The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-29
AN ISLAND OF PURE GOLD.
A MAINE MAN ON HIS DEATH-BED
TELLS OF SUCH A SPOT.

Lost to View.
Copyright, 1896.
New York, Nov. 2S.-The biggest gold
yarn ever told is being whispered around;
and, strange to say, it has found so many
| believers that no less than six expeditions
are being fitted out.
The gold yarn is about an island OF
gold in the South Pacific ocean. 1t lies
in the belt of gold islands, west of Pana-
ma. But this one is so much larger than
the others, so much richer and so much
more easily worked, that it is the mag
net that is drawing all the gold parties
toward it.
When Cecil Rhodes said he was going
to corner the diamond market of the
world by getting possession of the entire
South African mines, Spectators laughed
at him. and investors wanted to mprison
him and Barnato and Belt as crazy knaves
who were trying to get rid of the money
intrusted to them.
But Belt and Barnato and Rhodes knew
where the corner" was located, and they
found it,
The hunters for the new gold field are
talking about Corners" They say that
gold lies so plentifully in this new region
that to own it practically corners the gold
of the world. From nowhere else can 1t
be mined so cheaply or plentifully, and
that fact alone insures a corner.
The gold field toward which the six
winter expeditions are pointing is in the
warmest part of the Pacific. 1t consists
of an island with sandy beach and two
mountains which rise like horns at the
opposite ends of the island. The beach is
rich with ore. even the pebbles bearing
that dark, rusty look that means gold.
But the richest layers are in the noun
tains, where there is whole ledge of soft
rock that is more than half gold. The
ledge reaches along one end of the island
which is a quarter of a mild in width, and
rises IN great hight, rich in gold.
The discovery of this island dates back
twenty years, and for that length of time
expeditions have been getting ready to sail
for it. But all have met with some calam-
ity before starting. Meanwhile the secret
has been kept.
The story is something like this: Twen-
ty years ago a Maine carpenter started by
ship from California back home, going by
way of Panama. When nearly in port the
ship stopped at an island for repairs, and
the carpenter took day to enjoy himself
At the public house-for the island was a
small settlement-he met two sailors who
had with them bag of ore. Hearing he
had been a miner, they asked him to test
the metal. He did so, finding it nearly pure
gold. The sailors said they had obtained
it from an island one days sailing north
The sailors proposed that all go back to
the island and get ships load of gold
They would start in a vessel purchased
with the carpenters money. The carpen-
ter agreed, and back they went Near
the island a severe storm came up, wreck
ing them. The carpenter and one sailor
were cast ashore, but the crew persisted.
Next day they-the carpenter and the
sailor-eXplored the island and were de-
lighted to find it rich in gold. They gath
cred such of the mineral as they could and
that day were providentially picked up by
a vessel happening along. They hailed her
and were taken aboard.
Returning to his home in Maine he mar
ried intending next year to return to his
island of gold. His wife objected, how
ever, to the voyage, and so the years pass
ed. Last year the carpenter died, but on
his deathbed he told his son how he and
the sailor had shoveled up pebbles that
were more than half gold.
But the son was less adventurous than
his father. Like his mother, he was in
credulous and told the story to friends as
an evening tale. The first friend who
heard it after the old mans death sprang
to his feet IF your father told that
story" said he, lit is true, and 1 am go
ing to fit out an expedition to look up
that island"
party was speedily formed and in
few days it will sail from Maine to look
for the gold island in the Southern Pa
cific.
Meanwhile, however, the news spread,
and parties in Boston took it up and be-
gan fitting out a ship of their own.
The location of the island is such--for
the bearings were found in the effects of
the old carpenter--that it might easily ex-
| list and be laden with gold, for lit is in
| the richest gold belt known.
Such an island might easily have been
| found before now by other explorers, for
| thousands start out every year, but for
! one fact. There is a certain latitude of
! the South Pacific where the greatest
| quantity of poisonous reptiles live. The
| Islands are alive with them and so veno-
nous and fierce are they that mariners
| do not land at these islands nor does a
| living soul touch them from year to year.
4 Mariners courses lie as far away from.
! them as possible and this island lies in
the very midst of this Snake Belt"
The exploring party would be obliged to
| rid the island at once of reptiles They
| would first assure themselves that they
| had found the island so rich in gold and
| then the snakes could be driven out by
! poisons and by planting certain herbs that
are repulsive to them. In six months a
| small island could be cleared of reptiles.
! the explorers taking the utmost precau-
/ tions while at work.
! Gold expeditions are starting all the time
| from places along the coast. Southern
California sends out several every year;
and places least suspected of harboring
souls with the gold fever have ships lying
/ In harbor, bound for some southern port
but carrying in their passenger list enthu-
siastic prospectors for gold.
The probability of a gold island in the
! Pacific is readily considered by mariners
| They say that sailers are very ready to
find ship In need of repairs near these
/ islands, and for this reason the sea off
! Panama is marked dangerous" on the
mariners charts, on account of the nu-
merous ships that lay in port there for
mending. But il is the fault of the sail
! ors, who purposely conceal defects until
/ near these islands, in the hope Of landing
! once landed, and they hope to find spot
where ore is rich enough to warrant cart
! ing away in bags.
| The old Maine carpenter brought home
! with him twenty bags of ore, much of
! which passed for fruit and the remain
der as eurios picked up in his travels one
large, rich piece of ore was preserved and
! his son has it to-day TO show would Inc