Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-08-08
GOLD MINING UNPR0FJrl-. :, ;,
Failure Comes More Fra,,
 Than Success to the Minas Essntl
Forty-Niners Who Failed-r of Production Generally Ra oes or Exceeds the Rets
 in Gold.
[copyrlght. 1sa7.l

Copyright. 1S97.1
 In connection with the recar4 cries of gold in Alaska has bean 1lscOys . the question whether there is an, ,aisea profit in mining is, wbetbss. isaf average reward of all those engaa.1 Sas mining is equal to the rewar5a Ssseu la had in other industries. For tIo v os tralian discoveries of few vaass 1a0si the question was answered of9o;an asof the negative. The British goyerna N obtained statistics showing tbo Der of miners in the gold fields sna aull'| U total amount of gold taken out Th 'uS figures were not absolute. haoor1 was known that a great deal of was smuggled out of the eoun+1' eOa belts which miners wore. But < were approximate and they sboI that the amount of gold taken ont an exceptionally rich field updar 7. 0' ditions involving great hardsbins Se'' s less than $500 per capita. When tba a traordinary profits made by fen r the more fortunate miners are doa, E ed from the aggregate, the ayerana reduced to about $50 per capita the time so many were prospectine f1s this small average sum, labor was oo,. manding ten dollars day and moro -5 the mines and laberers were very bo to get.
 It is customary to count the cola| taken out of mining region as eIss.| profit. Thus in reading the story os the Klondyke the average man NE count the $1oo,o00 taken out by tbis oa and the $40,000 by that one as gain Ts point of fact, the larger part of NY profit of mining is eaten up usuallv bs the expense of working claim. Fd.. example, in the South African bonan1s sensation of the last five years the laas. authentic figures show that it cost s| oneyear $29, ,690, ,203 to get out S36. .g94 O1s1 in gold. Of this $8,354. .243 went to wbils| employees and $8,434.939 to native em.| ployes. Yet labor is comparatiyplg| cheap in South Africa, owing to t5sl presence of a multitude of black mqal who spend next to nothing for food an3a clothing. Miners can be had for an av. craze of $99 a month; firemen. for sS9.| mechanics, for $85, and foremep for $153. In the Klondyke country labor is scarce and much more costly. Ons. item of expense in South Africa Wbieh| is not considered in Alaska, however, is dynamite, of which more than sss 000,0 1000 worth is used in the TransyasI| in year.
 Senator Perkins, of California was s. '49er. He sailed around the Horn a1d| for time cIerked in San Francisco Then he went into the mining eount9a and tried prospecting and keeping store. While he was merchandising, hs| "grubstaked" many miners, but be saSsI to-day that he never made a cent oas' of mining. He is wealthy man, basI he made all his money in trade.
 Col. ". R. Morrison, of Illinois, preEa ident of the interstate commerce coat! mission, is another '49er. He startd| west from the Mississippi river and traF| eled with wagon train to the diga gings. He came back couple of yeaS' later by way of Panama, bringing ' few thousand dollars with him, but nal more probably than he could have mads| in some other occupation.
 The best illustration of all is tha| of the man who found gold in Caaa fornia. He died poor. Of those Waa made small fortunes in the Californa| days, the majority squandered theH| money. Only in the exceptional caAl did a man make enough to constitue| a substantial fortune. Mackay, Fag3 and some other of the Bonanza hng| kept their wealth; but the motto a the '49er was Come easy, go easys3 and few men became permanently pros] porous through the developmentof ofCd ifornia's gold fields. 1
 However, it is on the few who sue ceeded that the public eye is riyeteaz and to every man who starts for Alasa now there is a Mackay fortune in Prg'l| pect.
 o xrs4-so,. uwafareuce. 3