Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-11-12
NIw PLACER MINING THEORIES.
How Gold Is Formed Ia PIacers
SIN n Mister.

lie ore 10 quartz veins. Even among
seologists and engineers there are
scores who accept this theorie without
question. But is il one that will stand
the test Of Investigations
Opposed to il il the theory that
placer gold, like the gold in quartz,
was deposited from water in which il
was held in solution.
The argument in favor Of the first
theory can be supposed to be thie
We know from observation that the
decomposition of ore does llberate gold |
which is washed down the hillsides |
into the gulches. Every prospector Of
experience has proven this over and
over.
Ii there is any other reason fer be-
lieying that this was its origin we
never heard IT, From this observed
Tact the conclusion is drawn that all
placer gold originated in that way.
Against that conclusion there are
many reasons to advance:
l-Guld is known To exist in sea and
other waters, aud under favorable con.
ditions is deposited from them. Sea
water once covered all the earth. so
that it might have deposited portion
Of its gold IN the placers or the spring
waters that percolate through the
earth may have been deposited their
gold contents in the placers.
2-Organic matter Is an excellent
precipitant Of gold from solutions, and
organic matter is plentiful in all
placers.
/, 3-lf al gold has been derived from
disintegrated quartz it would all have
a llattened or n rounded form. result
ing from abrasion against the harder
rocks. This is not always its form.
lin most gold-bcaring quarts Tia,
gold is much softer than the rock
Would not the gold be worn away long
before the rock had been decomposedi
5-We never find enormous nugget,
or gold masses in lodges, as they ar,
found in placers. Ii placer gold oiigi.
4 mated only from the decomposition o
ore, would we not occasionally fnC
!. great nuggets and masses of gold il
! veins OF ore, such as found in placcrs
|, Elm plhcers composed Of roun,
i. pebbles and huulders which had eyi
: IDENTITY been worn by abrasion, we fin,
gold in forms which show that it cuui,
! not have been washed and worn as tn
rock was. The gold could not b
otherwise than washed round, or flat
tcued, Il it had been deposited wher
! the boulders were deposited, None o
the great gold nuggets weighing owe
l0O,bs which have been found shoy
anything like cohhlc-s stone form, or tn
:. wearing they would have received j
they hid been deposited at the tim,
rocks forming the placer were de
! posted.
Slow accumulations OF gold iron
, the water, deposited year after yea
, would account for the form OF til
! nuggets.
! S-Eleetrical action preeipita,e
gold upon metal from sea water o
other solutions. Natures laborator
may very easily have precipitdted, b.
means OF the earth currents Of cleo
; tricity, gold from the water upon SINAI
It nuggets, adding year by year to thei
size. until they became great nugget,
h 9-Gold is one Of the most wldel
Ie distributed metals. Ii is found il
1 small quantities in every country am
= IN the sands in every State in tn
J. Union, thousands u miles from an
known gold-henring veins or lpdes
y /; is difficult TO account for its pres
: rnce thereby and theory OF It's havinl
e been derived from decomposed ore
q II Is easy To account for its presenc,
e by supposing that it was deposite,
n from sea water, or the waters that FLOW
a through the cath.
!. lG-rlacer gold Is almost invariabl,
:. iuer than the quartz found even il
: the same district. II it were all de
rived from the decolnposed ore it woulc
have the same tiurness as the gold il
Z the ore.
! HIN the sof, bedrock Of plaecrs
to depth sometimes of three or flul
feet, the richest depo its are often
found. II is a physical impossihility
Tor tie gold to have got there from TIN
decomposition or disiutrEration Of ore,
1t could only have got there III
solutions from which Il S4s deposited
where found.
50 one might go on. like the book
. that runs forever, citing chemical
b physical and geological reasons why
80 Ilacsr gold could not have be,u
derived lram era But il Is nevgrihe.
les. true that the placer. are often
near by The richest gold bearing lnslps