The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1896-12-31
THE SOUTH A gOLCONDA.
III Mountains Teem with Precious
Stones and MetalA

nasA vsias Of Gold which WIN selns
Day Ne Opened and Enrich the
:; J, e''.1;..M E..MA. !! Ei. l.|.!ss & e'-s
one of the mineraloeic.I expert. Of
q 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:
II have passed through nearly all
the mining sections Of the south to ex-
anime the mineral producte Of the in
terests Of q number Of capitalists, and,
after careful survey Of the field, IL
IL my honest belief that the future min
ing operations of this country will be
In the south, instead Of the west. I
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-
It's are we'll known, and companies are
now rapidly organizing to mine tho
various ores. In South Carolina the de-
posits of monazite (crystals Of rare
metal known az cerium, used only in
chemistry, and worth $16O an ounce)
have been found 90 valuable that big
industry haa been built up in the Pied
mont section. It is estimated that this
industry u now valued at several mil
lions Of dollars, although 1t IL only q
few years old. When l visited the fields
everybody was looking for monazite,
ond the 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 the rate of 5000 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 acre 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 will
some day be discovered and startle 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 everybody 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 q long time to develop the indus
tries of the southern states, but now we
are beginning to realize that great,
undeveloped field spreads out before US.
There ere scores of gold prospectors
traveling 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 Africal 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 80 vast, and the re-
gion so little known, that It will take
time to locate the best mines even
after the prospectors have been attract
ed to the place.
Another thing about the southern
stones have been picked up ct 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 I secured from Q miner. They
were not mining for sapphires, but hap
pened to pick them up while mining for
ores. Over 100 sapphires have been
found ct this place, and most OF them
are valued at $50 to 500 and upward.
1.-THE fsct Is that we have q country
capable Of producing all the precious
stones known to science, but 30 much
attention has been given to the mining
Of iron, coal, oil, silver and gold that
the more precious products of the rocks
have been neglected. I 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-
eious stones. They knew all about gold
mining, but nothing about diamonds.
Now that the gold fields have been ex-
hausted, I guess many Of them wish
they had stopped and pocketed some OF
the precious stones they threw away.
Il we made as thorough preparation
for diamond mining as they do In South
Africa, we would find this country much
richer in materials than anybody anti.
cipates. A company has recently been
organized to develope the mines Of pro
cious stones In the south, and 1t has q
number of agents in the field making
examinations. They will include in
their work all of the precious stones
diamonds, emeralds. sapphires, beryls
garnets and every other gem OF any
value. They viii be provided with the
proper machinery, and not with coal
and gold mining implements. It y all
wrong TO suppose that coal or gold
miner would unearth the precious
stonea n thev haDnened to bA In the