The evening times., 1899-07-17

Prospectors for gold continue their op-
erations in the valley of the upper Poto-
mac, and reports of small strikes are oc-
casionally made. A scientist connected
with the Geological Survey said to a re-
porter for The Times today that, although
exploration thus far seemed to- indicate
thta the precious metal occurs in pocket
formations, yet he believed that at some
time a process would be discovered by
which the bodies OF low grade and refrac-
tory ores would be made to yield great
profit.
The geld belt of the South follows the
Southern Appaiachians, the general trend
being from northeast to southwest, max
ing its appearance in various places in the
Piedmont and mountain regions from Vir-
ginia TO Alabama. The auIIferous country
is about 200 miles long and so to 120 miles
wide. In this vast area several minor
belts known as the Virginia belt the cas-
tern Carolina belt, the Carolina slate belt,
the Carolina igneous rbelt,7-the Kings
Mountain belt the South Mountain bet,,
the Georgia belt, and the Alabama belt.
Gold mining is said to be carried on ex-
tensively in Georgia and the Jumbo mines,
Banner mines, and the Singleton mine are
cited as productive examples. The gold belt
in that State makes its appearance in Ra-
bun county and continues through Haber-
sham, White, Lumpkin Dawson Cherokee,
Paulding, Harallson, and Carroll counties.
Both placer and quartz mines are in op-
Grafton.
Mining operations have been success
fully carried ON in Lumpkin county since
1929 The auriferous belts conform in dip
and strike to the country ro2k and vary
from fraction Of an inch to several yards
in thickness. AT the Creighton mine in
Cherokee county, the shoots occur at fire.
quent intervals along the outcropping of
the vein. At the banner mine in Carroll
county, the ore body is made OF layers Of
gold-bearing quartz and schist about sew
enty-five feet thick. The ores are of low
grade and are free milling and sulphurets
reaching often one hundred feet or more
beneath the surface. The sulphuret ores
lie chiefly below the water level and are
usually OF white quartz, carrying aurifer-
Gus pyrites. Modern mining methods and
processes are being employed. There are
many mines in operation in the Dahlone-
ga district where most of the metal is
obtained from the saprolites, or the bodies
OF decomposed ore. The hydraulic giant
system is used on these bodies. The ore
washed out of place is taken UP in fumes
and borne 10 the stamp mill. The chlori-
nation process is used at the Creighton
and the Royal mines
In Virginia, the goldbearing district
covers an area estimated at four thousand
square miles and is traced in Culpeper,
| FaTquier, Stafford Orange SpottsyIvania.
| Louisa, and Fiuyanna counties. NJ ca
mica schist, and gneiss constitute the
country rocks. The precious metal occur
in irregular lenticuiar quartz veins, usual
/ lN 1fa1 70 th.ac frsiy a - n.
rock. Gold bearing pyrites is found in
the vein quartz and the slate walls. A
| good deal OF the low grade ore is worked
| with profit by the Thies process.
The gold deposits of the Carolina belt
| are placeTs, divided into stream gravel
! gulch, and rotten rock deposits there be-
| ing present in the quartz tissue veins fret
gold and gold in combination with sui
phurets. The Crawford mine, in Stanley
county, was opened in 1892. Gold is found
| there only in the shape of nuggets. 1t Ii
said that in April, 1895, nugget weighing
eight pounds was found and that a ten
pound nugget was discovered in the Angus
following The Gold Hill district, the mos
extensively worked in North Carolina ha.
yielded over SO Gee, 900 in gold. The coun-
try rock is chloritic and argillacious schis
| with a strike from northeast 10 southwes
and a steep dip TO the southwest At tht
| uulut, III SOuIH ore, CON
| sisting of silicified sericitic schists i'm.
pregnated with free gold and sulphurets i.
successfully worked, the average assay be-
ing 81 per ton. The ores treated at tn,
Brewer mine eight miles northeast of tn,
Halle, average So per ton.
The gold-producing counties in Alabam;
are Cleburne, Randolph, Clay, Coosa, ant
Tallapoosa. Placer mining is carried OF
extensively at Arbacoochee and in tn,
neighborhood of Goldville. The Chatta
nooga Mining Company has taken out som'
big nuggets along with a reasonable
amount of fine gold.
In the years gone by, the most renowned
and profitable gold fields on the American
continent were in the South, especially il
| North Carolina and Georgia. Mining
methods were then very crude and wheI
the mines refused to pay under the matho 4.
then in use. they were abandoned. With
in the last few years good deal of at
tention has been directed to this old golt
district where modern processes have made
low grade ores pay.
The Geological Survey has made an ex.
| animation of the auriferous territory
along the upper Potomac, and several o.
the explorers believe that great wealth
may yet be taken out there.