Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-06-06


safe to say that the yield for this year will
very conservative estimate. Unqucstion-
ably the gold supply is increasing not only
hero, but all over the world
lis it possible to get the returns so exact
as to insure reasonable certainty rs to the
amount?'
How the Facts Arc Secured.
I'VE get as near the exact facts, think,
rs the government docs any of the ;ccnCral
tables of the census, and under the system
now pursued there are two or three meth
DDS of determining the Same question, and
so every detail is verified twice over When
II man brings ore to n government assay
office, he is required to give the source Of
it, and of course VIC know the amount ha-
fore we pay him. We also issue instruc-
tionS to the private rctinericS, and they
make minute returns to us Tho import
of foreign ores md the export of our own
crudo ores are of course kept with the
same cxaotness as other imports and ex-
ports, and tho amount in each lot is deter
mined by asSaying. 1t is the Same also
with all domestic bullion deposited at our
minis and assay offices. There nrc in the
United States 10 private rcfncries. but all
tho figures sent in by them aro confidential
and wc can only give the general sum
mary. Among tho large and noted ones
arc the Consolidated Omaha and Grant,
which is at Omaha; tho Boston and Colo
RADIO tho Consolidated Kansas md the
Chicago and Aurora. OF course each re-
f1nery has it's amount of work recorded
down to q cent. You may say that wo now
have the amount for 1893 with great
exactness, and that from the amounts al
ready brought in for 1894 we know that
tho increase will be very great, but there
L. ~ ~
hydraulic mining which has just begun.
I'm spite Of repeated publications to the
contrary, there is still n popular impression
that the mines of California produced enor-
mously till 1850 or thCrCaboutS and then
suddenly gave out, and that statement has
been repeatedly made in congress and else
where as proof that whatever prosperity
there was in those times was due to the
great gold supply. ASA matter of fact, the
gold yield only decreased temporarily dur
ing the war and then increased for many
years, and the increase of silver far moro
than made up for the subsequent decrease,
so that from 1870 to 1880 there was great
deal moro money turned out OF our mines
than from 1850 to 1860. You rcmcmber
that hydraulic mining was stopped by law
in California because the debris overlooked
the fields and shoaled up the rivers Pro
vision has been made for impounding the
debris, and this will allow n great revival
of that kind of mining"
But is it possible to bring up the gold
yield to the old California flguress"
Where Good Ore Is Found.
"Oh, beyond question and 1 think 1t
will be done in two or three years. Why,
the best year we had in the flfties the gold
yield was only 500, OO0 900, and we have
several times since the war got pretty we'll
up toward that Unless you have made q
special study Of it you have no idea of the
extent to which modern improvements
have mado it possible to work low grade
ores. When the first reduction works were
opened, they seldom touched any ore worth
loss than $50 per ton. In short, they took
emily the richest skimmings. Now there
are literally scores Of places where ore
yielding only 81 per ton can DO worked at
q profit. Hero, for instance, are late re-
ports of the Homestako Caledonia and
some other companies at lockwood which
say that they can mino and mill their orc
at q total cost of 50 per ton, and this, of |
course, loaves big profit on 81 ore-that |
Is, If they can get enough of the ore, and |
the supply seems to DO inexhaustible. Ono |
more fact you must know, rs 1t has been |
several years since you left the mining re- |
gions, and that is that in districts where |
the earth's crust is very much broken up |
they are finding rich deposits Of gold ore |
In formations where biologists had declar-
I'd 1t could not DO. In South Dakota, for |
good ORC has been found in what |
looks like rotten sandstone, and in South |
Africa 1t is found not only in beds of COM
pletely broken and conglomerated rocks,
but In q material that looks somewhat
ike q waxy, yellow clay turning to stone.
For all these and many other reasons es-
Innate that the gold yield Of this country,
which has stood for some years In the
OF $S3, 900, 900, will increase
70 $46, 900, 900 for the current year and SO
IN rapidly till 1t equals that Of the old
California days, and that the worlds an
1ual production, which was only $3.50, 0OO,-
700 In 1899, win increase In like proper
hon."
Gold Production In the Past.
Mr.. Preston continued with many inter-
sting details of the work of his Office and
he methods at the mint, but these have
'een presented In many popular works.