Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-12-21


has not varied much. as is shown by
the reports Of the Director of the Mint,
who assigns S97, 200 as GeOrgia's share
for 1898. s5S6OO as North CarOlina's,
and only $4,000 for Alabama in con-
junction with Maryland, Tennessee,
Virginia. Vermont and Wyoming. The
aggregate production Of North Carolina
up to December 81, 1898, was SITES
$3.50: Of South Carolina, s2,221,59O.59;
Of Georgia. S9112S2SO5; Of Alabama,
S242. 9s419, and of Virginia, Sl754'-
1892.
At the recent Atlanta meeting OF the
Institute Of Mining Engineers William
NJ. Brewer read a paper on the gold
regions of Georgia. Hitherto the South
ern mines have been worked in the most
old-fashioned and slovenly manner, but
new methods are being introduced. The
only real deep workings are IN Chero-
okee county. and last year the only bar
rel chlorination plant in Georgia was
erected at the old Franklin mine Here
there is a twenty-s.amp mill with
capacity Of fifty tons a day. The cost OF
milling and chIorinat.on is only sixty
five cents a ton from the crude ore TO
the bullion br.ck-a very satisfactory
margin of profit. as about forty per cent.
of the assay value Of the ore is in free
gold. Several other mines are also work
ed in this county. but they are not pro
ducsrs. and only 200 men are employed
in the county I'm this industry. In the
county Of Carroll at Villa Rica, an early
mining camp. an English company has
gone to work on a 9OO-foot shaft to as
certain the character of the ores. Col
orado prospectors have appeared in Hall
county and bonded one mine.
Mr.. Brewer describes one curious
method Of sold seeking by means Of
dredge boats in the Chestatee river.
Last year a Mr.. Jaquiwi.ch put one N
the river at the little town of Louisville.
The Chestatee drains Lumpkins and
White counties. which are the richest
producers Of nuggets and dust in the
State. The sand and gravel are simply
hoisted up from the bed Of the stream
into sluice boxes on the boat and the
gold then saved by the old sluic:ng sys-
tenn employed in placer mines. Two
other boats have been put in since Mr..
Jaquiwitch began. and it is supposed
they are making good profits.
Mr.. Brewer mentions some mines
which have been almost continuously
worked on a small scale for upward of
thirty years. When pay ore was dis
covered the miners used to follow up
the vein until interfered with by water,
or when the ores became sulphuretted
OF timbering was necessary. Any such
cause would lead to the abandonment
of the drift and another outcrOp would
be looked for. In McDufie and Wilkes
counties quartz mills have been in Ope-
ration for thirty years, but no attempt
has ever been made to handle the sui
phure,ted ore by concentration.
The history Of these gold fields is
quite interesting. but there would seem
to be little in them to justify the ex-
element and speculation which the pro-
moters desire IL is true that ore which
would have been worthless ten years ago
is now very valuable under the new
methods Of treatment If plenty of it
can be found, ore which yields as little
as 50 TO the ton will pay for mining;
and a great deal Of the Georgia quarz
runs from 81 to IS a ton up to high
grades. The famous johannesburg de-
posts are Of low grade, running only
$11 to S14 a ton. What makes the South
African fields so valuable is the great
abundance and regularity Of yield in
the deposits. The Southern fields have
been characterized by great irrgularity
in both these respects.