The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-03
FLOUR GOLD OF INDIANA.
SMALL QUANTITIES TAKEN OUT OF
THE CREEK OF RROWN COUNTY.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, Sept. j. lAlrty miles
from Indianapolis the crow flies, is county
almost unknown TO the rest Of the State as
Thibet is to the civilized world Jagged and
rough with hills. whose poor soil offers a scanty
subsistence to its struggling handful OF people,
this county has never heard the shrek Of a loco
motives whistle, and though for moro than fifty
years gold has been found there, yet it has never
known n mirlag camp of moro than three tents
Last week the whole State was interested In tho
announcement that the Indianapolis g. Southern
Railroad was to build its line through the heart Of
this isolated country The officials speak In no
sangune terms of what they expect to haul out
Of Brown county, although they refer hopefully
to the hardwood timber of the rocky hills.
But IL Is its gold which has given Brown county
It's greatest claim to prominence Prof John
Collctt, one Of the most learned OF tho Indiana
biologists who died recently. once said there was
enough gold in this county TO pay the entire ma
tional debt grimly adding that every dollars
worth of gold taken out OF the county would re-
quirc the expenditure of another dollar, and that
is what the hundreds, even thousands Of mon
who have vcntured to pan the creeks OF Brown
county in the last half century have found out
Yet each summer finds the hopeful gold seekers
at work on the black sandbars.
This summer the activity was renewed with
greater 1est than before, and the prospcctors
are also drifting up into Morgan county, whore
the finds are better and the signs more favorable
1t is not uncommon 10 hear OF men making 10
day pannnE for the minute yellow flakes Moth
ing more progressive in mining machinery than
the old fashioned rocker and the rough sluicc box
has ever been utilized. Indeed, there Is little
opportunity to make use OF more extensive appli-
anccs for, while every rain brings down gold
from the hillsdes no one has yet been able to
find the quartz whose disntegration Is supposed
to release the precious particles. II is all very
fine, this -four gold, and equal In quality and
color to the best metal of the West African coast
No borngs have been made, and the source Of the
gold is a mystery even to those biologists who
maintain that it came down from the North with
the glacial drift When attention can be diverted
from the miserable garden patches, the farmers
take a turn on the creeks and make for themselves
profits ranging from rs cents to IS a day, every
man having gold mine in his barnyard The
scarcity OF the flow Of water operates against
larger profits From Centerton Morgan county,
a few miles over the Brown county line many
pitfalls of the -four gold have come this month,
most OF it reaching Indianapolis wherettis handled
by one ieweler who has great faith in the ultimate
gold output of the two counties. Many articles
OF ewelry worn in this city are made OF gold Of
the Hoosier State and the Brown county gold
has been favorte in the emblem rings worn by
local Scottish Rite Masons,
The Morgan county goldJwashers arc much
the same type Of people as found in Brown county,
rough, rugged and with dialect not Hoosier but
peculiar to themselves. Some Of them have ao-
quired largo farms and thus have become land
poor for the ground Is Of little value for crops,
except where the wild blackberry occasionally
grows The State Board OF Tax Commissioners
last week assessed the county at an averages OF
s626 acre, yet when a stranger appears aong
one Of these goldbearing creeks and asks farmer
to put price on his land the value Immediately
jumps to 500 an acre. only to take a mighty tunl-
BILE when the stranger leaves ON the morrow. The
fluctuations OF prices on Brown county land
greater than those in any wheat pit and seldom
Is a farm sold
Tho sluicebox used by tho farmers in
getting the gold out Of the creeks Is about fivo
feet long. At intervals on the bottom Of tho box
are boards a few inches high. Thnblack sand and
plenty of water are poured into one end Of the box
and the particles of gold heavy enough to sink
find resting places between the intercoptng board
But much of the gold Is so fine that 1t floats on tho
surface Of the water. and the miners use a simple
method to catchit blanket Is laid over the open
top OF the box and Is allowed to rest the water
flowing through. Tho minute grains of gold
catch on the rough blanket and are thus arrested
to help pay the winter expenses OF tho farmer
goldseeker. The blanket is taken to the farm
house and placed in a warm room II soon dries
out dhu l5 tucu Sndkcu anu pcAtcn over paper
spread on the floor until all the particles Of gold
have left tho fabric and ready to be carefully
gathered and poured into phial with the heavier
grains
The Indianapolis ieweler spoken of above, has
a scheme by which. he figures. twenty times az
much gold can be taken out of the creeks In Q
day as Is being taken out by the small sluice box
He proposes to construct trough $50 feet long
after the pattern Of the crude sluice box and by
the use Of pump force the black sand and water
OF the creek into the trough by the barrel full He
estimates that with capital of ST. 900 for first ex-
penses a profitable gold gathering plant can b
established ON Gold creek, in Morgan County.
In the Brown County recesscs arc queer char
acters. One of them, Henry Blivens an areonaua
Of 40, lives lonely life in bis cabin I'D In tho
hills That he washes for gold everyone knows
though no one has any defnite information as to
what Bhvens has made One can hear reports
that he has discovered the lode" and that he Is
taking out gold secretly and In small quantities
and splriting 1t away to some city. A mysterious
trip he made to Chicago set the farmers to specu-
lating, and the fact that Blevins admitted no
had sold 500 worth OF the flakes only maenihed
the belief in his hidden wealth It is said Bliyens
has found several nuggets something rare for
Brown County. although some high as SIS in
value have been picked up in years passed. Most
OF the nuggets. however. have been no larger fhan
grain OF wheat The first find Of nuggets ON
Bean Blossom Creek, which for many years gave
Its nAme to Brown County gold Tradition has
It, and there little else Of history In Brown County
except tradition, that large finds were made by the
natives before the war
Another quaint Eoldseeker Is odd Man Merri-
man. His farm consists OF 1000 acres Of barren
land. He spends most Of his time along Gold
Creek, a small tin pan in hand industrously
washing out the black sand. On his trips he
res bag of brown sugar, and his few acquAnt-
ances say he lives on sugar alone when he is seek
ing gold He is content TO lie down at night at tho
side of log and sleep until the sun calls him to
the creek again. Four times year he comes 10
Indianapolis with bottle of -four gold sells it and
returns TO his monotonous existence on Gold Creek.
A few years ago an old California prospector,
buheted about for quarter OF a century and I'M
successful thought he could solve the problem in
Brown County, and arriving there he surprised
The natives by constructing a rocker. The natives
nv thaxy had -