Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-03-11
SOUTHERN GOLD FIELDS
In Which Sistersyiile People and Other
tnities for Ivestment.

talttits iVi ANSsS.hShes
encial to the Register.
!istersville. w Va, March 10
While il is generally supposed among
RE outside world that there are for
ines enough in the oil business to
1sap those who are in that line busy
tying to get them and that the for
muo is almost always sure thing, and
tbat an oil man after having once en-
rerod the business will not quit it, the
most of the general public do not
lsnow what a great gamble the business
is and how quickly one who is inter-
osted viii put the same amount of
money into something else even if they
only got a very small showing COM
nared with what they would get in
rgse they were lucky in oil The gold
fever which is Selling a great many
Of the people of the country and which
/, sending lots of them to the Alaskan
geld fields has struck here. Some of
The people who have the fever are
raking of Alaska, but the majority of
rbam are talking North Carolina.
4 short time ago a company COM
n0seG Of well known oil men of this
section got hold of piece Of supposed
gold mining property in that state,
snd at this time they are making a
he thing out of it, One of the parties
Nib is interested in the matter, and
yh0 has sold out all his interests here
and viii give his time and attention
wholly to the gold mining business is
Vr l.. B. Hill Mr. Hill recently re-
-urned from a trip to the property of
the company, which lies in Guilford
county. North Carolina, about two
miles from High Point, and in speak
inc Of the gold business in general and
Of the plant of the company said:
THE GOLD MINING INTERESTS
cf the South are coming to the front
yery rapidly Of late and the indications
non are that it will be but a short
time until the southeast will again be
I'M The front ranks of the gold produc-
iDg sections of the world. The gold
hsIrs of the States of Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Alaba
ma have without a doubt been greatly
neglected. The gold deposits OF these
states is not new discovery; mines
have been opened there several genera
lions ago and worked with indiffer
emit success ever since. The rich dis
coveries in the West some years ago
drew the attention of those interested
i'm the business away from these States
inst at the time when they were COM
mencing to come. into some proml-
hence. and the fact that there was no
means by which the ores could be
worked and their true value realized,
caused mines which had been partly
developed to be abandoned. With the
Improvement in the different depart
ments if mining during the last few
Years. attention is again attracted TO
the South Old mines are being reop-
ened and quite a number of new ones
started, and in all of them very val
liable ore is being found.
The modern processes of treating
The ores will enable the Southern gold
fields TO be worked TO the fullest extent
and no doubt the world will in a short
time awaken 10 the fact that it is not
necessary to go to the Klondike to find
sold in abundance, and will come to
realize that what is supposed to be
worked out region is in reality one
which has only just been opened. In
the Virginia, Carolinas, and several
Of The
OTHER SOUTHERN STATES
there are a great many opportunities
for investment of capital, and those
who give their attention to the bust
ness Will reap a rich harvest. The
most of the mining properties in the
South can be purchased at a reasonable
figure and if they are worked prop
erly with the new and improved ma
ebinery will pay handsome profits,
though perhaps not so much as some
Of the properties in the Alaskan fields
have paid. The gold ores of the South
ern Appalachian States occur in the
Piedmont and mountain regions
throughout the great belt of chrys-
talline and metaphoric rocks stretching
in a southwesterly direction from
Maryland to Alabama a distance OF 600
to 700 miles and is 80 to $50 miles in
width.
while gold mining in Virginia has
not reached proportions as large as III
the Carolinas and Georgia yet con-
siderable amount of prospecting and
mining has been done. and there are
some very promising deposits in that
State This gold belt which begins IN
Maryland and extends south has
width of from 10 to 20 miles and COW
crs an area of 5000 square miles. There
is another and less important gold
belt lying Just west of the Blue Ridge,
but this area embraces many placer
deposits, and thes are not Of very great
proportions. The gold formations OF
the Carolinas extend partially or en-
tirely across the territory OF both OF
these States, and it is not hard mat
ter TO describe the location OF the belt.
1t is almost impossible to tell the eX-
act date Of the discovery of gold IN
this country, but in all probability IL
was previous to the revolutionary war
In 1899 a nugget weighing IL pounds
was found on the farm of John Reed.
in Cabarras county, North Carolina
and in 1928 another large nugget was
found in the same locality which
weighed about % pounds, being the
largest nugget on record in this coun-
Jry. 1t was short time until regular
mining work was commenced in these
States and other important discov-
cries made
Ihe early mining in all gold regions
was confined to the placer deposits on
account Of the crude manner in which it
was mined and the partial decrease OF
production for a number of years may
he attributed to the exhaustion of
THE PLACER DEPOSITS.
In the early sos. the excitement in Cali