El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1896-12-19
THE SOUTH A GOLCONDA.
It's Mountains Teem with Precious
Stones and Metals.
Rich Veins of Gold Which viii Some
Day Be Opened and Enrich the
Country-Au Kinds of Gems
Known to Science.


about the mineral resources of tn,
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 we'll known, and companies are
now rapidly organizing to mine the
various ores. In South Carolina the de
posits of monazite Crystals of q rare
| metal known as cerium, used only in
chemistry, and worth S16O an ounce)
have been found so valuable that big
industry has been built up in the Pied
mont section. 1t is estimated that this
industry is now valued at several mil
lions of dollars, although it is only Il
few years old. When L visited the fields
everybody was looking for monazite,
and the business will bring in at least
SAOD'CCC
section this year. Owners of apparent
ly worthless land have let it out TO con-
tractors at the rate of 5000 an acre, and
these miners make big profits besides
y few years ago the owners would have
been glad to have received three or four
dollars per acre for this land.
There is more gold in the south than
any man ever imagined. Traces of it
crop up in the most unexpected places.
and there must be some valuable veins
hidden away in the mountains that will
some day be discovered and startIe the
country. Cripple Creek will be nothing
to the southern gold fields after they
have once been located. 1t seems strange.
but the fact is nevertheless true, that
the south has never been thoroughly ex-
amined for mineral and gold products.
Before the war every body went west
to find gold, and the south was given
over to cotton, tobacco, sugar and rice.
After the war closed nothing was done
for n long time to develop the indus
tries of the southern states, but now we
are beginning to realize that n great,
undevelOped field spreads out before us.
There are scores of gold prcspectors
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 Appalac
range of mountains than they Will find
in Africa in the next 100 years. But
the mountains are so vast, and the re
giOn so little known, that it will take
tjme to locate the best mines even
after the prospectors 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 are
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 | secured from a miner. They
were 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 800 and upward.
The fact is that we have a country
capable of producing all the precious
stones known to science, but SO much
has been given to the mining
of iron, coal, oil, silver and gold that
the more precious products of the rocks
have been neglected. l remember dis
tinctly in California. when the gold fe
YER was at its height. miners threw up
several fairly good specimens of dia-
monds, but in their craze for the yellow |
metal they paid no attention to the pre-
ciOus stones. They knew all about gold |
mining, but nothing about diamonds. |
Now that the gold fields have been eX-
hausted, l guess many of them wish |
they had stopped and pocketed some of |
the precious stones they threw away.
If we made thorough preparation |
for diamond mining as they do in South |
Africa we would find this country much |
richer in materials than anybody anti |
cipates. y company has recently been |
to develope the mines of pre- |
cious stones in the south, and it has |
of agents in the field making |
examinations. They will include in |
their work all of the precious stones, |
emeralds, sapphires, beryls, |
garnetS and every other gem of any |
value. They will be provided with the
proper machinery. and not with coal |
and gold mining implements. 1t is all |
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
fields are located. 1t needs distinct ma
rhinery and methods. and this is the
only way that we can ever hope to de-
,elop the gem resources of this country.
The company which have been travel
ing for has already made negotiations
for large tracts of mineral land along
the Appalachian system, and it Will |
make immediate efforts to develop the
mines. I have no doubt but they will
strike many unexpected fields of pre-
'ious gems, and the country will get a
Few idea of the resources of the mines
IF the south. Philadelphia Times.
The little island of Malta has
anguage of its own, derived from the
nv In ri nj