The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-12-27

have been taken out and carried to a
stamp mill, where it has been joyfully
apparent that the rock contains gold In
paying quantities
At either end of the tunnel connect
ing the two shafts a number of men are
at work with the pick and shovel on
mass Of quartz which has been blasted
out. They handle the product more
carefully than they used to do when
they were quarrying coal, and are care
full about the bits of pieces that prom
Use particularly rich yield. Nearly all
If these miners are coIored men, and it
is curious sight to see the interest
they manifest as they cluster around a
particularly bright piece of stone, and
hold their Pickering lamp close to the
rock to see what it may be. 1t is thus
matter of ocular demonstration that
there is gold-bearing quartz in Mary
land. The question has been settled
that the gold is there and in largely
paying quantities. Several gold mines
in Virginia right south and west of
Fredericksburg are also being worked,
and it is said that pay dirt is being
found there also. If it can be. demon
strated, as now seems likely, that the
Appalachian range has dipped down
here and sunken to the sea level with
bosom full of gold, the national cap
ital might become big mining camp
after awhile.
When you make that trip to Wash
ingtop, which you have been promising.
yourself for so many years, you should
go to the mines near the Great falls.
Even if you don't care about going
down into the big shafts, the drive will
prove pleasant and invigorating one.
A portion of the trip was recently de-
scribed in letter concerning Cabin
Johns bridge, aud the fashionable turn
outs to be seen on the road. 1t is an
extension of Pennsylvania avenue, be-
yond ancient Georgetown, and is some
times called the Aqueduct road, because
for several miles beneath 1t run the
tunnels which bring water to the city
from the upper Potomac. But if you
want to go down into the mines when
YOU get there, you will have no trouble
getting permission to do SO. The
,wners and managers are proud of
their property and pleased with the de-
velopments. They like to have it
known that they have achieved success,
and they want people to see with their
own eyes what has been done and is be-
ing done by them. When Senator
Sawyer invested 100000 in the property,
bis friends shook their heads, and said
that the shrewd and successful old
business man and statesman was get
ting into his dotage and losing his COM
orehensive grasp of affairs They be-
iieved that he had simply thrown away
that much money.
The old gentleman told me about it
in his committee room at the capitol,
and remarked: 81 was called a very
foolish fellow when / invested money
n large tracts of land in Wisconsin,
many years ago; because it was known
hat the land was a wilderness and
could not be easily cultivated. But
when they saw railroad running
through the land later on, and saw my
yorkmen cutting millions of feet of the
est timber in the country from those
.nds, they concluded that the old man
new what he was about! | guess
ave made no mistake in my gold
lines" And the sequel proves that he
rs as far-seeing in that matter as he
as generally been throughout a long
lfe of successful business enterprises.
he gold is there, and the mine has paid
Of itself long ago The other mines
re rapidly developing and everybody
GEMS more than satisfied with the
resent condition of the underground
work. SMITH D. Fry