The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1898-03-06
EARTH FULL OF GOLD.
1t Lies All Around Us, Yet 1t Is Hard
to Get
G'rom the PittsDurg Dispatch)

/
G'rom the Pittsburg Dspatch.)
The most fascinating of all games is
| Next TO love and eternity the most
fascinating Of subjects Is gold.
Inc game of IF, played with golden
In spite OF the fact that ii is not very
profitable.
If all the gold in the world could be got
at. could be mined, crushed, amalyam-
| ated, sulphuretted, cyanidcd. chlorinetl.
and refined. from molten centre to chill
would follow, along with one result not
~ all surprising-thc stuff would become
almost utterly yalueicss. There would be
| or course. no on, knows exactly how
much gold there Is in existence What
Is known is that it is everywhere present.
world 1t is found In every sort of min
er;il or ore OF any cumulative impor-
aa,nce.though not, Of course In pure sub
CRYSTALS. cmeralds and the like. it is
found in soundngs Mt the bottom of the
ocean warcs-chlorine. which is u constit-
ucnt OF sea water. having Tx, power TO
dissolve gold. Scientific, men have even
these unpromising sources, but sea water
is yet TAR from proving pay dirt"
oc MiG,XandSr L. Outerhrtdgc, Jr., has re
ScicncG Monthly TO the experiments made
s s,n. PACK HiS in the ifties at the United
! Stnlcs MINT, IN PhiladelDhia. by the late
aSSaSer, Jncobb R. Eckfcldt
Mr. lsckieldt examined and assayed n
iarEe number of minerals and samples of
soil from different parts OF the country.
| lie found gold in anthony in the propor.
ton OF to 10000; in Bucks county galcna,
IN the proportion of ! to G22O,6oO parts.
may dirt" but 1t held gold. So did bis
| muth, lead and copper.
common clay dug up in PHILADELPHIA
Itself assayed about thirty-scvcn cents to
the ton. or one part III 1,22i 900. 1t would
probably do as well in New York or
These experiments and many others of
IKE import, shows that gold ranges from
from rich quartz sometimes nssaying $780,
600 per ton in small pockets, and from
l\iondike gravel running 800 to the pan
full, down to the thirty scvcn-cenI clay
soil of Philadelphia. 1t would DO safe to
cstimate-at loast no one is very likely
to dispute it-that the proportion of gold
live on Is not less than in the thirty-sevcn-
cent clay soil of Philadelphia This
amounts TO three cents worth of gold In
every cubic foot between China and Bra,
IN, between Chicago and Now Zealand
Nov, IN The whole globe there are 2G0,.
F! anu other substances, and each cubic mile
! contains l2,lit cubic feet, 1860 tons or
Si;;iiaIS, ago In pure gold, even at the low
| i'hiladelnhit ratio of three cents to the
loot; The MULTIPLICATION gives for the
| whole globe some 81 400 cubic miles of gold
! worth The Uncomfortable sum OF $l,nS Si4, :
70 be sure. the gold wouldn't really he
worth this sum. If it wcro accessible. 1t
would cease to be measure Of value: it
man ana child of the 1,lS7, eco 900 of MS
S.pnoS S.d TO- I" he living on the earth would
nave S"ooS,Co0,eoo or so for his personal
share Aud quite enough, too. For were
| Inns %'!0,oD@0,0oO all coined In nice bright
- Soid-n!cces, 1t would take each one of
US Il triiie over 1900 years to count his
| nOtlIu. fri at tl,, a.
! or $40 pieces per minute for six hours n
| day ana SlS days in the year. Ii tll.. bank
clerks Of humanity had to tackle the prob
lem. they might. instead of counting
| weigh the coins as is commonly done i'm
England. This would keep 1000, 600 bank
| for moro than five million years. Even n
pleasant pursuit is apt to become monot-
OnouS in time.
| SUI GVo The total stock Of gold On our
| planet-2,i 400 cubic milcs-multiplicd by
1i7.laI ,?52 ,coo-the number of. cubic feet i'm
cubic milc-would give 3,l5G, 600 000, O00, 600
! cubic feet.
This is considerable quantity, enough
| to make sirdlc around the world of solid
| blocks OF gold, each block being q mile
square on the ground, and $50 of a mile
| high Or, by still more SNOWY arrange
meni: the worlds gold would cover all
| square mllcs-with a beautiful solid gold
plating about twenty inches thick. This
| no one seems to mind any other crop if
| he can only mine gold.
~ chain of milc-widc and nearly mile
| high mountains right around the world
would be sufficiently Spectacular; but If
| there WIS one of the sons of men who
by some magic. could bring together ali
| this gold he could build with II Il noun
| tain far higher and vaster than any mere
| mountain Of earth in existence
The area OF greater New York is 307
and fraction square miles. Suppose our
! mountain OF gold TO have this area for
base, say fifteen miles vide by 20 l-2
miles long. J would have to tower into
! the air 2r.15 miles in order to contain those
! 2l.iCo cubic miles of gold! Mount Everest
t the highest peak nj present known is
| about five miles and half high; Mount
81. Elias is about three miles; Mount
| WASHINGTON is but a little more than one
! Perhaps it's just as well that this noun
| t2sn o! gold is doomed TO exist only on
| paper. Men are hardly likely to dig I.Dn0
| ri:lcs down into the bowels of The earth
and ovcrtirn every spadcfu! OF It's worn
! old body to get at the gold IL guards But
! II is comfort to know that the gold is
! there. ana that each one of lis is poten-
| tally worth $7I0Oto.0o0GO0. put away so
! safely thai he can't draw II out and
! spend it.