Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-02-17

trlVanceS Tor protec-
| ton against robbery.
| Uncle Sam, though
| rather poor at pres
ent. has much treasure to take care of.
The reduced stock of gold in his Golfers
would make a good-sized lump if melted
| all together. To render this plain, consider
| first the fact that the entire gold product
| Of the United States during the year 1888
would make a cube of that metal, solid and
| pure. measuring five feet on an edge The
free gold still remaining in the treas
| ury would furnish two cubes of that size.
| This is actually the property of the govern
| ment, which has in addition enough of the
| yellow stuff mortgaged by outstanding prom
ises to pay in gold to make two and third
| more cubes Of the same dimensions.
| A substantial protection for this gold is
| afforded by its great weight. Thieves could
not get away with much of it without
dray. 1t has been reckoned that it would
| require forty men to carry enough of this
precious metal to equal in value the dia
| mond. A one-carat diamond weight-for
weight is four hundred and sixty times as
valuable as gold. 1t takes a big lump of
| the yellow stuff to be worth $1,OOO.0OO.
Quite a number Of other metals are many
! times valuable as gold. Gallium, for
| example. Is quoted in the market at 5000
| an ounce avoirdupois. Traces of 1t occur
| in some zinc ores. tons Of which must be
| worked over in order to obtain a trifling
quantity.
| Valuable Substances.
Gallium is a very remarkable substance.
by the way. At the ordinary summer
| temperature Of 80 degrees Fahrenheit it
becomes liquid, like mercury. The latter
becomes solid at 80 degrees below zero.
Most costly of all metals. save only gal
lium, Is germanium. which is quoted at
| 81 lbs an ounce. Rhodium is worth $ll2.5O
an ounce: ruthenium, $40 an ounce; iridium.
$3.50 an ounce; osmium. SIG an ounce. and
palladium. s24 an ounce. The last is about
equal in value to gold. These metals are
of no great commercial Importance. Most
| Of them are mere curiosities of the labora
tory. having been discovered originally by
| accident, incidentally to analyses of ores. 1t
has been suggested that some of them
might be coined, but the supply of them
| Is too uncertain. That was the difficulty
with platinum. which the Russian govern
| ment minted in the first half of the pres
| ent century.
| Iridium is utilized to some extent for
| making instruments of delicacy, which
must have the property of not corroding.
| 1t is obtained from .iridosmine''-a natural
|
mum and ruthenium. This extraordinary
! mixture of rare metals is white. Much of
it is found in washing for gold in the
| beach sands of Oregon. 1t resists the ac-
ton of all single acids. Its only important
use is for tipping gold pens. For this pur-
pose the grains of it, which are fiat like
gold dust are picked out with magnfying
glasses. At the minis 1t makes a good deal
of trouble, difficulty being found in separat-
ing it from gold bullion.
| Reneh Gold.
The beach gold referred to occurs all the
way from Point Mendocino in northern
California to the mouth of the Umpogna
river in Oregon. Along the ocean front
| there are cliffs which seem to be the re-
mains Of an ancient river deposit. They
contain gold, and, where washed by the
| waves, the shore for miles actually glitters
with speckles Of the yellow metal. What
appears today. however, is either washed
away or deeply buried in the sand tomor-
| row. Accordingly all haste Is made to car
| ry the sands which are rich enough to some
safe place inland to be washed So chang
ing and shifting are the deposits that the
miles from that Of the previous twenty
four hours.
The alarm now felt on account of the
diminishing supply of gold would be done
| away with II some process could be in
vented for separating that metal econom-
ically from sea water. All of the gold now
possessed by mankind is a t-ifle compared
with what is held in solution by the ocean.
| Every ton of sea water contains cents in
gold. This allows one cent for every fifty
gallons. Anybody who will figure up the
number Of gallons in all the oceans of the
earth will perceive that the store of
wealth as yet undrawn upon is p-acti-
cally unlimited Attempts have been made
to deposit gold from sea water by means
of electricity, but the expense involved was
too great. 1t is rather curious to consider
that every cubic mile of ocean brine con-
tains 151.OOO,OOO tons of solid matte COM
posed of salts of magnesium, calcium
SODIUM &C, ana or variety of other in
gradients.
Gold and silver are endowed with such
singularly useful properties that if they
could be obtained in sufficient abundar ce
they would supplant all other metals in the
manufacture of household utensils orna-
ments and fittings of all kinds. and an in
finite multitude of small articles now made
OF brass, copper pewter. iron. &C 1t takes
5o,SSo pounds of pig iron to equal in value
one pound of gold, or sixteen pounds c7
silver, seVenty-one pounds of nickel "a
pounds of tin and G.3GO pounds If lead.
The smallest gold coins ever minted were
the quarter dollars of California which
can almost be blown away with the breath
A gold cent-representing the quantity of
that metal in fifty gallons OF sea water
would weigh only one-fourth of IL gramme
| The United States produce thrce-uuarters
of cubic inch of silver every second in the
year.
Gravel Riches.
The total yield of the gold-bearing gravels
of California up to date may be represent
ed by a cube of pure gold fourteen feet on
an edge. That is to say, the whole of it
could be put into room of moderate size
Such vast stores of wealth were revealed
, by the first scratcbings of the ground in
that part of the world that financIers fear
ed lest the metal would deprecate in value
. Sir Roderick Murchison was the first to
call attention to the fact that the riches
of the gravels must soon be exhausted, and
so 1t turned out. The first corners found
. little to do but to help themselves TO the
, gold which nature had stored up. In a few
years these boards were drawn out though
even to this day the old time prosrector
cannot be persuaded to believe the fact
| All cannot be gone; he will not lear that
said. He still is confident that somewhere
a great treasure of golden nuggets is re-
served for his especial benefit.
| There are springs in California which
even now bring up gold and deposit it,
In Texas copper ores found in the
form OF trees, containing gold. The ex-
| pertinent has been tried of watering plants
with weak solution of gold, which was
precipitated by organic matter in the soil
around the plants, indicating The origin OF
the thin plates of gold which are some