The ore which is obtained from these mines, if sufficiently rich to justify the operation, is transferred to the smelting furnaces, where the pure metal is melted down and extracted from the virgin fossil. If, on the contrary, the ore is deemed of inferior quality, it is then submitted to the process of amalgamation.

Commerce of the Prairies (1831–1839), Chapter 22 - Visit to Town of Jesus-Maria — Anti-Masonic Auto de Fe