The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1905-06-09
SOME OF THE EXPERIENCES OF
GOLDFIELD PIONEERS

A graphic description of Goldfeld.
Is it appeared in the earlier days of
the camp, is contained in a paper by
w. c. Ralston, read before the Cali
fornia Miners Association. An alb
stract of Mr.. Ralston' s paper follows:
Here (Goldfeld) you come into an
other country, you might say, al
though it is porphyry, the same as
Tonopah, AID what they call a later
HnUesite, btt the veins run north ana
south, or in n n~ortherly and s~outherlv
direction, AID the values are entirely
in gold. II had been told, also, like
uany of YOU have been told, about
tue richness of the gold ores found in
G~oldfeld, and in going into the town
! ven with two or three gentlemen,
one or whom was the owner of one
of the mines. We went into what is
called the Kendall mine, right on top
OF a little ledge, raised probably so
or % feet above the surrounding
country, where they were working a
little cut, taking out the ore 6 feet in
width for about Is feet in length, and
about three and a half feet to four
feet III depth. When we got there l
sSNft Jht SCAtACliidh WIN was III
charge of the work, what the rock
was going. l told him that I had
heard they had made a good strike.
'WeH,' he said, " it is very rich.'
1 said. Glow rich7' "Well,' he
said, L" it is very rich He showed
me q pan, put a little water in it and
mixed it around. They use there. by
the way, a little saucepan about six
inches in diameter for panning, and
a bout a third of the pan was covered
with fine gold. l laughed. He said,
"May be YOU don't believe there is
any more like it, | said, "Well, may
lie there is He said, "Take some
yourself I stepped down into the
cut, took a handful and a half-not
any more than that; just scraped it
Up where the men were drilling, not
taking the d~rillings, but just the dirt
around there, which is virtually the
same formation as it is, as | said be
fore, in Tonopah; a sort of decom-
posed porphyry with quartz stringers
in it. l took it in the pan and l pan
ned il down. When I got so l could
see the gold and got it fairly well
panned down, rather close, he said:
"What do you think of that?'
"Well." he said, Chow much do you
think it will go a ton?' CON- l
said, "that' $ an absurd thing to ask
a man." l will give you my word.
the pan was just literally full of fine
one-half of it. "Well,' he said,
.smake a guess" "Why,' I said,
"that's ~ridiculous; but l wouli say
$4,000 or $4,000 a ton at least. eyes
he said, "and you are rretty close. 1t
goes about $6000.' Now, that gold
would go through a 1j0-mesh screen,
every bit of it, and it was very fine
in quality. They sacked the ore FIR"
a portion of this, sorted some u. 1t
on. and took the richest of it, some
&c It much richer than what J hHd
taken a pan from, and out Of Is TONS
milled at Sodaville, they obta ne
$4,000 in gold-free gold on tie
plates. This gold was sent to the
mint in Carson, and when it was seat
to the mint here in San Fran-Is,,.
slowed that it had a value of S2a.37
Gr ounce. Now, that seems incredible
9 foe quartz gold, or so-callei nua:,z
80 d.. We hive founi gold u fh"
quality in gravel mines that would
run up as high as that, but when you
get gold that goes $20.37 IN ounce
from a quartz mine it is a very rare
thing. And l wish to say that the
gold in that whole country is of that
same very fine grade.
In visiting the different little mines
around there. and some Of them are
Of a fairly good size, it was really
reason in the formation. There are
seem to be cross-ledges, and all sorts
Cf fpry1ntionS In nthnp words
think that the g~eologist wants TO fox
get that he ever knew of geology
when he goes to Goldfeld. In one
place, in particular, the mine called the
Tonopah-Glohe, | was surprised to see
them sinking a Wine on sedimentary
formation that looked like it laid
in layers, stood at an angle of about
20 degrees, with layers of from a
knife blade to an inch in thickness, the
whole being aboit two and a half feet
thick. They were taking this out g
feet in length along the so-called vein.
as they designate it. l looked at and
picked some of it up. 1t looked more
like a clay shale of cement than any
thing else, but it was lime, a lime for
notion; and l asked the man what it
would 90. "Well," he says, "we are
sucking it and it goes about $40 a;
on l had a pretty good magnify
ing glass. l wet some of it, tried to
see gold in it., hut could not see a
color. I said, "Who is the man that
founn thisf' "Well,. we are going
to change shifts, and there he is go
ing along now He came up; ] said:
"Did You find this?' He said, 81
did, "Well,' he said. Ground here
we pan on the surface to find values,
to trace up values and to try and find
pockets; so / WAS panning along here,
and l found some color-some gold
showing me on a little side hill a slope
about ten or fifteen feet away. He
said: ~ took some of the quartz and
pounded it up that l found in place
there to see if l could get color in it.
] kept going along and could not get
anything. l came to this, and looked
at it. 1 did not try that. ! went OF