The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-04-18

luc QlSlTlCt, n nunOreQ
miles or so eastward or southwark from
almost anywhere in California, in the
depths of the Mojave Desert and
perched high above the western wall
OF Death Valley, is the newest GOLD min
ing district i'll California to claim a rush and
space for freq uent wild stories in the newspa.
pers. All the delightful charm of desert ter
rors, desert desolation, desert tragedies and
nearness TO the king of evil surrounds the
Panamint district from picturesque point OF
view. Leaving the assay of the hot desert
rocks out OF consideration the heert of the
Mojave Desert comes TO the front ready TO sup
ply new chapter and new pictures for the
varied story of the search of gold in earth.
These gold stories must come and 60
like Wis ions. They depopulate the newest
mining camps and start hundreds into a blind
and feverish rush and get up the rest of the
symptoms of that aurifero-hysteriaw which
everywhere marks the gold fever when made
acute by tale of piece of gold found in q
new place.
The Panamint district has been prospected
for many years and has been known as a gold
repository for generation. Reports of recent
discoveries. reinforced by the effect of the
Rands burg boom in the whole desert region,
has resulted in the recent hocking of some
hundreds of prospsctors to an almost inacces-
sible region.
There is gold in the Panamint region, but
there is hardly place for gold in America
where the limit of minimum profit demands
so high an assay per ton. Water is scarcer
than gold. transportation is at fabulous rates
and of fuel there is none.
Last fall E. A. Wiltsee, the mining operator
went there with Mr.. Newhouse, his expert
mining engineer, looking for prospects he
cared TO invest in. Three hundred samples
from thirty or forty claims in the neighbor-
hood of Pleasant were carefully assayed, &C.
cording 10 Mr.. Newhouse, but nothing con.
sidered worth buying was found
1--WE found nothing but unsatisfactory sur-
face prospects," says Mr.. Newhouse "The
highest sample ran $27 to the ton and few
reached $50. The next showed traces to
few dollars"
However the latest reports of prospectors
from the Panamint range are booming ones.
with occasional stories of rock assaying $4,000
to the ton.
The State Mining Bureau has been broad
ened out lnside-during the week State
Mineralogist Cooper has stepped into the Of
flee to find the worry about the appropriation
over, and to find the bureau secure again on a
$25, 900 yesr scale of operations So more
room has been taken by renting the rema aiming
half of the third floor of the Pioneer building.
giving the institution the entire two upper
floors. The new quarters will be devoted to
the library and to office room, the old library
quarters being turned into private workrooms
for the deputies and other employees
Mr.. Cooper has still larger hopes for the
housing of the institution, however He is
hot after the top floor of the new ferry-b build.
ing at the foot of Market street. The question
is one of the big rent entirely and the bureau
may or may not go there. Aside from fnau-
ciai considerations the location would be
highly desirable for the bureau.
The way sim liar bureaus are carried on in
the gold-producing British colonies comes fore
IDLY to mind BIZ suggestion. The department Is of
mines of the colonies of British Columbfa, New
Zealand, New South Wales, Victoria and West
Australia are more interesting than valus BILE
as examples in many things however, for the
paternalism they display would not all be well
come here. these departments of the proyin.
ciai Governments are run on the theory that
the minerals in the ground will add wealth.
population and prosperity to the colonies to
the extent 10 which they are dug out OF the
ground, and that departments of mines are es-
tablished to hustle up the digging. Hence
they take the initiative in exploring the re-
sources, in stimulating prospecting, in Turing
capital from abroad, in improving processes.
in bringing the best processes into USE in ad-
vertising the mineral resources to the world
and so on.
The prospector must precede development
and he is cherished. In New Zealand and
some other provinces the minister of mines is
to him a rich, kind uncle who has no children
They fairly take him out and show him where
to dig and how to do it. Here and there "fos-
sicking" boards will take him to the gold
fields and set him to work if ne Is unemployed
and hasn't red cent. The Department OF
Mines is ready to teach any man the A C of
gold hunting. Published informa ton Is ready
and courses in elementary assaying, mineral
ogy and geology are free in well-equipped lab
oratories.
In some of the colonies the Government will
lend half the capital needed for developing
new mines. Maps and practical handbooks