Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1888-08-31


the stranger had already stakel off tn
best claims. A mining claim. theorei
ically. may extend down to the center
of the earth. and his. of course, Gu
through the spot where the quar- wa
found. The same day he was offere'
and accepted good many thousan
dollars for the property.
1t was subsequently discovered iha
the ragged stranger and the man will
gun were Identical H, had file,
down twenty-dolIar god piece
loaded gun with the dust. and fire,
into the face Of the eli fl This ma,
hal been deserter from the Uniie,
States Army. His name escapes me-
Sailing with chloride of gold 81
called. was the invention of a Gu i
fornia man and practiced by hi n Il,
the hydraulic mines in the norlherl
part of that State. l will leave SOM
chemist 10 state what the powerful re.
solvent was that held gold suspended,
In infinitely small particles. but sucl
an agent he did discover and used will
success. H draulic mining is done bv
means of very long sluice or trough
with Stats nailed crosswise along the
bottom. AS muddy water. with which,
the rich earth has been mixed, is
passed through this sluice. quicksilver
in the angles of the stats attracts the
atoms of gold. and the alluvial de-
post forms an amalgum. A, several
worthless mines this chloride OF |
was emptied into the water, and the
particles of metal united with III.
q Iicksilver in exactly the manner O
nature. 1t deceived oil the expert,
aid realiz d a fortune for the swim l.
Ter. He built summer hotel on tn,
Pacific coast with the proceeds. ant
this was shortly after destroyed b,
lire. Thus vice was ultimately pun
ished. as it is in novels plays
and real life.
Who has ever heard of .Grattin' S
bottlesP" Very few. and yet they at
one time puzzled numerous leading
scientists of the country. This is
briefly the history of them: A man
named Grattin owned cluster of bar
rem claims in Colorado. He went to a
ST. Louis capitalist and told him a
wonderful story of gold, which cx's ed,
he said. all through the loamy subsoil
of the mines. The capt. alist became
interested. and went out to investigate,
Gratlin giving him four glass bottles
in which to bring home specimens of
the earth. These he brought back.
securely sealed, and an assay discov-
cred gold running thousands of dollars
to the ton. He bought the mines and
Ora tin disappeared.
When the mines turned out TO be
worthless the question of
how the swindle was perpetra ed
arose. The strictest search failed TO
show any signs of sailing. and then
the victim thought of the bottles.
They were ordinary glass jars holding
a quart each. and there was apparent
ly nothing suspicious about them.
Howev l.. he had them scalded out
and filled with earth from his
garden. In few DAYS the Jars were
opened and unques tionable traces of
gold found in the contents. He was
nonplussed. Scientific men examined
HON, and could make nothing out of
the phenomena. No matter what was
put into the bottles gold would APP
pear in few days. 1t looked like
alchemy.
Finally it occurred to some body to
cut into The corks. and then the secret
was out They were made of n COM
position of shcllac. powdered cork and
gold dust. This had the property o.
gradually disintegrating and dropping
III. and the more the bottles were han
died the more gold would he found on
assay.
Mine sailing has been practiced so
in Colorado that smelters
and miners are extremely careful to
whom they sell rich ore. lest it be put
o improper uses. Hence it is II mat
,er of some difficulty to obtain the
salt. This was rather ingeniously
overcome some years ago in L adj
INV "A Soi'ci Wduicu SO1le ore from |
he Robert f. Lee mine. at that ime
ho richest in the camp. H, OBJ aimed |
rs laborer. and every
lay. af er he had eaten his dinner in |
} OF the drifts, he would fill his
bucket with ore. In short time ne
lad the necessary guam ity. Some
miners who noticed the trick en-
'loyed it to steal ore and were getting
ch when the whole story came to
light and they came to grief
Very few smelters have ever beer. |
windled by sailing They take cx-
raordnary precautions against 1t,
all the ore they by from at
east dozen places. and then grind
ng up the balance and sampling il
fresh. In some smelters as many as
orty different samples are taken.
is a singular fact that not only
ave poor mines b,en salt with ric,
re. but rich mines have been very
frequently saltel with poor. The cir
ums ances under which such an APP
aren't paradox wOuld toke nlaca ore