Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-04-27

IRREGULARITIES Of Form and Color in
Gold.

Peculiariiies Of Form and Color in
Gold
Most persons who see but little cold
except that which has been coined
and alleged suppose that all gold is
alike when pure, but the fact is gold
has peculiarities Of color in different
localities in a great aurifcrous region
and in tho gold fields of different
countries, even when freed from all
the bascr metals and nodded into bars
1000 fine. An experienced metal
lurgist is able to distinguish between
the slightest shades and tinges of
color, and often can tell at once what
country bar, nugget, or package of
''dust" comes from; and a veteran as
sayer in a gold region is nine times
out of ten able to tell almost at q
glance from what particular district
a sample Of placer or quartz gold was
obtained
The dust. grain, chispas, nuggets,
and masses of gold from different lodcs
and from placcrs in different localities
also have certain slight peculiarities
Of form that an experienced mining
man or metallurgist long established
in a particular locality is able to dis
tinguish, though to the ordinary OBJ
server all the samples in the shape of
dust or nuggets may look alike. Each
gold-bearing quartz vein produces
gold, but IL does so in way peculiar
to itself in some slight particular, and
it persists in the special feature which
makes it peculiar.
In California are certain quartz
lodes that are spoken of as Specimen
lodges" for the reason that they pro-
duce gold in some peculiar form, as of
leaf or flower And specimen lode
persists in producing its peculiar form
of specimens, whether of leaf, flower,
or crystal. There may be small grains
and scales of gold in the same vein of
no particular form, but along with
this will be found from time to time
the peculiar kind of specimens which
are the distinguishing feature of the
lode.
Even in thte placer gold of Califor-
MIA and other regions containing
auriferous alluvial deposits are OBJ
servable such differences of color and
form as show it to have come from diff
ferent localities. The expert buyers
of gold dust in California in the early
days were able to tell almost at a
glance from what mining district, and
often from what particular diggings,
a lot of gold was obtained.
The gold from the blue gravel of
the channels of the "dead rivers" of
California-the deep drift diggings-
possesses peculiarities that distinguish
it from that of placers of more recent
origin. 1t is always so much worn
by ages of attrition as to be quite
smooth on all sides and a great deal
of it of bean-shape; also in size much
of it ranges about as do beans from the
smallest to the largest varieties. The
smaller gold of the ancient rivers. is
in the form of thick well-rounded
flakes or scales and round, heavy
grains, while the big nuggets and
masses are of various shapes and sizes,
but are always worn till smooth as
the little golden "beans."
Gold from the lava-capped drift
diggings and from the blue leads of
the channels of the ancient rivers,
wherever found, is called "lead gold"
When a prospector hits upon such
gold in ravine that heads on the
slope of a big lava-capped gravel
mountain, he is pretty sure to trace
it up and find in the bedrock the gap
through which the Overflow" came
from the dead-river channel beneath
the mountain, then by means of a tun-
mel he goes in under the mountain
and finds the main lead which was
the source of the gold he found in the
ravine. This lead gold is sometimes
found mingled with the gold of the
more recent placers, one of the rivers
Of the modern system, or a big can
yon, having atsome point cut through
adead-river channel and carried down
and redeposited much of the gold;
but wherever it is found it is known
to have come from one of the ancient
rivers, as it carries the ear marks of
the blue gravel.
The gold of Australia is much red
der than that of California. Guinea
gold is also very red, but the gold of
the Urols, Siberia, is the reddest
found anywhere in the world, though
that of the Amoor placers is close
second. The Mormon ten-dollar
pieces, coined from placer gold OBJ
tanned at Lemhi, had a distinctly