Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-12-21
ORR ALLEGED TIN MINES.

There has Of late been going the rounds
of several papers in West Virginia and
Ohio further news of the alleged tin mines
Of our State. Some have good deal Of
faith in this and others are skeptical The
RraIsrER published few weeks ago the
opinions of DR.. DEwY, of Washington, Ma
Tor HorcHKss and Prot SEANoS, Of Viz.
yinia and Prof WHITE, Of West Virginia,
that there was no tin in the specimens Of
ore tested, and expressing the belief that
the whole subject tinctured Of fraud.
The following from the Winfield, Put
nam county, Irrepressible, calls to mind
what the REsIsTER said last spring in re-
gard 10 the impOssi6iity Of finding rich
tin deposits in strs;i6ed rocks such as
West Virginia possesses, and make it seem
more probable than ever thstthere is some
thing not Just right about this whole mat
ter:
Thus far about 90 tons OF ore has been
taken out, so tons of which was shipped to
Clifton, where the tests have been made.
One very remarkable feature OF these tests
is that the operations have bseu confined
TO q very few pounds when there were tons
of it at command, and If the yield IS IS
great "a represented there are from two to
three thousand dollars worth Of block tin
in the fifty tors of ore shipped to Clifton
alone One thing is very certain, II this
ore is lust what il is represented 10 be, It Is
a source of wealth absolutely beyond COM
pu,ation, the strata being almost mex
haustible. The strata Of ore is known to
underhe at least four counties, viz: Cabell,
Mason and Putnam in West Virginia, and
GalEa in Ohio, varying from six inches to
seven feet in thickness. But to our mind
there are grave doubts IS to the ore being
what it has been represented to be. There
is room for serious apprehension that the
committees and newspaper men who have
Witnessed the tests, have been imposed
upon by the experts who have superintsnd-
ed the smelling of those small quantities.
The REGISTER would no. stslheekto dis
courage any enterprise that might tend to
develop the State, but would say amen to
all efforts 10 open up its tin mines, if such
exist. Nor would it make q sweeping
charge of fraud upon the men engaged in
the enterprise. But sandstone, coal, lime
stone, gold. silver, Tin and ell other miner
as are each formed only under certain
conditions. II the conditions necessary
for forming deposits Of tin have not ex-
is,ed in Mason and the other counties
where this alleged metal Is said to be
found, which would be the more reasons-
Ole conclu,ion-that Nature has reversed
her eternal laws and performed a miracle |
IN order to favor Mason and adjoining |
counties with deposits of tin or that some
lhArpers have been trying to play upon the
ereduGty Of the people and that some
good men have been deceiyed2 We know
the thinking man will recognize that Ma
ture never plays such prAuks in building
the rock formations Of this world Of ours,
and he will accept the latter conclusion as
the more reasonable one.
What are the conditions under which
tin is found2 Nearly the same IS are
present in gold deposits. Gold, as is we'll
known, is found principally in veins and IN
plscers. The veins are formed in assures
OF the rocks BY deposits from hot alkaline
waters circulating through the assures.
These assures in most cases are ruptures
IN the strata caused Oy volcanic action,
and they extend into the earth nearly per
pendicular to the strata. This must take
place in volcanic regions where the rocks
are more or less metamorphic.
Placer mines are formed along rivers
Dy particles Of metal washed out from the
fssure veins and carried down by the
streams and deposited among the sand
and gravel and drift Of their beds Or
they may be formed ike the grea! placer
mine Of Table mountain, Caifornis, by an
old river valley becoming covered with
bed of lava, and the hot alkaline solutions
from this bed dePositing in the sand and
drift Of the underlying valley the metal
they hold in solution. Placers srs formed
in horizontal position.
Tin occurs under conditions similar 10
the above Indeed, it occurs IN the aurifer-
GUS rocks of CsrtorDis, Mexico. Brazil, Chill,
and other places. right along with gold. {
The rich TN mines Of Cornwall consist
of both veins and placers. The tin mines
Of the Blue Ridge in Virginia are ssid to J
occur under conditions like those Of the
yreat mines of the island Of Bsnca. These )
IRE the conditions on that island, according
o an abstract. taken from the Revue :
Jniversells des Mines, BY the VEsinia'; n
!. In thin irregular veins in granite 2. u