The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-07-07

AADA AUNT "a IT, mas no IAllL4ELe1
laws Everything in the soil belongs
to the owner of the soil. Discoveries
( or valuable mineral deposits have no
rights OF presumption such as are &C
corded TO them in the newer cOmmuni-
ties OF the west, and, as @ consequence,
there is no incentive for prospectors.
GOld-seekers naturally flock to the To-
calities that seem to offer the greatest
inducements in the way Of acquiring a
fortune If a man finds gold in any of
| Uncle Sans western possessions liberal
| mineral laws protect him in his rights
| or discovery by giving him the privilege
10 Work the claim. In Georgia the dis
coVery of a rich vein or body of quartz
IS of no value to anybody but the owner
| of the land, unless the latter Individual
chances to be exceptionally liberal and
/ rewards the discOverer with share in
the profits
It is this feature which has retarded
the development of the Georgia gold
neIds. PrOspectOTs have no inducement
10 work out new leads, while the own
erS are mainly an extremely cOnserva-
I tive class Of people. They know that
| their hilly lands are full Of gold, but
are content to stick to Old-fashiOned
| methods of extraction, by which they
secure about One-fOUTth of the value,
while the rest is carried off in the tall
/ lngs. Modern mills and plants would
make these people milIiOnaires in a
I =
effort, and the latter is especially OBJ
jectiOnabIe.
What's the use?" was the answer of
one man in McDuffie county, the owner
of an exceptionally rich mine, when
asked why he didn't interest northern
capital and work his bonanza on a
large scale. What's the use? I'm get
ing bout $4,000 year Outn it now,
an don't need any more. What's left
there is safer n if it we're in bank. No
/ body kin steal it. Whenever want
money just put the old mill to stamp
in and send the clean-uDs to DahIO-
/ mega If IL were run on a bigger scale
/ II d mean harder work, an the accumu-
for
This is a fair sample Of the general
spirit in Georgia. It is a land of dolce
far niente, save in such places where
the pushing Yankees have disturbed
bhe Arcadian simplicity of the natives
with their hustIinC efforts. The very
climate, soft and gentle, is conducive
/ 10 rest. Mans wants are few, life is
| easily sustained, and there is little in
centlVe to work the weary treadmiIl Of
laDOr. These idyllic conditions, how
ever, cannot always exist. InQuiSitiVe
Yankees with sharp commercial noses
nave scented the smell of gold, and are
already IN the field. As they are max
ing money it is a fOregOne conclusion
that there viii be more Of them, and
that before long the hills of Georgia
( Will be one vast mining camp.
There can be no doubt about the ex-
tent or richness Of the gold belt that
extends through the states of South
( Carolina and Georgia from the north
east to the southwest Previous to the
rIch placer discoveries in California in
1873, all the gold used in the United
states was obtained in this section of
! the country, and the quantity was suf-
ucIent TO warrant the eSta bliShment of
d I6QeraI mint at D2Llonega. All this
gold was obtained by the crudest of
methods, and, while the best Of the
pIacerS have long since been exhausted,
/ some $5UO in dust is paid to DahIOnega
I merchants every week in this year Of
1901.
There is one intensely interesting
/ thing about these Georgia fields, and
especially those in McDufie county
Jney give ample evidence Of having
been worked at some very remote pc
Rod and by some ancient people who
| antedated the Indian. Tradition and
records give the history Of these mines
IN fairly accurate shape from a time
Just before the revolutionary war
Wnen all the gold was obtained by pan
WdShlngs from pIaCeTS. Following this
/ there was quite an extensive attempt at
I quartz mining, the richer discoveries in
california having drawn away nearly
. all the pan workers of Georgia. These
Old-time shafts were worked up to the
civil war and in Iuany instances yield
ed handsome returns, although the
methods in use were decidedly an
I tiQuated.
Recent tests by improved methods
show that not more than one-quarter
or the real values have been secured
in the past, the rest being allowed 10
run off in the river, and yet at this
/ rate the mines We're profitable But.
while all this is definitely known. no
I body has as yet been able to explain
the mysterious workings that are coca
slonally stumbled against deep in the
hIfls- The Columbia Mining company
found old workings at a depth Of 26O
feet showing the most primitive forms
OF mining, and similar discoveries have
been made at other points.
80 tar as traced, the McDuf1ie COun-
ty gold belt, which is only one of many
/ IN this state, is about one mile in
width, and shows a weT-defned line Of
upheaFal in its course from northeast
TO southwest The strike Of the veins
( is in the same general direction with Il
dip from 80 to 40 degrees to the north.
All the veins have sharply defined walls
with q perfect assure formation, the
country rock being a hard, blue granite
The gold IS found in various forms, the
/ commonest being suIphurets and py-
rites, which need the best of modern
/ treatments to extract the full values
AS nigh as $1,000 a ton has been taken
out in several instances while the
quantity of quartz that viii run from
- 70 $50 ton is practically inexhausti-
BILE Water is usually found at a depth
of fifty feet and is very pure; so free
from minerals that it is admirably
suited to mill purposes. Labor is album
dant and fairly good at an average cost
of 81 a day, while pine wood sells at So
cents cord. Under these conditions
( ore can be raised and milled for S1.25
ton, or less. This low cost of produc-
ton is what is attracting northern in
vestors, who have previously confined
{ their mining ventures to Colorado and
/ California. It is no eXaggeration to
say that Georgia ore can be handled
at less than One-half the expense at
/ tending the same work in the western
gold-prOducing states. where labor
costs at least So day, and fuel is
scarce and dear.
Under the old system owners Of
Georgia gold mines would first pick up
the oxidized ores from the surface
wherever lead was located, and then
( Wok the vein down TO a depth of about
/ htty feet, or until the water came in,
/ when the working would be abandoned
and a new one opened. Such a thing
as pumping out the water was un-
known, although it was indiSputab BILE
| mat the deeper the shaft was sunk
( the richer the ore became. Even by
I TINS primitive method, and with outfits
that were Anticipated before the civil
war, the results were such that a great
excitement would have been caused #
Ia Syas4 -