The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-07-20
Gold Found in Tree Ashes.

ANeW YORK PreSS.)
Many. an enthusiastic botanist will tell
you that certain of his specimens are
worth their weight in gold. OF course he
mas in mind the extreme rarity of the
plant or root Very different, however. is
the meaning OF Dr. z. E. I.ungewitz a
well known metallurgicaI chemist when
ne states the proposition that certain
trees are worth a prOportiOnate part of
their weight in gold; for after conducting
many experiments on certain classes OF
trees he has come to the conclusion that
silch trees actually contain pure gold in a
Chemists have long suspected that gold
might slowly dissolve in surface water
and have disposed of the objection that
that proposition has never been estab-
hsned by analysis by cOntending that the
solution is infinitely weak
After giving the subject considerable
study and thought DR.. Lungewitz came
TO the conclusion that if the surface wa
ter contained dissolved gold at all. how
ever small the quantity, II should natur-
ANY DC drawn up by the roots of trees
In the near vicinity and would there ap-
pear in more substantial form.
Accordingly he selected a rumber 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 were placed upon a clean sheet of
corrugated iron and tired The ashes
which yet contained grains of charcoal
where then collected and assayed
+AS NeAl'NAill'Cll was .lOL 4 ClSLnct sue
cess. While gold was undoubtedly pres
ent, It's quantity was so infinitely small
that an accurate estimation of its amount
or unenesS was out of the question As
these trees were of the soft wood vari-
ETY. 1t was thought that better results
might perhaps be obtained BY expert
menting upon trees of a different kind
ana that Is Just what happened. The
ashes OF some so-called ironwood trees
yielded between 10 cents and 40 cents
worth of gold to the ton.
In all of these experiments only the
trunks of the trees near the roots had
been used, and it was determined there
tory results could not be obtained by re-
ducing the upper branches to ashes. The
branches proved to be richer in gold than
any other part of the tree heretofore
tested. In one instance the ashes yielded
no less than S1.17 worth OF gold TO the
showed return of over 81 per ton.
The significance OF these experiments
lies in the fact that they estab lish beyond
all doubt that gold is dissolved by the
surface waters traversing and percOlat-
ing gold formations. They give rise like
wise to the interesting question as TO
which cOmpent OF these surface waters
possesses this gold-dissolving property
Dr. Lungewitz has not attempted to an
swer IT. but has left It for further in
vestization. He advances the theory.
however. that this peculiar action must
have a disastrous effect upon gold de-
Dosits in the course OF time.
As to the business opportunities in
volved in the discovery. it is perhaps
sufficient to say that the lovers OF trees
need feel no apprehension as to any
wholesale destruction of them, for the
gold yielded is too little to warrant the
expense.