Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-03-24
GOLD FROM SKIES.
An OLD MINERS THEORY As TO
ONE or IT'S SOURCES.
lie Gives His Rcnsons for Relieving
That Placer Gold Comes TO the
Earth as Meteoric Dnst-How Mug
gets Are Made.


Seattle Post-Intel.igencer)
At a meeting held Thursday night OF the
Seattle Mining Bureau, a paper was read
by Peter l.. Trout, a mining man Of large
experience. which contains some novel
theories concerning the origin OF the
placer mines in British Columbia and
Alaska. 1t Is. of course. the general be-
lief that where tho fiaky gold IS found IN
the beds Of creeks there must Of necessity
be quartz further back. from which the
little nuggets and fakes were worn and
washed away. Mr.. Trout says he has
another theory, and It comes from ripe
experience. The gold comes from the
skies. Dir. Trouts paper follows:
AT our last meeting I consented to iead
a paper on my experiences in Alaska. but
did not intend to give any detailed ac-
count Of what happened to me IN that
country, and were it not that found gold
under very peculiar and extraordinary cir
cumstances, / would not have thought
there was anything I'm it worth telling.
as with this singular exception there is
nothing I'm the trip to which 1 can look
back with any degree Of satisfaction or
pleasure.
Among the properties that gold pos
sesses. one. it seems. is that Of being just
where It ought not TO be- and in many
cases being in places where reason, COM
nonsense. and scientific research have
declared that it is impossible for 1t to be.
And on the other hand where reason,
common-sense, and scientific reshrch
have declared that IL is. IS very likely to
prove 10 be the place where Il is not.
so often have 1 seen I'm my own
experience examples Of this condition
Of things that 1 have long since believed
that all that ia written about where gold
may be found and where II may not be
found is not worth the paper on which
It has been written, as my own expert
ence has furnished exceptions 70 every
statement that 1 have ever read on the
subject. OF all that has been written
or said in regard TO gold. there is nothing
more universally believed that than
placer gold, or tho gold found in creeks.
comes out Of quartz-veins. In all my
experiences, ! have not seen anything IN
print that even casts the shadow OF a
Doubt on the truth Of this theory, for
theory is as good g name as II deserves.
During the last ten years I have al
ways maintained that the placer gold in
British Columbia did not come out OF
quartz-veins or, Il any. only very
small portion Of Il. Whenever 1 made
any statement Of this sort / was at once
asked, If it did not come out Of quartz
veins. where did it come from? To
which 7 have often very bluntly replied,
How do you suppose / know I have
learned to think this from dear expert
ence. have seen a creek rich in gold.
and have spent time and money looking
for quartz that the gold I'm the creek
must have come from. In every instance
IL was time and money wasted and, still
worse in one instance, when / was per-
suaded 10 go on one Of these fool errands.
an opportunity was missed that would
have made me some thousands Of dollars
richer But all the time and money that
I have lost looking for quartz-veins that
supplied the gold 20 the creeks is no
thing compared with what others have
lost / know Of fortunes and lives that
have been wasted in this vain search.
Others. who might lave been wealthy,
have gone down TO their graves I'm the
deepest poverty, because they wasted
their time and missed their opportunities
while looking for the quartz-veins that
they supposed supplied the gold TO the
creeks.
Now, for many years ! have firmly be-
Heved that gold found I'm the creeks Of
British Columbia did not come from
quartz veins, but during my trip TO Alaska
during the last summer my views on his
matter received a remarkable conhrma-
ton, as / found gold under circumstances
that any ono viii say could not possibly
have come from quartz veins. unless they
were up I'm the sky. and I believe that If
7 can show that there is even n possible
way I'm which the gold in British Column
bia came into the creeks without coming
from quartz veins ] shall be doing the
mining community a very great service
This / propose TO DO, and have committed
some of them TO manuscript. which j
viii take great pleasure I'm reading TO Won.
Those of you who have seen Professor
Wlnchelrs geo ogical maps VIII have no.
ticed that I'm his map of this Continent
during tho Eozoic period great ocean
rolled over what IS now these Pachif
States. and the only land above water
was a part Of California and a few long
islands that stretched northward where
the Pacific coast now is. And I'm another
map of the country at the beginning OF
the carbOnlferous age those long islands
stretched much further 20 the north ana
nearly Enclosed q vast body Of water that
be called the COrdilleran Ocean, which
covered the country between what Is now
the coast and the Rocky Mountains. rms
range Of mountains tsat at that time
stretched along the coast still exists,
though i'm some places they have sunken
beneath the ocean level and now auord
us a sheltered passage between here ana
Juneau. They first appear far out IN the
North Pacific Ocean In what is called the
Aleutian or Fox Islands. ana disappear
again at the southern point Of the PENN
sula of Lower California.
These maps may be tolerably correct,
and they may not, but enough is known 70
make il certain that at one time great
body OF salt water covered the country
between the Cascade and the Rocky noun
tains. a still later map shows the Cascade
mountains to have risen and the great
Cordilieran ocean 10 be only represented
by some large bodies Of salt water that
in detached bodies covered the greater
part Of the State Of Utah, and the greater
parts of Eastern Oregon and Eastern
Washington. The last remnant OF the
mighty Cordilleran ocean IS now drying
up I'm the State Of Utah, and is called the
Great Salt Lake, and IL seems TO me per-
fectly reasonable TO infer that the same
fate that has befallen the sea that once
covered the greater part of the state OF
Utah has also been the fate Of that still
larger sea that once covered the eastern
parts of the States Of Oregon and Wash
ingtcn.
1--WE have learned from competent au-
thority that a ton OF sea water, or little
more than a cubic yard, contains about a
grain Of gold. The next question now in
order IS. What became Of all the gold that
the sea water contained after the sea had
been dried up2 Did IL evaporate into the
air. or did il settle on the bottom2 II IL
did not evaporate into the air. it must still
be where that ocean has dried up, as gold
Is one Of the simples and practically indo-