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 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.
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°.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Slaty varieties, of which there are many, are comparatively useless.
DANVILLE.
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.
The outcrop of the serpentine here, I am told, is quite 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.
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.
SOUTH HAM.
This mine, the property of Dr. Reed of Reedsdale, Megantic, is situate
on the Nicolet Estate, in the township of South Ham, 7-½ 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.
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
the lake, and can be seen cropping out in many places on the shore and
the hill-side.
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.:--
1st. Small veins, rarely exceeding half an inch in width, the fibres not
easily separable. This, however, does not detract from its commercial
value.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Indeed this estate might very justly be termed a typical Canadian
mineral estate, and is, in its way, unique, for 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 2-½ ozs. gold to the ton. Nickel also is found on the property,
and cobalt.
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."
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 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.
WOLFESTOWN.
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.
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.
The total amount of asbestos taken from the Belmina district Mr. Ells
puts at about twenty-five tons.
Considerable quantities of chromic iron are found on the hills in this
area, which embraces about six hundred acres.
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; _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 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.
As regards the progressive output of crude asbestos at the 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:--
Value at the Mines.
Tons. Dollars.
1879 300 19,500
1880 380 24,700
1881 540 35,100
1882 810 52,650
1883 955 68,750
1884 1,141 75,079
1885 2,440 142,441
1886 3,458 206,251
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] _Ante_, p. 13.
[5] "Geol. Hist. Can.," 1880.
[6] See _ante_, p. 12.
[7] See _post_, p 33.
[8] "Geographical Survey of Canada."
[9] _Ante_, p. 27.
USES TO WHICH ASBESTOS IS APPLIED.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 account of the
trial may be found in the _Army and Navy Gazette Supplement_, for August
28, of last year, and in the _Globe_ 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.
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 _Dolphin_, _Chicago_, _Atlantic_,
and _Boston_. 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.