Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1906-02-10


metal, but they were not the first in
the history of our race. There is, in
deed, no reason to suppose, that, in
the past, mining excitements were
limited even to the historical period;
on the contrary, the legends of the
Golden Fleece, and of the golden apples
of the Hesperides, probably describe in
poetic garb two of the early expedi-
tons; and long before either we can
well imagine primitive man hurrying to
new diggings in order to enlarge his
scanty stock of metals. Among the in
huences which have led to the explora-
ton and settlement of new lands, the
desire to find and acquire gold and
silver has been one of the most i'm
portant; and as means of introducing
thousands of vigorous settlers, of their
own volition, into uninhabited or I'M
civilized regions, there is no agent
which compares with it. In this con-
nection it may be also remarked that
there is no more interesting chapter in
the history of civilization than that
which concerns itself with the use of
the metals and with the development
of methods for their extraction from
their ores. Primitive man was natural
ly limited to those which he found in
the native state. They are but few,
viz. gold in wide but sparse distribu-
ton in gravels; copper in occasional
masses along the outcrops of veins, in
which far the greater part of the metal
is combined with oxygen or sulphur,
copper again, in porous rocks, as in the
altogether exceptional case of the Lake
Superior mines; iron in an occasional
meteorite, which, if it's fall had been
observed, was considered to be the
image of god, descended from the
skies; silver in occasional nuggets with
the more common ones of gold; and
possibly rare bit of platinum. Besides
these no other metal can have been
known, because all rest and all of those
mentioned, when locked up in their
ores, give in the physical properties Of
the latter but the slightest suggestion
of their presence. Chance discoveries
must have first revealed the POSSIBLE
ties of producing iron from its ore
really very simple process when
small quantities are involved; of max
ing bronz from the ores of copper and
tin; of making brass with the ores of
copper and zinc; of reducing copper and
lead from their natural compounds; and
of freeing silver from its chief associ-
ate, lead. All of these processes were
extensively practiced under the Chinese
Phenicians, Greeks, Romans and other
ancient peoples.
AS the need of weapons in war, the
advantages of metallic currency and
the want of household utensils became
felt, and as the minerals which yield
the metals became recognized as such.
the art of mining grew to be something
more than the digging and washing OF
gravels; and in the long course OF
time developed into its present stage
as one of the most difficult branches OF
engineering. Chemistry raised met
allurgical processes from the art of OBJ
tanning some of a metal from it's ore,
to the art of obtaining almost all of il
and of accounting for what escaped
1t is, in fact, in this scientific account
ing for everything, that modern pro-
cesses chiefly differ from those of the
ancients.
| Of all the metals the most important
which minister to the needs of daily life
are the following, ranged as nearly a!
possible in the order of their useful
ness: Iron, copper, lead, zinc, silver
gold, tin, aluminium, platinum, manga
nese, chromium, quicksilver, anthony
arsenic and cobalt. The others are O
very minor Importance, although Otter
indispensable for certain restricte'
uses.
The manner of occurrence of thes
metals in the earth, and their amount
in ores which admit of practicable work
ing, are fundamental facts in all GU
industrial development, and som
accurate knowledge of them ought t
be part of the intellectual equipmen
of every well-educated man. TIL
matter may well appeal to Americans
since the United States have develope
: within few years into the foremos
producers of iron, copper, lead, coz
and until recent years, of gold an
silver; but with regard to gold, the
Laxe of late alternated in the leadel