slightest idea what it was. In fact, they +knew nothing at all about it, except that it was not what they were in +search of; and, consequently, as it obstructed their work, they threw it +all out in a heap near the piles of ore. Presently, one of the foremen +or overlookers saw it, and wanted to know what all that rubbish had been +put there for. "Here," said he, to some of the men, "just clear up all +that mess at once, and fling it into the furnace, and get rid of it." +And this was immediately done, with what result you may imagine.</p> + +<p>Recently, however, it is said that enormous quantities of asbestos have +been found in Russia, although I cannot learn that any use is made of it +there at present. Its mercantile value must of course depend on its +quality and distance from market. I have had a great number of specimens +sent me, but they mostly turn out to be a coarse kind of so-called +bastard asbestos, which would not pay for extracting. Now, however, we +are told that from Orenburg to Ekaterinburg the country is thickly +dotted with asbestos deposits, while near the Verkin Tagil ironworks +there is a hill called Sholkovaya Gora, or Hill of Silk, which it is +asserted is entirely composed of asbestos. The ore here is also said to +be of the best white quality, well adapted for all the most important +purposes to which asbestos is applied. I should much like to see a +specimen of this; its value could be easily determined on inspection. In +the Gorobtagsdat district of Perm, again, there are said to be large +deposits cropping out above the surface, and also that enormous +quantities could be had there for nothing, as at this moment it +possesses no value in the Ural region. I imagine it would be found of +considerable value if a practical man were sent out to see to its +fiberization on the spot, when it might be compressed, packed, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>and +exported in the same way as cotton. There can, however, be little doubt +that if its quality is as good as it is represented to be, it will very +soon be utilized, and will then form a very important addition to the +vast mineral wealth of that region.</p> + +<p>As might be expected, asbestos is also found in China, but, as a matter +of course, the use to which it is put there is one we should little +dream of here. For instance, in the translation of a Chinese medical +book by Dr. Hobson, of the London Medical Mission, asbestos is seen to +figure (of all places in the world) under the head of <i>tonics</i>, in +company with such heterogeneous substances as "dried spotted lizard, +silkworm moth, human milk, parasite of the mulberry tree, asses' glue, +stalactite," and a few more surprising things. Perhaps it may be just as +well for us that we are not yet educated up to so fine a point as that, +and that consequently the mineral we are speaking of does not yet find a +place in the British Pharmacopœia, but is left to exhibit its +apparently more natural properties in the arts and manufactures.</p> + +<p>A correspondent of <i>The Financial News</i>, writing from Barberton in +January, 1888, says that at Komali Fields, fifty miles from that place, +asbestos has just been found, but that it was as yet too soon to discuss +the merits of the find.</p> + +<p>In sending you an account of the Canadian asbestos industry, you will +scarcely expect me to give you any very detailed information about its +Italian competitor. Any account of the one, however, would necessarily +be so incomplete without some mention of the other, that I will do the +best I can with the little information I have been enabled to obtain on +the subject of the Italian mines.</p> + +<p>Experiments with the view of utilizing asbestos in Italy appear to have +been first successfully carried on in 1850 by the Chevalier Aldini, of +Milan, and others, mainly with the object of turning the mineral to +account in the manufacture <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>of asbestos cloth. The Chevalier had a +complete suit made of it—cap, gloves, tunic, and stockings—for the +purpose of testing its protective powers for firemen; and of this I +shall have something to say presently.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> But it was not until twenty +years after this that any success was attained in the manufacture of +asbestos millboard and paper, the commercial value of which is now +assuming such large proportions.</p> + +<p>About the same time the manufacture of asbestos into packings for piston +glands was successfully accomplished in America; and some two years +afterwards a company, calling itself "The Patent Asbestos Manufacturing +Company, Limited," was formed in Glasgow for the purpose of making +piston packings according to this American invention. In 1880 this +Glasgow Company united its business with that of Messrs. Furse Brothers +and Co., of Rome, asbestos manufacturers, as well as with that of the +Italo-English Pure Asbestos Company, and, when the amalgamation was +complete, the new Company, taking the name of "The United Asbestos +Company, Limited," became possessed of nearly the whole of the known +Italian mines, and, consequently, of a practical monopoly of the trade +in asbestos from that country.</p> + +<p>Italian differs very materially from Canadian asbestos, not only in +appearance, but in formation also, as well as in the mode of extraction. +The two are, in fact, entirely separate and distinct kinds of the same +mineral; notwithstanding which their intrinsic qualities are practically +the same, and the uses to which they are put are almost identical.</p> + +<p>An extraordinary specimen of Italian asbestos, obtained from one of the +mines of the United Asbestos Company, situate in the Valtellina Valley, +is in the possession of that company, and is no doubt the finest piece +of asbestos ever brought from Italy, whether as regards strength or +fineness of fibre. Any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>one interested in the matter would, I have no +doubt, be readily permitted to inspect this natural curiosity, on +application to Mr. Boyd, the courteous manager of the company, in Queen +Victoria Street.</p> + +<p>Just about this time (1880) Canadian asbestos, also, was being much +talked about and sought after; and it is therefore perhaps scarcely to +be wondered at that the company which first began to work the mineral in +Italy on a large scale, and which, at great expense and trouble, had +managed to secure the whole of the Italian mines, and so become +possessed, as they supposed, of a monopoly of the trade, should have +viewed with jealousy the rapid progress made in public estimation by the +Canadian ore when once it was introduced to the market.</p> + +<p>It is not my purpose, however, to enter on the vexed question of the +relative merits of the two varieties, which would be altogether out of +place in a letter of this kind. But I think we may safely conclude that +both possess undeniably good qualities, and that there is an ample field +for both, inasmuch as the peculiar properties which render one kind +unsuitable for some particular purpose are often precisely those which +best adapt it for another. Each variety will assuredly make its own way +and take its proper place in public estimation as further experiments +and greater experience in the use of it shall bring its special value +more prominently to light.</p> + +<p>Ample proof has been given of the valuable qualities of Italian +asbestos; and if any proof were needed of the intrinsic value of its +Canadian competitor, nothing more would be required than to point to +such houses as that of John Bell & Son, of London; of Wertheim, of +Frankfort; or to the Johns Manufacturing Company, or the Chalmers-Spence +Company, of New York, whose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>world-renowned manufactures are made of +Canadian asbestos alone.</p> + +<p>The essential characteristics of both sorts are alike in this respect, +that they are absolutely indestructible by fire, or even when exposed to +the action of any known acid; the Canadian variety possessing in +addition, in a very high degree, that strange peculiarity (which is also +claimed for one of the Italian sorts), and is common also to plumbago +and soapstone, of being a self-lubricator. Good Canadian fibre is known +at once by its soft, greasy, soapy feeling; and one of the leading New +York firms claims for its products, made entirely of Canadian asbestos, +that they will resist even the flame of the blowpipe; and further +asserts that this mineral transcends all previously thought-of materials +for fireproofing, in that it is not only absolutely indestructible by +fire, but that its power of resistance cannot be worn away or diminished +by lapse of time or hard usage, as invariably happens in the case of +such applications as tungstate of soda.</p> + +<p>Regarding its use, Germany is a very large consumer. In France the +consumption is not so great, although manufacturers in that country are +now beginning to bestir themselves, especially in regard to some very +valuable kinds of paper, which they are making entirely out of Canadian +fibre; and Paris has now set the world an example by the adoption of the +Chevalier Aldini's plan of clothing firemen in a dress of asbestos +cloth.</p> + +<p>America, however, is the country where the most rapid strides are being +made in the development of every branch of this new industry, and there +also the Canadian fibre alone is used.</p> + +<p>A considerable quantity of it is made use of in England, in the +manufacture of some valuable kinds of packing for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>engineering work, +millboards, felts, lubricants, paint, and the like; but in England we +lack in some degree the readiness which is found on the other side of +the ocean, in the adaptation of new materials and new methods of work.</p> + +<p>Whether it be that Englishmen are influenced by climatic or other +causes, certain it is that they are slow to adopt new systems, to +cultivate novel ideas, or to move out of old grooves. Consequently, when +new materials, or even novel applications of those long used, are +suggested, they ponder over them, hesitate, and weigh the chances, and +in so doing not infrequently let slip valuable opportunities; whilst the +keener and more enterprising American, once he sees the drift of the new +matter, will, to use his own expression, "catch hold" at once. It by no +means follows, however, that this is the fault of the manufacturers +alone; they have naturally to gauge the requirements of their customers, +and prefer to limit their make to what they know they can sell.</p> + +<p>The finer kinds of asbestos, the strong fibres of which are of a pure +white colour and of a fine silky texture, being at the same time free +from silicic acid or metallic oxide, are comparatively rare; and, on +account of their lubricating qualities, are especially valuable. This +particular kind, I am told, is at the present time only to be found in +Canada and some parts of the States. Whether this statement is correct +or not, I am not in a position to say; but that it is found in Canada I +know, for I have there personally witnessed the blasting out of many +hundreds of tons. In the Dominion it is invariably obtained from hard +rock somewhat difficult to work.</p> + +<p>In an interesting paper on Italian asbestos, to be found in the "Journal +of the Society of Arts" for April, 1886, to which I have been indebted +for a good deal of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>information respecting the Italian mines, I find a +very singular statement given as the result of long observation by the +<i>employés</i> of the United Company in Italy. It is there said that "if +asbestos be found on the surface of a rock exposed either to the south +or south-west, the product is generally fairly abundant and of good +quality. If exposed to the east there is fine quality, but very small +quantity; whilst if exposed to the north the quantity is plentiful but +dry and hard, and on entering the rock all traces of it are lost."</p> + +<p>Whether this be at all consistent with Canadian experience I cannot say. +The lie of the ground and the course of the veins being so different, it +is quite possible the theory may have no applicability at all to +Canadian mining. But it is certainly suggestive and interesting, and I +will cause inquiry in this direction to be set on foot at once.</p> + +<p>In the same paper I find the following given as analyses of the two +varieties. The first is stated to be by Professor Barff, but by whom the +latter was made does not appear. According to these there would be +little doubt which was the most valuable for general manufacturing +purposes, but as there is nothing to show what kind of Canadian ore was +submitted for analysis, or by whom the analysis was made, you must take +it as an analysis only, <i>quantum valeat</i>.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png020"> + <tr> + <td class="tdl" width="60%"> </td> + <td class="tdc" width="20%">ITALIAN.</td> + <td class="tdc" width="20%">CANADIAN.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Lime and magnesia</td> + <td class="tdc">37·84</td> + <td class="tdc">33·20</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Silica</td> + <td class="tdc">41·69</td> + <td class="tdc">40·90</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Oxide of iron</td> + <td class="tdc"> 3·01</td> + <td class="tdc"> 5·75</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Potash</td> + <td class="tdc"> ·85</td> + <td class="tdc">traces</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Soda</td> + <td class="tdc"> 1·41</td> + <td class="tdc"> ·68</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Alumina</td> + <td class="tdc"> 2·57</td> + <td class="tdc"> 6·60</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Moisture evaporated at 100° C.</td> + <td class="tdc"> 3·04</td> + <td class="tdc">—</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Loss on heating to white heat, water of hydration, and organic matter</td> + <td class="tdcb"> 9·56</td> + <td class="tdcb"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>12·50</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Chlorine</td> + <td class="tdc">—</td> + <td class="tdc"> ·25</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl">Loss</td> + <td class="tdc" style="text-decoration: underline;"> ·03</td> + <td class="tdc" style="text-decoration: underline;"> ·12</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdc">100 </td> + <td class="tdc">100 </td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Three distinct kinds of asbestos are said to be found in Italy, viz., +Grey, Flossy, and Powdery. The grey is a long, fibrous variety, +possessing, in addition to strength, the much-prized saponaceous +quality; and this is mostly found in the two Alpine valleys of +Valtellina and d'Aosta. The flossy, which has a smooth, silky +appearance, but a dry feeling when touched, is found and worked in part +of the chain of mountains which bound the valley leading from Susa to +Turin, and at an elevation of about 8,000 feet above the sea level. This +is the kind which is mostly used in the manufacture of gas stoves. It is +commonly found in thicker seams than the grey, lying mostly in a +horizontal direction, but dipping rapidly as the rock is entered. The +third is a powdery kind, which, while possessing all the heat-resisting +properties of the two others, crumbles in the hand when touched. This +variety is found in the same range of mountains as that last mentioned, +but at a much lower level; it appears to have been first brought to +light by a landslip exposing to view a seam of it three feet wide. When +first seen it is said to have had a pasty consistency, but on exposure +to the air it dried and crumbled into powder.</p> + +<p>Italian ore, generally speaking, is won by running driftways, or +tunnelling into the face of the rock. In Canada the mineral is got out +by open quarrywork, no tunnelling there being possible. The serpentine +rock in which the asbestos or chrysotile is there found is so split and +seamed in every conceivable direction by the veins and stringers that if +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>tunnelling were attempted the first blast would inevitably bring the +whole superincumbent mass down about your ears. You might as well +attempt to tunnel through loose sand or gravel. In other words, the +relative difference in the two modes of winning the ore appears to be +that the Italian asbestos may be said to be won by tunnelling into the +face of the rock; whilst the Canadian chrysotile is found in veins, +running, it is true, with the greatest irregularity, but yet with a +distinctly perpendicular declension. The Italian variety, again, seems +frequently to be found, or the seams to end, in pockets, some of which +have been known to contain a ton or a ton and a half of asbestos, after +exhaustion of which all appearance of its presence ceased. The Canadian +ore, on the other hand, generally runs in veins and seams, which almost +invariably improve both in quantity and quality the lower you go down, +but where or how it ends has never yet been discovered.</p> + +<p>It may possibly be, however, that the more correct way to put this would +be the very opposite of what I have just stated; because if you stand +and face the rock when laid bare in any of the Canadian mines and trace +the downward course and increasing strength of the veins, it would +really seem as if this strange mineral substance, at some former time, +when in a state of violent ebullition, had striven energetically to +force an outlet into the upper air, splitting the overlying rock in all +directions in its passage upward from below; and that, as it gradually +cooled off and expended its force, the rifts in the rock, which now form +the veins, became narrower and narrower, until, when the surface of the +ground was at last reached it had only just sufficient energy left to +bubble over through the cracks, where it then cooled off and hardened +into thin lava-like ridges. These ridges are to be seen in all +directions in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>asbestos districts of Canada, wherever the peculiar +yellowish-looking stone forming the upper crust of the asbestos-bearing +rocks is found. And notwithstanding the plainly visible evidence that +these rocks, from centuries of exposure to the elements, have been worn +away on the upper surface until they have assumed a rounded, +water-washed, boulder-like shape, the narrow ridges spoken of have +apparently always remained in the same state, alike indestructible and +undisturbed.</p> + +<p>If you will imagine to yourself the mountain masses of almost +perpendicular rock, which contain the horizontally-lying seams +frequently found in Italy, to be thrown backward and downward so as to +lie face uppermost, and so that you could walk on the face, you will get +a rough idea of the lie of the veins in the Canadian serpentine. And +possibly on further exploration the analogy would be still further borne +out by these veins being found to terminate in reservoirs or pockets, +just as it has been said is usually found to be the case in Italy. No +one has yet gone far enough down to test the depth of the veins in any +Canadian mine. It will no doubt presently be done. All that would be +required would be to bore until the next series was reached. The +experiment, if expensive, would be both valuable and instructive, +especially bearing in mind the well-known fact in Canadian mining that +the deeper you follow the veins into the ground the better the quality +of the cotton becomes.</p> + +<p>There is one more point of distinction between the two kinds, and that +is in the surface indications, which may possibly be due to atmospheric +influences. In Italian exploration the prospector is not guided by any +hard lines or ridges on the rock surface of the ground, as in Canada. On +the contrary, he finds cracks in the perpendicular face of the rock +filled with a white powdery substance which, when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>the surface is broken +away, is said to assume a leathery appearance, after which, when further +entry is made, the true asbestos is found.</p> + +<p>Thus, it will be seen that there is not only a considerable difference +between the two sorts of asbestos which supply the demands of the +market, but that the mode of winning it is also different; as are, +moreover, the natural indications which guide the explorer in his search +after the mineral.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> "Encyl. Brit." Art. "Asbestos."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> A member of the Geological Survey Department, Ottawa.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See <i>post</i>, p. 66.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>CANADIAN MINING FOR ASBESTOS.</h2> +<br /> + +<p>And now I will leave the subject of the Italian mines altogether, and +proceed to give some account of the asbestos mining industry as carried +on in Canada; mainly the result of my notes and observations during a +residence at the mines.</p> + +<p>The main sources from which the supply of asbestos in the Dominion is +derived lie in the province of Quebec, in the counties of Megantic and +Beauce. The serpentine rock in which it is found crops up at intervals +all along the belt of what has been previously alluded to as the +"altered Quebec group"<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> (pre-Cambrian), throughout a range of over 120 +miles in length, occasionally attaining a width of more than 2,500 feet, +mostly bearing from north-east to south-west, and crossing the Coleraine +District nearly east and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>west. It extends almost uninterruptedly from +the boundary of Vermont, in the State of Maine, running north-eastward, +to some distance from the Chaudière River, a little beyond the latitude +of Quebec.</p> + +<p>Large tracts of serpentine, probably containing the mineral in paying +quantities, occur at Belmina in Wolfe County, and in the vicinity of +Brompton Lake; but although the work of exploration has been carried on +in several places with fair prospects of success, the profitable working +of the mineral up to the present time has been mostly confined to +Broughton, Thetford, Coleraine, and Danville.</p> + +<p>In the Shickshock mountain region of New Brunswick, said to be a +detached area of the pre-Cambrian formation, which constitutes the chief +mineral belt of the Eastern Townships (within which the last-mentioned +districts are comprised), serpentine and chromic iron are the only two +minerals which have as yet been recognised. Looking, however, to the +fact that these two minerals everywhere accompany the deposits of +chrysotile, as well as the ores of copper, lead, and antimony, with +occasionally richer deposits of gold and silver, in the region to the +south-west, it would scarcely seem unreasonable to anticipate +discoveries of asbestos in the as yet unexplored region of the Gaspé +peninsula. The range here extends through the northern portion of the +peninsula in rear of Saint-Anne des Monts, and further east on the lower +part of the Dartmouth River.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Indications of asbestos are found at most points throughout the whole +serpentine formation. The developments, so far as is yet known, are +principally, as we have said, in the districts around Thetford and +Coleraine. There can, however, be no valid reason why chrysotile of the +richer sorts and in paying quantities should not be found at other +points, it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>being only reasonable to suppose that future exploration +will materially extend the area over which profitable mining operations +can be carried on.</p> + +<p>In the Blue Book on the "Geological Survey of Canada, 1882" (Mr. +Willimott's report), published by the Dominion Government, it is stated +that "there appears to be unlimited quantities of asbestos distributed +throughout the entire serpentine belt which attains its greatest +prominence in the townships of Thetford and Coleraine. Its existence is +generally made apparent by a whitish shining substance found coating the +serpentine, arising from the decay of the outcropping veins. But this," +he says, "must not be taken as always indicating the presence of +workable veins."</p> + +<p>The character of the rock varies considerably, and in some places it is +even now apparently in the transition stage between the original rock +from which it is derived and a true serpentine, having still almost the +hardness of felspar, while it yet retains the general aspect and colour +of the serpentine in which it is found. Large masses of dioritic rock, +having the aspect of dykes, are found in most of the quarries, possibly +representing portions of the original rock not yet altered to +serpentine.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>It may be taken as a general rule that wherever the true serpentine +occurs asbestos will be found, though it is difficult to say how the +veins have been formed, or how the fact of their existence is to be +known with any degree of certainty, except by the light superficial +indication already mentioned, which seems at present to be the only, but +by no means infallible, guide. The asbestos traverses the serpentine in +irregular veins ranging from mere threads or stringers to a thickness of +three or four, and in some cases it is asserted of as much as six +inches; the fibre always, unless <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>affected by the dislocation of the +containing rock, lying at right angles to the sides of the fissure.</p> + +<p>The rock is often impure, the impurity arising mostly from the admixture +of particles, occasionally of small irregular thread-like veins, of +magnetite or of chromic iron, which break the continuity of the fibre +and cause very careful cobbing of the ore to be necessary in order to +get rid of these impurities. This is particularly the case at Thetford, +as we shall see when speaking of Messrs. King's mine there.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>In other districts the fibre is discoloured (and the value of it +consequently much reduced) by the infiltration of water impregnated with +the oxide of iron. This is especially the case in the Black Lake +district, more particularly on the property of the Anglo-Canadian +Company, where the serpentine is a good deal shattered by the action of +the weather, or possibly from other causes. This discoloration ceases as +a general rule, or at any rate becomes considerably diminished in +intensity, in proportion as the containing rock becomes more solid. It +is, however, a most serious matter as affecting the character and +pecuniary value of these mines.</p> + +<p>In the case of nearly all the mines there are large quantities of +so-called bastard asbestos found in and about them. This is a woody, +brittle variety of apparently as yet unformed mineral, for which at +present no use seems to have been found; but, judging from the course +new applications of the mineral are now taking, there can be little +doubt that this inferior article will presently command its price in the +market, a use being found for it in some of the many purposes for which +coarse pulverized asbestos is found to be applicable.</p> + +<p>Many other very singular types are also to be seen. Some of the pieces +as they lie on the ground, after blasting, have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>so much the appearance +of a wood-cutter's choppings (being, in fact, in the coarse and peculiar +grain of the fibre, so like chips of wood), that, if placed side by side +with actual chippings from rough timber exposed to the weather in the +woods, the one could in no way be distinguished from the other, except +of course by handling, when the weight and stony feeling of the asbestos +would make the difference at once perceptible.</p> + +<p>Chrome iron is frequently found, sometimes as at Thetford and South Ham, +in very large quantities in close proximity to the asbestos-bearing +rock. In the iron, where this is the case, although the stringers of +asbestos may be very minute, they will almost certainly be found +intersecting the ore, just as we have already seen that the grains and +threads of the chrome iron often cut and spoil the fibre of the +asbestos.</p> + +<p>The marketable value of asbestos is determined in the first instance by +the colour, coupled with the thickness or width of the fibre in the +vein. The colour, it may be said, largely depends upon the locality of +the mine, and will be distinguished at once on inspection of the rocky +gangue. At Thetford it is of a greenish hue, being there found in the +darker coloured serpentine; whilst at Broughton the ore is of a pearly +yellowish green, the surrounding rock being mostly of a grey or pale +green colour. This difference of colour in the ore, however, in no way +affects the value of the mineral, as when crushed out the fibre is +mostly of a uniform whiteness.</p> + +<p>There are other distinguishing characteristics in the ore even of +closely adjacent mines, of so marked a nature that an expert has no +difficulty in determining the locality of the mine, or even of the mine +itself, from the appearance of the ore.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>Although scarcely within the scope of the present remarks, it is worthy +of note that serpentines of an ornamental character are very abundant in +Canada; some very beautiful specimens of which were recently shown in +London, at the late Colonial and Indian Exhibition at South Kensington. +Many of these contain small quantities of chromium and nickel, and are +associated with soapstone, potstone, dolomite, and magnetite. A band of +limestone also occurs at Templeton containing masses of a light-coloured +translucent serpentine. These, however, beautiful as they are, do not at +this moment specially concern us, as none of them contain asbestos in +workable quantities, the stone being entirely of an ornamental +character. They are exploited with some success by the Canadian Granite +Company of Ottawa, and are used by them for monuments, mantelpieces, +vases, and such like. One would certainly think that their importation +into England would meet with success, seeing that there is always a +demand here for fine marbles and stones for architectural and other +purposes.</p> + +<p>Sir William Logan says: "Les serpentines, dans toute l'étendue de leur +gisement, fournissent de très-beaux marbres vert-de-mer souvent +ressemblant au vert antique."</p> +<br /> + +<a name="The_Thetford_Group" id="The_Thetford_Group"></a> +<p class="cen">THE THETFORD GROUP OF MINES.</p> + +<p>Although the existence of asbestos in Canada, in one at least of the +above-mentioned localities, was known to geologists for many years prior +to 1877, it was not until the autumn of that year that a mine was +discovered which proved to be of any commercial importance. This was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>first found by a farmer, named Fecteau, in the township of Thetford; +and, true to its reputation, Thetford has continued to be the +head-quarters and main source of the supply ever since.</p> + +<p>This, the first regular Canadian mine, was opened up in 1878 by Messrs. +Johnson and Ward. The demand at first for the produce of this mine was +exceedingly limited; indeed, great difficulty was experienced in finding +a market at all. The output the first year was only about fifty tons; +but the great value of the mineral being soon ascertained, exploration +on the serpentine belt in this neighbourhood was prosecuted on an +extensive scale, which resulted in asbestos being found in workable +quantities over a very considerable area.</p> + +<p>The mine spoken of is now the property of the Johnson Company, of which +the Hon. George Irvine, Q.C., is president, and Mr. Andrew Johnson, who +now represents Megantic in the Provincial Legislative Assembly at +Quebec, is the resident manager. The features of this and the +neighbouring mines are very similar. They consist of a massive +serpentine, varying in colour from a dark green to almost white, +intersected by numerous veins of asbestos of varying thickness, +remarkably free (except in one instance) from any admixture of foreign +substances. A large extent of this mine is now opened. It is being +worked with energy and success, its produce being second to none that +has yet been put on the market. According to a statement given in the +Canadian <i>Mining Review</i> for October last, its output for 1886 was +approximately 375 tons, the total output of the mine up to the end of +that year being given as 2,500 tons. I was recently informed by the +president of the company that they had now made a contract for the sale +of the whole of their output for the next five years. The produce of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>mine is nearly all No. 1, and is worth from $80 to $100 a ton.</p> + +<p>Adjoining the Johnson Company's mine is one belonging to the "Boston +Asbestos Packing Company," of which Mr. Hyde Rust, of Boston, is +treasurer, and Mr. T. Sheridan, local resident manager. This mine is +being steadily and efficiently worked, and being practically on the same +level with that of the Johnson Company, the produce is of a very similar +character. It is remarkably good, and some exceptionally fine asbestos +has been got out here. In a pamphlet published a short time ago by the +Canadian Government on the mineral resources of Canada, it is stated +that the yield from this mine (including of course that last mentioned), +is pronounced by European manufacturers to be the finest and strongest +fibre of the kind known; and it is further stated <i>that there is no +question at all as to the profitable nature of asbestos mining in this +belt of country</i>.</p> + +<p>The output of the Boston Company's mine, according to the authority just +cited, is about 400 tons per annum. Mr. Ells, of the Geological Survey +Department, Ottawa, says that in 1886 the quantity extracted was about +700 tons, and the total produce of the mine to the end of that year +about 3,000 tons. There must, I imagine, be some misapprehension of the +figures here, and I feel sure that those given above are nearer the +mark.</p> + +<p>The value of the output of this mine is certainly as high, it is +possible taking it all round, that it may be higher than that of the +last mentioned. Steps are now being taken to introduce machinery and +prosecute the work on a more extensive scale.</p> + +<p>The next mine here is one of a more recent date, worked by the Brothers +Ward, and owned by them conjointly with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>the Hon. James Ross of Quebec. +It is turning out fairly good material, and judging by the indications, +coupled with what has been already done, there is no reason to suppose +that this mine will not presently be as remunerative as those already +mentioned.</p> + +<p>The output of this, on the same authority, is 150 tons, which is, I +believe, the extreme limit of what has yet been done. This mine has been +opened now about four years, and in that time has produced, as near as I +could learn when last there, about 400 tons. It is said to be worth from +$70 to $80, but I did not hear of any of it fetching more than $70, +which is doubtless its present value.</p> + +<p>The same gentlemen own some very promising-looking land on the other +side of the railway, which, in fact, bisects their property; but as this +is on a lower level it looks very much as if they will be troubled with +water when they begin to open.</p> + +<p>The only other mine now opened at Thetford is that owned and worked by +Messrs. King Brothers. It is in the same vicinity and bears much the +same character as those already mentioned. The output is given at 175 +tons per annum.</p> + +<p>These four mines form the Thetford group, and are at present by far the +most important in the province. They are on a lower level and are +consequently worked at a greater depth than those next to be described. +The output for this reason moreover is of a more uniform character, and +does not require such close classification as some of the other mines +farther on. Practically, No. 1 and No. 3 are the only divisions here, +the produce being mostly available for No. 1. No. 3 is a very inferior +kind, merely the refuse in fact, which is sold and shipped in bulk at +$10 a ton, without being bagged up at all, and is mostly used for +cement, boiler covering, &c.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>The Thetford river marks the western limit of the serpentine on these +properties, the rocks on the other side of the water being mostly +altered slates and sandstones. To the east of the railway, which cuts +directly across the area, the serpentine forms a knoll with an elevation +of about 90 or 100 feet above the line of rails; all the workings at +present being confined to this portion of the area. They consist of open +cuttings on the face of the hill, apparently very little having as yet +been done to ascertain the value of the ground between the railway and +the river. There are certainly good indications there, and when I was +last at Thetford I found Mr. Ward prospecting in this part with some +success. Here, however, is the place where the water trouble will first +arise, which will have to be provided for at the outset.</p> + +<p>The essential peculiarity of the veins at Thetford is that they are +occasionally associated, as already mentioned, with grains and threads +of chromic iron and also of magnetite. The magnetite forms rather +conspicuous masses between the veins of asbestos in Messrs. King's mine, +where it sometimes entirely replaces the latter.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>As a general rule, however, the surface veins at Thetford are nearly as +pure as those lying deeper in the rock, the reason being that the +surface is mostly naked rock only scantily clothed with vegetable mould, +moss, or other foreign element, contact with which deteriorates, by +discolouring, the fibre, as is found to be the case in a very marked +degree in the mines next to be described.</p> + +<p>It is a peculiarity of the veins of asbestos that they are never +continuous. They vary very much in size, and, in precisely the same way +as other mineral veins, they are affected by faults or slides, which not +infrequently cut off <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>completely a valuable working face. Where this +occurs the slicken-sided character is very marked.</p> + +<p>Sheets, also, of imperfect or immature asbestos, having a long coarse +woody fibre, are frequently to be seen lying all along the sides of the +fault; but, although there is a good deal of this, the general quality +of the produce of all the Thetford mines is excellent. The fibre is fine +and of a smooth silky texture, very easily worked. The veins are mostly, +especially in the lower cuttings, more free from impurities than those +of Coleraine.</p> + +<p>No steam power is at present used in this district, the whole of the +proprietors at present continuing to rely upon hand labour; the Boston +Company are, however, as just mentioned, now seriously turning their +attention that way, with a view of increasing their output.</p> + +<p>The Thetford mine-owners are one and all kind and hospitable men, always +ready to give every information and to facilitate an inspection of their +works by anyone who will take the trouble to visit them; a trouble which +I always found very amply repaid by the courtesy with which I was +received, and the candour and obliging readiness with which all my +inquiries were immediately answered.</p> + +<p>The workers in the mines here are mostly resident on the spot, +sufficient accommodation having been provided for them in the immediate +neighbourhood of the mines; the proprietors, who appear to act with a +liberal consideration towards their men, deeming it incumbent on +themselves to look after their welfare; and they find their account in +so doing, in not running short of hands at critical times.</p> + +<p>The practice at Thetford is to close down entirely for the winter +months, it not having yet been found advantageous, in view of the +limited market, coupled with the difficulty of outdoor quarrywork, to +encounter the extra expense of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>working at this season. Some of the +owners, Messrs. King in especial, being largely interested in the lumber +trade, to which they devote themselves in the winter, are able to find +plenty of employment at that season for their men and others, who then +go off into the woods.</p> + +<p>At Thetford, as elsewhere, great mistakes, arising mainly from +inexperience and want of the knowledge now possessed, were made when the +mines were first opened up, which will inevitably entail serious loss in +the future; as an instance, much valuable ground is now seen to be +covered up by the dumps, which will unquestionably have to be moved +presently when the land is wanted for working.</p> + +<p>The same want of foresight, for which there was less excuse with the +Thetford experience to guide them, will inevitably cause trouble in the +near future at Black Lake, on the property of the Anglo-Canadian +Company, even to a more serious extent. The parties who first opened up +the ground here evidently knew what they were about, but their immediate +successors, being destitute of all practical mining knowledge, have, by +their neglect of professional assistance, committed such errors of +judgment as will presently occasion very serious expense to the company. +At their main pit many thousands of tons of waste rock have been dumped +on to some of the richest part of the ground, and this must be again +moved before that ground can be worked. From the peculiarity of the +work, there probably exists no class of mining which so absolutely +necessitates the services of a practical mining engineer, in marking out +the land in the first instance for mining and dumping, as that for +asbestos does.</p> + +<p>The cost of extraction varies in different localities, depending mainly +on the mass of barren rock to be encountered and removed. At Thetford +the cost may be put at from $20 to $25 per ton, the latter probably +being nearer the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>average. On the Anglo-Canadian Company's property at +Black Lake it is a more serious matter. There the quantity of barren +overlying rock and earth is enormous, and detracts immensely from the +value of the mines. The minimum cost here is $28.</p> + +<p>In addition to asbestos, it is worthy of note that the whole of the +Thetford district is rich in minerals. Among others some large and +valuable deposits of chromic iron are found in the immediate +neighbourhood, within but a short distance of the asbestos mines.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">THE COLERAINE GROUP.</p> + +<p>Four miles farther down the line of railway from Thetford we come to the +Coleraine group of asbestos mines, situate at Black Lake.</p> + +<p>The pioneer of these mines was a Mr. Noel, now resident at Richmond, +near Sherbrooke, in the same province, who, in 1881, discovered and +opened up a mine of a promising character here, which in 1882 he sold to +Mr. Charles Lionais, who was until recently the resident manager of the +mines owned by the Scottish Asbestos Company, at Black Lake and +Broughton.</p> + +<p>The mine first opened here was called by Mr. Lionais the "Eureka," and +some time afterwards he opened another on the same estate which he named +the "Emelie." The property on which these two mines are located +subsequently came into the possession of the late Mr. Sénécal, and was +by him transferred to the "Anglo-Canadian Asbestos Company, Limited," on +the formation of that company in London, in the autumn of 1885.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>The estate owned by the Anglo-Canadian Company comprises 325 acres, and +has a frontage of 1,350 feet extending backwards over the hills as far +as Lake Cariboo. Until recently this was the only place in the district +where machinery was employed to get out the ore.</p> + +<p>The peculiar characteristic of this property, as distinguished from the +mines forming the Thetford group, is that much exceedingly heavy work, +necessitating of course great expense and showing very poor results, +must of necessity be done before the good veins, if any such exist, as +it is believed they do, are reached. Much of this has already so far +been done at the Emelie, that at length this portion of the property +bids fair, in capable hands, of proving to be a moderately paying mine. +Great results were prophesied from it at first, but so far it has by no +means realised expectations.</p> + +<p>The surface veins, not only at the "Emelie" but all over the property so +far as yet proved, are not only thin, but are much discoloured by the +infiltration of water which is so strongly impregnated with the oxide of +iron as almost to destroy its value. It was thought, and as it would +appear with some show of reason, that the output would greatly improve +in value as a lower depth was reached; but although there has +undoubtedly been a sensible improvement in quality, the general result +is disappointing. Started as a No. 3 mine, as such in all probability it +will continue. The output from this Company's mines for 1886 was 330 +tons.</p> + +<p>The No. 3 quality of asbestos, which has hitherto been the main produce +of this mine, fetches so low a price in the market that alone it would +not pay for working. This, as already explained, is mainly on account of +its bad colour and general coarse quality. This latter having somewhat +improved, a considerable proportion of the produce would cease to be +classed as No. 3 if it were not for the bad <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>colour. It therefore +occurred to me that it might be possible to remove this defect without +injuring the fibre, and in consequence I had some experiments made with +this object in view, and ultimately succeeded beyond my expectations, in +replacing the discoloured fibre by one sufficiently bright to enable it +to take rank as No. 1. These experiments, it is true, were only +conducted on a limited scale, but, so far as I am aware, there is no +reason why it should not be done on a large scale, which would very +materially increase the value of the article.</p> + +<p>There is ample room for opening up in a more judicious way on other +parts of this property on what seems likely to be good paying ground; +and a mode of doing this without incurring any further expense might +easily be devised, and, if this were done, other seams of better quality +might be hit upon.</p> + +<p>Another point in the company's favour is that, if judiciously selected, +there is abundant room for dumping without encroaching on the +ore-bearing grounds—a most important matter when consideration is taken +of the enormous quantity of waste rock to be here encountered and +removed.</p> + +<p>The buildings on the estate are well constructed, and are in an +efficient state of repair, but at present there is an insufficiency of +dwelling-houses on the property. These are a necessity in the district, +for securing and retaining a better class of labour. No great expense +would have to be incurred in supplying this deficiency. Lumber and +labour are both comparatively cheap, and the buildings in themselves, +moreover, would always return a fair interest on the outlay.</p> + +<p>The property on which the "Martin" Mine is located closely adjoins the +last mentioned. This has recently been acquired by "The Scottish +Asbestos Company," of Glasgow, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>with the intention of working it in +conjunction with their mines at East Broughton. Judging by the elaborate +preparations for work which are being made, and the expenditure which is +being incurred in buildings and machinery, it is evidently the company's +intention to carry on work vigorously in both places.</p> + +<p>Their property at Black Lake covers 102 acres, and is described as being +a mile long by 520 feet wide. The output is given as 300 tons, but I +should doubt very much if it has yet reached this figure.</p> + +<p>The ground here and in front of the Anglo-Canadian Company's land rises +very rapidly, from the level of the Quebec Central Railway, until it +attains a height of nearly 600 feet, being then about on a level with +the Thetford mines. The great serpentine belt crosses both properties, +and is bounded along its northern margin by quartzose granulite, +separated from the serpentine by a narrow belt of soapstone. It is +claimed for property of the Scottish Asbestos Company, that not less +than three-quarters of it consists of the rock formation that seems to +be the asbestos matrix.</p> + +<p>This property is well laid out, and has a considerable number of +dwellings already erected on it for the workpeople. It is also traversed +by a good road leading down to the line of railway.</p> + +<p>On a narrow strip of land, dividing the properties of the last two +mentioned companies, is a small mine called the Frechette-Douville Mine, +which (working the same seams of ore), was doing very well when I was +there. The output of this is not large, but the quality was very good, +and this in consequence is no doubt a very paying mine.</p> + +<p>These are the only mines at present being worked at Black Lake, but from +indications on other properties lying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>on the same line, there can be +little doubt that other mines will presently be opened up in this +locality. Capital is all that is wanting at present, but, as the demand +for the mineral increases, the necessary capital for producing it in +larger quantities will no doubt be forthcoming.</p> + +<p>The companies working at Black Lake when I was last there were working +at a great disadvantage as compared with those at Thetford, in the want +of a station on the line. The Post Office arrangements were also of a +very primitive character, nor was there any wire nearer than Thetford. +All this, however, has been remedied, and there is now at Black Lake not +only a station but also a post and telegraph office, in addition to many +new houses for the accommodation of the workpeople.</p> + +<p>The cost of mining, for the reasons already given, is, and must of +necessity be, greater at Black Lake than at Thetford, and cannot be put +at less than $28 a ton. After removal of the surface earth and rock, the +proportion of refuse rock is about twenty-five tons to one of asbestos.</p> + +<p>In regard to communication, Black Lake is 80 miles from Quebec, and +about 60 from Sherbrooke; the latter being a rising place, where all +stores, &c., needed for the mines are obtainable and from whence lines +radiate to all parts of the States.</p> + +<p>There are several other places in the vicinity of Black Lake where, +although all that has yet been done may be called simple exploratory +work, the indications are such as to warrant the expectation that +valuable results may be looked for. This is especially the case in what +are known as the Reed and Haydon properties which extend over about 200 +acres.</p> + +<p>On Dr. Reed's land, or rather on that part of it known as the "Coleraine +Mines," which is about 100 acres in extent, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>the ground has already been +opened up in ten different places, each of which shows good No. 1 +asbestos in quantities sufficient for profitable working.</p> + +<p>The outcroppings here, moreover, are far superior to anything that can +be seen on the ground lower down where work is now being carried on. A +practical mining engineer who was recently sent to examine and report on +this property says that it is 100 per cent. better than that at Black +Lake; that 75 per cent. of the whole is veritable asbestos-bearing land, +and that he knows of no other asbestos mine so well situate for +practical work, or showing such advantages in timber, water, and, +dumping ground. The timber is sufficient for all practical purposes for +at least twenty-five years.</p> + +<p>And Mr. Ells, in his Annual Report to the Minister of the Interior, for +1886, speaking of his visit to the asbestos district and of his +inspection of these properties, makes special mention of them as +follows: "In the vicinity of Black Lake several other areas occur, in +which the exploratory work done, though not very extensive, shows +indications that <i>fully warrant</i> the statement that a valuable and +profitable output may be expected. These properties are known as the +Reed and Hayden properties, and are situated on lots 27 and 28, Range B +of Coleraine. In various open cuts in the side of the hills numerous +veins are disclosed, ranging upwards to a width of two and a half +inches, with surface indications apparently in no way inferior to those +of the adjoining properties now being worked at this place, <i>or even of +those of Thetford mines</i>, not only as to the <i>number</i> and <i>size</i> of the +veins, but also as to the <i>quality</i> of the fibre. These indications +appear at many points on both the Hayden and Reed properties, which +embrace a total of 200 acres."</p> + +<p>Between these properties and Cariboo Lake the serpentines extend in an +apparently continuous ridge, and show, at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>intervals, very good +indications of asbestos. This area, however, has not yet been +sufficiently explored for much to be said, from actual observation, of +its value as asbestos land, though it seems reasonable enough to suppose +that this portion of the serpentine belt will be presently found equally +valuable with that of the adjoining section.</p> + +<p>In the vicinity of the Coleraine Station of the Quebec Central Railway +(the next station to Black Lake), serpentine also occurs; but the main +ridge, extending south-west, keeps to the north-west for about a mile +and a half, where it forms a conspicuous hill feature. An opening +recently made on this south-west extremity by Mr. Kennedy disclosed the +presence of a number of asbestos veins, one of which, occurring near the +surface had a width, it is said, of nearly four inches. Sufficient work +has not yet been done to determine the persistence and value of these +veins, though when I was last leaving the district I was given to +understand that energetic operations would commence immediately on the +opening of the working season.</p> + +<p>A peculiarity here is the occurrence of a considerable quantity of mica +in direct contact with the asbestos, a circumstance which has not +hitherto been found to be the case anywhere else.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">BROUGHTON.</p> + +<p>The finest vein of asbestos ever yet worked in Canada was discovered at +Broughton, when the Fraser Mine was first opened and worked by Dr. Reed; +although doubtless the largest, most continuous, and consequently best +paying veins have been found at Thetford, some of which, it has been +stated, were over six inches in thickness. I confess I have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>not been +fortunate enough to see anything like this, but I have seen many veins +there, the produce of which was of surprising beauty, and specimens of +which I have before me as I write, which are broad enough and good +enough for any purpose to which the fibre can possibly be put.</p> + +<p>It must, however, be borne in mind that the same rule obtains with many +other things as is noted in the vegetable world—namely, that the +largest specimens are not necessarily the best. The broader veins of +asbestos do not, as I have already remarked, yield as a rule fibre of so +fine a quality as those of a medium, or even of a small size. The length +of the fibre, moreover, cannot be determined with any absolute certainty +from the thickness of the vein. On the contrary, the broader veins are +not seldom found to be separated at right angles to the length of fibre +by minute bands of serpentine, chrome, or magnetite, sometimes even by a +separation without any perceptible layer of rock, the only indication of +this being an irregular, scarcely visible line, readily detected by the +expert.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>Under the hammer the big veins, in which the separation exists, are at +once divided into two, or it may be into three lengths of fibre; but if +the cotton be pure and clear, this is no very great detriment. Veins of +an inch or an inch and a half extracted from compact rock seldom have +these intersections. The veins, moreover, are extremely irregular in +character, a small vein at the surface frequently developing into one of +considerable size lower down, or breaking off altogether. This is the +special characteristic of the veins in the Coleraine district—notably +at Black Lake—at the mines of the Anglo-Canadian Company, and at +Danville. At Thetford, on the other hand, where the ground is of a more +uniform character, and at a lower level than at Black Lake, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>fine veins +are frequently met with just below the surface, which continue for a +considerable distance with very little change.</p> + +<p>It will clearly be seen, therefore, that it is not possible properly to +appreciate the value of such a mine as this without inspection and +thorough examination by an expert. Fine specimens can at any time be +obtained, and have before now been exhibited at a distance as being the +produce of some particular mine for which a purchaser was wanted, when +anyone visiting the spot would at once see the utter impossibility of +such having been the case; and even if it were proved to be true that +the specimens exhibited came from the place indicated, it would be +important to know at what depth they were got, with the nature and +general disposition of the mine, as well as the proportion of +superincumbent rock requiring to be removed before the valuable veins +could be worked. Without a knowledge of this it is self-evident that no +practical estimate of expense to be incurred could possibly be made.</p> + +<p>The discovery at Broughton made a great stir at the time; but the big +vein there was to all appearance soon worked out, the supply thought to +be exhausted, and work in consequence discontinued.</p> + +<p>That, at any rate, was the view taken by the gentleman who then worked +the mine. About 130 tons, I was told, were got out, which fetched from +$100 to $120 a ton. It would now be worth a much better price.</p> + +<p>The Scottish Asbestos Company have since then purchased this property, +and from the extensive preparations they are making for work, and the +great outlay they are incurring for machinery, buildings, and plant, it +is clear that they do not by any means coincide in the view above +expressed. The stratification at Broughton is peculiar, and different +from anything that is found either in Thetford or Coleraine. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>is +quite possible, therefore, that the Company's advisers may be right, and +that the surface deposits will be found to continue in richness and +volume lower down. The developments at present consist of an open cut 15 +to 20 feet deep by 8 feet wide following the vein and the serpentine +reef is laid open for a length of about 900 feet.</p> + +<p>When I last visited Broughton, in the autumn of 1886, I went over the +ground in company with the late Mr. Fraser, who was then resident on the +property, but was unable, from the quantity of water in the cut, to +trace any of the big veins which had previously been worked. It was +evident, however, that in consequence of a sudden dip downwards +considerable expense would have to be incurred, and much very heavy work +done, before the seam could be reached again. The belt of serpentine +here is very narrow, and the veins of asbestos are closely pressed +together. The strike is east and west, and the dip 30°.</p> + +<p>There are prospects here to the north-east, apparently of as valuable a +character as those of the mine already opened. A few days after my +visit, I was shown some fine samples from the surface work of this +place, where the ground had just been stripped, and these bore the +precise characteristics of the fine vein already spoken of. The +Broughton ore has a pale yellowish hue, as distinguished from the +greenish metallic lustre which distinguishes the finer samples from +Thetford. This does not, it must be observed, in any way deteriorate or +injuriously affect the clear whiteness of the fibre when crushed out, +although it at once identifies the locality of its production. There +are, in fact, as I have already mentioned, certain peculiarities, even +of colour, attaching to the ore of each locality of so marked a +character that an expert can at once tell, on inspection, from what +locality it was obtained.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>There is great abundance of soapstone (steatite) at Broughton; much of +it of good quality, and some of it is remarkably pure. I brought away a +singular specimen, having all the grain and even the fibrous markings of +asbestos, which was nevertheless pure and unmistakable unfibred +steatite.</p> + +<p>At present no use is being made of this material at Broughton, but at +Wolfestown, in the same province, there is a manufactory for its use, +and here slabs of very fine quality can be procured. A workable bed of +very superior quality has been found also at Potton, and there is +another at South Ham, near the antimony mines on the Lake Nicolet +estate. Reduced to powder, the softness and unctuosity of steatite have +caused it to be used, in the same manner as plumbago, for lubricating +purposes, and when finely ground it is employed for giving a surface to +some kinds of paperhangings.</p> + +<p>The substance called Venetian or French chalk, used by tailors and +others, is nothing more than steatite. It can be readily cut with a +knife, and is infusible in any ordinary furnace heat.</p> + +<p>Slaty varieties, of which there are many, are comparatively useless.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">DANVILLE.</p> + +<p>There is a mine at Shipton, about four miles from the village of +Danville, contiguous to the line of the Grand Trunk Railway, which has +been for some time worked by Mr. Jeffery, whose acquaintance I had the +pleasure of making in Montreal, but I much regret that time did not +permit of a visit to this mine, so I can give no details of my own +personal knowledge.</p> + +<p>The outcrop of the serpentine here, I am told, is quite <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>limited, with +steep sides till round it. It however contains numerous veins of +asbestos which, though mostly of small size, are of good quality. Faults +are numerous, and these considerably affect the value of the property, +some of the good veins, with a thickness of two inches, for instance, +being cut off completely at a distance of fifty feet from the surface.</p> + +<p>In a pamphlet published at Ottawa, by the Department of Agriculture of +the Dominion Government, I find it stated that the whole output of this +mine has been contracted for the next ten years. This is said to +amount to 100 tons per annum, and its value is given as $60 per ton.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">SOUTH HAM.</p> + +<p>This mine, the property of Dr. Reed of Reedsdale, Megantic, is situate +on the Nicolet Estate, in the township of South Ham, 7½ miles from +the Garthby Station on the line of the Quebec Central Railway. It was +first described as being situate on Big Island, in the centre of Lake +Nicolet, where the serpentine rocks rise very abruptly to the height of +seventy feet, forming precipitous cliffs on the western side of the +island. Recent exploration, however, has shown that the main body of +asbestos is on the hill-side, and is of such extent as altogether to +eclipse that proved to exist on the island, which was at first thought +to be the chief source of supply.</p> + +<p>The mine on the island is not being worked, but has been fully proved by +numerous openings which have been made at the most promising points, +revealing in every case veins of asbestos of remarkably good quality and +in great abundance. These, as mentioned, are now known to pass under +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>the lake, and can be seen cropping out in many places on the shore and +the hill-side.</p> + +<p>The mineral as seen on the island presents many points of difference +from that at Thetford and Coleraine; and in the Geological Survey of +Canada, I find it is stated to consist of four varieties, viz.:—</p> + +<p>1st. Small veins, rarely exceeding half an inch in width, the fibres not +easily separable. This, however, does not detract from its commercial +value.</p> + +<p>2nd. Apparently occupying a position at right angles to the veins above +noticed, is a coarse fibrous mineral, resembling rope, and evidently +derived from the associated picrolite. The extreme length which these +fibres may attain could not be determined, but judging from exposed +portions, it cannot be less than three feet.</p> + +<p>3rd. Veins somewhat resembling the latter in aspect, but much finer in +texture. The fibre can be separated with great facility, though firmly +attached at one end to the parent rock.</p> + +<p>4th. A steatitic asbestos rock, resembling "Mountain leather," forming +important masses, which enclose small concretionary pellets of asbestos, +the centres of which contain a nucleus of serpentine.</p> + +<p>Very little (the report says) has yet been done on the island to develop +these asbestos veins, perhaps owing to the difficulty of transport +across the lake. This, however, would probably be more than +counterbalanced by the magnificent returns which this locality promises +to afford.</p> + +<p>Dr. Reed at present is altogether neglecting the asbestos and devoting +his attention to the development of a very promising antimony mine on +the shore of the lake.</p> + +<p>Indeed this estate might very justly be termed a typical Canadian +mineral estate, and is, in its way, unique, for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>comprised within its +2,000 acres, there are found to exist not only rich veins of antimony +and asbestos, and, as was stated in the notice of Broughton, enormous +quantities of soapstone, but there are also immense deposits of iron, +magnetic, chromic, and bog ore, as well as copper and sulphur. Silver to +the value of $4 per ton of ore is found with the antimony, and reefs of +auriferous quartz run through the entire property, from which a +practical miner from Australia, who was examined before the committee +appointed in 1887 by the Dominion Government to investigate the +gold-fields of Canada, stated that he had taken samples which on assay +gave 2½ ozs. gold to the ton. Nickel also is found on the property, +and cobalt.</p> + +<p>Everything necessary for the working of those valuable deposits already +exists on the ground—unlimited water supply, and timber for building +and mining purposes, as well as for charcoal for any furnaces that may +presently be erected: sufficient, if judiciously managed according to +the rules of forestry such as obtain in Germany, Austria, and Russia, to +last until a new growth matures. In regard to transport, the roads are +good, and a line of rail connecting the Grand Trunk with the Intercolonial +will touch the property next summer, and will, it is expected, have a +station there just below the antimony mine. In regard to steatite, the +quantity here is so enormous that an expert (Captain A. M. Evans, of the +firm of Blakemore and Evans, the well-known civil and mining engineers of +Cardiff), who was lately sent by me to report on this property, speaking +of steatite, says, "All I can say is, there are mountains of it."</p> + +<p>This mineral is a more or less pure and compact talc. When pure and of +close hard grain it is used as a refractory for lining furnaces, +especially those designed for anthracite. It is in demand also for gas +burners, not being liable to rust <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>or corrosion, and also for the +construction of small portable furnaces and open stoves. It is used also +in the manufacture of paints. When very strongly heated, steatite loses +the small portion of combined water contained in it, and then in +consequence becomes much harder.</p> +<br /> + +<p class="cen">WOLFESTOWN.</p> + +<p>The description of the asbestos area of Wolfestown is given by Mr. Ells. +It is situate on the north-east extremity of a serpentine ridge which +extends south-westerly, with many interruptions, from the road leading +from Coleraine Station to Wolfestown, in the vicinity of Lake Nicolet. +It belongs to Mr. John Bell (John Bell & Co., asbestos manufacturers, +London), and considerable sums have been expended on the property in the +way of exploration. The surface indications are said not to be equal to +those at Black Lake, but show at several points numbers of veins, some +of which are from one and a half to two inches thick.</p> + +<p>A very fair showing of workable veins has been exposed on the upper part +of a deep cut, which it is proposed to intersect at a considerably lower +level. Should the same rule of increase which holds good at Thetford and +Coleraine obtain here, there should be good paying ground exposed when +the lower level is driven in past the cap of barren rock, provided the +veins already disclosed are not cut off by faults, whose presence is +noted here as at other points.</p> + +<p>The total amount of asbestos taken from the Belmina district Mr. Ells +puts at about twenty-five tons.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>Considerable quantities of chromic iron are found on the hills in this +area, which embraces about six hundred acres.</p> + +<p>The foregoing are all the Canadian mines now in work, as far as I have +been able to learn, certainly all of any importance. There can be no +doubt, however, that as the demand increases further explorations will +be made, and new mines discovered, as well as that increased capital +will be put in to further develop those already at work. At the present +time the supply scarcely keeps pace with the demand, and capitalists are +beginning to wake up to the importance of this industry; <i>it having been +now conclusively proved that mining for asbestos, properly conducted, +shows a more steady return for the money invested, with less elements of +risk, than mining for any other known mineral</i>.</p> + +<p>I am unable to say, with any degree of exactness, what is the amount of +the aggregate output of the Canadian mines; but I saw it stated in a +local paper that, in 1885, it was under 1,500 tons, and that in 1886 it +had reached 2,000 tons, giving an increase of over 500 tons for the +year. This is quite sufficient to show the rapid strides the business is +making, and is probably near about correct, judging by the rate of +progression in the imports to the States, for instance. The value of +manufactured asbestos imported into the United States from Canada, in +1880, is given in the Government Returns as under 10,000 dollars. In +1884 it had risen to 48,755 dollars, and it has been increasing yearly +ever since. That the demand is rapidly increasing is unquestionable, not +only for the present articles of manufacture, but for the new purposes +to which it is being daily applied. More capital will, doubtless, soon +be put in, and then new lines, which almost indicate themselves, will +prepare the way for continued success.</p> + +<p>As regards the progressive output of crude asbestos at the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>mines, since +its introduction in 1887, the following may no doubt be taken as +authentic, being extracted from the "Statistical Report on the +Production, Value, Exports, and Imports of Minerals in Canada during the +year 1886 and previous years," by Eugène Coste, M.E., published by +authority of the Dominion Parliament. In this Report the production and +value is given as follows:—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="60%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="png052"> + <tr> + <td class="tdc" width="30%"> </td> + <td class="tdc" width="30%"> </td> + <td class="tdc" width="40%">Value at the Mines.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc"> </td> + <td class="tdc">Tons.</td> + <td class="tdc">Dollars.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">1879</td> + <td class="tdc"> 300</td> + <td class="tdc"> 19,500</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">1880</td> + <td class="tdc"> 380</td> + <td class="tdc"> 24,700</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">1881</td> + <td class="tdc"> 540</td> + <td class="tdc"> 35,100</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">1882</td> + <td class="tdc"> 810</td> + <td class="tdc"> 52,650</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">1883</td> + <td class="tdc"> 955</td> + <td class="tdc"> 68,750</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">1884</td> + <td class="tdc">1,141</td> + <td class="tdc"> 75,079</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">1885</td> + <td class="tdc">2,440</td> + <td class="tdc">142,441</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdc">1886</td> + <td class="tdc">3,458</td> + <td class="tdc">206,251</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>The mode of extraction in all Canadian asbestos mines is by open quarry +work. Whether the drills are worked by compressed air, or by hand in the +old-fashioned way, the effect is the same. When a sufficient number of +holes of the proper depth are drilled and duly charged with dynamite or +powder, they are linked together, and fired by a battery in such a way +that the face of rock shall be thrown outward on to the floor of the +pit. The asbestos is then picked out, the adhering rock roughly broken +off, and the ore piled into boxes or tubs, which are loaded on to +trolleys, and run off on tram-lines to the cobbing-sheds. The refuse +rock, of which there is always an enormous quantity (probably as much as +twenty tons of rock to one ton of asbestos), is loaded into cars, run +off and shot over on to the dumping-ground.</p> + +<p>Boys are employed in the cobbing-sheds to chip, or cob, the rock cleanly +from the ore, an operation which is much more troublesome with thin +veins than with those of the better sort to which, as I have already +said, the waste rock is less firmly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>adherent. This cobbing is a very +troublesome and expensive process, costing about 5 dollars a ton. After +cobbing, great care is required in sorting the ore into the respective +grades of Nos. 1, 2, and 3. It is then put up in bags of about 160 lbs. +each, marked, and stacked away in the bins ready for shipment. All this +is done in a very rough and ready style, and the waste is simply +enormous: there is no doubt, however, that as the ore increases in value +more scientific appliances will be adopted with good results. At present +thousands of tons of rock containing only thin veins of asbestos are +dumped on the refuse heaps as waste which would all be crushed if a +proper machine were at hand, and the valuable material saved.</p> + +<p>In the cobbed state ready for market the ore is worth at the mines at +the present time from 50 dollars to 55 dollars for No. 2, and from 80 +dollars to 100 dollars for No. 1. It is evident, therefore, on a +comparison of the cost of extraction with the price realised for the raw +material, that there is ample margin for good profit.</p> + +<p>Wages run from 1 dollar to 1 dollar 75 cents a day, according to the +nature of the work performed, for men, and from 50 cents to 1 dollar for +lads and cobbers. The comparison of the cost of production, therefore, +with the value of the raw material, shows a very large margin of profit.</p> + +<p>There is no scarcity of labour, a sufficient number of hands, mostly +French-Canadians, being always forthcoming; but at those mines where +there is an insufficiency of houses for married men, accommodation has +to be found in the barrack-like building for single men; the married +men, who cannot be accommodated, residing frequently at a long distance +from their work, which causes them to be of a migratory disposition, and +gives considerable additional trouble to the management.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>A disadvantage in the employment of French-Canadian labour lies in the +great number of festivals incident to their religion, with consequent +loss of work at the mines, but apparently there is no remedy for this at +present. The greatest curse of the place, however, is gin. Although the +district is under the Scott Act, and the sale of liquor consequently +prohibited, like every other place where the sale is interdicted there +is no difficulty, if you know how to go about it, sometimes even if you +don't, in getting as much as you please. At any rate I never yet was in +any such place where I did not find it to be so.</p> + +<p>Here is an instance: On one occasion I had been out driving in the +pouring rain for several hours, had got drenched to the skin, and was +bitterly cold. I pulled up, therefore, at a likely-looking house, went +in and called for some brandy, but to my disgust was told no liquors +could be supplied, as it was against the law. As I turned to go out +again, in no very cheerful mood, the man, seeing the state I was in, +evidently took compassion on me, and said, "Better try some bitters;" so +calling to mind the old saying that all bitters are warm barring a +bitter cold day, which only proves the rule, I assented. He then pushed +over a tumbler and a black bottle, when I at once poured out and +swallowed a pretty strong dose, feeling when I had done so as if I had +swallowed a streak of forked lightning. As soon as I had recovered my +breath I muttered my thanks and paid up. "Have another?" says he, with a +twinkle in his eye. "No, thanks;" I replied. "Guess you'll remember our +bitters," he then laughingly said, prefixing the name of the place, +which I afterwards found was in a district where prohibition was very +strictly enforced, and which I therefore purposely omit, his breach of +the law having no doubt saved me from the dangerous effects of a chill.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>The hip pockets in the men's pants form very convenient receptacles for +the bottles, and are always pretty well filled after pay days and +holidays. The liquor most in favour is a vile compound called gin. It is +supplied in the regular square Dutch bottles from the familiar +green-painted boxes in which "Hollands" is exported, and which are +labelled "De Kuyper;" but the vile stuff is not much credit to that +gentleman's manufacture if it be so, which is much to be doubted.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Ante</i>, p. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> "Geol. Hist. Can.," 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> See <i>ante</i>, p. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See <i>post</i>, p 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> "Geographical Survey of Canada."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Ante</i>, p. 27.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>USES TO WHICH ASBESTOS IS APPLIED.</h2> + + +<p>In regard to the many varied uses to which this mineral is now put, +foremost must be placed the numerous valuable articles manufactured for +engineering purposes.</p> + +<p>Were I to attempt to enumerate the various kinds of packing, mostly in +the shape of millboard, in use for all kinds of engines, for steam +joints, cylinder and steam chest covers, pipe flanges, &c., this part of +my little book would have the appearance of a manufacturer's catalogue.</p> + +<p>The rapidly increasing favour with which high pressure steam is now +regarded by engineers, recently necessitated the introduction of a +packing capable of resisting the higher temperatures and pressures; as a +consequence manufacturers of asbestos goods had to devise improved +methods of manufacture in order to meet the new condition of things, and +this they succeeded in doing in a way to give universal satisfaction.</p> + +<p>For washers asbestos has many advantages over rubber; its weight is +less, they can be frequently used, and half the thickness of rubber is +mostly sufficient.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>The fibre, Sir Frederick Abel says, is as effectual for closing the +breeches of big guns so as to prevent the passage of gas, as for +ensuring safety, in the same way, for miners' lamps. In these last, it +had for a long time been found very difficult to get a good joint +between the metallic and the glass parts of the safety lamp, and a great +many different materials were tried for filling these joints in such a +way that air should not be able to pass through. In many cases, the air +was contaminated with a certain amount of gaseous material which would +be likely to render the whole explosive, and if this got through the +joint between the glass and the metal, there would be very serious risk +of explosion. After a great number of substances had been tried and +found unsatisfactory, some hundreds of experiments were made by Sir +Frederick Abel and Sir Warington Smyth, with asbestos washers, which, in +the end, were found to maintain their condition most admirably.</p> + +<p>With regard to closing the breeches of big guns, we are informed also on +the authority of Sir Frederick Abel, that the only contrivance which +could be called an approach to a perfect arrangement, was one devised by +a French artillery officer, M. Dubange, which consisted of a kind of pad +of asbestos fibre attached to the breech-closing arrangement. This, from +its mineral nature, was nearly indestructible, and, consequently, lasted +without material deterioration for a great length of time, +notwithstanding that it was subjected to the enormous pressures which +are now developed in the bores of very heavy guns.</p> + +<p>In connection with the Whitehead torpedoes, we learn from the same +authority, that in these and other similar receptacles, within which +charges of wet gun cotton are enclosed, the use of asbestos is now found +to overcome a great difficulty. The vessels containing the damp cotton +have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>to be soldered, in order to keep them perfectly air-tight, and +thus prevent the water from escaping; and in order to do this, with +anything approaching safety, the space between the gun cotton and the +metal surfaces which have to be soldered, were formerly filled with damp +felt wads or discs. This answered the purpose; but Sir Frederick Abel +states that it was found after they had been stored for some time, that +the effect of the moisture on the felt was to cause it to undergo a kind +of decay or fermentation, resulting in the formation of gas to such an +extent that the vessels were distended, and threatened to burst, and +sometimes actually did burst with considerable violence. Asbestos +millboard was then substituted for the felt, and the difficulty and +danger were then removed; gas was no longer evolved, whilst the +operation of soldering could be performed with safety, the material +remaining perfectly unaltered.</p> + +<p>In the manufacture of time-fuzes again, asbestos washers are found most +valuable. Washers of india-rubber and wash-leather were formerly used, +but these in time became hard, and acted on the metal surfaces with +which they came in contact in such a manner as to cement them together, +instead of keeping them mobile, and it was not until the introduction of +asbestos washers that difficulties in connection with the proper action +of these ingenious contrivances for the explosion of shells in a given +time after their discharge, were removed.</p> + +<p>One of the latest uses to which asbestos has been proposed to be applied +in connection with warfare is as a coating for ironclads. It is alleged +by the inventor of the process that if asbestos be packed between the +armour-plates it will arrest, or certainly minimise, the inflow of water +after the penetration of a ship's side below the water-line. This has +already been tried by the Admiralty, and an interesting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>account of the +trial may be found in the <i>Army and Navy Gazette Supplement</i>, for August +28, of last year, and in the <i>Globe</i> of the previous evening. Should the +results of further trials corroborate the success of the first, it is +manifest that a great impetus will be given to the asbestos trade, +whilst it will, at the same time, raise confidence in our fighting +ships, by practically preventing them from becoming waterlogged in +action.</p> + +<p>An eminent firm of manufacturers in New York have recently supplied, +under contract with the United States Government, a quilting for boiler +covers for their model warships, the <i>Dolphin</i>, <i>Chicago</i>, <i>Atlantic</i>, +and <i>Boston</i>. These quiltings weigh about two pounds to the square foot, +and are at all times removable. The same firm make removable pipe +coverings a speciality.</p> + +<p>Certainly some of the uses to which this mineral is now being put are +sufficiently astonishing. Who, for instance, could have imagined that a +substance of such comparative specific gravity as crude asbestos could +have been manufactured into a cloth available for aeronautical purposes +in which absence of weight is of such primary importance? Yet here it +appears to be the one thing wanting to give success to that despair of +aeronauts, military ballooning. Many years have now passed away since +scientific military men first turned their attention to this subject; +and it is now long since the War Department of the Government first +authorized experiments to be made with the view of utilising balloons in +warfare, and notwithstanding all the time and money which has been +expended, until now the result in the way of practical success has been +<i>nil</i>. No use of balloons was made even in the late Egyptian campaign, +which shows that up to that date English military men had no great faith +in their usefulness or availability.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>The difficulties to be encountered are doubtless sufficiently +formidable. Gas, it is clear, could not be carried into a hostile +country or into remote and nearly inaccessible districts. Even if +procurable at all near the battle-field it could only be obtained by a +long and difficult process of generation at the very time when speed and +simplicity would be the main factors of success. Gas, therefore, being +practically out of the question, it seems to have occurred to Mr. +Spencer, the well-known balloon manufacturer, that it would be better +after all to revert to the original conception of Montgolfier. The +old-fashioned fire-ball, which acquired its power of ascension from +rarefied air produced by burning straw or something similar, was, of +course, of far too dangerous a character, and had been productive of far +too many fatal accidents. It remained, therefore, to construct a balloon +of some uninflammable material, in order to obviate this difficulty; and +with the assistance of his friend, Mr. Fisher, the Secretary of the +United Asbestos Company of London, he ultimately succeeded in so doing. +A balloon was accordingly constructed, the whole of the lower part of +which was formed of fine asbestos cloth, and the remainder of canvas, +covered with a fireproof solution. The first trial took place in the +grounds of the Welsh Harp, at Hendon, and this has since been repeated +at Chatham, under the inspection of the Royal Engineers' Committee, and +on both occasions, I am informed, with success. The balloon, which was a +model only, stood about 30 feet high, and was suspended between two +uprights, between which it hung down like a limp rag. It was of a +cylindrical shape, having a deep zone at the equator, and a containing +capacity of about 300 feet. Attached to the neck was a copper +spirit-lamp. As soon as a light was put to the spirit the inflation +commenced, and the balloon was fully distended in a space of about five +minutes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>The immense advantage gained by this method over the tedious and +difficult process of inflation by gas, even under the most favourable +circumstances, is sufficiently obvious, whilst it is at the same time +apparent that the quantity of spirit requisite for an endless number of +ascents could be carried about with the greatest facility. Another +advantage remains to be considered, in that whilst the large volume of +gas required for an ordinary balloon is in itself deleterious, the +rarefied air in the new fireproof balloon is perfectly innocuous, and it +can be raised or lowered at will simply by turning the neck of the lamp +a little up or down. It is perhaps somewhat superfluous to say that the +Russian Government at once adopted these balloons for war purposes.</p> + +<p>In further continuance of this part of the subject, that is the +application of asbestos to matters connected with warfare, the +particulars of a very interesting experiment, which may have an +important bearing on the carriage of explosive material in time of war, +was given by Mr. Boyd, the manager of the United Asbestos Company's +works at Harefield, of whom I have already spoken, and to whom I have +been considerably indebted for much practical information, in a paper +read by him before the Society of Arts, on an occasion when, through his +kindness, I had an opportunity of being present. He was referring to the +value of asbestos millboard as a lining for fireproof cases and deed +boxes. The matter, he said, was put to a practical test thus: two iron +rails were supported on brickwork at a height of about eighteen inches +from the ground, and underneath them a strong fire of wood shavings and +chips was made, and when this had well burnt up, a deed box filled with +papers was pushed along the rails to the centre of the fire, where it +was completely enveloped in the flames, and there it remained for a +space of twenty minutes. On the box being withdrawn it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>unlocked easily, +and the papers were found in perfect preservation, being neither charred +nor discoloured.</p> + +<p>On seeing this result, one of the gentlemen present asked if the boxes +could not be used for transporting gunpowder or other explosive +substances. A quarter of a pound of powder was then put in a small bag, +and placed inside a fresh box, which was pushed along the rails into the +centre of the fire, to which fresh fuel had been added. Those present +withdrew to a respectful distance, evidently, said Mr. Boyd, not yet +having absolute faith in the heat-resisting properties of asbestos; and +after the box had been exposed to the fire for twenty minutes the +question naturally arose how it was to be got off again. The manager +himself performed that operation by means of a long iron rod and hook, +after which the box was again opened and the powder found intact. The +question was then asked by some one present who was not yet satisfied, +"Why have the powder in a bag? Let it be laid on the bottom of the box +loose." This was done, and the fire ordeal repeated, again with the same +result. Nothing could well be more interesting or more suggestive to +every one connected with the asbestos industry than the foregoing.</p> + +<p>As a final instance of its applicability for purposes connected with +warfare, it may be interesting to mention that I have lately seen it +stated that the fibre would be of great value for use as lint in +hospitals and on the battle-field. Of this I am unable to speak, but if +it be a fact that it can be so used in favourable comparison with the +best lint, as stated, it is certain that its imperishable quality would +be of great advantage, seeing that it could be used over and over again, +only needing to be purified by passing it through fire after each time +of using.</p> + +<p>In regard to the use of asbestos in connection with building operations, +much attention is now being given to this in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>a variety of ways, in +America especially. The building laws of Boston, New York, and +Philadelphia pay special attention to this, and many material +alterations have been required to be made in consequence in the fittings +of several important public buildings, whilst the use of the mineral is, +I believe, rendered compulsory on those wishing to procure licences for +the erection of new theatres, libraries, concert halls, &c. At the +American Academy of Music, in Philadelphia, the underwriters went so far +as to offer a reduction of one per cent. per annum provided an asbestos +curtain was placed in the house. The Fire Apparatus Committee then, it +is reported, succeeded in perfecting "the only barrier of complete +protection to an audience against fire in the world." This curtain, made +of asbestos cloth (97 per cent. pure asbestos and 3 per cent. cotton) is +54 feet wide and 53 feet high. It is hung on wire lines, three-eighths +of an inch thick, connecting with a drum located in the apex of the +roof, and can be raised with ease by two men and lowered by one.</p> + +<p>Again, after the disaster at the Ring Strasse Theatre, at Vienna, when +attention was drawn to the great danger arising from the want of some +certain and rapidly applicable means of separating the stage from the +body of the theatre, the Roman Minister of Public Security issued an +order that every theatre should be fitted with a fireproof curtain +capable of entirely isolating the stage from the theatre, and he +indicated an asbestos cloth curtain as one that would meet the case. All +the principal Roman theatres are now supplied with these curtains, the +material having been furnished by the United Asbestos Company of London. +The same company has also recently fitted a similar curtain for use at +the Theatre Royal in Manchester. This is formed of an iron frame holding +the asbestos curtain.</p> + +<p>Asbestos fireproof curtains are also in use at the New <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>National +Theatre, Washington; the Criterion, Brooklyn; and in the theatre at +Cleveland, Ohio. They have also lately been supplied to several English +theatres, as well as that at Manchester just mentioned.</p> + +<p>The terrible calamity at the Opéra Comique in Paris, coupled with that +which so recently occurred at the burning of the theatre at Exeter, +again set men's minds running in the direction of greater security from +fire in theatres. As a consequence several varieties of curtains, all +involving the use of asbestos, have been contrived. For instance, at the +building of that pretty little theatre (Terry's) in the Strand it was +resolved to replace the usual heavy, cumbrous, slow-lifting iron shield +by a single light-grey asbestos curtain, which moves up and down as +easily as an ordinary window-blind. And the authorities agree that this +is as valuable a protection to the audience as the former ponderous iron +portcullis which, winding slowly up and down, was calculated to depress +the nerves of the audience in the same way that passers-by in the street +are affected by the harsh grating of the iron shop shutters when being +wound down for the night.</p> + +<p>Again, in the proposals for a new "Safety Theatre," brought to the +notice of the public by Mr. Henry Irving, stress is naturally laid on +the necessity of sealing the stage, or shutting it off from the +auditorium, so that in the event of fire its perils might be confined to +itself, and to providing an outlet for the smoke, which is often more +disastrous in its effects even than the flames. This he proposed to +accomplish by means of an asbestos curtain which, on being dropped, +would at once become rigid with the wall on either side. This curtain +was proposed to be worked in iron grooves going straight up to the +gridiron floor; and the suggestion was made that this should be used as +constantly as the ordinary act-drop, there being at the same time +nothing to prevent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>its being made as ornamental as the usual curtain. +It could also be worked as easily, and be just as easily lifted for a +recall. The audience, it was said, would thus have the satisfaction of +knowing that every time the curtain was dropped they were effectually +protected by a fireproof screen, which could be lowered with the same +rapidity as the present curtain.</p> + +<p>In continuation of this subject it may be worth mentioning, as showing +the amount of attention which is now being directed to this important +matter, that an experiment was recently made in the neighbourhood of +Oxford Street to test the fire-resisting qualities of another new +curtain for the stage, said to have been invented by Captain Heath. This +experiment took place within a specially built hoarding, within which +there was erected a large model of the Drury Lane stage proscenium. +Captain Heath explained to the company, invited to witness the +experiment, that the curtain was made of asbestos and canvas, and was +rolled on a block of wood placed underneath the front part of the stage, +where it occupied an otherwise useless space, and in no way interfered +with the business of the theatre. The sides of the model were made of +iron plates, and the front entirely of wood. When certain catches were +released counterbalancing weights came into action, and the curtain was +run rapidly up from below. On reaching the top, it pressed tightly and +automatically against the back of the proscenium, turning on at the same +time a supply of water from a perforated pipe which ran along the whole +length of the top of the curtain so as to keep it constantly wet. The +arrangement of the switch used for communicating action to the curtain +was such as to turn on the water and close the curtain against the sides +at will. He also stated that communication with the lever of the switch +could be fitted to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>any part of the theatre. A very severe fire test was +employed. The model was first filled with inflammable materials such as +shavings and large blocks of wood, over which petroleum was poured. At a +given signal the curtain was raised and the fire lighted. The flames at +once rose, accompanied with volumes of smoke, none of which, however, +found their way to the front of the proscenium. The interior looked like +a furnace. But so effectually were the flames shut off that it was +possible to sit on the fore part of the stage without feeling the heat, +the only thing noticeable being the steam arising from the wet canvas. +This, Captain Heath explained, might be obviated by painting the canvas +in oils. The fire burned fiercely for half an hour, and the universal +opinion of those present was that the curtain was perfectly fireproof, +and that its construction was as simple as it was useful for the purpose +intended.</p> + +<p>Whilst these sheets are still in the press, yet another theatre dies the +apparently natural death of all such structures, that is, by fire. +Portugal is this time the scene of the disaster, the sufferer being the +Baquet Theatre in Oporto. The calamity was caused by the wings catching +fire from a gas-jet, whereby the whole of the stage scenery was almost, +immediately afterwards enveloped in flames, the furious progress of +which it was found impossible to arrest. Here, then, was a striking +instance of a holocaust being caused by the want of such a curtain as +has been described; for, had such a thing been available, the stage +would have been at once shut off from the auditorium, and even if it had +not been found possible to save the structure, the fire, at any rate, +would have been localised for a sufficient length of time, to have +enabled the authorities to clear the building, and so have prevented the +panic and horror which ensued, and the fearful sacrifice of life which +humanity now deplores.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>It is worth while perhaps recording the foregoing, because there can be +very little doubt that something of this kind will presently be made +compulsory even in England for use in theatres and music halls +generally. And it is believed, from the course matters are now taking in +the United States, that the use of asbestos in some form or other will +be made compulsory there for the shelvings and doors of public libraries +and places for the custody of records, for sheathings between wooden +floorings and below carpets, for hearthstones, for the linings and doors +of elevators or lifts, and for the better preservation of Pullman cars +from fire.</p> + +<p>The premises of the American Watch Case Company, of Toronto, have their +floorings protected by an asbestos covering, and I saw an announcement +recently in the <i>Sherbrooke Gazette</i> that this covering had saved their +premises from destruction by a fire which had occurred there. In +connection with this part of the subject it may be added that various +attempts have been made for the introduction of asbestos into the +manufacture of lace curtains, dresses, &c., but I believe that the +principal obstacle in the way of success in this line lies in the fact +that in its present state, in the shape of curtains, for instance, it is +found to be an obstinate holder of dust. This objection will, no doubt, +be presently got rid of; and soon we may hope to have heard the last of +those fearful scenes which have at times occurred from the firing of +ladies' dresses at the footlights in theatres.</p> + +<p>The Chevalier Aldini's idea, previously mentioned, has been recently +revived in Paris, the firemen there having been furnished with asbestos +clothes. Immediately after this was done it was reported in the papers +that on a conflagration occurring in the basement of a building there, +the firemen arrived, clad in their asbestos suits, and were thereby +enabled to descend at once into the basement, where they extinguished +the fire in a very short time, and so prevented what <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>might have been a +great calamity. And according to the papers it appears that the same +course is now about to be taken in England, and the London firemen at +any rate protected in a similar manner; and there can be little doubt +that this course will presently be universally adopted for the +protection of the men engaged in saving life and property from +destruction by fire. Nothing has yet been discovered that will equal +asbestos for this purpose. It will neither burn nor smoulder, and is as +impervious to fire as well made mackintosh is to water.</p> + +<p>Manufactured into cloth and paper, it is in use in sugar refineries, +chemical laboratories, &c., for straining and other purposes, especially +for filtering acids and similar fluids. A coarser kind of cloth is used +for stokers and furnacemen's aprons, for salvage blankets, and gloves. A +special quality of glove made of asbestos cloth, lined with rubber, is +supplied for electric light work.</p> + +<p>A further development of the industry is indicated by the announcement +that a New York manufacturing firm has recently taken over a large +contract for the manufacture of mail bags out of asbestos cloth.</p> + +<p>It is also proposed to be used as an inner sole or lining for boots and +shoes with the object of keeping the feet warm in winter and cool in +summer, the material possessing the double advantage of being at once a +preserver of heat and a protector from cold.</p> + +<p>For cold storage buildings it will doubtless be found invaluable. There +are buildings in New York, principally for fish preservation, which are +built with double walls surrounding the cold chambers, having some kind +of non-conducting material between the walls by way of lining. For this +purpose asbestos would be unsurpassed, and the cheap No. 3 quality would +answer perfectly well.</p> + +<p>Mr. Boyd, in the lecture before referred to, says that some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>years ago, +when resident at Genoa, he was one of the members of a committee for +procuring a new floating chapel for the use of seamen. The old chapel +was built on the deck of a hulk, but the extremely high summer +temperature caused the repairs to be both frequent and costly. The +committee therefore wanted the new chapel to be built of iron, but were +deterred by the fear that its roof and sides, exposed to the sun, would +get so hot as to render the interior unbearable. He therefore proposed +to fill up the space between the outer skin and the inner boarding with +asbestos ground to a rough powder; and this suggestion was adopted, the +powder being tightly rammed in by the carpenters. The result, he informs +us, was so successful that whilst the outside temperature stood at 100°, +the temperature inside, when doors and windows were kept shut, did not +exceed 70°. And he therefore suggests that asbestos powder might be used +in a similar way for rendering the deck cabins of steamers navigating +the Red Sea and Suez Canal more comfortable for the passengers.</p> + +<p>For wall and ornamental papers it is being largely used, and a superior +quality of asbestos writing paper is now being made in Paris. One can +easily imagine a great future in this line for asbestos paper written or +printed on with asbestos ink for all kinds of registers and permanent +records, bankers' and merchants' books, and the like. One of the leading +manufacturers in New York already prints his price lists on asbestos +paper. And another has on show fine papers as susceptible of receiving +good impressions from type as any in use in modern books. Coloured wall +papers also are manufactured in great variety, which are not merely +incombustible, but practically indestructible by fire; and which retain, +even after severe heat tests, their colourings, markings and letterings +as clearly impressed and as vividly visible as before. Boards also are +made of asbestos, varying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>from the thinnest and lightest card to heavy +shelving, fit either for partitions in safes or for use in large +libraries.</p> + +<p>In a recent number of "L'Industrie Moderne" I found an account of a new +process invented by a Mr. Ladewig for manufacturing pulp and paper from +asbestos fibre, which he asserts will not only resist the action of both +fire and water, but will absorb no moisture; this pulp, he says, may be +used as a stuffing and for the joints of engines. He further proposes to +use it in the form of a solid cardboard as a roofing material for light +structures.</p> + +<p>The process of manufacture consists in mixing about 25 per cent. of +asbestos fibre with about 25 or 35 per cent. of powdered sulphate of +alumina. This mixture is moistened with an aqueous solution of chloride +of zinc. The mixture is washed with water and then treated with an +aqueous solution of ammoniacal gas. The mixture is again washed and then +treated with a solution composed of one part of resin soap and eight or +ten parts of water mixed with an equal bulk of sulphate of alumina, +which should be us pure as possible. The mixture thus obtained should +have a slightly pulpy consistency. Finally, there is added to it 35 per +cent. of powdered asbestos and 5 to 8 per cent. of white barytes. This +pulp is treated with water in an ordinary paper machine, and worked just +like paper pulp.</p> + +<p>In order to manufacture a solid cardboard from asbestos which shall be +proof against fire and water and capable of serving as a roofing +material, sheets of common cardboard, tarred or otherwise prepared, are +covered with the pulp. The application is made in a paper machine, the +pulp being allowed to flow over the cardboard. Among other uses, the +asbestos paper has been recommended for the manufacture of cigarettes, +though its applicability for this purpose is not so readily seen.</p> + +<p>Manufactured into paint, the demand for it is continually <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>increasing. +It is used in the Houses of Parliament, as it was in very large +quantities at the several recent exhibitions at South Kensington.</p> + +<p>In the form of cement there is nothing equal to it as an efficient +covering for boilers, steam pipes, hotblast furnaces, stills, &c. For +this purpose it is made of about the consistency of mortar and spread on +with a trowel in the ordinary way. Certain chemical ingredients have to +be added, which, while not injurious to the metal, cause the asbestos to +adhere firmly to the plates, so that when dry it becomes quite hard and +can be walked over without being injured. With a boiler carrying say 80 +lbs. steam pressure, the application of from 1½ to 2 inches of this +composition so well retains the heat in the boiler, that a thermometer +with the bulb held close to the outer surface of the covering will not +indicate more than 80° to 85° Fahrenheit. Boilers, steam pipes, &c., +covered in with this composition will, it is asserted by the +manufacturers, effect a saving of as much as 33 per cent. in fuel.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>This cement, which is made from a very cheap quality of asbestos, is now +in common use in Canada and the States, where, as already shown, it is +found to operate with a twofold effect, viz. by lowering the temperature +of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>boilerhouse, to the great comfort of the engineers and firemen, +and also, in a very marked degree, economising the expenditure for fuel. +It seems, therefore, strange that its use in this country has as yet +made so little headway. In one of the large palatial buildings recently +erected in London, where engines are required to be in constant work for +pumping water for working the lifts and for general purposes, as well as +for the dynamos, the heat from the boilers forms so great a nuisance, +and occasions so much loss in other ways, that very considerable expense +is about to be incurred, with a view to lowering the temperature. When +conversing recently with an expert on this subject I asked whether the +use of asbestos would not effect the desired object. Yes, he answered, +it would, but it is too expensive. This certainly seems very strange, as +I know that the cement composition referred to is made of the very +commonest quality of asbestos, of the refuse, in point of fact, which +could probably be used for no other purpose. The expense, therefore, +cannot be great, and as to its mode of use, it is simply laid on with a +trowel, like mortar or any similar composition, and when once done is +singularly effective. I have stood in an engine-house where the boilers +were covered with about two inches in thickness of this cement, which +then showed a hard, dry, firm surface; and, when the engines were in +full work, on placing one's hand on the covering there was little more +than a gentle warmth perceptible on the outside surface of the +composition, whilst the surrounding atmosphere was scarcely, if at all, +affected by the heat from the boilers. The boiler quiltings referred to +on a previous page as being manufactured by a New York firm under +contract with the United States Government, for use in some of their +model war ships, would no doubt be as effectual for the purpose, but +naturally they would be more costly, being an altogether <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>different +contrivance, and made so as to be easily removable when required, which, +of course, is not the case with the so-called cement. There is little +doubt, however, that, although the use of asbestos in this form does not +seem to find much favour here, its use for the purpose of coating +boilers and steam-pipes will presently become as general in England as +it already is on the other side, where its valuable qualities seem to be +so much better known and appreciated.</p> + +<p>Improved stove pipings are now being manufactured in the States which in +appearance exactly resemble cast-iron. These have the additional +valuable properties of extreme lightness, combined with great strength +and a capability of ornamentation unobtainable with the usual cast-iron +pipes mostly in use; paint in the case of the asbestos pipes not scaling +off under heat as it will do in the case of ordinary iron pipes. The +manufacturers of these pipes claim for them that they combine the +strength of steel with the lightness of paper. Tubes also are made for +electrical engineers which provide them with a non-conducting covering +for their wires both fire and waterproof, so as to preserve the perfect +insulation of the wire.</p> + +<p>Asbestos rope is used for fire escapes and similar purposes, as well as +for the transmission of power over places exposed to heat. In dyeing and +printing cloth it is frequently necessary to hang the fabric in loops +from parallel rods for exposure to steam, air or ammonia. In order that +it should hold upon the rods, without straining or slipping, rope or +strips of cloth are usually wound around the poles, but this does not +remove, although it mitigates, the difficulty, because the heat and +corrosive action of the vapours will rot any covering; the first notice +of the deterioration being generally the appearance of small pieces of +rod covering among the cloth which is in process of finishing. Asbestos +rope and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>cloth are now largely manufactured and used for this purpose +in the United States with very beneficial results.</p> + +<p>In commenting on the recent loss of life occasioned by the panic at the +fire at the Exeter Theatre, a well-known journal, speaking of the +various modes of providing for escape, mentions the case of a man of +fashion, a millionaire, who died not long ago, and says that he would +never go to bed in a strange house without having an apparatus of +knotted rope affixed to a ring in the wall, by which he might lower +himself to the ground on an emergency. But, asks the journalist, what if +the rope itself took fire? The answer naturally is, let it be an +asbestos rope, then it will neither burn nor rot.</p> + +<p>The use of the fibre in the manufacture of gas stoves is too well known +to need any remark.</p> + +<p>As a lubricant it is unrivalled.</p> + +<p>Another very important use to which it is now being applied is in the +manufacture of filters. These are specially useful where the liquid to +be filtered is of a caustic or strongly acid nature, or where the filter +with residue is to be ignited without consuming the filter, or where the +residue is to be subsequently dissolved off the filter by acids or other +solvents. In many cases a very finely divided asbestos is desirable. +This is accomplished by a process recently patented in Germany by Fr. +Breyer, of Vienna. The asbestos is first coarsely ground, and then mixed +with some granular crystalline carbonate, which must be soluble in +acids. The carbonate should possess a hardness between 3 and 4, 5, +according to the mineralogical scale. The mixture is ultimately ground +together in a mill. Afterwards the mass is treated with an acid until +the carbonate has been dissolved out. The escaping carbonic gas causes +the asbestos fibres to be loosened and disintegrated from each <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>other so +as to render the mass porous. Of course it must be thoroughly washed +with water before being used.</p> + +<p>Again, in the purification of foul gas, as well as for ventilating and +deodorizing man-holes for cesspools, sewers, &c., its use is found to be +unsurpassed by any other known material.</p> + +<p>Mr. Boyd, in the paper so often referred to, says in regard to this, +that he was some time previously asked to supply asbestos yarn spun in +such a way as to have good capillary action, and, on making inquiry, +found it was to be used for the above purpose. In describing the mode of +using it, he says that there is placed over the opening rising from the +sewer a hood of galvanized wire, interlaced with this asbestos yarn, the +ends of the yarn dipping into a receptacle filled with liquid +disinfectant, which, as they become saturated, form a disinfecting +screen, through the meshes of which the gases rise, and in their passage +through are purified and rendered innocuous. The system hitherto +previously adopted for deodorizing sewer gas has been to cause it to +rise through charcoal, but it is found that the impurities soon clog +this up, and simply prevent the passage of the gas, whereas in the +arrangement just mentioned (which is that of Messrs. Adams & Co., of +York), the gas rises freely, and is perfectly deodorized.</p> + +<p>There are, of course, very numerous other applications of the material +which might be referred to or described, but probably those already +mentioned are the most important and the most interesting; and these, it +is hoped, are at any rate sufficient to indicate the great value of this +singular mineral product, as well as to confirm the statement with which +I started, that this is indeed one of Nature's most marvellous +productions.</p> + +<h4>FOOTNOTE:</h4> + +<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> There is a Patent Removable Covering now manufactured in +New York which is said to be entirely formed of pure asbestos fibre, +made in cylindrical sections of three-foot lengths of the exact size of +the pipes to be covered. In this the asbestos fibres are so interlaced, +that the sections, whilst possessing strength and flexibility, afford so +large a number of air-cells as to give the covering the very highest +non-conducting quality, whilst at the same time it cannot char or be in +any way injured by the most intense heat from without or within. Fire +Felt sectional coverings for boilers and large surfaces are made in +convenient forms in sheets, &c. The same Company also manufacture what +is called a Superator Jacket, both fire and waterproof, being in fact a +flexible sheet of asbestos strengthened with wire netting, the asbestos +being waterproofed by a special process, and provided with patent +lacings, so that the jackets may be effectually kept in place, whilst +being readily removable without cutting or loss of material.</p></div> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +<br /> + +<hr /> +<br /> +<h2>INDEX.</h2> + + +<ul><li> Asbestos, meaning of, <a href="#Page_5">5</a> + <ul class="nest"> + <li> description, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + <li> origin unknown, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + <li> only found in serpentine, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + <li> places where found, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + <li> first successful experiments with, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> + <li> difference between Canadian and Italian, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + <li> where used, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + <li> analysis, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + <li> Italian kinds, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + <li> sources of supply, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + <li> marketable value, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + <li> first discovery of, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + <li> profitable nature of mining for, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + <li> annual production, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + <li> aggregate output, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + <li> uses of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Aldini, Chevalier, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li> Amiante, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li> Anecdotes, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li> Anglo-Canadian Company, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + +<li> Antimony, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Ballooning, military, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li> Bastard asbestos, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li> Boiler coverings, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li> Boot soles, lining for, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li> Boston Company's mine, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li> Breeches of big guns, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li> Broughton mines, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li> Building operations, use in, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Canadian mineral estates, typical, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li> Carriage of explosives, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li> China, strange use of asbestos in, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> + +<li> Cement, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li> Chrome iron, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li> Chrysotile, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li> Cloth and paper, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li> Clothing for firemen, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li> Coating ironclads, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li> Cobbing, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + +<li> Cold storage, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li> Coleraine group of mines, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + +<li> Coleraine mines of Dr. Reed, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li> Cost of extraction, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li> Coste, Eugène, report of, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + +<li> Crocidolite, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + +<li> Curtains in theatres, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Danville, mine at, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> + +<li> Deck cabins of steamships, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li> Discolouration, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a> + <ul class="nest"> + <li> removable, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + </ul> +<br /> +</li> + + +<li> Ells (Mr.), report of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li> Exeter Theatre, fire at, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li> Exhibition, American, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li> Extraction, cost of, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Faults in veins, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li> Filters, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> + +<li> Firemen's clothing, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li> Fires at theatres, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li> Fireproof boxes, <a href="#Page_58">58</a> + <ul class="nest"> + <li> curtains, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Frechette-Douville mine, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> + +<li> French-Canadian labour, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Genoa, floating chapel at, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li> Geology of Canada, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li> Gold at South Ham, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Heath, Captain, experiments of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Immature asbestos, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> + +<li> Impurity of rock, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li> Ink, asbestos, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></li> + +<li> Italian asbestos, <a href="#Page_15">15</a> + <ul class="nest"> + <li> paper on, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Italy, experiments in, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> + +<li> Italian asbestos, three kinds of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> + +<li> Iron-mining in Russia, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + +<li> Irving's safety theatre, <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Johnson Company's mine, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li> Journal of Society of Arts, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Kennedy's discovery at Coleraine, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li> King's mine, <a href="#Page_32">32</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Limestone at Templeton, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li> Lint, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Magnetite, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> + +<li> Mailbags, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li> Main sources of supply, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li> Marketable value, how determined, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li> Martin mine, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li> Merchants' and bankers' books, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li> Military ballooning, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li> Mineral wool, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li> Miner's lamps, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li> Mining in Canada, <a href="#Page_24">24</a> + <ul class="nest"> + <li> profitable nature of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + </ul> +<br /> +</li> + + +<li> Packing, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + +<li> Paint, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li> Paper, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li> Peculiarity at Thetford, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> + +<li> Pélé's hair, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li> Pierre-à-coton, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li> Places where used, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + +<li> Profitable nature of asbestos-mining in Canada, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li> Printing papers, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li> Pulp and paper, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li> Purification of foul gas, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br /><br />4</li> + + +<li> Reed & Hay properties, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li> Reed's (Dr.), mine, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li> Registers and records, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li> Relative merits of Canadian and Italian asbestos, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li> Rope, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> + +<li> Russia, asbestos found in, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a> + <ul class="nest"> + <li> iron-mining in, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + </ul> +<br /> +</li> + + +<li> Scottish Asbestos Company, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li> Serpentine, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a> + <ul class="nest"> + <li> often impure, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + <li> ornamental, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Shipton mine, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> + +<li> Singular statement, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li> Slag wool, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li> Soapstone (steatite), <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a> + <ul class="nest"> + <li> enormous quantity of, at South Ham, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> South Ham, mines at, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li> Steam-power, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li> Steam-pipe coverings, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li> Stove pipings, <a href="#Page_72">72</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Theatres, fires in, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li> Thetford group of mines, <a href="#Page_29">29</a> + <ul class="nest"> + <li> district rich in minerals, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + </ul> +</li> + +<li> Time fuzes, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li> Tunnelling impracticable in Canada, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Underwriters, offer of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li> United Asbestos Company of London, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li> Ural region, large quantities found in, <a href="#Page_14">14</a><br /><br /></li> + + +<li> Wages at Canadian mines, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li> Wall papers, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li> Want of foresight in mining for asbestos, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> + +<li> Ward's mine, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li> Whitehead torpedoes, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li> Willimott (Mr.), report of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li> Wolfestown mines, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> +</ul> +<br /> + +<hr style="width: 78%;" /> +<p class="cen">PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD, LONDON.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Transcriber's Note</p> +<br /> + +Some inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in +the original document has been preserved.<br /> +<br /> +Typographical errors corrected in the text:<br /> +<br /> +Page 40 Haydon changed to Hayden<br /> +Page 50 Balmina changed to Belmina<br /> +Page 58 Nary changed to Navy<br /> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Asbestos, by Robert H. 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