The Wichita daily eagle., 1896-12-16
THE SOUTH A GOLCONDA.
It's Mountains Teem with Precious
Stones and Metals.

It's Mountains Teem with Precious
Stones and Metals.
Rich Veins Of Gold which win son.
Day he Opened and Enrich the
Country-An Kinds Of Gems
Known to Science.
One of the mineralogical experts o.
. large mining company recently re
turned to New York after an extended
trip through the south in the interest
Of his organization, and, in speaking
about the mineral resources Of the
southern states, he said:
Il have passed through nearly al
the mining sections of the south to ex
anime the mineral products of the in
terests of a number of capitalists, and
after a careful survey of the field, il
is my honest belief that the future min
ing operations of this country will Be
in the south, instead of the west.
found the Appalachian range particu.
larly rich in all the auriferous and ar
gentiferous ores, not only in Virginia,
but throughout the whole length into
Alabama. In Georgia the rich depos.
its are well known, and companies are
now rapidly organizing to mine the
various ores. In South Carolina the de-
posits of monazite Crystals of rare
metal known as cerium, used only in
chemistry, and worth $3.50 am ounce
have been found 50 valuable that big
industry has been built up in the Pied
mont section. Ii is estimated that this
industry Is now valued at several mil.
lions Of dollars, although it is only a
few years old. When visited the fields
everybody was looking for monazite.
ond tho business will bring in at least
100000 to the people of the Piedmont
section this year. Owners of apparent
ly worthless land have let it out to con.
tractors at tho rate of $500 an acre, and
these miners make big profits besides,
A few years ago the owners would have
been glad to have received three or four
dollars per aero for this land.
There is more gold in the south than
any man ever imagined. Traces Of 1t
crop up in the most unexpected places.
and there must be some valuable veins
hidden away in the mountains that viii
some day be discovered and startle the
country. Cripple Creek viii be nothing
to the southern gold fields after they
have once been located. Itseems strange,
but the fact is nevertheless true, that
the south has never been thoroughly ex-
amined for mineral and gold products.
Before the war everybody went west
to find gold, and the south was given
over to cotton, tobacco, sugar end rice.
After the war closed nothing was done
for a long time to develop the indus
tries of the southern states, but now we
are beginning to realize that a great,
undeveloped field spreads out before US.
There are scores Of gold prospectors
travelling through the mountains Of the
south, looking for the treasures that
are sure to come to light some day. Peo-
pie speak about the future supply OF
gold being found in Africa! Why,
more gold is buried in the Appalachian
range of mountains than they will find
in Africa in the next 100 years. But
the mountains are go vast, and the re-
gion so little known, that it will take
time to locate the best mines even
after the prospector have been attract
ed to the place. >
Another thing about the southern
mines is that many Of the most precious
stones have been picked up at various
points, and, where such jewels arc
spread out on the surface you can rest
assured that there are others further
down under the ground. For instance,
at Corundum Hill some beautiful sap
phires have been found. Here are some
that 1 secured from q miner. They
we're not mining for sapphires, but hap
pened to pick them up while mining for
ores. Over 100 sapphires have been
found at this place, and most OF them
are valued at $50 to 500 and upward.
"The fact is that we have country
capable of producing oil the precious
stones known to science, but SO much
attention has been given to the mining
IF iron, coal, oil, silver and gold that
the more precious products of the rocks
have been neglected. I remember dis
.inctly in California, when the gold fe-
er was at its height, miners threw up
several fairly good specimens of dia-
nonds, but in their craze for the yellow
metal they paid no attention to the pre-
,ious stones. They knew all about gold
mining. but nothing about diamonds.
Now that the gold fields have been ex-
hausted, guess many of them wish
hey had stopped and pocketed some OF
Ihe precious stones they threw away.
y we made as thorough preparation
for diamond mining as they do in South
Africa, we would find this country much
-icher in materials than anybody anti
.ipates. A company has recently been
organized to develope the mines Of pre-
.ious stones in the south, and it has q
,umber of agents in the field making
examinations. They will include in
heir work all of the precious stones,
emeraIds, sapphires, beryls,
and every other gem OF any |
Talue. They will be provided with the
proper machinery. and not with coal
and gold mining implements. 1t Is oil
wrong to suppose that coal or gold
miner would unearth the precious
stones if they happened to be in the
The precious stones are not |,
always found where the gold and coal
ields are located. It needs distinct ma |
,hinery and methods, and this is the |
,nly way that we can ever hope TO de- |
felop the gem resources of this country. |
The company which have been travel |
ng for has already made negotiations