Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-09-05

s{5t.s-seAes6E "
His Syndicate
Report to tho Latter Not Encurag.
ing Will Arrive Home Sep.
TENDER 10.
Specialize Times-Republican.
Cedar Rapids, Sept. 5.-The Gazette
prints the following:
In a letter to the Gazette George II.
Smith, the veteran court re-
porter OF this district and
mining expert says he will arrive in
Cedar Rapids about septembe Der 10. His
impression OF Cape Nome, as reported
officially to the syndicate he represent
ed, will be OF interest to many. He
said:
In my last letter, under date of July
Il, stated that had run across some
thing in the line OF quartz proposition
which might cause me to change my
first Impressions Of this country which
were not altogether favorable to it, The.
ledge referred to could be clearly
traced across the mountain between
Glacier and Anvil creeks, and, as the
outcroppings indicated lead of fully a.
hundred feet in width Of decomposeG
quartz, and as Its location with refer
ence to the rich placers OF Anvil creek
was such that 1t might have been the,
source Of these placer deposits, I
thought we'll enough of the surface
showings to have the lead prospected
by cross-cut. "A few days. work exc
posed the more solid material. which
turned out to be a barren white quartz
SO unpromising in appearance and
character that II did not think it wise to
Sexpend any more money upon 1t. had
previously arranged With the locator
for the property should. the cross-cut
expose anything OF value, no money to
pass to him until had thoroughly SAT-
isfied myself as to its value. regard
this country as too uncertain as yet TO
take any chances on any quartz prOpo-
sition, and unless find something ex-
ceedingiy PROMISING, after thorough
prospecting. do not expect to make
any Investments. / will go out gain to-
morrow to examine three quartz lodges.
recently located. in the Anvil mountain
section. The specimens look very good,
but person cannot go much on speci-
mems / will know after taking my,
whether it will be worth my time in
expending any money on prospecting
the leads The region about Anvil
mountain is without doubt by far the
richest in placers go far found in this
whole region and 1t is deserving of
close search for quartz. have devoted
much Of my time to the investigation.
of quartz propositions and from all l
have seen and from talks with many
quartz prospectors who have been
securing the country for quartz I cam
not feel very sanguine of finding any
thing in this line.of genuine merit. But
l am not yet ready TO give up and say,
as thousands aressaying, that the coun-
try is no good. Several thousand pros
pectors are now out in all parts Of the
country. and as the weather has been
5unprecedentedly fine so far this season
they will be able to determin: to a fair
degree Of certainty how much of the
country is gold bearing and whether it
4 is likely to be a profitable field in which
to operate. This jury will soon be COM
ing in and want to be here to learn
the verdict. True, reports thus far
have been anything but encouraging,
but some good things outside the Anvil
mountain country may yet be found,
and am in hopes that some good
quartz leads will be discovered. So
many people are aimlessly walking the
streets, without labor and without
money, cursing the country and the
transportation company for misrepre-
senting 1t and getting them in here. and
this influence, together with discourag-
Ing reports of prospectors who keep
coming In from the country, is enough
TO make most any one blue, and find
myself at times taking the contagion,.
and at such times l feel that the sooner
/ get out of heresthe better, as 1t is ex-5
pensiye to live here or to have any
work done in the way Of prospecting
propositions that can be acquired, and
I do not like to expend other peoples
money unless feel reasonably certain
OF getting a good return for the money
SO expended But will keep my ex-
penses down as low as I can. and re-
peat again that will make no invest
ments in property unless I feel Very
sure that / am getting something Of
real merit 1t is no easy matter 70 buy
mining prospects, but to obtain pros
poets that will develop into paving
mining propositions is quite a different
thing. AS for placers in this country,
outside OF Anvil creek am not favor
ably impressed. The beach undoubted-s
ly paid we'll last season. but never was
as rich as represented, 3 and after the
work OF last season but little appears
to be left The hundreds Of thousands
of dollars invested in beach working
machinery will be substantially total
loss. "A few of the sluicing plants are
making a small profit over operating
expenses, but great majority Of them
are barely making expenses, while
many are not even doing that. As far
as the creeks and gulches outside of
Anvil they are nearly all marrow and
the gold bearing gravel shallow and
nearly everywhere there is lack Of
water for sluicing, many OF. them be-
ing entirely dry. or where there is not
suficient fall to drain the gravel or the.
bedrock is so deep that the ground
cannot be worked except as dredging