Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-11-20
THE GREAT GOLD FIND
I'm Dakota Territory Creates "a Fresh
Fever-rhe Geological Testimony.

Special to the Appeal
CHICAGO, November ia special from
Lisbon, Oak, says the interest in the re-
creased to a white heat by the arrival of
a consignment of machinery suitable to be
used in the reduction of the gold-bearing
rock. Messrs. Griswold, Stewart K Frey
have already expended $4,000 in lands
and machinery. The machinery ordered
will have a capacity OF twenty-five tons
per day, and men are now at work on the
erection of a mill and in few days the
managers will know whether they have
struck q bonanza or not. Meantime the
arrival OF foOt-sore and semi-dilapidated
Sold-seekers from the surrounding coun-
try, interspersed with large sprinkling
OF experienced prospectors from Dead
wood and Leadville and an occasional
"Forty-niner," continues unabated. The
gold-bearing rock is found crop
ping out in ledge along the
Cheyenne river anywhere from two to
twenty miles north of Lisbon. Mr.. w. ii.
Griswold, the gentleman who made the
discovery of gold, had, previous to making
his discovery known, taken possession of
all the land he considered worth anything,
amounting in all to about 1000 acres. Mr..
Griswold is very sanguine in his expecta-
tons. Neither he nor his partners are
disposed to sell an interest in their project.
81 am satisfied" f." said Mr. Griswold, "that
gold exists in paying quantities. | have
put my own money into it, and ii l am
mistaken l will be the loser" Nearly 100
assays have been made, the average of
which has been $50 per ton.
Prof Lausanne, Il practical geologist,
who has had long experience with gold
bearing rock, having been for years in the
employ of a French syndicate engaged in
prospecting in Australia and South Amer
lea, is on the scene, and speaking of the
appearance OF the rock and failure as vet
to find free gold, said: "There are no
geological reasons why there should not
be as heavy a deposit of gold here as any
where. 1t has been determined that the
ocean contains one grain of gold to each
ton of water, and it is patent that
this entire valley is the bottom of a once
inland sea, and there is every indication
that the water that once covered this re-
gion partook largely of the character of
ocean water. This water was dissipated
by disintegration and volcanic causes.
The appearance of the Lisbon formation
is enough to satisfy any fair-minded man
that it is the conglomerated mass of disin-
tegrated and crumbled rock, thrown up by
volcanic action sometime in the past, and
solidifed by the air. This valley, them
was once the bed of an inland sea, holding
in solution grain of gold to each ton of
water. We find around Lisbon the evil
dence of volcanic action Mt time when
there was yet water. Natural chemical
principles were thus put in operation by
this volcanic action and the liquid gold re-
duced and deposited in the mass of
molten substances thrown up by the dis
turbances. The action of the water
ground up and disintegrated much of this
rock in the violent washings which must
have attended the dissipation of this vast
body of water. The conglomerate mass
| forming these bluffs would, therefore, con-
tain gold throughout, while that portion
yielding TO the action OF the water would
be washed out and deposited in the sand,
and by its weight seeking the lowest
! places. This would be the floor gold, and
will be found in the bottom OF the Chey-
enne river"
] Tho fnpt rpu,nine bnwavar tbat no fraa
! gold has been discovered, though the land
on every quarter section for miles has
been farmed. 1t is held that it exists in
the bottom of the Cheyenne river, and
parties are now preparing to change the
| bed of the river for a short distance, in
order to once for all determine whether
there exists any placer deposits. A large
number of mineral claims have been filed,
and hundreds are now waiting TO see what
the machinery now arriving will develop.
! If il should turn out that the assumptions
of Mr.. Griswold and his friends are cor
rect, there will be the liveliest ripping up
of titles ever witnessed in the West 1t is
held that there is no land. not even the
town site, which is not subject to entry as
a mineral claim. Even land on which the
government has issued patent may he
taken from the owner if mineral is found
10 exist thereon, rs every patent or deed
issued by the United States government
contains clause specifically reserving
mineral lands from settlement for agricul-
tural purposes. Mr.. Griswold and his
friends only hold an incomplete title to
their land, most of it having been recently
taken in the shape of pre-emptions, home
4teads and tree claims. As 800 by-150 feet
is the largest plot of mineral land one per
son is allowed to hold, the Griswold-Stew-
art combination is liable to become the
victims OF their own greed, as hundreds
stand ready to file claims over them as
soon as it is demonstrated that it will pay.
1t is rumored here that the land office at
Fargo will open branch office at this
place in few days for the recording of
mineral claims and the transaction of bus
iness pertaining to this branch of the land
business.