The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-12-24

stsasi iiai ie.:ssty.1S;t hoHsgh it is only .
Nions ela..ol.-.rs, afoIlotls, !. -. -
few years old. When l visited the fields
Everybody was looking for monazite,
-.l the business will bring in at least
100000 to the people of the Piedmont
section this year. Owners of apparent
" 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 viii
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 eN-
amined for mineral and gold products.
Before the war everybody went west
to ind gold, and the south was given
over to cotton, tobacco, sugar and 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 so 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
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 500 and upward.
tine fact is that we have a country
capable of producing all the precious
stones known TO science, but so 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. l remember dis
tinctIy in California, when the gold fe-
YER was at its eight, 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 eN-
hausted, | guess many Of them wish
they had stopped and pocketed some OF
the precious stones they threw away
If 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 beer
organized to develope the mines of pre-
cious stones in the south, and it has 4
number of agents in the field making
examinations. They will include il
their work all of the precious stones
diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, heryls
garnets and every other gem of any
value. They will be provided with thu
proper machinery, and not with Goa
end gold mining implements. 1t is al
wrong to suppose that a coal or golt
miner would unearth the precious
stones if they happened to be in TN
mountains. The precious stones are no
always found where the gold and Goa
fields are located. 1t needs distinct ma
chinery and methods, and this is tn
only way that we can ever hope to de
velop the gem resources of this country
The company which | have been travel
ing for has already made negotiation
for large tracts Of mineral land atom!
the Appalachian system, and it WI
make immedia>4 efforts to develop tn
mines. | have, 10 doubt but they vii
strike many unexpected fields of pre-
cious gems, and the country will get
new idea of the resources of tn" mine
81 the south. "-Philadelp Times.