Charles W. Merrill Biography

	This biography appears on pages 982-983 in "History of South Dakota" 
	by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, OCRed and edited 
	by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	CHARLES W. MERRILL, B. S., of Lead, Lawrence county, was born in 
Concord, New Hampshire, on the 1st of December, 1869, and is a son of 
Sylvester and Clara L. (French) Merrill, the former of whom was born in 
Massachusetts and the latter in New Hampshire, while they now maintain 
their home in San Francisco, California. The paternal grandfather of our 
subject was a pioneer hat manufacturer in Methuen, Massachusetts, while 
grandfather French was prominently identified with the installation of 
stage lines in New Hampshire in early days, and also interested in the 
construction of the first railroad line in that state; In 1870 the 
parents of our subject removed to California, where the father 
established himself in the furniture business and where he and his wife 
still reside.  

	Mr. Merrill completed the curriculum of the public schools in San 
Francisco and then entered the University of California, where he was 
graduated as a member of the class of 1891, with the degree of Bachelor 
of Science. After leaving the university Mr. Merrill passed four years 
in practical work with the United States geographical survey and with 
one of the leading metallurgical engineers of the world, whose specialty 
was the amalgamation of gold and silver ores by chemical processes. In 
1895 Mr. Merrill installed his first cyanide plant, for the Standard 
Mining Company, at Bodie, Mono county, California, this being the first 
plant of the sort in that district. That the project proved a source of 
profit and the plant a significant success is evidenced in the fact that 
it paid for itself in six weeks after the plant was put in operation. 
Since that time a number of other plants have been erected in the same 
district and by the improved process it has been found profitable to re-
open a number of previously abandoned mines, which are now yielding good 
returns. In 1896 Mr. Merrill erected a large plant at Harqua Hala, Yuma 
county, Arizona, this likewise being a pioneer cyanide plant, and it has 
netted the operating company a profit of ten thousand dollars a month on 
an investment of thirty thousand dollars. In 1897 the subject found his 
services in requisition in connection with the erection and equipping of 
the pioneer cyanide plant for the Montana Mining Company, Limited, at 
Marysville, Montana, the same having a capacity of four hundred tons per 
day and having been erected at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars. 
Up to the present time it has paid a full half million dollars in 
profits.  

	In the autumn of 1898 Mr. Merrill began a series of individual 
experiments in connection with treating the tailings from the mines of 
the Homestake Mining Company, at Lead, South Dakota, said tailings 
practically representing in valuation about half those with which he had 
previously experimented and had successfully treated. The attraction of 
such a low-grade proposition was due to the great ore reserves and large 
daily tonnage. However, the problem was one of exceptional interest an<1 
importance, and Mr. Merrill has not only added materially to his 
personal reputation through the success which he has gained in the 
connection, but has gained an economic and scientific victory as bearing 
upon the great mining industry of this section and other localities 
where similar conditions exist. The difficulties encountered were, 
first, to make a successful separation of the leachable portion of the 
tailings, owing to the fact that the battery process produces a very 
slimy product; and, second, to overcome the adverse condition involved 
in the fact that the ore carried a very high percentage of pyrrhotite, a 
very objectionable mineral element in connection with cyaniding, by 
reason of its marked affinity for oxygen, and its tendency to decompose 
considerable quantities of cyanide. The problem was finally solved on a 
profitable basis. and the economic treatment of the tailings on a large 
scale began with the completion, in April, 1901, of what is known as the 
No. 1 plant, at Lead, at a cost of three hundred thousand dollars, the 
plant having a capacity for treating, approximately, fourteen hundred 
and fifty tons a day, which makes it the largest of the sort in the 
world. It is earning, approximately, from thirty to forty thousand 
dollars a month, and the tailings treated are those secured from the 
great mills containing five hundred and forty stamps at Lead. In the 
year 1902 Mr. Merrill installed for the company its second plant, at 
Gayville, anal this has a capacity for the treating of an average of 
eight hundred tons a day. This No. 2 cyanide plant treats the leachable 
sands from what are known as the North End mills the Deadwood, Terra, 
the old Caledonia and the old Father De Smet, representing three hundred 
and sixty stamps. The tailings from these mills are materially lower in 
grade than those at Lead, though practically the metallurgical processes 
employed in the two cyanide plants are identical. The second plant is 
running at a fair profit taking into consideration the low grade of 
material treated, maintaining a profit of from seven to ten thousand 
dollars a mouth.  

	In politics Mr. Merrill gives his allegiance to the Republican 
party, but has never desired official preferment, preferring to give his 
entire attention to his profession, of which he is an enthusiastic 
devotee. He is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, 
the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, of London, and the Chemical, 
Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa.  

	On the 9th of February, 1898 Mr. Merrill was united in marriage to 
Miss Clara Robinson, of Alameda, California, she being a daughter of Dr. 
William H. Robinson, a prominent dental surgeon and practitioner of that 
state, and of this union has been born a daughter, Beatrice, and  
son, John.