Ellsworth American., 1880-03-25
garm anO HouseboIO


For many year i; has been the waking
dream Of no; a few Of our people that at
some time, or in some place precious metals
would be found. Are those dreams coming
To be something more tangible than a wild
fancy The early explorers and adveniurers
believed this "Estoiiland" Of ours to he the
"Eldorado," sbounding in gold and silver
The initial grant Of townships in Han
cock county. made in 1862. conditioned tha;
the grantee yisld one fifth of all the gold
and silver and precious stones found
therein This condition attaches to all
of the sea-washed towns from Bueksport TO
Surry. both inclusive. The subsequent
century has never been withou; infatudtes
equipped with mineral rod. pick and spade,
prospecting the sea-bathed banks. TO dis
cover the hidden treasures of Capt, Kidd,
as he sailed"
As il was the province OF accident to
discover silver in Peru, gold in California
and copper al Lake Superior; 80 is il the
"crowning glory" OF accident TO discover
metallic ores in Maine. That gold. silver
and copper lodes, carrying ore Of good
grade have been found, by the most skep,i-
cal will not be denied. Whether these
mineral-deposits contain sufficient percen-
tage of mineral TO be of commercial impor-
tance under present circumstances. cannot
be determined. The outlook warrants
trial, especially, as low grade ore. can nov
be made to pay
That more or less Of the veins ma,
pinch out" turn into "siringer" or
pocket" or be otherwise faulty. is leaf
in the history Of mining, and history re
peats itself An expectation sows TO the
whirlwind. which looks upon every ledge
a crammed with preeiou. things Like the
nlght-blooming oereus, many 4 stratum
vein will open once. then wilt and die"
Yet, every new opening adds to the num-
Der of golden possibilities.
That permanent mines are, and are 10 be
found, as productive and profitable as the
Calumet and Hecla. is passing from doubt
10 certainty. and within the near future.
paving dividends NAV reasonably be ex-
pected.
VIII it pay'?is is the monopolizing que,-
ton. Mining. Of all the industries, has the
Longest payday" 1t takes time and
money to reach the ore deposited al pro-
found depths. The equipage required is
massive and costly. The famous Hecla,
which has paid dividend Of millions for
wears, was wrought by assessments. working
stamp stuff, yielding from t. TO ) per cent,
of copper. The introduction of improved
machinery and skilled labor made it pay.
A great many mining companies have shut
down because they were worked by those
who were not skilled in the business. At
the estimated cost of shaft-sink ing-SJO.
per vertical foc;,-the promise to paw. is to
those, the fortunate possessors of surplus
wealth. In plain Anglo Saxon, a poor man
lacks the lone thing needful." lie. Kear-
ney and his hoodlums take note. Capital
seconded by labor. must ''mine it." If the
rough ores can be shipped to England. a,
reasonable freight, there to be crushed as
well as smelted, il materially cheapens the
cost Of mining and brings the time of
"divy" nearer.
The geological formation Of Hancock
county, opens an interesting field for scien-
fife xurxax uov
ducts-precipitous, sharply peaked. and but
slightly eroded, bear evidence of recent
upheaval-the swamp" upon each mountain
peak, crater of an extinct, or a slumbering
volcano, vast ore-houses of Hematite and
Lmonite tred iron and brown) forming a
rust dark, lustrous, shaggy. with an rides
cent play Of colors; such are the mountains
of the ''Desert Isle" and at Bluehiil. The
metamorpbic granite hills of Dedham. the
parent rock whose numerous progeny of
enormous erratic blocks have colonixed
the ''Craigs" at Ellsworth Falls. while
many boulder which lies scattered over
the plain. marks their way as onward they
went in their march to the sea- The
fragments of an earlier world" torn from
their original resting places, which pave the
way from Orland to Surry, exhibiting the
'strange behavior" of mechanical disinte.
gration-the massive granite which up
heaves at Brooksville, Bluehill and Sullivan.
with its white, red. or brown feldspar. The
impure limestone of Brooksville passing in
to metamorphosed verd Antique, at Deer
Isle. The limonite bed in Penobscot chang
ing into plumbago.
Picturesque and wonderfully iruptive as
the face of the county is, the great area of
surface rock, is a metamorphic slate
that hears on its crushed surface, the creases
and crumplings of . thousand contortions.
Of this date cap rock, there are . great
many varieties, variety passing into variety.
which occasions confusion Of names; the
sclix receiving diGerent names from dif-