Mohave County miner., 1894-01-20
The Prospee. Of Gold.

esting article on the prospects Of gold
production.
The highest yield on record for the
whole world was in 1853, when II had
value Of $l55 ,0OJ, 900. In 1890 only sl20.-
OOO, 900 was reported. Since then there
has been fresh increase, bat the out
put for 1892 was quoted by the directors
OF the United States Mint as only $780,
sl6,227. To this might perhaps be ad-
ded from s5,O0o,0O0 TO 100000 for
China, whose production IL omitted
from the figures tor the Last two or three
years The distribution Of the principal
yield last year was AS follows: Australia,
t33. $40, 800; United States, $33, 900 900;
Russia, s25, ,s0l ,645; South Africa, s22,'
069,57S; other countries, $lS,33O. .249.
In the United States, in 1892, the lead.
ing contributors to the stock were the
following states: California, sl2, 900 900;
Colorado, s.. 300 900; South Dakota, 3d.
100000; Montana, s., ,s9l 1856, aud Idaho,
sl,72l 1854.
Inasmuch as the United States, the
colony of Victoria, Russia and South
Africa, are now the principal producers,
the outlook in those countries is next
discussed by Mr.. Rickard. In California
he attributes the decline from $8l ,294 200
in 1851 to only sl2, 100000 last year to
legislation forbidding hydraulic mining
and to the exhaustion Of the anriferous
deposits in the alluvium. No recognition
is given in the article in question TO re-
cent attempts to resume placer mining
in old river beds and the partial removal
of restrictions on hydraulic mining; but
these, if the gravel is already pretty well
cleaned out, leave little encouragement.
Mr.. Rickard thinks that quartz mining,
wAich does not yield so handsomely as
the earlier methods did for time, is now
our only resource. Indeed, he de-
precates the romantic ideas derived iron.
Bret Harte's stories, and insists that the
miner Of to-day wins success, or in any
other industry, oily by energy, judg-
ment, science and common sense "Gold
is rarely got by digging at grass-roots,"
he says. So, too, in Victoria, the falling
off from s63 100000 in 1853 to sl3,4Sl,-
1913 was explained by the official COM
mission after an investigation, to the
thoroughness with which the alluvium
had been worked. and to the difficulties
and expense Of vein mining Although
the largest amount OF gold credited 10
Russia was secured several years ago
lin 1880, $28, ,759 $500, Nj. Rickard re-
CARDS the industry there still in its early
stages. II deals mainly with the gravel
involves the subject to make il safe TO
prophesy concerning that quarter Of the
globe In the Transvaal there has been
rapid development in gold production
from 1887, when the output amounted to
1855, ,2l2, 10 1892, when it was valued at
s2l. 100, ,0S5; but the so-called ''reefs''
from which the precious metal is oh.
tanned are more ike quartz lodes than
ailuviun. in Mr.. Richards opinion; and
he evinces seepticism regarding the al.
legged uniform richness and inexhaust-
Utility of these deposits, reminding the
reader that no Californian pioneer oi
l849 expected the treasure so profuse.y
strewn about him TO give out. any more
than the sanguirt South African miners
now look for similar experience
The existence Of gold in considerable
quantities in other lands where il has
not been touched is granted by the writer
here quoted, but he SAYS that in most oi
those cases its location is amid unfav
orable conditions. "To predict a near
exhaustion OF the gold deposits of the
globe" he remarks in conclusion, would
be foolish; but it is certainly true that
the difficulty of getting gold is daily in
creasing."
The last statement is of course to be
taken in its broad sense as applied &c
the world generally. The difficulties in.
crease as the surface deposits are ex
hausted, and gravel beds'give out; but In
California the change OF conditions ID
gradually for the better. The industr,
was at its lowest ebb when hydraulic
mining was stopped; but, as geological
and neurological knowledge has TO-
creased, and mining methods and ma
chinery been improved, confidence ha.
returned, and the obstacles are not wha
they once WERE