The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-10-19
THE MINING REGIONS.
WHERE GOLD, SILVER AND PRECIOUS
STONES ABOUND FREELY.
The Mining Building at the Fair-Auktrn-
liza, South Africa and New South Wales.
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Bay Settlement.
WORLDS FATE, Oct. IL. = Especial J.
Every time go through the Mining build
ing feel greater regret that il is not
more popular. 1t is indeed the most mod
est, or nearly SO, of all the large buildings,
and neither within nor without are there
many Of those striking beauties in art or
other lines of display which charm the eye
in the Fine Arts, the Woman's building or
the Liberal Arts. But if one can interest
himself il the deep things OF earth, or II he
has an intelligent curiosity about the COM
mon life of the millions of toiiers under
ground, this place is second in interest TO
noother in the fair. At this time especial
" the displays in gold and silver mining
ought to attract more attention, and was
mean enough to take notice that of the sill
yer men here on their convention day very
few visited this building.
/ Gold Bearing Reefs.
/ The geological and raised maps, showing
| the location and surface construction of the
mining regions, make great exhibit but
looked in vain for one set of maps which
ought to be here am told there are no
such maps in the world, and that n in
quiry for them would raise smile Wong
men OF science, and yet am sure the world
now has knowledge enough TO construct
them.
On all the western slope the climate is
mild enough for successful work. The
formation must in the nature of things be
in general the same as that from British
Columbia to Mexico, and, if the same, why
does it not contain the same proportion of
gold bearing reefs? British Columbia in
sists that it does She shows here that she
/ has made a beginning, and she stakes her
reputation and her future on the prophecy
| that she will soon delight and astonish the
world with her gold yield.
Next is the SO called ''Backb bone of At
rica,' that lofty chain running across the
broadest part of the continent, between the
Great Desert and the central south. We
have here a little free gold from Liberia
and Sierra Leone and some nuggets from
eastern Africa, but between them is d
stretch of over 1900 miles of what is al
most or quite the oldest mountain in the
world. The chances are many to one that
somewhere i'll it are great gold deposits.
We now know that the old ideas of that
region were all wrong. 1t is, in fact. an ele
waited and very healthfui region, no hotter
than California after one reaches the in
terror. The difficulty is in getting to it
across the hot lowlands ON the west or the
hot desert plateaus on the east, but if there
is much gold there-and by all the deduc-
tons of experience there is-white men will
get there and maintain themselves.
a Crack In Creation.
South Africa has a splendid exhibit, but
the diamonds are the only part of it which
attract the crowd, and the Zulus on guard
interest the people as much as the dia-
mOnds. The Zulus are indeed magnificent
lace. The only wild people can compare
them to are the Navajo Indians, who, to my
mind come nearest to fitting he romantic
ideal of noble red men. The Orange Free
State has a fine pavilion, and there are min
eral exhibits from all the sections of that
continent which the Dutch and English
have occupied, but none of those in charge
can give me any clear description of the
geology, or what we in Utah and Colorado
used to call the country rock" meaning
the formation in limited district as dis
tinguished from the general geology
1.-The Kim berley diamond mine,'' says one
of the men in charge of the exhibits, lis
not a reef at all. 1t is big crack in the
floor of creation. The bedrock, and the
earth's crust, and whatever else you call
the basis of things, is split all the way
down-well, down TO hades, for all know
and up through that crack nature has
spewed q miscellaneous lot of stuff-it's like
tough, waxy clay and loose stones-and in
it are the diamonds like raisins in a pud-
ding" This is not scientific, but we IN
derstand it. Diamonds have been cheap
ened about half, | am told since this
'crack" was opened, but they are not avail
able for currency, and that's what we're
after.
New South Wales has very large ex-
hibit, and, what is more to my purpose, has
well informed men in charge and a valu-
able little compendium of all the official
and local reports down to the close of 1892,
and Oh opening this the first item my eye
fell upon was astounding-to me, at any
rate. The Hon. T. NJ. Slattery, mem Der OF
parliament and minister for mines, begins
by expressing his regrets that, owing to the
long strike at Broken Hill and the depres-
sion in silver etc, the output is disappont-
ing, and the product for the year has
amounted to only eos, So, 779 Is sd. - or
Si19 OO0, 600: And this is the Botany Bay
settlement which in my geography days
we were taught TO consider as inhabited
chiefly by criminals transported from Great
Britain and Ireland"
Value of Gold Ore.
The gold yield has been increasing rapid
~ for five years, owing chiefly to improved
processes for extracting it from the ores,
and yet the yield does not quite average
one ounce to the ton. Indeed it was for
1892 but 30 of an ounce One of the curl
osties Of mining, and fact which deceives
more people not familiar with it than any
other. is the total lack of any correspond /
ence between mechanical and commercial
values.
Thus If g mine contains ore yielding half !
an ounce Of gold per ton, facilities for work /
ing being good. it may be a very valuable /
mine, but If the yield is but quarter of an |
ounce it is worthless Now, the half ounce |
is but the / "a 0O0th part Of the ore raised /
and the quarter ounce but the 1-13s, Oc0th /
part SO variation OF one atom in each /
10 900 atoms of the mineral constituents Of /
the ore body is all the difference between a !
mine which makes all the owners rich AID /
one which Is too poor TO WORK. In silver 1
the difference Is less, but still 50 great that |
q fall Of 10 cents per ounce viii make hun |
dreds of mines worthless. Thus we see how /
q decline in silver may work its own cure. |
hut it's mighty tough on the fellows who |
have 10 pay for the medicine
It appears that each gold niner raised 4
Il % ounces. worth 462 LIS. and 20 the I
wages are nothing 20 boast Of, bTt they I
werc idle large part II the year. OF all 4
classes OF miners, IN s53 was killed during 4