Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1880-06-17
GOLD IN MAINE.
rhe Localities where 10 10 Rsaad-
NugEets-Rusty Geld Granite
No Rich Diggiogs.

rhe Localities where is 10 Rsaad-
NuEEsts-R1sty Geld Granite
No Rich Diggisgs.
Boston Commercial Advertiser, June 8.
Paragraphs like the following ocoa.
sionally appear in the newspapers
"a gentleman from Maine reports .
remarkable discovery Of gold in the bed
OF . stream flowing into the eastern end
Of Rangeley lake. in Rangelsy, Ne.
This Is on the westerly aide Of the Sad.
dlsback mountains, but Il IL reported
that q similar aurifsrous discovery has
been made on the easterly side."
There Is gold In Maine without 0
doubt, but IS to the quantity, that IL
another question. The finding Of small
quantities Of gold In the streams and In
the hills Of the section OF Maine men.
toned In the above paragraph IL not
new at all. The Sandy rivsr fows from
the sssterly side Of the saddlsbaek
mountains and gold In small quantities
has been found In several places along
the line OF this river.
The Rangeley lakes are on The westerly
side Of the Saddlsbaeks, and gold has
been found on this side before. But -
to the quantity. the conditions In which
Il exists and the prospects Of finding
more the public may desire some In.
formation. The owners Of land have
several times gone nearly crazy over
these findings Of gold. but - yet the
California OF "'49" has never turned
up In Maine.
The gold discovered has always been
in the form OF native gold In small mug.
gets. and has generally turned up in the
beds OF the streams. But after the Arst
finding no small amount Of prospecting
or even mining By returned Californians
has been able to bring more TO light.
In the town OF Bingham, several years
ago, . bit OF gold was picked up on the
side Of Q hill near the river. and the
finder exhausted all his can (Which
we're limitsd) In digging and washing.
but no more could be found.
In the year 1879 or 1873, Miles Stan.
dish. IT.. land 1t might have been added
here that he il Q descendant OF Miles
Standish Of Pilgrim fancy who owns
mills and q farm in Lexington. Maine.
while prospecting for timber upon .
branch OF tho Dead River. found . bit Of
gold. 1t was fifteen miles into the
woods beyond any settlement, near or
among the Saddlsback Mountains.
Being o gentleman OF Q good deal OF
enterprise he was determined to know
what bis discovery amounted to. So he
enlisted o returned Californian and
another stalwart lumberman. and the
first Of juno they loaded themselves
with ca~mping'and digging utsnsils and
provisions enough for . week or more
and went into the woods. They soon
found that digging without sluicing
facilities was slow work and not likely
to prove profitable. 10 when their pro-
visions were exhausted and they we're
obliged to come out to the settlement or
starve, they made the journey and
lugsed in upon their second trip . pit
saw.
With this pitsaw they sawed sufficient
lumber by hand to build Q sluice to turn
the force OF the stream against the hill
side. This took them . long time, and
they were obliged to 60 out az often -
their food gave out and lug In, fifteen
miles on their backs, another quantity.
In this way they worked through the
months Of June. July and August. and
when they got through with their three
months labors they had mined . little
over thirty dollars worth Of gold.
This was about ~ earnest Q gold min.
ing operation - we have eve heard OF
in Maine. and Capt. Standish and his
partners were entirely satisAsd to lot II
alone. Some sportsmen fishing on the
Dead river heard Of what was being done
towards the last OF the season, and they
told Capt. Standish that they should 60
In at onos and take up Q claim. He
answered them that he was perfectly
willing and would render them all the
assistance In his power. II they wished
to endure all the hsrdships he had gone
through that summer. for . third Of
thirty dollars worth OF gold, they were
welcome to the opportunity. but q for
himself he preferred his mills and lum.
boring operations.
It Is probable that Captain Standish
would point out the locality Of his min.
ing operations 10 any parties who might
wish to dig for gold there, and they
might satisfy themselves a. 10 the value
Of Maine gold mines. The gold In
Maine is always found in the vicinity Of
rock Of q rusty brown color, where oxid-
ization has destroyed the iron and chem.
ical action has collected the gold thus
set free into nuggets. Were IL not for
this o~Iidization or rusting, which gives
the peculiar color to the soil, the very
small quantity Of gold held In the rock
would never DO seen.
The truth il that there 10 more or less
Of gold in the earth everywhere. me-
tallurgist remarked the other day that II
the gold In q hundred cubic feet OF the
streets Of Boston could DO concentrated
in yard. that it would probably pay we'll
for working. The red or rusted.o out rock
which has set the gold free appears 90.
casionally in Maine, but the general na-
ture OF the soil is . hard granite. In
which exceedingly little gold exists.