The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-06-27

on the subject is ready for publica-
ton. That there is plenty Of tin ore
in this country has long been known.
Every hill Of coarse granite is mine
of it. The difficulty is to get the
metal out chcaply enough to pay.
Thus far the much advertised pres
poets of tin in the United States have
failed to materializc. 1t is hardly to
l.c imagined that We shall ever be able
to compete with the Straits of Nal
acca, from which two-thirds of the
world s supply of tin is obtained.
The mining of tin in the straits re-
gion is done to great extent by the
climate. The tremendous rain storms
peculiar to that part of the world wash
the metal out of the rocks in the
mountains and deposit it in the beds
of streams, where it is found by the
natives in small, round nuggets, re-
sembling shot. Labor on the Malay
peninsula costs only $3.50 month,
and no machinery is required. In the
United States the tin must be got out
of the hills by artificial hydraulic
power Expensive plans are neces-
sary, and workmcn cannot be hired for
less than $3.50 day Thus, unless
great masses of the metal should be
discovered somewhere, it is difficult
to see how we can produce tin prohta-
bly,.
Nickel is another metal that is not
produced proftably in this country.
1t has been mined in various parts Of
the United States, but the article i'm
ported from Canada and New Gale
donia is cheaper. Not long ago man
out West found greatquantities of what
he supposed to be meteorites in
ravine. They were composed chiefly
of nickel; meteorites ordinarily con-
tain more or less nickel. But the
notion of rains of mcteoritcs occurring
in that region was disposed of by in
vcstigation, which proved that the
alleged messengers from space were in
reality nuggets carried by water from
some mass of orc-bearing rock in the
path of a stream.
Besides it's usefulness in coinage,
nickel is valuable as noncorrosive
plating and for making German silver.
1t is now being utilized in the manu-
facture of armor for ships, as an alloy
with steel. Though not hard itself,
it makes the steel harder. Why this
is nobody knows. Metals are queer
things. A single patch of five acres
in Burnett county, Texas, contains
moro metallic elements than are to be
found in any other known place in the
world. In that little place are found
not only nickel, gold, silver, lead and
tin, but large variety of the very
rare metals, such as ccrium, lantha-
mum, ebirum, thorium and uranium.
Ccrium is used in medicine to check
the nausea Of pregnancy.
TIE EXTENT OF ALUMINIUM.
Seven per cent. of the carth's crust
is aluminium. 1t is the only metal
that is more plentiful than iron. The
latter is the chief cause Of color to
earth and rock. 1t enters into almost
all substances, circulating in the
blood of animals and pervading the
juices of plants. 1t is valuable
medicine, and is the only medicine
that is not poisonous to the human
system. One of the oldest things
about it is that it is never found in a
pure state except in metcorites. 1t
was known in the time of Moses, 1900
B. G. On the coast of Long Island,
and elsewhere, it has been extracted
from sea sand by the use of magnets.
The small black specks to be observed
in any handful of beach sand are me-
tallic iron ore.
Most of the iron in the United
States is produced in the Lake Su-
perior region. Among the richest
mines in the world are those Of the
Vcrmillion range. Railways built a
few years ago for the purpose OF fetch
ing the ore from those mountains
made cut through the Mesabi range.
This cut revealed the greatest iron
deposit in existence, but the ore ap-
pcrcd in such an unfamiliar shape that
it was not recognized for a long time.
1t is soft gravelly stuff, which now
is dug out with steam shovcls. Al
most every swamp contains more or
less bog iron, deposited from water.
This ore has been much used in New
England, but it is only suitable for
foundry purposes.
The discovery of deposits Of plati-
nun in this country would be as vel
come as the finding of diamond mine.
At present the metal costs nearly half
as much as gold, having risen greatly
in price within the last three years.
It is absolutely indispensable for many
purposes, being non-corrosiyc and
resisting acids. 1t is utilized for
chemical apparatus, scientific instru-
mcnts and incandesccnt lamps. There
is some platinum in the beach sands
of Oregon, but not enough to pay for
mining. Small quantities of it have
been discovered recently in the copper
mines of Canada, where it occurs in a
new combination with arsenic.
Two-thirds of the world s supply of
platinum comes from two Siberian
mines in the Ural mountains. The
metal is obtained there as by-pro-
duct of gold mining. The mining is
done by scooping holes in the ground
to a depth of about fifteen feet, and
then burrowing rat fashion in all
directions. Twcnty-ninc hundred cart
loads of earth are required to yield
fifteen pounds of platinum. The big
gcSt nugget ever found was about the
size of tumblcr. Now the gold is
getting scarce, and the laborcrs have
been drawn off to build the great trans
Siberian railway. Hence the incrcas
ed cost of platinum, which, unless new
deposits are found, is likely never to
be cheaper than it is at present.
MINERS sUPERsTITIoNs.
Miners in all parts of the world
have many odd supcrstitions. The
mines of Germany are supposed to be
haunted by little old men, not over
two feet high, dressed as miners;
Sometimes they are malcvolcnt and
sometimes otherwise. Goblin miners,
known as "knockcrS,' y inhabit the
mines of Wales. They make strange
noises, and the tapping of their picks