Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-03-09
Vein Filling.


methods which mother nature makes
use of in distributing and depositing her
mineral treasures in the earth. My re
marks are therefor addressed mainly to
the miner and tie prospector. 1 do not
presume they will be of much interest
except to those whose avocation is to
delye in the rock in pursuit Of the hid
den treasure, which nature has placed
within those deep and dark recesses.
To begin then it 10 my settled belief,
that all of our mineral has been in wa
ter and has chrystallized from solu-
ton. In making this statement would
have it apply not only to the metals gold,
silver, iron, and all the rest, but to the
quartz as well. The first and most inn
portant lesson with the prospector is to
learn to classify the igneous from the
sedimentary rocks. To be able to tell
the difference between the water made
rocks, such as the limestone, sand stone,
conglomerates, slate and shales, from
the igneous or fire made rocks, such as
granite, porphyry, trap, gneiss, horn
blende, liorite, syenyts, etc. Most OF
the igneous rocks may be readily deter
mined by the fact that they haye no
grain or cleavage, but break in one di-
rection as readily as in another. Do
you ask me to give the origin Of the ig-
neous rocks? That is hard question.
Science has not yet probed deep enough
into the deep mysteries of the world Of
causes to be able to answer that ques-
ton. There are many forces which are
relegated to the domain of the occult
which are not, and probably never can
be fully understood while we dwell in
this crude material world. 1t is my
hope, and l trust it may be the privilege
of us all, to make study of those high
er laws, and enjoy the pleasure of solv-
ing these problems in vast eternity of
years to come. think to most of us it
will prove more congenial occupation
than packing harp.
Science has discovered many laws, or
very few laws, just as we may look at
1t. Many compared with what was
known thousand years ago, but very
few compared with what we have yet to
learn. We can only take things as we
find them. We know that the great
dykes Of granite and porphyry are here
disfguring or adorning the landscape,
and We have them to deal with. But if
we cannot fathom their origin, nor guess
at their ultimate end, we can at least as
certain something Of the present utility
and bearing upon the subject We have
under investigation. We have every
reason to believe that they came up in
plastic condition, and have intruded up
ward through all the sedimentary rocks.
We can see that in their mighty up
heavel they have fractured the sur
rounding formation into extended fis-
sures, cracks and seams. Mature alb
hors vacuum" and to make amends
for the mischief they have done, nature
brings pressure to bear. The dyke is
squeezed till from its sides the waters
ooze away into the surrounding rocks,
flowing and perculating until every
cavity, crack, fissure and seam is filled.
These waters contained in solution all
the different elements which go to make
up the mineral kingdom. Some are al
kaline and some are acid, and their
affinity one for the other result in the
varied combinations with which the
miner becomes familiar as he delves in
the bowels Of the earth.
Quartz is an acid rock, limestone is an
alkaline rock. These solutions perculat-
ing through the different strata Of the
earth's crust are constantly imparting
and receiving as they meet their affinity
when there is marriage, 80 to speak,
and they chrystslize in a form in which
they are no longer soluble in ordinary
water. Thus they remain in statu QUO
until there comes another solution for
which some of their constituents have a
stronger affinity, where there change
takes place anG the happy family is
broken up. IF | am allowed the COM
parison would say. that Miss Silver
unites with Mr.. Chlorine, and they
form partnership, and she is after
wards known as Mr.. Chloride Of silver
Miss Lead walks off with Mr. Carbonic
acid, and becomes Mrs. Carbonate Of
Lead. Miss Iron falls in love with Mr..
Oxygen and becomes Mrs. Oxide Of
Iron. Miss Gold, less fckle than the
rest, stays longest with her first loye,
Mr. Silica, and is found accompanying
him in all his travels, even to the deep
est recesses of the earth. We see this
law running through every department
Of nature. 1t applies not only to min
eral, but to the vegetable and the animal
as well, and the higher we rise in the
scale of creation, the more intense is its
action and more pronounced in its exi-
hibition. This law of affinity may fitly
be called the law Of love and the law Of
life. 1t is the basis Of chemistry, and
by it the chemist analyses and disects
every atom of the earth, the imponder-
able atmosphere and looking up would
fain test the composition Of the stars.
All chemists are not miners, but every
thorough miner is chemist. Don't
shake your head, know that many Of
you are proficient in your department,
but to be thorough miner means to be
an expert in all it's branches. haye
been in the business 40 years myself
and still cannot honestly lay claim to
that high distinction.
p,,t ,ya hova haan m m tho stars LET