New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-25

Stratton never regretted taking his luncheon
on that bowlder. because when it was crushed
1t yielded him $4,000 and where it formerly
rested is now part of the great Stratton mine,
which has paid its owner 100000 daily since
1888, and in which the owner says he has blocked
out and has in sight SS,000,OOO. The mine is un-
like many others. because it is the property eX-
Clusvely Of one man, who guards it closely ana
allows no person who is not connected with it
to enter. a peculiar feature of this immensely
lucrative gold deposit is the fact that thousands
Of prospectors travelled over the ground which
Is now yielding the precious ore, thousands OF
prospectors have worked diligently around the
spot, and most of the men who crossed the con-
tinent in 1S49 for the gold fields of California
passed within a stones throw Of the bowder
which was the key to the Stratton Edorado.
A well-known thurman, who has travelled the
length and breadth of Siberia, has something to
say of the mines there. The richest gold
bearing mines in the world he said, "are in
Northern Asia in Russian territory These
mines worked in a sipshod sort of a man
ner, without any of the modern equipments that
have made mining profitable in other regions
When the Transsiberian Railroad is opened
from the Pacific to the Baltic there will be a min
ing craze caused by the gold discoveries in the
Clondyke excitement to appear like ripple on
a mill pond"
An Australian miner described the Australian
mining being commonplace when compared
with the difficulties experienced in New-Zealand.
He said that in the richest god-bearng region
of NewZeaand the soil of a volcanic forrna
tion and that there fresh water to be
had within miles of the region. There is no
vegetation of any description. Volcanic rock
and lava with here and there a small pocket
containing a few grains of the yellow metal,
sufficient in quantity to pay handsome dividends
to the companies that operate the mines, have
caused several thousand venturesome miners
from England and Wales to form a settlement.
Every drop of the water used is condensed
sea water. The meats and vegetables are
canned and now and then some potatoes and
vans, left by the occasional steamers which call
at that forsaken region, are purchased by those
who willing to pay the extravagant prices
asked for them. An incurabe disease. greatly
resembling scurvy, attacks the miners and other
residents of this region. 1t breaks out at the end
of about eighteen months, once started the vic
tim may obtain relief, but permanent cure
has ever been recorded. This region. believe, is
the most fearful of all the sections in which
gold is secured
AS the speaker had visited in his many jour
neys the mining region of Ecuador and the
Upper Amazon. and had also traversed the
disputed Venezuela region, he was asked if the
swamps and miasma of the British Guiana and
Venezuelan mining regions were not fully as
dangerous to human life as the mines Of the
Yukon. He replied:
Il cannot say that t1ere is much difference.
The dangers in South America begin the
Journey to the Mines but the altitude gradually
grows greater, and the richest portions of the
gold bearing fields of Venezuela what
may be called high table land with mountain
spurs and luxurant vegetation that make the
region, when once reached one Of the most beau
tifu in the world. The climate where the mines
are located is heathful, but the journey TO and
from the mines is fraught with many dangers,
such fevers and venomous insects and rep
tiles"
THE South African miner lives in the lap of
luxury when compared with his brethren in
other localities" was the remark made by
mining engineer who had mined and prospered,
and who was put in Jail and suffered on account
Of the Jameson raid. He is an American, a
graduate Of Harvard and has been eninently
successful as miner both in this country and
in Africa. He said:
There is more or less danger associated with
the production Of gold, matter where it may
be found. We have in this country gold mines
right at our very doors. Gold has been dis
covered in NewYork and in New Jersey as
well as in Virginia, North Carolina and many of
the Southern States. The mining in Africa
merely requires capital. There are no difficult
engineering feats to be accomplished. The
Typographical formation of the country is such
that the construction OF railroads is compare
fiVplV Hence the TraDSVaal can