Idaho Springs siftings., 1902-10-18
Sailing Of Mines

history about sailing mines. AS Will be
seen the principal feature of the story is
that it occurred in Clear Greek county
in 1872.
We do not know whether or not the
facts as stated, are true, but it is quite
likely that they are. AT any rate, it is
good reading:
"rhe question of how gold mines are
salted has awak renewed interest
since the announcement of the suit
against the Stratton estate by the Venture
company of London, alleging gross
fraud in the sale of the Independence.
Sailing a mine is the putting of pay dirt
in dead rock-adding gold values where
none exist. 1t would appear to be diff
ficult piece of work, but is really very
easy to accomplish, so easy, in fact, that
there are several ways of doing it.
Il had a case of sailing recently, 'said
A prominent assayer this morning. Two
gentlemen brought in some samples to be
tested from an Alaska mine in the Panda
basin. The samples panned out well and
they went away happy. A long while
afteward gentleman from New York
came to the office and told me l hsd
made a mistake and tested the wrong
ores, as he said they had bought the
Alaska mine in question, paying several
thousand dollars down for it, and were
getting no value at all since starting to
operate it.
"'I looked up the samples-we always
keep part of the ore tested in its original
shape-and found them in files in the
sealed envelopes, marked correctly
with the names on them. We made
another test and they panned out almost
exactly as the first time. On examining
the ore more closely, however, 1 discov-
cred some rather large particles of gold,
and under the microscope they showed
up to be several different grades of placer
gold. THIS was proof positive that the
ore had been salted.
al afterwards found out how it oc-
CURED. The first two men who brought
the samples to NE had gotten wind of
promising mine in the Panda basin, and
had gone to look it over with an Indian
guide. They secured some ore samples
in a bag and brought them back. On
the return trip at one time the samples
were in the possession of the Indian
guide, and he was a one W tn them. He
did the work during their absense, as he
had been hired for that purpose. The
men were not looking for that kind OF
rascality in the far north, and the game
was worked on them easily.
Sailing ore samples is very COM
mon trick. Take big bag of ore, like
that one there, pointing to some sample
ore in an ordinary canvas bag. "A syringe
charged with gold solution can be
easily insered through the cloth and the
fluid disseminated through the samples
at different places. 1t hardens on con-
tact with the ore, and assumes a decid-
edly deludiug appearance, just the same
as though mother nature had placed it
there.
90 Another simple plan that is often fol-
lowed is to take ore from high grade
streaks and scatter it around in the low
grade streaks. The loose chunks make
an easy and lazy mans selection, but
few expert mine inspectors ever pick up
lose ore. They blast their own rock as a
usual thing.
"a more modern and scientific method
of sailing is shooting gold into the rocks
with shotgun Where this is done the
gold is in a form of chloride and enters
the crevices readily. or will cling to the
face of the rock itself. Examinations in
mines are usually made by candIelight
and this makes detection very difficult.
Another bit of fine art in sailing is the
employment of mineral substances such
as sylvauite and calaverite. The former
is telluride of gold and silver of this
composition: Tellurium, 55 8; gold, ass;
silver, I5.7. This composition is more
frequently used for sailing than calaver-
lite, which is simply telluride of gold
carrying but little silver. Sylyanite is
more commonly used than gold dust it
self, as it is of very fine substance and
adheres to the ore.
"'All these tricks have to be discovered
by the prospective purchaser, as the as
sayer cannot detect them, or is in no po-