Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1906-03-24
The First Writer Upon Mines

liz IlISt WIltSI UPOll NllllSSs
There was a man in the land of Uz,
whose name was job" Thus in few
simple words we are introduced to the
earliest known writer upon mines. I'm
numbered centuries before Lyell wrote,
and the science of geology sprang into
being, Job recognized the paramount
agency of volcanic disturbance in the
upheaval of the geological formations
in mountain building. Thousands of
years before Dana and Judd and Dutton
had staddied volcanoes; before Powell
and Gilbert of the United States Geo.
logical Survey made known the Basin
Range structure and traced the evolu-
ton of the mountain ranges in the
great volcanic region of the west, Job
described a similar desert region in the
far east and the evolution of its topo-
graphy. GAS for the earth, out of it
cometh bread; and under it is turned
lup as it were fire., The stones of it are
the place of sapphires; and it hath
dust of gold. He putthth forth his
hand upon the rock; he overturneth
the mountains by the roots. He cutteth
out rivers among the rocks
Although from the dawn of history,
sapphires were found in gravel deposits
associated with other precious stones,
nothing was supposed to be known of
the geological formation from which
they were derived, until Weed publish
ed the finding of sapphire in the igne-
Gus bikes of Yogo gulch Montana. For
no one appears to have understood the
meaning of the passage, where Job,
describing the evidence of igneous up
heaval in the earth's crust, recites,
''The stones of it are the place of sap
phires; and it hath dust of gold"
In the early part of the last century,
Humboldt was impressed with the as
ISOLATION of igneous rocks with ore de-
posts; theory treated in the most
convincing way, in our own day, in that
classic paper of Kemp, The Role of the
Igneous Rocks in the Formation of
Veins. The genetic relation of volca-
mic phenomena with the occurrence Of
mineral formations, seems to have inn
pressed Job as it did Baron Won Hum
boldt. the evident belief of the writer
of Job, that minerals were formed
through assures coming from the I'M
known depth of the earth's crust, is the
accepted theory of our leading special
lists upon ore deposits. ''There is a
path which no fowl knoweth, and which
the vulture's eye hath not seen; the
lions whelps have not trodden it, nor
the fierce lion passed by it..
Special mention is made of the oc-
currehce of silver and gold in veins
while iron ore was mined from deposits
in the earth, and brass (which also in
cluded bronze), was smelted from a
mixture of the ores of copper and tin,
and of copper and zinc. Surely there
is vein for the silver, and place for
gold where they fine it. Iron is taken
out of the earth, and brass is molten
out of the stone.
The opening verses quoted, of the
18th chapter of the book of Job, appear
to be only fragment; it is thought
thatsa portion of the poem is lost-a
view supported by the repeated inter
ruption of subject. Possibly no pass
age in the Bible has been more often
misquoted, or is less understood than
the opening verse; "Surely there is q
vein for the silver, and place for gold
where they fine it." Gold quartz veins
are known to have been worked, at a
time so remote that all record is lost,
in parts of Africa tributary to the COM
merce of the people of the east. 1t is
probable that river gravels were wash
ed for gold at still earlier period. At
first, the rock was broken by stone
hammers, and at later date, metal
tools we're used. Fires were built
against the rockface, and when the
quartz was hot, it was shattered by
throwing water upon it. The oce was
crushed by large stones, and the gold
obtained by winnowing the dry pulp
with mats, in a'manner similar to that