Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-10-21
TREE ASHES YIELD GOLD.
Timber Near the Mines Is Valuable
Metal in Dissolved Form.

Timber Near the Mines Is Valuable
Metal in Dissolved Form.
Many an enthusiastic botanist will
tell you that certain of his specimens
are worth their weight H. gold. OF
course, he had in mind the extreme
rarity of the plant or root. Very diff
ferent, however, is the meaning Of Dr.
e. Il. Lungewitz. a well-known metal
lurgical chemist, when he states the
proposition that certain trees are worth
proportionate part of their weight
In gold; for after conducting many ex.
periments on certain classes of trees
he has come to the conclusion that
such trees actually contain pure gold
in a diluted form.
Chemists have long suspected that
gold might slowly dissolve in surface
water. and have disposed of the OBJ
lection that that proposition has never
tending that the solution is infinitely
weak. After giving the subject con-
siderable study and thought, DIR. Lun-
gewitz came TO tile conclusion that il
the surface water contained dissolved
gold at all. however small the quaint
ty, 1t should naturally be drawn up
by the roots of the trees in the near
vicinity. and would there appear in
more substantial form.
Accordingly, he selected a number
Of trees growing in the neighborhood
of lodes and placers, had them felled
and cut them into pieces of convenient
size After the bark had been removed
with about one inch of the outside
wood, the pieces We're placed upon
clean sheet of corrugated iron and
fred. The ashes, which yet contained
grains of charcoal. We're then collected
and assayed. The experiment was not
a distinct success. While gold was I'm.
douhtedly present, its quantity was so
infinitely small that an accurate esti-
nation of its amount or fineness was
out of the question. As these tees
were of the soft wood variety, it was
thought that better results might per-
haps be obtained by experimenting up
on trees of a different kind. And that
Is just what happened The ashes of
some sn-called ironwood trees yielded
between 20 and 40 cents worth of gold
TO the tor,
In all of these experiments only the
trunks of the trees near the roots had
been used. and it was determined,
therefore, to ascertain whether more
satisfactory results could not be OBJ
tanned by reducing tie upper branches
to ashes The branches proved to be
richer i'll gold than any other part OF
the tree heretofore tested. In one in
stance the ashes yielded no less than
| SILT worth Of gold to the ton, while
In many cases the assay showed a re-
| turn of oyer 81 ton. The signifl-
| canoe of these experiments lies in the
| fact that they established beyond ali
| doubt that gold is dissolved by the sur
face waters trayersing and percolat-
! ing gold formations. They give rise
| likewise TO the interesting question as
to which component of these surface
| waters possesses this gold-dissolving
property. DR. Lungewitz has not at
| tempted to answer it, but has left it
for further investigation. He advances
the theory. however, that this peculiar
action must have disastrous effect
upon gold deposits in the course of
| time
AS to the business opportunities in
volved in the discovery, it is pephaps
sufficient to say that the logers of
trees need feel no apprehension as to
any wholesale destruction of them. for
the gold yielded is too lktle to warrant
! the expense.