The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1901-10-08
IT IS OUR YELLOW SLAVE
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS
PURE GOLD.

BOTTOM of the sea.
G. +. Lummis writes In 81. Nicholas
that the only abundant metal in the
world that is yellow is the most prec-
lous Of them all-gold. Brass is not
true metal. hut an alloy, a compound.
And the color which gold shares
with the sun has n great deal to do
with its value. l do not think it would
be possible that ne should ever have
come to love and admire any metal so
much. to choose II for our highest cur
rency and our ornaments, no matter
| how rare or ductilc IL might be, If 1t
were a dark duh, gloomy color. The
human eye never gets too old TO be
| pleased with very much the same
things which pleased It in childhood;
and no eye is insensible to the charm
OF that precious yellow.
1 like sometimes to think baclz to
the first man OF all men that ever held
that rock OF the sun" in his savage
hand. and to imagine how he found it.
and how it made his sharp eyes twin
kle; and how he wondered at its
weight. and pounded it with one
smooth rock upon another and found
| that he could hatten it. All these
| things come by accident; and gold was
an accident that befell when the world
was very young. Probably there had
been n great rain that washed the
! comely lump from its nest in some
| gravelly stream-bank; and the pre-
historic man. in his tunic of skins.
| CHANGED this way and found It, 1t
may be that the poor barbarian who
! picked up the first yellow nugget sank
with it still grasped in his Swarthy fist.
| We do not know even the name of
the man who first discovered gold nor
where he lived, nor when. But il was
very, very long ago. Before the time
of Joseph and the coat OF many colors
| gold had already become not only a
| discovered fact, but used in the worlds
trade. The early Egyptians got their
gold from Nubia; so, very likely. the
discovery was first made in Africa
At all events it dates back to the very
childhood of the race. and before men
had invented the letters of the alpha
bet mankind had achieved the prettiest
playthIng 1t had ever found.
All gold began in "veins" I'm the
earth's rocky ribs, but time, with his
patient hammers of wind and rain and
frost, has pounded vast areas Of these
rocks TO sand, and the gold broken
from great bands to Jumps. has drifted
with the bones of the mountains into
the later heaps OF gravel
The processes of mining gold which
still remains in its original home in
the rocks are much more complicated.
| There is a vast amount of boring 10
be done into the flnty hearts of the
mountains with steel drills and with
blasting, and then the rock which is
dotted with the precious yellow flakes
has to be crushed between the steel
Jaws of great mills. Much of the gold
that is mined, too, is so chemically
changed that il does not look like gold
at all, and requires special chemical
processes to coax it out. In all gold
mining, mercury is one OF the most i'm
portant factors. 1t is the mineral
sheriff, swift to arrest any fugitive
heck Of gold that may come in its way.
The sluice-boXcs in extensive placer
mines and the sheets" in stamp mills
are all charged with quicksilver, which
saves vast amount of the finer gold
dust that otherwise would be swept
away by the current of water. for
water is equally essential in both
kinds OF mining.
There is no such thing rs pure
gold often as we hear the phrase.
Natures purcst, her virgin gold" &c
always alleged with silver; and the
very finest is ninety eight or ninety
nine per cent gold. California gold
averages about the fneness of our
American coin-niEety per cent. of
purity.
1t is an odd fact that the sea is full
OF gold. No doubt at the bottom OF
that stupendous basin, which has re.
ceived for all time the washings Of all
the world. there is an incalculable
wealth of gold in dust, but the strange
ocean mine is not all so deep down as
that The sea water itself carries gold
in solution-a fraction of a grain O.
gold to every ton Of water, as a ia.
nous chemist has shown.
Among the historical big nuggets
found in various parts of the world
there have been some wonderful vel
low Jumps In Cabarrus County
North Carolina. one was found I'm 1910
which weighed thirty-seven pounds
troy In 1912 the gold fields Of Zla
toust in the Ural, gave a nugget OF
nlnety-siX pounds troy. The Victoria
(AustraliW nugget weighed Jag pounds
and three pcnnywcights. of which only
six ounces were foreign rock: aud IN,
Ballarat (Australia) nugget was thirty
nine pounds heavier yet The largest
nugget ever found was also dug I'm
Australia-the sarah Sands" named
for q far-oh loved one. 1t reached the
astonishing weight Of 233 pounds and
four ounces troy. I wonder what Mi
ner Sands felt when he struck his pick
upon that fortune in one lump,
Within the last nifty years Calfor
mia and Australia alone have produced
more than half as much gold as The
whole world bad mined before Colum.
bus. At present the United states pro
/ duccs over 100000 900 worth Of gold q
year which is far more than any
other country South Africa and Aus
tralia rank next producing each over
/ &5O.OOOOOO. and after come Russia
South America and Mexico. The to-
tai annual production OF gold in On,
world is over S20OOOO.OOO
Yet tbc world is not richer in col,
10y Oh That vast amount every year
It is losing too-a amount very tri
fling compared with the whole. aut