The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-01
BILLIONS OF GOLD
WILL BE IN DANGER IN THE
EVENT OF WAR IN THE
TRANSVAAL
RICHEST MINES IN THE WORLD

ROers Have 1t in Their Power to
Use Dynamite and Ruin Mining
Investments Amounting to Hum
dre1s of Millions of DOIIars-One
OF These Mines Runs over a Half
Mile Into the Bowels of the Earth.
With a few hundred pounds of dyna-
mite the Beers can, if they so choose,
imperil outlander investments amount
ing to hundreds of millions Of dollars.
An engineer officer of the United States
army who has made a special study pf
explosives, points out that all that is
necessary for the Beers to do u ruin
the m.9es is to blow up the pumping ma
Chinery The shafts fiji up with water
and to empty them is practically out of
the question.
1.-The wonderful gold-bearing deposits
of the Rand III the Transvaal," said this
engineer officer, form a single reef about
thirty miles in length--a narrow strip
only few feet wide, but running down
into the earth slantWlse for miles appar-
entity. On the very edge of this reef is
situated the city of Johannesburg, and
along it are scattered more than sixty
mines, owned by different companies rep
Iesentirg British capital chiefly.
Necessarily gigantic sums of money
have been sunk in the digging OF these
great holes. Think for yourself what a
loss would be occasioned if they should
all be permitted to fill up with water
The gold deposits would remain intact of
course, but after the war is finished all
the work of getting al them would have
tC be done over again.
1T should be remembered, incidentally.
that British investments in the mines of
the Rand do not represent the aggregat-
ed millions of capitalists merely, but the
small savings of tens of thousands of
English people who have put their little
all into shares of stock hitherto regarded
as admirable security. Widespread luin,
involving the widow and the orphan.
as well as the rich shareholders, would
follow the destruction of the properties.
EFFECT OF GOLD SUPPLY.
Naturally the choicest locations for
the mines are directly upon the outcrop-
ping edge of the great reef. Other prop
critics are located at short distances
from the reefs edge, but in the direc-
tion of Its slant, so that vertical pits
may strike the ore body further along,
after passing through barren surface
strata. Some of the holes thus excayated
in pursuit of yellow wealth are among
the deepest ever dug, and one of them,
the Victoria, has penetrated over half
mile into the bowels of the earth.
'"rhe mines of the Witwatersrand, to
give the district it's fulfil title employ to-
day somewhat more than 10000 laborers,
l understand, all of whom would be
thrown out of employment Tor an IN
definite period by the destruction OF the
works Enormous sums OF money have
been expended in the purchase and IN
staIlation of costly machinery, which. in
cIudes 5000 stamps for crushing the. ore
or blanket as 1t is called.
" Blanket is the Dutch word FOR nut
cake, and the ore is thus termed because
of its resemblance to that fayorite prod
11iet Of the Boer housewives kitchen.
Geclcgists call 1t a 'conglomorale,' Whlcn
signifies that it is a hardened mixture
of sand and pebbles. They say that the
reef was once a sea beach, millions OF
wears ago, and the sand of the beach
contained minute specks OF gold' proush'
down from the land by streams.
"roday. soiitied into rock, it still holds
tbe precious metal, though the ore is or
enchf low grade that all the deposits OF
the Rand would not be worth a cent II IL
were not for the cyanide process, Wihch
makes it possible to extract the yelio"
stuff at a cost OF only Sc per ton Oh coz
f-lomerate' handled But the aVallaple
suDply of 'banket' is unlimited II - VI
an evlp richness throughout, no matter
for, what Dart of the reef it is taken,
md every ton may be counted to give
~, ga worth of gold. About 10,O0OOOO tons
were crushed in 1873. -.
.'There is much gold in various parts
of the Transvaal, but it has never pos
sessed any interest for the Beers On
the contrary they were inclined 10 REGARD
the finding of it as misfortune, ana not
without reason, as subsequent events &c 80
demonstrated. Inclined to a peacelul,
agricultural existence, they established
their little republic in the TransYaal pc
cause they thought that nobody else
wanted the country, so they would De leg
alone. When, in 1864, the first discovery
of the yellow metal was made they View
ed the matter with alarm, expecting thaI
it would attract greedy Outiahoers' anu
they 'ost no time in publishing a decree
forbid ling prospecting, and declaring that
heavy punishment would be inflicted upon
anv one be he BOer or stranger, VINO
violated the ordinance.
THE decree was revoked later, how
ever, and great excitement was caused
t,-.+ba finding of a number of large mug
hounds. in the bed of river. A good deal
of gold was obtained in odd spots, but IT
was not until 1890 that the reef of the
W: tv'atersrand was discovered. Since
thai date about $500 600, 600 has been taken
out Of this wonderful ore body and 1t IS
sail that $4,000, Geo 000 more is in sight.
II IS expected that the production for
1Soa will not fail short of 4,2S0,0G0 ounces,
WORTH 500 600, COO almost equallipg the en-
tire worlds yield of the precious metal,
Sis. 500 000 for 1880.
1T is obvious that, in case of war be-
tween England and the Transvaal, the
most important source of the worlds sup
ply Of gold would be cut off for time,
and If the Beers destroy the mines, for
an irdefinite period.
MAY DESTROY BUILDINGS.
Another project which the Beers are
sail to have in mind is the blowing up
CT the principal buildings in Pretoria and
Johannesburg, in case the British troops
tr1ter those prosperous towns. 1t is hard
TO see what military purpose could be
served by such a measure but, of course
there would be no difficulty in carrying
1t OFT. The buildings could be mined in
advance, and destroyed, all of them in
the same second of time, by touching d
button connected with a system of wires
1--WE are discussing wholly novel uses
of explosives for war purposes, and in this
connection it may be mentioned that one
of the items Of information said to have
been communicated in the famous Dor
dereau' had reference to the points at
which preparations had been made by the
French authorities for blowing up French
railways in case of an invasion by the
Germans, i'll order that the latter might
not be able TO make use of these lines of
travel. Systematic precautions of this
kind are rather new in military engineer
ing. but they may be desirable where
countries preserving an armed peace are
such close neighbOrs.
Railroads, however, may be ruined at