Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1879-01-30
ATLANTIC GOLD PLACERs.

A few days since, says the New York
"Graphic," a farmer in Monroe county,
Pa, found an ounce of gold in the stom-
ach of a duck he had killed. The metal
was in coarse grains. This is a good "pros-
pect." An ounce Of gold is worth from
SIG to SO, according to its fineness. The
mineralogist of the Lehigh Institute certi-
fed to the genuineness of the metal. The
farmer killed the remainder OF his ducks
but found no more gold. This suggests
the tragedy of the goose which laid the
golden & The farm has also been
~prospected and more Of the precious metal
iuInd in a small creek.
There is q fair prospect Of finding gold
anywhere along the Appalachian mountain
range. 1t is already found from Nova
| Scotia to Georgia. A large area of
| try, drained by the streams on either side
| of this range, affords a near field for pros
pecting. Gold in scales, dust and nuggets
may be directly under our feet for ages,
and none be aware of its existence. Save
to the comparative few who have made
| gold mining a business, it is not easy Of
detection. 1t is likely to be COMPOUNDED
with combinations OF iron. copper or mica.
| The first nugget found in Georgia was
used by al ignorant woodman for years to
keep his door open. Not a man at Suffers
Fort, in 1913, knew to a certainty that the
! yellow dust first gathered there was gold.
| 1t was necessary to send it to o San Fran
| cisco assayer. A similar degree of ignor-
ance with regard to this metal exists to-day
among tens of thousands of farmers living
on possible Atlantic gold ranges.
West Of the Rocky Mountains not a river
or creek bed, no a gulch or ravine but that
has been tested by the gold hunters
| -...x u.l .cr II Il. %ha E~c$ thine co,.nbk
for in u~nexplored territory. East of the
Rocky Mountains scarcely any one deems
it justifable to prospect for gold. The
miner who has shaken his pan from Idaho
J to Arizona, and generally shaken it in vain,
would probably rave laughed to scorn the
idea of prospecting" the paternal farm in
Monroe county, Pa. The discovery was
left to the unfortunate ducks. Gold, it ID
sometimes argued, has ruined more than
one nation. Certainly it proved fatal to
tins colony Of ducks.
A prospect of SIC coarse gold found in a
ducks stomach, on any ranch in Califor-
mia, would speedily create a local excite
ment, and when more was discovered in
the gulches, there would be rush for the
new ''diggings." Holes would be sunk in
every ravine for twenty miles around, the
lodges would be examined and the %'ioat."
" bcdttcicu qudftZ ou tuc buAidCo, PiSAcu
up and carefully scrutinized.
Collaborating areas are not continuous.
Large tracts Of barren country often lie
between them. The California placers
give out at m average distance of forty
miles from the crest Of the Sierra range.
This point reached, and for a distance OF
100 or 140 miles, taking in the extreme
summit peaks and the eastern slope Of the
Sierras, the soil is often as devoid Of gold
as the sands of Long Island. But this dis
lance passed and diggings crop out again.
The same rule may apply to our Eastern
gold -bearing ranges. 1t is not entirely q
question for the geologist to solve. II
must be done by the practical miner with
his pick, pan. shovel and hammer. Wers
his work here in hunting placers and
quartz lodges lone as thoroughly as
that on the Pacific slope. the Bullion Club
might find matter for agreeable contemplar
! ton and examination nearer home.