Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-10-16
MINING REGIONS.
Where Gold, Silver and Pre-
cious Stones Abound.
Mining in Australia, South Africa and
New South Wales.
The Present Yield si siiver-Ths Rich Botany
Bay Settlement.

WORLDS FAIR, Oct. l5,-( (SpeciaD -
Every time go through the Mining build
| ing feel a greater regret that it 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 in the deep things Of earth, or if he
has an intelligent curiosity about the COM
| mon life of the millions of toilers under
| ground. this place is second in interest to
| noother in the fair. At this time especial
| ly 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 Hearing Reefs.
The geological and raised maps, showing
| the location and surface construction of the
4, mining regions, make great exhibit, but
| looked in vain for one set of maps which
! ought TO be here. am told there are Eo
| such maps in the world, and that an in
| quiry for them would raise Il smile among
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
4. "a.
| ssts that it does. She shows here that she
has made 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 Backbone 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 little free gold from Liberia
and Sierra Leone and some nuggets from
eastern Africa, but between them is
stretch of over 1850 miles of what is al
most or quite the oldest mountain In the
world The chances are many to one that
somewhere in 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 healthful region, no hotter
IMAM tdllbT4tli dittT ittttuts VIC
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 dcduc-
tions of experience there is-white men will
get there and maintain themselves.
a Crack In Creation.
South Africa has 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 a magnificent
race The only wild people can compare
them to arethe Navajo Indians, who, tony
mind, come nearest to fitting the romantic
ideal of noble red men. The Orange Free
State has 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
tngushed from the general geology.
The kimberley diamond mine, says one
of the men in charge of the exhibits is
not reef at all 1t is Il 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 miscellaneous lot of stuff-it's S like
tough waxy clay and loose stones-and in
it are the diamonds like raisins in pud
ding This is not scientific, but we I'M
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 a very large ex
hibit, and, what is more to my purpose, has
well informed men in charge and valu-
able little compendium of all the official
and local reports down to the close of 1892
and on opening this the first item my eye
fell upon was astounding-to me, at any
rate The Hon T. NJ. Slattery, member 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 disappoint-
ing. and the product for the year has
amounted to only fss, ,s42779 Is. Sd" or
S419, ,000 600, And this is the Botany Bay
settlement which in my geography Us
we were taught TO consider as inhabited
chiefly by criminals transported from Great
Britain and Ireland"
q Value of Gold Ore.
The gold yield has been increasing rapid
ly for five years, owing chiefly to impro- ed
processes for extracting it from the IS,
and yet the yield does not quite avera,-e
one ounce TO the ton. Indeed it was for
1882 but 80 of an ounce One oSthe curl
osities 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 mine contains ore yielding half
an ounce of gold per ton, facilities for work
ing being good, 1t may I've a very valua e
mine, but if the yield Is but a quarter of an
ounce it is worthless. Now, the half ounce
ls but the "a ,G00th part Of the ore raised
md the quarter ounce but the LIPS, ,o0th
part. So variation of one atom in each
i3s 900 atoms cf the mineral constituents Of
fhe ore body Is all the difference between
mine which makes all the owners rich and
one which Is too poor TO work. In silver
the difference is less, but still so great that
fall of 10 cents per ounce will make hun
drety Of mines worthless. Thus we see how
n decline in silver may work its own cure,
but IT'S mighty tough" on the fellows who
have to pay for the medicine.
1t appears that each gold miner raised
l733 ounces, worth fG2 lss., and so tie
wages are nothing to boast Of. but they
were idle large part Of the year. OF all
class.< Of miners, in s63 was killed during
the year have given New South Wales
unusual attention because her men here
know what they are talking about, and be
cause the official report ia a model in its
way. and the system pursued is truly
scientific The method of supervision by
the government is such that it might al
most be said the government owns and
runs the mines, and. take it all in all, am
very much pleased with Botany Bay as it IL.
NrMR NucHEYH