The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-07-24
THE YUKON GOLD PLAcERs.

It is frequently a subject of sur
prised comment that the science of ge-
ology has contributed so little to the
discovery of precious metals. The sue
cessful prospector entertains a disdain-
full contempt for the suggestions of the
science of geology taught in the schools.
A very successful miner once said: Il
was offered a book of 1,400 pages on
the subject of geology. I asked if the
author of the book had ever made any
money in mining 1 was told that he
had not. I then said I had not time
to read his book"
Veins of silver, gold placers and au-
riferous quartz have been discovered
by those whose search for them was
not guided by the cosmogony of the
schools. Notwithstanding this the
miners accept certain theories at the
hands of the scientific biologists. They
believe in the glacial period of the
formation of the earth's crust. They
have seen the glacial pavement. They
have observed the contour of the sur
face referable only to glacial action.
Their observation has extended to the
production of placers as referable to
this glacial action
The most commonly accepted theory
Of the most successful prospectors and
miners relating to placer mines is that
they are the result of the erosion of
auriferous quartz. differences derived
from many facts confirm this theory.
There are many places in California
where the surface placers are poor
compared with the richness of the plac-
ers which lie two or three hundred
feet below. An instance of this relates
to the placers around Folsom in this
county. 1t is well known that the
town of Folsom is built upon
fabulously rich placers, which lie
two hundred feet below the surface.
The glacial erosion that carved the can
yon Of the American River made rich
deposits, which were subsequently over
laid by the slow decomposition of rocks,
the natural erosion of the hills and
the gradual formation of a vegetable
mould
If the theory entertained by the most
practical miners relating to the origin
of gold placers is to be accepted, it
would follow that the richest placers
are to be found where glacial action
Is most recent. This theory has already
found application to the rich placers
recently discovered on the headwaters
of the Yukon. The glacial action which
has given topography to the Clondyke
region is more recent by from one to
two hundred thousand years than the
glaciers which carved the canyons on
the western flank of the Sierra Neva-
da mountains. The deposits from au-
riferous quartz are therefore not over
laid, and If the present indications are
determinate of anything they are con-
elusive Of the existence of the richest
placers ever discovered. And it is not
reasonable, nor even probable, that
these placers are confined 10 the can
yons of any single tributary of the Yu
kon. Placer mining has been success
fully pursued in California along re-
gion embracing at least a thousand
miles Of extent There is no instance
of confined and limited area in which
gold is found. Wherever it has been
discovered, the discovery has ex-
tended over broad areas of analogous
formation.
It is one of the fallacies of the hu-
man mind to assume that the sources
of gold are exhausted. There is
feeling that all the gold in the world
has been found; that the ardent search
for it has covered the surface of the
earth; that there is no UNEMPLOYED re-
gion in which gold may yet be discoy-
cred All the gold taken out of the
earth by the human family from the
beginning to the present time would not
make a block of metal equal in size
to an ordinary two-story frame dwell
ing. It is utterly preposterous to sup
pose that this small block of metal is
Ill there is in the world. Substances