The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-05-17

mine. Next come the gold Of Kin K'eng
in Lien Chow and Of Shth-luh Shan
(Stone Green Mountains, in Tan
chow, island OF Hainan.
Iron mines are the most profitable coal
mines come next, then follow tin, gold,
and silver mines in the order given;
The cause that now, In spite OF the en-
couragcment, passive IN not active, given
by theg government tn mining, little money
In made out OF IL compared to what was
made sixty years ago when the govern
ment actively discouraged il. Is the pres
ent mania for engaging foreign experts
and ignoring Chinese talent. II the mines
whose existence IL m undoubted fact
were properly worked, China would be-
rome the wealthiest country in the world,
and there would bc no need for foreign
prospectors To go wandering about the
country for hundreds Of years To come; "
indeed by that time our Chinese had not,
by careful education from generation to
generation, developed as good "a flair for
a mine as n of these gentlemen. To
take the Canton Province only. when
General Fang fao, now Admiral of
kuangtung, was In at HUI
chow, our friend Mr.. Yuan, directedb by the
general 10 collect information on mines,
reported Ia him that there were more than
li0 places where they could he worked.
I he Tang Shu III Ii Chi, an ancient geo.
graphical work, says that the richest part
of the empire in gold, silver, lead, copper,
iron and tin is the region called Hng-ndn
lsouth OF the mountainsl. Now this ling
nan region IL i'm the Canton province. In
the Si-tsiao "Shan Chi."a book Of local
annals, IL is recorded that during the reign
Of Wan Ii of the Ming dynasty l157'el220D,
the mines of that place were worked Tor
tens OF years, 10000 men being employed,
by IA syndicate Of wealthy officials; hence
IL was useless for the government To in
a...Is. sl.s. ....ra.u A. fha t.Eanlnsf
time that part of the province is occupied
10y rice fields, gardens n graves, so to
reopen the mines would be- IA work rcquir-
ing negotiations with n compensation
to the owners.
There is an old tradition that during the
Ming dynasty the colao, or councillor, Ho,
had In his mansion the following treasure
extracted from his mines in Hiangshan:
A block Of solid silver measuring n
chang 10 feet either way. besides 10 or
10 blocks measuring one foot and weigh
ing each 10000 taels, or ounces. The
large block must have weighed l0,UOO,OOO
taels, as il wa OF 1000 times that capac
ity. His total wealth in solid silver must
have amounted to 100 or 400 millions.
What ecam of Il all?
The Shsn Pao of February ., in an arti-
Gle on the necessity Of developing the
mineral wealth Of China, says encourage
ingly: China is known to contain coal
fields of twenty times the extent of all
the coal fields of Europe. Human alone
contains as much coal as all Europe.
Shantung has gold, silver, lead, iron and
coal mines. S%hantung, Chilli and South
Manchuri nave coal fields stretching un-
10000 square ii Of their area, u Shansi
l4,0OO square Ii. II Is calculated that the
coal therein stored would last the world
lab years at "A yearly consumption of
D0,0O0,O0O tons. Hupch, Human, Kiangsi,
kirin, Manchuria u Mongolia all rom
tain coal. copper and iron mines.