The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-02
GOLD GROWS IN OLD MINES.
WHY THE PROVERBIAL SAYING
CAME INTO EXISTENCE.

Are WOrkcd-Minfng in the south
IT. L. Pound. in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
TIE renewed activity Of gold mining in
the southern states is causing consider
able comment. These states used H. sup
| ply us with nearly all the gold used E-l0r
10 1888.
There is a tradition in the south 10 the
/ effect that gold grows and that every
few years old mines are opened up ari
worked 10 profit. Some have advanced
Z such theory. and instances are given that
I almost convince one that IL IS really so.
but am OF the opinion that II the specuia-
tive feature Of mining was removed and
mining conducted on plain business pria-
] ciples. IT could be shown that the gold
was in the mines. but not in sufficient
/ quantities 70 warrant such large schemes
/ for operating them. The first notice OF the
/ discovery of gold in the southern states
! was about 1899 in North Carolina Gold
} mining commenced soon after.
/ From 1894 TO 1927 North Carolina fur
nished the whole Of the gold produced in
/ the United States. amounting 10 $1,000.
I In 1879 Virginia contributed $50 and South
I Carolina 50 900. In 1880 Georgia $4,000. In
! 1885 Prof. Sillman, in writing Of the south
ern gold mines, says
D J
could be more inauspicious to the mining
interests and the welfare Of the country
than a spirit Of speculation in these con-
Germs. In an excited state Of the public
mind It is rare that facts are correctly re-
ported, or correctly viewed. The specula-
tor who buys merely chat he can sell again
is too frequently ignorant of the facts. and
reckless OF the consequences, in those who
may succeed him in his obligations; fiat
tering gains from sales Of stocks are re-
ported from day to day; the property rapid
ly changes hands; the public mind being
morbidly excited, is, Of course, blinded.
and at no distant period accumulated ruin
falls heavily on the last in the tram" How
well this would apply to-day, as well as
sixty years ago.
Prof. Tuomey reports in 1913 gold min
ing IN Georgia, but on a small scale, and
generally at a loss. The discovery OF gold
in California and the west took the public
attention there and a great many mines in
the south were abandoned. The civil war
coming on was another cause Of the cessa-
ton OF work. Since then, and within the
last few years, more attention is being
given TO the subject. 1t Is believed by many
that some OF the mines would pay well.
Such news as the following is liable to
mislead many. 1t is headed "A Big Gold
Nugget
from the west are arriving in the Pied
mont section Of North Carolina, and there
is an outbreak of mining fever. The dis
coVery of a pure nugget weighing eight
pounds and FIVE ounces in Stanley county
has increased interest in mining Four
| hundred western miners arc expected
within sixty days.
Western men purchased the McOmetty
mine yesterday Inventor Thomas Edi-
son has bought a mine near Charlotte. at
which he expects to develop a new process
for the treatment of North Carolina gold
ores"
Inyeptor Edison is said to have a new
method for reducing the ore, which may
result IN revolution IN gold mining, but
he is not the only man at work as many
schemes are in the market. II is thought
! that soon we will be able to get the gold
from the ore at a greatly reduced cost
But does gold grow? My attention was
directed the other day to an account of
the opening of an old abandoned gold
mine In the old country, one that had not
been worked for ages and of the finding
Of gold in il; but we have no need of
| going across the water for such instances.
for the very same thing occurs here. In
/ California old mines have been reOpened
and worked and by whom? The China
men. of course. ] was witness several
| years ago of an instance of this kind in
| Idaho. An old placer claim" was leased
| to a Chinaman, and il was not long before
| he had about 300 of his fellow countrymen
| at work. They were like swarm of bees,
| they were so busy. Upon inquiry of the
| owner of the claim, he reported that he
| was satisfied with the returns. Now why
| the Chinaman? Is it because he is salts
| fed with smaller returns for his labor, or
| what?
We know he is an industrious fellow;
/ works 3 long as daylight lasts, and ] am
| not sure but that he works in the dark
| also. Go along the canyons of Snake riv-
/ or, near the great Shoshone falls, and you
| will see them at work on old claims that
! the white man has abandoned. The gold
i found here is what is commonly known
1 as black sand, and float or -four gold"
| and is very difficult to save, and many a
| company has gone broke" trying new
| schemes for saving this character of
i
| company had erected a large mill at an
| expense of over $4,000 near Glen's Ferry in
! Idaho, for the purpose of working this
/ kind Of gold but were unsuccessful Vet
! men were able by banning it 10 make a
! fair days pay. A new process is being
| tried down in North Carolina that has
some merit in it, but it is still experiment.
| al. 1t is called the "aloric reduction pro-
| cess" for the reduction of auriferous ores.
| Such collaborating ores not containing too
| high a percentage Of lead, but associated
| with sulphides of iron, copper, arsenic,
antimony and tellurium. is what the pro-
| cess is intended for. One of the best feat
| ures of this process is the way in which
| the mercury is used and that Is by intro
| ducing il as follows: Mercury is fed in
| with the ore, and from a fire box beneath
| mercury In the ore.
This enables the mercury to combine
with every particle of gold no matter how
| minute; the cool body of descending ore
| condensing the vapcr of mercury, there
| by preventing its escape. A screw convey
| Ut CdtfieS the ore ana alndlR3m through
water acketed horizontal cylinder. the
| whole being continuously discharged into
| collecting pans. The points of ADVANTAGE
! of this process are the mnimized loss of
| quicksilver per ton of ore treated, and the
high percentage of gold saved, the flour or
float gold being amalgamzed. Several ex-
| perts had reported favorably of this pro-
| cess. This subject IS an interesting one
and volumes have been written about. and
as II is now before the public, every day /
| thought would endeavor to add some
thing to It. But | am not going into the
| financial part of it at all
Every one In Philadelphia knows that the
| clay underneath the city has a trace OF
gold in 1t. Sondadt says that twenty-five
tons of sea water contains about 81 worth
of gold. If this is SO. what is there to com
bat another theory that the atmosDhere
holds a small portion of gold in solution
and, as the clouds Of vapor arising from
the sea pass over the land the precious
metal is reprecipitated by the action of
certain gases that arise from the earth
and when we look into the subject md
that the states bordering on the two great
oceans are the ones that produce so much
of the yellow metal, why not? Most Of us
! wish that some of Ii would droD near ne