The Sumpter miner. [volume] (Sumpter, Or.) 1899-1905, 1901-05-29
MINING IS IN
ITS INFANCY.
Mines Of Ophir Merely a Wild
Cat Speculation

the great truth that the mining industry
Is In its infancy. Solomon In all his
glory, gazing with rapture upon the gilded
minerets of his splen Id temple, never
dreamed of the fact that the mines of
Ophr were a wildcat speculation com.
pared to the revelations of wealth that
would punctuate the future with excla.
tions Of wonder and surprise. The well.
heeled Inca Of ancient Peru piled high tho
procuct Of his Kl ,ndikes to tempt the brain
Of Pizzaro into the termination Of a gor.
geous impulse, and doubtless felt within
his copper. colored heart that he had got.
ten the mining business down to fine
point without the cyanide process. Like
Solomon he did not live long enough to
learn that time must shuttle off a few
desolate centuries before the mining In.
dustry would be In Its infancy. The
same may be said Of the extravagant old
gentleman who formerly managed the at.
fairs Of Persia, Egypt, Greece and Rome,
who had money to throw at the birds In
their day and generation, and whose pros.
pectors were the first to start the story
about the Lost Cabin mine, which has
been discovered regularly every year
since Cleopatra ruined Mark Anthony with
a wild cat deal. The wisest Of the an.
clients left no records to show that they
anticipated future greater than the pres.
ent In which they lived, and apparently
the idea never occurred to the most far.
sighted that the mining industry would
not acquire Its infancy until the latter part
Of the nineteenth century In the modern
measurement Of time. Such, however, Is
the solemn truth.
While mining has always been carried
on, originally by the heathens and later
by the chosen Of God, It was never con.
Quoted along the lines that meant the
actual and absolute extraction of ores
from mineral field, and therefore could
not be dignified as a matured industry.
1t Is now merely In Its infancy, instead Of
In Its long chrysalIis condition, because
modern scientific principles have broken
Its shell. Ways and means have been
discovered whereby gold can be recovered
from any chemical condition In which II
may be found and usually with margin
Of profit; excepting. Of course, the large
amount Of july wealth that Is said to be
secreted within the waters Of the vastly
deep. The chemical processes already
discovered irresistibly lead to the conclu.
sion that no form Of the precious metal
will long escape the greedy fingers Of
man. Thus It happens that no mineral
field Of the past, operated by crude and un.
scientific methods, can said to have been
exhausted. In short, conditions are now
such that all the distoverabIe gold locked
up In the treasures Of Mother earth Is In a
fair way for seizure before the closing
hours Of the next century unless, indeed,
the art Of creating that metal reaches a
point that makes Its possession less de.
sirable to mankind, and the seI6shness Of
the world takes on another form.
The age Of invention has locked arms
with chemistry In introducing the infancy
Of the mining industry, and machinery
Is playing a part Of wonderful proper
tons. There Is not known gold field
In the world today that does not claim In.
fancy In development; and the same Is
true as to other metals, subject to condi.
tions Of the markets. In the light Of
modern progress the era Of worked.out
mineral zone seems an absurdity. Like
the tin mines Of Cornwall, England,
which have increased their product for
thousands Of years-like the copper mines