Copper Mining at Vershire

The Vermont Copper Mining Company is doing a large business in the mining of copper at Vershire. It has some four hundred workmen on the pay-roll; and with their families some 1,200 souls are dependent on this industry. The Company pay out every month from $13,000 to $15,000. The shaft is worked day and night in three shifts, eight hours on and sixteen off, requiring some 180 workmen.

The process of manufacture is described as follows: At the outlet of the mine there is a black-smith shop, where there are some four or five men kept busy all the time making and sharpening drills. Here the car is run into a building built for that purpose, and four or five men are employed to sort the ore from the waste rock. The rock that contains ore is loaded into a car and started down the railway to what is called the "cobbing house." In this building are some 60 men and boys, old and young, who sit on stools and hammer all day, breaking and sorting the rock.

From the "cobbing house" the ore is taken in cars about 20 rods, and then is dumped on the roast-bed. In the first place there are about three cords of wood laid on a space of about 30 feet square. Then the ore is piled up on top of the wood about ten feet high. When the pile is complete, fire is set to the wood, and it burns readily. The sulphur that is in the ore takes fire and continues to burn some six months before the fire goes out. The vapor or smoke from the roast-bed kills all vegetation in the vicinity. The grass is dead, and it kills the apple and forest trees. The workmen, however, are healthy and robust, and some of them have been employed there for many years.

From the roast-bed the ore is loaded into cars again and taken to the smelting house, where there are some ten furnaces that are run night and day, melting the ore. The copper is run into pigs or bars weighing from 150 to 200 lbs. each, and then it is ready for market.