The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-09
GRAINS OF GOLD N TnE SAVANNAH.
DIR. KnOrr's Mining Experiment
with savannah River Gravel.

Dr. knOrr's Mining Experiment
with savannah River Gravel
Does the Savannah river bear gold to
the sea? That it has done so in q com
mercial way for a long time is well known,
but do its sands contain the particles of
yellow metal whose discovery in ouanti-
ties anywhere sets the blood of men to
boiling and their hearts 10 beating high
with hope.
1t seems that the bed of the river does
contain gold, but in what quantities is not
known. If any one had made this asser-
ton a week a go he would have been laugh
ed at. DIR. Arno Knorr made no assertion.
but he set to work and demonstrated his
ideas on the subject in a very satsfac-
tory manner. DR.. Knorr is a young
dentist with an office at
No. lie Bull street He is something of a
chemist and has taste for experimenting
He has read with interest the articles
on the new Klondike gold fields in the
far northwest and concluded to do some
gold mining on his own account without
going 6.00O miles to do It, He knew that
gold mining was carried on in North Geor-
sands of the Savannah river had once
been washed for gold in this locality
something, it is safe to say, that very few
now living here ever heard of.
DR.. knorr selected as the scene of his
Investigations a spot four or five miles
west of the city. above the Hermitage
where a bar crosses the river. Going
there he secured two buckets of gravel
which he brought to his office Had not
DR.. Knorr been chemist and acquainted
with the latest scientific methods
of separating gold from its
natural environments. his experiment
would have prohted him nothing. The
gravel was treated with cyanide OF potash.
which separated the gold from the gravel.
The solution thus obtained was treated
to zinc bath with the result that the
gold particles were deposited upon the
zinc plates DIR. Know scraped the zinc
plates and obtained little ball of yellow
metal, which he took to Theus Bros lew
elry store and rolled into a thin sheet
This was submitted to Mr.. s. Il. Theus,
who pronounced IL pure gold. Mr. Theus
| weighed the sheet and found the weight
70 be Is grains, worth commercially 20 to
80 cents.
As a further evidence OF the amount Of
gold In the sand Or. Know place a nickel
in small phial Of the sand and treated II
by the galvanic process. as a result Of
which the nickel was given yellow coat
! ing.
one OF the reasons why DR.. Knorr felt
sure that he would find gold in the Sa-
vannah river was that he had been told
by his father that men once washed the
sands of the river for gold where the
Ocean steamship docks now are Proba-
bly, I'm those days the amount of gold OBJ
talned by the washing process was not
sufficient to pay for the trouble With the
modern scientific methods by which the
smallest amount OF gold can be extracted
from any amount OF other matter IL is
barely possible that there may be suAi-
Client gold IN the savannah river to pay
for working H. Gold Is known TO exist
Ia the hills OF North Georgia. where
The savannah river has It's source.
and Or. knOrrs theory ~
that the river has been bring
ing this gold down for centu-
ries and dcposiung Il along rs bed. Or.
knorrs experiments have attracted some
attention, and IL Is likely that others will
Try their hands nc taking gold from the
| river. Mr.. Theus wishes II understood.
| however. that he ia not one OF this NUM-
Der, ana that he prefers the gold which
comes over his counter to any that he
might possibly hnd In the river.