The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-09-12


was the discoverer of the gold of the
Rand. Langdon had wandered over the
desert many times in search of the
place where q pioneer of 40 discovered
rich float specimens. when searching
Tor water for a party of furnishing en-
fgrants. From the tale related to him
by this pioneer, Langdon, who knew
the desert as few but the rowing In
CLANS know it. decided that among the
hills now known as the Randsburg
mountains, was the. spot where the gold
was found In company with Moores,
so he asserts, he prospected for some
weeks, and at last picked up a speci-
men of float ore that promised well.
| He followed the gulch where he found
the ore, and finally uncovered a ledge.
Leaving MooreS to care for his inter-
est, and grub stalking him for further
finds, Langden went north to attend to
some business, and when he returned
few months later, in the spring OF
1885. he found that Moores had, with
others, located his claims, leaving him
out. MooreS says that he proSpected
alone and found the gold, and his tale
is generally believed, although Lang
don has begun suit for the ownership of
| the Is mines comprising the Rand
group, and which are most valuable
properties.
1t was not until the summer of 1896
that the carefully kept secret Of sold
in the Mojave desert became public
property, and then the rush began. In
a few weeks a town of 5000 souls grew
up as a center of the gold fields, and
took the name of Randsburg. Thither
Adventures focked from every part of
the country, and thousands of claims
were 'monumented'' in the desert. Some
Of these were worthless and others
proved veritable bonanzas to their owns
ers. Two men, in digging a hole Il feet
deep. took out $4,000 worth of geld in
two weeks, and three feet further down
struck a pocket" from which they
took goo sacks of ore assaying $40 to
the ton. By the time they had gone
down 70 feet and drifted in Ia feet they
had realized $780, 900. and similar "coyot-
ing" with silimlar results was done in
AZ the surrounding hills.
PLOr1-71 FOR GOLD.
Unwilling to await the slow process
Of pick and shovel. the ploW was
brought into use, and though blowing
for gold would seem a Munehausen tale
to the ordinary individual. it gave in
the Rand the richest harvest even
yielded to the husbandman. The pros
pector followed in the furrow picking
up float ore as farmers gather potatoes.
Some of these pieces Of quartz assayed
into the thousands. others were com
paratively worthless, but all spoke elo-
quently of the precious metal in the
lodges for which search was thus be-
ing made.
Placer dirt was thrown up by the
plow was cast into the dry washer and
winnoWed from the baser elements
and stories Of the results were so
startling that capitalists declared them
a fake" and were suspicious of the
new fields. Predictions were freely
made that the veins would play out"
as they went deeper, but experience has
falsif1ed these predictions in every in
stance. Men who were accustomed to
a long and expensive search under
ground for veins of ore. could not be
lieVe that the numerous outcrops on the
surface would come to anything when
followed deeper, yet the "coyoting'
brought such marvellous results that
owners of claims we're enabled to de-
Yelop their mines solely with the output
realized. In fact. Randsburg was "a
poor mans camp" Experienced men
spoke contemptuously of "the alfalfa
miners'' who were digging holes in the
hilIsides, but later they were anxious to
buy out those same inexperienced per-
sons. who. however, were in no mind
to sell. Capital began to flow into
Randsburg and tempt the original own
ers of claims. Many of them held on,
others leased their holdings and now
many of the Rand mines are heavily
bonded, and the total output is $4,000
monthly, with a prospect. based on de-
Yelopment work now being done, of
eight times that amount monthly a
year from this time
c1vr ANyctE EREyAKS
In the hills to the southwest Of the
town of Randsburg, nature has shown
strange freaks in the deposit Of gold
Veins of quartz run in every direction.
appearing above the ground, disappear
ing far beneath it. running straight for
a. few feet, then diverging with as many
angles as a streak of lightning. these
"stringerg'' perplexing all calculation
These tiny veins of quartz are al
MOST fnbulously rich in gold. and at
first were supposed to descend Only
few feet, and to be streams, as 1t were,
cast off in the general upheava1 and
scattered on the surface of the soil.
When they We're followed deeper, how
ever they were found to unite and
form feeders to rich bodies of ore,
and "the stringer district bids fair to
become the most famous portion of the
gold fields. From a consecutive run
of 20 tons, $50 sacks of ore, $4,000 was
realized by one OF these '.stringer"
mines in the month of June. Another
averaged $50 and a third $3.50 a ton for
the same period. and the total average
of all the ''striuger mines" for. the
same time would be about $50 TO the
ton. The 'coyoting" of a single mine
in the Rand for six months produced
$50 600, and in nine months the same
amount was taken from a shaft on a
triangular claim 800 feet on a side. the
only machinery in use being an ordi-