The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-20
UTHH'S NEW GOLD CAMP.
Concluded from Ninth Page)


be actually done in some parts of this
mine. In other places the gold is in part
of the gravel or crushed quartz. You could
easily dig it down with pick. Again 1t is
found in solid quartz mixed with deposits
of arsenic and sulphur The asenic is
pure. You could commit suicide at almost
every step If you wantedsto, and the sui
phur is so strong in places that with your
candle you can burn it and fill the caverns
about you with flames of birthstone. In
other places the gold is found in a black
rock which looks for all the world like
slate, and other where's it appears in solid
rock. It is not found In nuggets, or grains
or pockets, but it seems to be a consistent
part Of the clay and rock, distributed in
infinitesmal particles at the rate of a
quarter of ounce and upward to the ton
of rock. A quarter of ounce to the ton
would be about as much part in
$4,000. and If you will take $4,000 shot and
imagine one of them to be ground uo and
It's dust to be distributed equally through
all the others you will have some idea how
the gold runs through a ton of this rock
The average last year was only S12 to the
ton, just little more than half an
to the ton, about one part in as
000 Still, it is out of these low grade ores
that the product of the worlds gold is
coming to-day. The ore Of this region is so
easily gotten out that it can 5e mined at
a great profit. The rock of the Golden
Gate mine is said to be much richer than
that of the Mercur, but it is mixed with
arsenic to such an extent that great loss
occurs in reduction. All of the large mills
about Mercur have their chemical labora-
! tories and at the Golden Gate there is an
experimental mill in which the most ex-
pert chemists and metallurgists that money
can command are at work trying to find
the most economical and best methods for
getting out the gold. The Mercur. well
as the Golden Gate and all the other mines
here. is run on business principles. No
money is spared to cheaper the cost of pro-
duction and the cents are as carefully
saved as in the Wall-street counting house
where the broker saves the envelopes Of
his correspondence to figure AS it IS
however. the Mercur still loses II per cent
of its gold. 1t has mountains of refuse
about it's cyanide mill, and every ton of
these mountains contains from $50 to 81
worth of gold In the future some one
may discover a process by which this ref
use may be worked at a profit
RIDE ON AN ORE CAR.
Think Of riding down through silvery
mountains bed of gold 1t was In this
way that we came from Mercur to Utah
valley. Our party consisted of Mr.. John
Dern, the millionaire of the Mercur; Mr.
Heintz. of the Rio Grande railroad: Mr.
Hanson. the city editor of the Deseret
News, and myself. Squatting on a rock
pile of gold-bearing dirt and rock worth at
least $500. holding or to the jagged stones
for dear life, we flew round and round and
in and out on our way down over one Of
the mostremarkabie railroads of the world
1t was built in 1894. at a cost of $3.50 600
1t is only four miles in a straight line from
the point where ii begins to the point where
1t ends but it takes more than eleven miles
of winding curves to make the journey. 1t
begins at a little over 5000 feet above the
sea. and in this distance it carries you
upward an altitude of almost half mile
have gone up the little narrow-gauge
railroad which takes you from the plains
of India to Darjeling in the Himalaya
mountains. 1t is only two feet wide.
and its cars are not much big
ger than two store boxes The
Mercur & Salt Lake railroad is of the
standard guage, and 1t has curves so short
that standing on the rear of the train we
could at times almost touch the engine as
1t dew around them. Now the engine
and we were pitched almost straight down
to the level below. We could see the line
running in parallel tracks down the noun
tain and Il seemed as though we could
easily have jumped from one track TO the
other thus cutting or the distance. which
by curves REQUIRED several miles. AS we