Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-02-04
A GOLD MINE IN HONDURAS
A YIELD EQUAI TO THE BEST
CALIFORNIA MINES.


CHIoAao, Jan. GA local paper pub
fishes this morning the following article !:
'srhere has been a good deal of sup
pressed excitement among mining men in
Chicago during the past few days over
reports received from the agent of a
syndicate of Americans searching for gold
in Honduras. Some six months ago
James Rector, Mr.. Milligan, Colonel
Pat Donan of Dakota, and three othef
gentlemen from Indiana made up pool
and sent Rector and another man, an old
California prospector, in Honduras
to examine and report upon new placer
gold field which was alleged to have been
found in the southeastern part of the
little Republic. Ever since November
there have been rumors afioat that the
alleged discovery was confirmed and that
it had proved to be most important one
but the projectors of the expedition at
home would say nothing about it, Now
however the ban of y silence is re-
moved and with the arrival of full
particulars both by cable and mail and
also the receipt of little bag of 1922
assay dust, the Importance of the find is
no longer concealed. Already Mr.. Milli-
gun of Fargo, Oak, has gone to Hon
, duras. Colonel Donan will follow in q
few weeks, and several other parties of
western men who have been let into the
secret are making ready to set out for the
new el dorado.
"Mr. Rector, who has been ON the
ground since last summer and who is
known as prudent and cautious man,
and one possessed of unusually hard
sense, writes to his friends here TINT the
discovery is likely to prove rs important q
one as any of the great placer districts of
California.
'.The new field lies in the eastern por-
ton of the Republic of Honduras and
about $50 miles from the Atlantic coast.
The placers are in and adjacent to the
head waters on the Guayape river, which
is one of the tributary streams of the Rio
Patuca, region long known for its
mineral resources. Mr.. Rector and party
have explored the stream and its gravely
bottom for nearly SO miles, and have
found scores of places where the gravel
yields from 10 to 80 cents to the pan.
They have begun regular mining, however,
in place where, after muuh toll, they
succeeded in turning the river from its
native bed. Here they dug down and
found the bed rock at six feet depth in
strata. of clay and gravel. They are
ptuApthS ouo AAoih Pf w RAO q SuotS JaAu,
yield fully equal to that of the best
placer diggings in California. The bed
of the river they have reclaimed covers
many acres in extent, and under the laws
ofthe Republic they can lay claim toit all.
The facilities for placer mining are un-
surpassed.
The gold which has been sent up was
exhibited to a select few in Chicago yes
terday. The government of Honduras it
is said is very liberal to miners, let them
come from where they may. 1t requires
no citizenship to work mineral land and
there is very large margin allowed as to
extent of holding. Gold and silver min
ing has long been an established industry
in the region of the Rio Patuca, but the
inertness of the people, the apparent
remoteness of the country and the
lack of adequate capital has pre-
vented anything like systematic
work. Mining men from the west who are
at present in Chicago, are watching with
keen interest the Honduras developments. |
If the news which the Rector party has |
sent shall be further confirmed, there
will no doubt be quite stampede for the |
new region. The country is described as
healthful, entirely free from malaria, and
the temperature in the foot hills of the
mountain ranges where the placers are
TO be found at from 45' TO 750 the year
around"