Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1899-01-13
FROM ALASKA TO THE MINT.

the gold that comes from the klondike.
but nobody seems to have thought of
inquiring as to what becomes of it after
it has left the placer mines and the
Yukon region. OF course, the miners
bring it into the United States by
steamer, done up in canvas bags and oil
sorts Of other packages. And the bulk
OF it is thus fetched to Seattle, which is
convenient port. In Seattle there is
no trouble in converting the raw ma
terial into the ordinary currency of
the realm. The merchants accept it,
by weight, as readily as any other form
OF money, and the banks are always
ready customers for gold.
Most Of the miners, laden with the
yellow wealth, take it Immediately to
the Seattle banks and deposit it, lust rs
II 1T were dollars. They receive credit
for it III the same way; but crt;:,arily
the banks act simr.ly as c~rrta fer the
sele o. the gold to the government.
Uncle Sam, you &C.. advcrt;"~s t. bur
all the ~old tat is Tered. WITH no hit
on the quantity It's pur"''"'.',' ~'-'ca
nearest to Seattle is ut I'c'cna, Mont.
So the banks, wl:;"', cvc~tr.",i',. r~~t nu
the gold accented Ivy tic '-,~-"'"-,ts,
forward the stuff to the anrc- c|''cn at
Helena and there - IS roc~i""! al r,c'd
for. The payment ir mad" i''~, cG:ately
on its receipt by treasury c"""l;7.
if. then. you arc Il I:>incr ','"t r~turn"d
from the Kondil1c with n b:~ Of r-~ld.
YOU may convert it into ~vervGcy
money ut very short notice. Th" t~"ns-
ury check returned to you t!,rnr'-h the
bank is for only o2 Dnr c~->-. Cf -. rs
tinatcd value of TIC dust n''1 ',,'~.".nts,
That you get without arr ia" at all,
beyond the time required f~r cx~ress-
ing the stuff to. IT"!cna and ro~ to re-
turn of the check by mail. r." l5a'nrce
due to You comes rs socn C. 49, r9'd
has been subjected to the necessary rs
say. You have n ri~ht. under TIC lew.
to receive gold coin for "orr cl,~o';. if
sou choose TO ask forit. Ifyou ak" TO
such demand the treasury viii cr;yc YOU
paper money; but the check s. r~~'lv
IIayrb!c in gold If Won wartit. Thu idea
back Of this is that any n,aH has Il ri~ht
to Offer raw gold to the United States
government and to receive gold coin in
return.
This legal obligation is fulfilled Mt
considerable cost by the government.
Every gold coin contains it's full face
value in that mct"l, plus n percentage
OF co''''cr added to harden it. The mint
ing Of it costs something, and for this
nothinn is charged. In other words,
C"c'c Sam gives manufactured arti-
cl" CT money in return for raw ma terial.
Furthermore, it rust be considered
ttnt rod pieces suffer apnrcciable loss
by cbrccion while in circulation. Even
gold Gins in bars 1T the treasury lose
something Of their value by being
icst!cd about. This is dend less to
TIC government, which protects itself
only by fixing n limit of tolerance" rs
1t is called. When more than certain
fraction Of n gold r'ece has been lost by
abrasion, it is accc tied only by woirht.
1t ia a rather interesting fact that
good deal Of gold from Australia is now
c:'',i.'T into this country Ivy way OF
Son Francisco. 1t goes directly to the
mint in that city, and is there converted
into coin: But whatsoever the source
Of the raw gold, the treatment it re-
ccives on reaching, the rrint or ASSAY
Office is the same. Each lot of.I(lonGilic
dust, with its snrinklinr Of tirv nr~-
gets, is put inc closed vessel called n
crucible. The crucible is placed in q
furnace, and when 'he metal is melted
tits poured intoa Id, which forms it
into brick called "bnr." While in
the crucible the r,olten yellow STUFF
is stirred constantly and Thoroughly, so
that nll the materials it contains nav
be distributed equally THROUGH the bar.
For. Of course, the raw rold is a~t 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 assoyer
chips from it very small SCRAP. and
this scrap is put through an elaborate
process, for the purpose Of determining
exactly how much gold it contcins.
Eventually it is reduced to BIT Of alb
solutcly pure gold, and the wri"ht OF
this bit gives TO The asscycr his data
for reckoning the exact value Of the
bar. On this reckoning the payment