The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-12-15
with some calamity before starting.
Meanwhile the secret has hean kent

with some calamity before starting
Meanwhile the secret has been kept.
The story is something like this
Twenty years ago q Maine carpenter
started by ship from California back
home. going by way ofPanama. Wher
nearly in port the ship stopped at an
island for repairs, and the carpente,
took day to enjoy himself. At the
public house-for the island was q
small sentlement--he met two sailors
who had with them bag of ore
Hearing he had been miner they
asked him to test the metal. He did
so,. finding 1T 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 ship load OF
gold They would start in q vessel
purchased with the carpenters money
The carpenter agreed and back they
went Near the island severe storm
came up, wrecking them. The car
penter and one sailor were cast ashore,
but the crew perished.
Next day they-the carpenter and
the sailor-explored the island and
were delighted to find it rich in gold.
They gathered such OF the mineral as
they could and that day were provi-
dentially picked up by vessel hap
pening along. They hailed her and
were taken abroad.
Returning to his home in Maine he
married, intending next year to return
to his island Of gold. His wife object.
ed, however, to the voyage and SO the
years passed. Last year the carpenter
died, but on his death-bed he told his
son how he aud the sailor had shovel
led up pebbles that were more than
half gold.
But the son was less adventurous
than his father. Like his mother he
was incrcdulous and told the story to
| friends as an evening tale. The first
| friend who heard it after the old mans
death ang to his feet. eff your
father told that story" said be, cit is
true, and am going to fit out an ex-
pedition to look up that island"
A party was speedily formed and in
few days twill sail from Maine to
look for the gold island in the South
ern Pacific.
Meanwhile, however, the news
spread, and parties in Boston took it
up and began fitting out a ship Of their
own.
The location of the island is such
for the bearings were found in the ef-
fects of the old carpenter-that it
might easily exist and be laden with
gold, for it is in the richest gold belt
known.
Such an island might easily have
been found before now by other ex-
plorers, for thousands start out every
year, but for one fact. There is q cer-
tain latitude of the South Pacific
where the greatest quantity of poison
with them and 30 venomOus and fierce
are they that mariners do not land at
those islands nor does living soul
touch them from year to year. Mari
ners' courses lie as far away from
them as possible, and this island lies in
the very midst Of this "Snakc Belt"
The exploring party would be
obliged to rid the island'at once of rep
tiles. They would first assure them
selves 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 repul-
sive to them. In six months a small
island could be cleared of reptiles, the
explorers taking the utmost nrecau-
tions while at work.
Gold expeditions arc starting all tho
time from places alcrg the coast
Southern California sGnus 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 enthusiastic pros
pectors for gold.
The probability of gold island in
the Pacific is readily considered by
mariners. They say that sailors arc
very ready to find u ship in need Of re-
pairs near these islands, and for this
reason the sea off Panama is marked
50 q ~ On tho ma mi nnrS1 no &c
on account OF the numerous ships that
lay in the port there for mending. But
1T Is the fault OF the sailors, who pur
posely conceal defects until near these
island in the hope of landing. Once
landed and they hope to find Il spot
where ore Is rich enough to warrrnt
cartiug away in bags.
Tie old Maine carpenter brought
home with him twenty bags OF ore.
much of which passed for fruit and the
remainder as curios picked up 10 his
travels. One large, rich piece of ore
was preserved and his son has it today
to show would-be hunters for the lost
island.
Fall and winter are the seasons when
the gold hunt is most profitable in the
Southern Pacific. 1t is cooler now and
the crew and miners are now willing
to exert themselves. In the spring,
when the feverish weather comes on,
all can sail homo.
An island of pure gold is not an i'm
possibility. By this is not meant tue
clear, pure ore Of commerce, ,'for this is
impossible. But the rough, streaky
yellowish, darkish stuff that, being
cleared, shows more gold than rock.
There are islands almost entirely Of
this, and it is not impossible that an
all-gold island may be found.
If the sixth expedition succeed, or
any Of them, there wilfbe a "South
Pacific gold company" as powerful an
organization as the Cecil Rhodes South
African diamond corporation.
KEEP THE Boys ON THE FARM.-We