The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-14
KING SOLOMON'S MINES
RICH TREASURE CAVES IN SPAIN
NOW BEING WORKED AGAIN.
Mystery of How the Great Ruler OBJ
tanned His Wealth of Gold and Sill
yer Thought to De Solved.
New York Herald.


or the House of the Lord. The length
of the Temple was sixty cubits, and
the height was thirty cubits and the
breadth was twenty cubits. The Temple
was built of stone. made ready before it
was brought thither so that neither
hammer nor ak nor any tool was heard
in the house while it was building.
He built an oracle in the Temple, twenty
cubits long, twenty cubits broad and twen-
ty cubits high, and he oVerlaid it with gold.
Solomon then overlaid the Temple within
with gold and precious metals. He made
partition of chains before the oracle and
overlaid them with gold. And all the statues
and images in the Temple, as we'll as all
the vessels and utensils, of precious
metals. And after he had finished all the
Temple he overlaid the whole building with
gold and precious metals.--l Kings vi-vii.
Strange as it may seem, the same mys-
ferrous mines from which King Solomon OBJ
tanned this fabulous amount of gold, copper
and other precious metals are also being
worked by modern miners. Even after fully
four thousand years these ancient mines
are still yielding precious metal for the en-
richment of man. The sound of blasting
vibrates through the huge hollow vaults,
where, centuries ago, countless thousands OF
workers toied, taking out the gold that was
to embazon the mighty Temple. Instead of
the faint tinkerings of thousands of ham,
mers the echoes of mammoth steam drills
float up through the crevices and shafts.
Wonderful, indeed, are these ancient
works that have witnessed the rise and fall
of empires and now remain as monument
of Solomon's great engineering skill. They
are near the town of Cordova, Spain. What
they were called in ancient times is un-
known, but of the fact that they were
King Solomons own mines there is no
doubt. But not alone did he confine himself
to these particular mines. Some distance
away in Spain, in the northern part Of
Galicia, on the banks of the River Sill, are
similar mines that Yielded him gold of the
finest quality. The old workings still re-
main, but little changed in appearance;
United States Consul j. Harmony Inspected
them last month and says that Englsh
companies are now being formed with large
capital to again extract the gold,
Even to-day he says, "a comP psa I've
quantity of gold is washed from these ola
deposits on the banks OF the river by the
local peasant women, who stand IN the
shallow places and wash the gold they have
collected in wooden bowls, in the working
of which they have become experts.
PROFESSOR HILLS REPORT.
Professor Alexander Hill. one of the
greatest mining experts of the present
day, has carefully examined these mines
for the Spanish government and confirmed
the theory that has for years been held
by scientists and scholars of ancient re-
search, that these ancient workings were
indeed King Solomon's mines. Professor
Hill has been appointed consulting engineer
of the mines and it is under his direction
that they are now being worked
THE mineS,'' he says were worked by
1iFin n
here that King Solomon undoubtedly OBJ
tanned much of the metal for the Temple.
In my Investigations of these ancient mines
| discovered many wonderful things. AS
we journeyed down the immense gloomy
caverns We from time to time, stumbled
against water wheels, made of oak, COM
pletely covered with a coating of copper
and perfectly preserved. The copper COW
cred the wheels in some instances an inch
thick 1t must have taken thousands of
years for this coating to nave formed IN
this manner.
has ever before been discovered We're evil
IDENTIFY used by the ancient toilers for rails
ing the water that washed into the tunnels
and filled the depths below. The water
was raised by a series of tanks, one tank
being placed above the other until the sur
face was reached. There are to be seen
remains of these tanks still clinglng TO the
rough sides of the walls
In other Subterranean vaults we round
clay lamps that were used by the workers
thousands of years ago to light the gloom
when they were toiling away In the pas
sages. The lamps were filled with oil and
were placed about IN the - how
much this ancient people knew about min
ing. / was astonshed to see how systemat-
ically their tunnels and drifts were run.
King Solomons miners were evidently mag
nificent engineers, as good as any we have
at the present day. and they carried on
their work on the most scientific princi-
pies. Their tunnels were much the same as
our own. There was no shoddy work in
cutting them out of the living rock Many
rf 1horC Oi N these
by the ancient workers are yet preserved.
They stand there. covered with the accu-
mulated dirt and metallic coatingS of ages,
in the same position they were placed in
when the metal for the Temple was being
taken out.
From out of deep and weird passage,
400 feet under the earth, we took one of
the oak water wheels and carried it to the
surface. where the copper was taken off.
The wheel was found to be in perfect con-
dition. Time had evidently not wrought its
ravages upon this ancient mining device.
Living hands once more grasped the long
levers, as they were held in daily opera
ton 400 years ago.
Strange is the history of these wonderful
denths hundreds tTe of feet from the light Of
day. toied countless workers when the
world was in its very first stages of devel-
earth, these caves were then 1000 years old.
To go back still further, these same mines
had witnessed the rise and fall of Egypt;
had seen Jerusalem grow from humble
hamlet to be the richest city in the world.
and remained as a commemoration of her
glory centuries before even the palace of
Nimrod was built. Rome was not founded
until hundreds of years after they had been
abandoned.
HOW DID SOLOMON FIND THEM.
We look upon the days when Daniel the
great prophet addressed the multitudes
from the steps of the Temple as extremely
remote, yet even this was so recent that
Daniel was unable to find the source from
which Solomon procured his metal, all
traces of the fabulous treasure vaults hav-
ing been lost hundreds of years before. and
apparently forever. Hidden from the world
were mute witnesses of the advent of civ
ilzation. In the dim dawn of human his
tory when the peopling of the world be-
gan they were there. and were co-existent
with the birth and death of races so re-
mote that even history fails to record them.
1t is strange how Solomon came TO diScoV-
er these treasure caves Neither history nor
the Bible makes any reference to the man.
ner in which he found them. They were far
away from his place of birth. 1t is thought
more than likely that Hiram, King of Tyre,
was the real finder, and that he communi-
Gated the discovery to Solomon, who at once
proceeded to extract the metal What is
now southern Spain was then the richest
and most valued of the PhOenician possess
sions The land was a mine of wealth to
them. and Hiram was we'll acquainted with
it's great caves and riches. SO great was its
wealth in gold, silver copper and precious
metals that even 1.-The ships of the Phoeni-
clans carried silver anchors.
It was at this time that Hiram Journeyed
to Jerusalem where he met Soloman and
took part in the building of the Temple. H
became goldsmith. as it We're, to Solomon,