Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1897-10-14
How Gold is Obtained.


Gently come from the upper Yukon
country doubtless exaggerate the value
of the gold deposits recently found
there, says the New York Tribune
they momentarily excite interest In a
region which is not any too well known
to residents on the Atlantic seaboard
Gold is usually obtained, in this and
other countries, either in thin veins oil
placers. In the one case the precious
metal still remains locked in the crev-
ices of the rock into which, while in a
molten state, it has been forced up
ward from below in ages past. In the
other the action Of the weather has
crumbled the inclosing walls and lib
Grated the treasure, which becomes
mixed with other detritus in the beds
of streams. There it is found in more
or less rounded particles varying in
size from the merest dust to nuggets
weighing half an ounce or an ounce
The latter limit is sometimes exceeded
When "pay dirt has been discov-
cred the separation Of the gold from
the sand and gravel is easily effected
by washing if there is good supply
of water. Costly hydraulic works have
been constructed in California and else
where for the double purpose Of sup
plying powerful water jets to eat away
the gravel banks and to extract the
precious metal when once it has been
loosened from it's environment. On the
other hand, the dirt is often cleaned
up with the aid of pan that can be
manipulated by the miner himself. AS
gold is heavier than gravel, it settles
toward the bottom of any bar or bank
in which it has accumulated. The
richest part Of any deposit of this
character, therefore, is likely to be
found down near the bed rock.
Placers exist along the slope Of the
great mountain ranges of Western
North America all the way from Cen
trail Mexico to Alaska. Some of them
have yielded millions Of dollars in
others there is hardly enough gold to
pay for working them. Those which
have attracted attention in the ex-
treme northwestern part of the CONT
nent may be briefly described. Every
schoolboy remembers that the territory
which Mr.. Seward bought from Russia
and annexed to the United States dur
ing the civil war consists essentially of
big square tract lying between the
sixtieth and seventieth parallels Of
north latitude, with a peninsula and
chain of islands reaching away to the
southwest, and still narrower strip
of land reaching down southeastward,
past British Columbia to the ty-ffth
parallel of latitude.
Almost without exception the i'm
portant deposits of gold in Alaska, so
far as known, are to be found in this
last named strip or in the adjacent
islands. Juneau, on the mainland,
and Douglas Island, close by, are the
most famous centres of production.
The gold is found here, however, in
veins, not in placers. On Kadiak Is
land, much further to the northwest,
but still on the south shore of Alaska,
faint indications of gold in veins were
found about thirty years ago, but there
was not enough to pay for working
the ore.
The first placers to be worked in
Alaska, probably, were situated near
the head of Cook inlet, big bay not
many miles from Kadiak Island. The
richest deposits were along six-Mile
creek and Resurrection creek and
yielded from S. to $40 day man
for a time. These mines and the ones
further south, with few of less con-
sequence, have raised the annual out
put of gold in Alaska from $4,000
in 1881 to more than 81 100000 at
the present time.
Both veins and placers were found
in British territory, along a small river
called the Stickine, which reaches the
Pacific by crossing the extreme south
eastern tip of Alaska. In the south
ern part of British Columbia, along
the Fraser and Columbia rivers, pro-
ductive placers have been worked for
about forty years. The first great
gold craze over this region accurred