The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-26
rnoM A1AsKA 70 THE M1yr
New Kisndrke Goia Einds Its way tate n.
United states Treasury.
From the Boston EVENING Transcript.

~ SN-NN hFNANNNN
ROW the Boston Erenfnp Tran.crfp,
Ever SO much has been written about tho ro,,
that comes from tho Klondikc. but nobo5.
seems to have thought Of inquiring "a to vhn,
becomes Of 1t after 1t has left the placer r,n".
and the Yukon region. or course the minos,
bring 1t into the United States by steamer. dons
up in canvas bags and all sorts OF other nscr'
ages. And the bulk OF 1t is thus fetched ;,
Seattle, which is a convenient port. In Se,,,,.
there is no trouble in converting the raw ma.
terial into tho ordinary currency OF the realm
Tho merchants accept 1t. by weight, as readiIv
as any other form Of money. and the bank, ~.
always ready customers for gold.
Most OF the miners, laden with the yc,,o,,
wealth. take 1t directly to the Seattle h,nt,
and deposit it, just as IL it were dollars. Tbsss
receive credit for 1t in the same way; but orSf,y.
narily the banks act simply AS agents for ~.
sale of the gold to the Government. Tn Il
Sam, you see, advertiscs to buy ali gold ,bamr NE
offered, with no limit on the quantity. III
purchasing office, nearest to Seattle, is at Hal.
ona, Mont. So the banks, which Cventuailv ', ",
all tho gold accepted by the merchants IN s
ward the stun to the assay office at Helena ana M
there II is received. and paid for. The payin.ns
is made Immediately. on its receipt by irtasvrv
checks. '
il, then, you are u miner just returned fro,,
the Klondike with a bag OF gold. you may r" "r
vert II into everyday money a. very sG9r,
notice. The treasury check returned to y"n
through the bank is Tor only ~ por CEN. OF tSs
estimated value Of the dust and nuggets I6ap
you get without any delay at all, 6,yond ,Ss
time required for expressing the stun to Helena
and for the return Of the check by mail. his
balance due to you comes as soon as your cold
has been subjected TO the necessary assay. ron
have q right, under the law, to receive gold coin
for your check, II you choose to ask for II. IL
you make no such demand the treasury viii
give you paper money; but the check is really
Of this is that any man has a right to oier raw
gold to the United States Government and ~
receive gold coin in return.
Tbf5 legal obligation is fulfilled at ronsid...
Bile cost by the Government. Every gold coin
contains its full face value in that metal, nus
a percentage Of copper added to harden IL, Tia
minting OF 1t costs something, and for tbis
nothing Is charged. In other words. uncle sam
turn for raw material. Furthermore. /, mpst
be considered that gold pieces suffer appreciable
loss, by. abrasion while, in circulation. Even
gold coins in bags at the Treasury lose sonis.
thing OF their value by being jostIcd about, I'M,
is a dead loss to the Government, which protect,
is called. When more than a certain fraction
of a gold piece has been lost by abrasion, il is
accepted only by weight.
OF gold from Australia Is now coming into this
country by way of San Francisco. 1t goes
converted into coin. But whatsoever the
source of the raw gold, the treatment it receives
on SSm eeae haeS th Io. on %in kls or iHtssaS go office s,i i Tho
vessel caiied-a orucible. The crucibie is placed
brick called a bar" While in the crucible Tho
molten yellow stuff is stirred constantly and
thoroughly. so that all the materials IL con.
tains may be distributed equally through the
bar. For, Of course. tho raw gold is apt TO be-
combined with more or less OF silver, copper,
and even lead.
The bar, when cool. is sent to the weighing
room, where the assayer chips from 1t a very
small scrap. and this scrap is put through an
elaborate process, for the purpose OF detcrmin.
ing exactly how much cold IL contains. Even.
tually it is reduced to a bit of absolutely pure
gold. and the weight of this bit gives TO the as.
sayer his data for reckoning the exact value OF
is made out. The gold brick, being now tho
property of Uncle Sam, is subjected to a chemi.
cal treatment, by which the silver and other
are separated from it and the vel.
low metal is obtained in a perfectly pure state.
In this state it looks moro like rcd gravel than
anything else, and nobody would think OF stop.
ping by the wayside to pick up a handful Of
such stuff.
The red gravel is pressed by hydraulic
power into big cakes, resembling angel.food
cakes in shape, but much bigger. These cakes
are worth about $s0,0O . apiece. Next the ma.
terial Of which the cakes are made is melted
again in crucibles. with the addition OF 10 per
cent. Of copper. and the stuff 10 cast in bars for
coming. Each bar is sliced by q machine into
several strips. which are put under q powerful
roller and squeezed to just the required thick:
ness for the coins. Then the strips are passed
beneath a punch, which cuts out of them the
blanks for the gold pieces that are to be. Vari.
BUS mechanical processes requiring no detailed
escription here. are gone through. incidentally,
but at length the coin blanks are put one by one
n stamping machine, which gives to them the
The world.