The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-03-03
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
at Is THERE" BUT 1T rs TOO HARD
TO GET AT.
Many Of the Mines Abandoned But the
Owners Not Anxious to seIl-Tbs Re.
ported Knoxville Find.

ANDERSONyILLE, VA. March 2.-Spe-
| lum swings: for two years hard times
| has been the cry. Now our sangune
| trends prophesy that soon a new era
will dawn, and the once prosperous and and
again blossom as rose for her I'M
| sightIy red hills are teeming with that
| precious god ore which the least mer-
| cenary OF us like to possess. Visionary
| neonie OF ali classes and colors are in
| fected with the gold fever, and many are
| the wonderful stories OF this, the modern
More than hak the stories told are pro-
ducts Of imaginary nl n,,,, or wiliiul e *
| the Oldest and most reliable OF our 'citi-
| zeus however / find that the impression
| Is that gold exists in such large quanti-
| ties that the subject Is worthy or our
most careful consideration.
LIKE THE INDIANS GUN.
Beyond the shadow OF a doubt. there Is
gold and much gold, I'm buckingham. but,
| as Or w. II. Runner once remarked,
| the great trouble about the minerals OF
buckingham is they are so hard To get AT,
as the costs Of mining mem usuaily tA-
ceeds the profits. Repeatedly have differ
ont corunanies undertaken 10 work the
gold mines OF this county. and, though in
aute-bellufn days many OF them were
profitable. since the war the people nave
7
to abandon the mines on account or the
lack OF proper machihet!.
MIR. Charles HclEan, ~ Nevada, says
that be worked in tnf Comstoch MINES
fCr q number of years, and that the orc
i'm the buckingham rln2s Is the same as
that I'm the COmstOck and, he THINKS,
yvculd nay as we'd If worked at the same
depth and under the same process as
Tho mines Of Nevada are worked.
TiteralIv al one time the art or gold
mining h9d fallen into "innoCuouS desue-
tudc." Yet we know that gold exists. lor
orr most reliable citizens claim mat thSy
have seen it in nuggets ana paas, mr,,d
WhCE sold. have yltiuSH iilIIiOi'9' P+
Negroes living near the abandoned
mines frequently find the ore ana sen OF
trade IL al the country stores Tor pro
Visions. &c. Indeed. gold-washing on a
small scale Is carried on by them Coh-
stautlv. and one negro claims that ne
has made as much as twenty-five doilars
In one day.
soME or THE MINES IN EXISTENCE.
The gold vein extends across the entire
county from northeast to southwest. y
distance OF about twenty-five miles, anu
connects James river with the Appomat-
tOx. Along this ledge Of rock In Wmcn
the ore Is embedded traveller may see
at intervals OF every lew niiieS noi :,
dug IN the earth, and now and then an
old tunble-doWn building somewhat hke
a corn-crib on enquiring what II means
ingham's abandoned gold mines" Begin
ming with the southwest end is the Siil-
liam mine, once one OF the most prohta-
bile In the county, but which was IN
operation only Few months lhis iliIilg
was owned and first worked by Colonel
r. ". Gillian in the year 1870, ana after
Wa is for a short while by ms son, w.
t. Gillian, who is the present owner.
The next IN order IS the BonderVant
mine, near Andersonyile; then the Book
or mine near Knoxville: the London ana
Virginia the Rough and Ready and the
HobsOn mines. Each mine has its MIS-
tory and one or two are In operation
now. /. e., the London and Virginia and
the Hobsoa. both of which are worked
with profit. Some Of the mines OF the
county contain largo quantities OF sui
vhurates and copper, from when Il IS
very hard to separate the gold.
THE REpoBTED KNOXVILLE FIND.
II has tecn reported that there has been
q recent gold find near Eronvillc. II Is
true that gold ore Is found within mile
and a half from Enonvillc In any direc-
ton but the mine IS the same old Booker
mine, which has been IN operation nom
time TO time since about the yeaf lSiS
or 1919, but IS not being worked at
present 49,
strange to say, the owners Of these
rofreq do not seem anxious 20 sell, otner-
wis. they would advertise, hut seem to he
wen eatlshel WIN picking up rev
nuggets now aud them, q WASHING ous
enough dust to get the UtctsSdi -eS va
ne and even this Is done mostly by
tie tenarts who rent the lands near the
mines. II may be Of interest. to Know
that at one time Horace Greeley owned
a gold mine I'm this county -,,..
''here are other minerals here equally
as valuable as the gold. The famous
slate from the quarries at Arvon, the
mica of wills Mountain, the iron Of
Woods Mountain. and the kaohn De-
tween CUIdsyille and Sheppards.
Indeed. / tmnk no county in the state
can truthfully boast OF more different
kinds OF minerals than can buckingham.