The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-10-29
nfW PLACER ninlne Ine0alfs.


It 10 an accepted fact among pros
pectors and miners that placer gold
originated from the decomposition
Of the ore in quarts veins. Even
among geologists and engineer
there are scores who accept this
theory without question. But il
it one that will stand the test Of in.
vestigation?
Opposed to it il the theory thai
placer gold, like the gold in quarts,
was deposited from water in which
it was held in solution.
The argument in favor of the
first theory can be supposed to be
this We know from observation
that the decomposition of ore does
liberate gold which is washed down
the hillsides into the gulches. Ev-
cry prospector of experience has
proven this over and over.
II there is any other reason fol-
believing that this was its origin
we never heard it. From this OBJ
served fact the conclusion is drawn
that all placer gold originated in
that way.
Against that conclusion there are
many reasons to advance:
1--Gold is known to exist in sea
and other waters, and under favor
able conditions is deposited from
them. Sea water once covered all
the earth, so that it might have de-
posted q portion of its gold in the
placers or the spring waters that
percolate through the earth may
have 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-If all gold has been derived
from disintegrated quartz it would
all have q flattened or q rounded
form, resulting from abrasion
against the harder rocks. This is
not always it's form.
4-In most gold-bearing quartz
the gold is much softer than the
rock. Would not the gold be worn
away long before the rock had been
decomposed?
5-We never find enormous mug
gets or gold masses in ledges, as
they are found in placers. II
placer gold originated only from
the decomposition of ore, would we
not occasionally find great nuggets
and masses of gold in veins Of ore,
such as are found in placers.
6-In placers composed of round
pebbles and boulders which had
evidently been worn by abrasion,
we find gold in forms which show
that it could not have been washed
and worn rs the rock was. The
gold could not be otherwise than
washed round, or flattened, if it
had been deposited when the
boulders were deposited. None Of
the great gold nuggets weighing
over 100 lbs. which have been found
show anything like cobble-stone
form, or the wearing they would
have received if they had been de-
posted 1T the time rocks forming
the placer were deposited.
7-Slow accumulations of gold
from the water, deposited year after
year would account for the form Of
the nuggets.
8-Electrical action precipitates
gold upon metal from sea water or
other solutions. Natures labora-
tory may very easily have precipi-
tated, by means Of the earth cur
rents of electricity, gold from tho
water upon small nuggets, adding
year by year to their size, until they
became great nuggets.
Gold is one of the most wide
" distributed metals. It is found
in small quantities in every country
and in tho sands in every State in
the Union, thousands ofmiles from
any known gold-bearing veins or
lodes. It is difficult 10 account
for its presence there BY any theory
Of its having been derived from de-
composed ore. It is easy to &C
count for it's presence BY supposing
that it Was deposited from sea
water, or the waters that flow
through tho earth.
1O-Placer gold is almost inva-
riably finer than the quarts gold
found even in tho same district.
II it were all derived from the de-
composed ore it would have the
same fineness ~ the gold in the
orc.
11-In the soft bedrock Of placers,
to = depth sometimes of three or
four feet, the richest deposits are
oftsn found. It is ! physical Inn
possibility for the gold to have got
there from tho decomposition Or
disintegration Of ore. Il could only
have got there in solutions from
which it was deposited whore found.
So one might 50 on, like tho brook
that runs forever, citing chemical,
physical and geological reasons
Why oil plac6r eold could not have
been derived from ore. But Il u
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