The morning call., 1893-09-01
Is 1T AN Ell DORADO?

A story comes from the East that John
Mackay. james B. Haggn and others have
formed a company TO work the Chaudlere
gold mines in Canada. There is nothing i'm
probable In the tale. but neither is 1t new.
The Chaudiere gold mines have been
worked, after q fashion. for forty years.
just forty years ago syndicate OF Cana
dams acquired options in the gold-bearing
area, and endeavored to organize COM
pany in New York to work the placers.
The enterprise was so nearly successful
that interests in the new company changed
hands for money. but the negotiations
finally fell through. Since then several
companies have worked placers here and
there. and every now and then the public
has heard of the finding of big nuggets.
But Is a whole il is believed that at least
as much money. in the shape OF labor and
machinery. has been put into the gold
fields as has been taken out.
The Chaudlere River is an affl uent of the
St. Lawrence, which takes its rise in Lake
Megantic, body of water in the noun
tains which form the boundary between
the State of Maine and the province OF
Quebec. 1t runs a course of about a hun
dred miles over argillaceous rocks, with
occasional superimposed beds of gravel.
In many places in the country traversed
occur veins which carry a small percent
age of iron, copper and gold. but none of
them have thus far been shown to possess
commercial value. In the gravel of the
river nuggets varying in weight from half
an ounce 10 a few grains have frequently
been found. But it has been remarked
sttk ri q ft,..f
part nf the province is called, have not
abandoned their farms 10 wash for gold,
Though they and their land are equally
poor. The sale of the mines to New Workers
in 1853 was defeated by the argument that
If the rlacers had really been rich the
country people would have worked them
for all they were worth.
There are very few places on the globe
where the soil does not contain Gold. II
can be found in the dirt of the country
roads, in the burrows of farms. in the
sands of the seashore. No metal is so
widely distributed. But there are ex-
tremely few places in the world where the
percen tage OF gold in the dirt is large
enough 10 pay for its extraction. To spend
a dollars worth Of labor TO get quarters
worth of gold is obvious folly, and no one
per>eyeres in so unGrateful a pursuit. 1t
IS remarked. however, that tile progress
# mineralogical science is every year re-
ducing the percentage OF gold required TO
convert barren dirt into pay dirt. In the
ID days of the COmstock, ore which con-
tanned less than $40 of gold and silver
the two being present IN about equal
Quantities-was hardly considered worth
mining. Now there is a gOOd profit in
working ores which only carry $50 of the
precious metals to the ton. And in other
places, where the rock lies so that 1t can
be Quarried and rolled by gravity to the
mill, an infinitely less percentage is found
10 paw. At the Tread well mine on Doug
lass Island, Alaska, ores which yield 81 25
in gold 10 the ton pay profit, and at the
Homestake mine in Dakota money has
been made out of ore which only averaged
so cents to the ton. or course in these
cases the cost OF mining is nominal. and
the cost of reduction is reduced 10 q mini
mum.
Ii is thus unsafe to say of any ore that it
is too poor to be worked II is not TO be
supposed that the art of mining has
reached a fnality. But this only applies
TO ore in the bed. In the gravel there
uluob NC nueESto W pay n W dSDtT Il
dollar or two a day or he will 90 to digging
potatoes. That is the trouble with the
Chaudiere mines, unless il should turn out
;hat the veins which were the source of
the gravel gold have been discovered and
that they are rich.
There is no example of rich gold mines
being found on the eastern rim OF the
American continental basin. Mines have
been worked for years in North Carolina,
South Carolina and Georgia, and they
have yielded gold. but they never made
any one very rich. 1t appears that the
force, subterranean OF aerial. which placed
the gold in the basins rim was mainly ex-
erted in the West, and that is the reason
why geolOgists expect the mex: bonanza to
make its appearance rather in the vicinity
of Frazer River than in the direction Of
the Atlantir.