The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1893-11-02
GREAT GOLD FIELDS.
SOME FIGURES THAT ARE A
REVELATION.
Two Hundred Miles Of Measured
Vein Matter in One Township.
AN INTERESTING ARTICLE BY A
MINING ENGINEER.
North Carolina "Takes The Cake"
Charlotte Ners.

| Charlotte News
! In Sundays Richmond Dispatch
Mr.. J. J. Newman, a mining engineer
Of Salisbury, writes In your paper oi
the 4th instant you have an editorial
headed &c Id in Abundance" in which
you comment on a gold field, the Wit
waterstand Of South Africa, with cir
crlmference of 400 miles, and an area
of Il, $50 square miles This deposit OF
eight blanket beds, 6 feet thick, 2,5OC
feet deep, you say contains 1O,5OO,OOC
tons Of ore, worth $3.50 per ton, and
would be worth altogether S79 900 OOO,-
600, etc.
| Now, you are wrong, 1O,5OO,OOO tons
Of ore at $50 per ton is S7S.75O,OOO
and if that was the worth in coin OF
each of the eight beds, the area would
be worth only $500, 100000.
But this is not what | started out to
write
This country here also has a gold
field worthy of comparison with that OF
the Witwaterstand.
Take the ten counties of North Caro-
lima in this gold d-bearing belt alone, viz,
(see map) Guilford, Randolph, Moore,
Davidson, StanlE, Montgomery, Row
an, Cabarrus, Union, and Mecklenburg,
with an area Of about one hundred
miles long by about forty wide--say
1000 square miles, or less than one
third Of the Witwaterstand, and this is
the richer of the two.
Let us see about this, in comparison
with your corrected figures. There are
not fewer than twenty-five veins in
| each county, with a run OF twenty-five
miles on an average of each, making
| 623 miles per county, Or $3.50 miles
for The ten counties, with $3.50 feet per
mile, and an average thickness Of three
feet. Two thousand five hundred feet
of depth, estimating Is cupic feet per
ton, will make 16,5OO,OOOO tons,
which at $50 per ton, will equal 1928
75O,OOO.CH), which shows that this
section is -uch richer than the Wit
waterstand field, though this field, has
but one third the area of that in Africa.
Now add twenty more counties in
North Carolina in which gold is found,
and this would make about the same
area as that of Witwatersrand. Esti-
mating these twenty counties at half
rate value in gold per county as the 10
already named, and we have North Car
olina's possible gold product $247 800
100000, or $246,S7O, ,OOO,O 900 more than
the corrected figures show the Witwa-
tersrand to be.
Some incxperiencel, people viii say
that this IS falacio,ls will say that it
is wildcat reasoning, and waste Of
time, energy and even patience to con-
slider it. But let us go a little further
into the facts.
To begin with, the best evidence of
the resources and value of this State is
shown III the fact that North Carolina' s
mineral exhibit has taken the premium
over all the States in the Union at the
Worlds Columbian Exposition.
To show the extent of vain matter
known TO CXlSU mere. MOISdIl LOW NIlSIlp -,
Rowan county, is about ten miles
square. There are 200 miles of meas
ured vein matter, carrying gold, silver.
and copper in that one township. Some
of the veins are eighteen feet thick,
and worth $50 in gold per ton.
The Big Sulphur vein in the Ran
dolph shaft, at Gold Hill, at the depth
of $50 feet, is fourteen feet thick and
carries about $15 in gold per ton.
There is one vein in this county that
has been traced for several miles, and
it is from thirty to sixty wide. 1t Is
worth about $50 per ton in gold, and
about 10 per cent. in copper. At a
depth of ITO feet it has native copper,
is thirty feet wide, and worth $3.50 per
ton in gold.
There are hundreds of shafts and
vein matter in the ten counties, show
ing that the veins are true fissure ones,