The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-11-21
GOLD! GOLD! GOLD!
IN GU|LFORD HILLS
Veterans From the klOndike
Open Their Eyes.
FENTRESS MINE VISITED
Out West, Said one Of the Prospactors, This
Would cause one Of the Greatest SIAM
pedes for the Mines Ever
FENTRESS NINE VISITED

Especial to the News and Observer
Greensboro, n. c.. Nov 2O.-One of
the heartiest and happiest groups of gen
tlemen seen here in many a day was a
party of New Workers who sat at dinner
at the Guilford Hotel here last night.
1t was party of old California,
Colorado and Klondike gold hun
tiers, who had just returned from an
investigation and expert examination of
the Fentress gold mines. located twelve
miles from Greensboro, and operated bv
New York syndicate known as the
Fentress Mining CO., of which Henry
j. Dexter. of New York city, is presi-
dent; James V. Bruyn. treasurer: Will
fam w. Green, Phi. D.. of Columbia
School of Mines, general manager; Robt
ID. Douglass, ex-Attorney General of
North Carolina. special counsel.
This company has been operating for
two years an old mine that was abandon
ed at the outbreak of the war, forty
years ago, and the special party present
at the Guilford tonight were old timers
in the gold diggings, who had come
down South to investigate the wonderful
stories told within their circles of the
success which had attended the search
for gold in this section. They came here
Saturday night and have spent the week
in the country.
In the party We're noted Messrs. Ira
NJ. Black. ". n. Cory. Addison bred
rick. w. J. Green, Dr. f. S. Belts Joseph
DeGraff. Clarence Shoemaker and Jas.
V. Bruyn, of Kingston n. Y; Albert
Vedder, of Schenectady. and William
w. Dreyer, of New York city.
An effort was made to ascertain from
Treasurer Bruyn the significance of this
visit but he was too reserved and bust
ness-lillc to give more than an express
sion Of the qualification it had been to
him to open wide the eyes of his friends
who had seen gold sights before, but
who said he, confess that since coming
here they realize that the half had not
been told Them
Now, my friend" said Mr.. w. ].
Green, in reply TO a request for his opin-
ion, "all I've got to say is that after ten
years experience in the Black Hills and
other great mining regions, and from
what / have found out here in your coun-
try almost under your nose, out yonder
at that Fentress mine. if it was out
West, there would be armed guards at
the clean-ups and not a soul would be
admitted in the shafts without a pass
and full registration on the mine regis
ter"
This sounded goldfish sure enough, and
with persistence worthy of the cause,
better information was mined from the
cavernous depths of the nine years ;5ClG
mining experience of Mr.. Joseph De-
Graft, who spent his life and retired with
a fortune from the gold fields of Cali
fornia and Colorado. He said:
by invitation of my friends here /
was prevailed upon to take this trip.
We went out Monday to the Fentress
rhine and descended the two principal
shafts, one 80. one 150 feet. both in the
gold vein. From the latter shaft the
incline down the vein is 240 feet making
500 feet in all. We looked over several
lesser shafts. Every one of us is en-
thusiastic over what we saw and con-
slider it one OF the grandest propositions
of our whole experience. Why, sir, l
believe * to be a true fissurc vein,
richer IN gold ore as it goes down. Why,
mill runs and assays from the lowest,
or coo foot level, show $4,000 in gold to
the ton. And III tell you the vein at this
1eveA is Is foot thick, and | believe if
new shaft of 700 feet is sunk further
away it will show the vein to be at
least "a foot thick. You just can't tell
how wide that vein is, for it spreads
out just like a blanket, for l found that
wherever the levels have been pushed to
the right or left they continue in one
of the veins. 1t is more like a coal mine
than any gold proposition 1 ever run up
against. Why, out West the format ion
of the ore veins is on edge, and III such
mine as | have just been lifted from
We're discovered out there, it would
cause the widest excitement and the
greatest stampede ever heard of In this
county. This outcrop extends over acres
and my opinion is it extends for miles
THAT is not all. either 1 found that
the old company who operated the mine
before the war only worked for copper
Why, they did not even hoist the gold
ores, and there are hundreds of thous-
ands of tons of these ores heaped up in
the different levels already for hosting
without pick put to them. These ores
alone would average $500 per ton in
mill runs and could keep 20 stamps busy