Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-12-10

Gold Lines Of the CortInens.
Humboldt, in tresGng Of the interior formsiious
Of this continent alludss very sarcascally to the
"Plaste or shallow river name which hiss latterly
been ignorantly transformed into that Of suer pro-
naisiag rigsr FlGteo Perhaps tbs gold fields which
have recently been discovered broidering its banks
with glitteriDg wealth, says the St. Louis Democrat
viii reconcile venerable old man to the nomen-
elaiuTs Of an early creduliy. and yet it is strange
that the sagacity Of the author Of Cosmos sboold
have injulgcd in a sheer Of the kind shen treating
Of such striking geological section that obtrudes
every where the ndicia of uRsqualled metaliferous
wealth. CHANGING at the vast voc9nic upheayal
which constitutes the central feature Of oar country
along whose altitude runs The Cordillera of the ST.
ERE Msdre, from whose sides descend the great
rivers Of the Plains flowing into two oceans, and
whose confused masses Of phorpbyritic granite
sentinel an almost uHe1plored land, that which FIRST
strikes the mind Of the student of physical geogra-
ply, is the fact that wherever civilization has
touched this great formation, whether in Mexico, in
California, or in Kansas, it has discovered gold in
quantities sufficient to change the relations Of
merce throughout the world It was 10 the South
that the spsniard upon the spurs of the Sierra
Mimbres and CLEANED the wealth of POtOsi ard
and DuraBgO. In the West the advent Of the Sax
on race developed the wonderful riches washed from
the Quartz of the Sierra Nevada, a sealed mystery
to the ignorant natives at the East the first tread
Of our eountrymen, amid the defies of the Table
Mountains laid bare to fhe gaze wide plscers Of the
precious metals over which lie vision dims with
1
position to the commercial estate So too the latter
give promise OF another revolution in tbeintereourse
Of mankind This exhibition of the Golden rim of
the mountain formations Of the interior might be
accepted in itself as demonstrative Of their msa-
ferrous character throughout but fortunately We
are net left to any such vsgue conjecture. 1t i7a
fact long and well known, though only just now be-
ginning to be properly appreciated that every stream
which heads among those COrdilleras brings down
with it to the plains gOd-besring sands. Along all
the water shed of Texas the affnents are of this
character, and time and again the report of gold
discoveries has gone forth from their deposits. In
the lower courses of the Red River, the Arkano
sas the Platte in the rivulets of Sonora and Chi
huahua, upon the banks of the Rio del NOrte, and
Colorado and the ella, in the beds of the SaoTs-
mento and its many branches and 10 short wherever
current has come from that great auriferous en-
pire there too is the gtterng sign of its massed up
treasures It is known that the gold lines Of the
world form almost great circle, of which this
gion lies directly in the track and this too in far
gives an assurance Of its character. Across it at
an early day the Aztec made large pOrtages, and
remains of the seats of that traffic even now attest
that it must have been supported by wealth which
could never come from the sparse culture of the
valleys, aud which must have arisen from gather
ing the tribute of the mountains-the gold and the
silver and the precious stones of country wonder
full in its yield Who then shall pronounce now, in
view of go great discoveries already made, against
the yet untold riches Of that great vertrebaI column
of mountains of the center, whose mere disjOinted
ribs have afforded such harvest 10 The miners OF
the new world? What the detached ridges are to
the Andes of the South that are the outer inspect
ed groups to the great chain of the COrdillera of
the Sierra Madre Why then may we not have
faith in realizing amid its concealed ores deposits
rivalling the silver mountain of Gualgayoc or the
golden gardens Of COxamarsa; why shall we not
anticipate in its secluded recess other diamond vail
leys Of CulIoor, and amid the marvellous beauties
of its scenery, other retreats lOveier than Kash-
mere?