The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-02-17
WORLD FULL OF GOLD.
II Falis From the Sky and sIoshes Up
From the Sea.
(Moody's Magazine.)


The worlds gold supply is absolutely
inexhaustibie, no matter. what demands
are made upon IT. Hitherto the atten-
ton of miners has been entirely direct
ed TO comparatively rich. easily worked
deposits. But II has to be remembered
that gold IN small quantities occurs ia
enormous masses OF rock throughout
the world
Almost all volcanic rocks and the for
nations derived from them. such as
granite, serpentine and rlIyolfte. con-
tain appreciabie quantities OF gold. and
vast deposits of sedimentary rocks de-
rived from such volcanic formations
contain gold In concentrated form, and
are today in some localities prodtably
worked.
Profit is and always has been the in
centiye to gold production. Should there
ever be need for working the volcanic
and sedinentary rocks that are aurifer-
Gus the means of probably working
them will be found.
Experiments have shown that gold is
regularly falling TO the earth, in asso-
citation with cosrlic dust, and day and
night settles ell over the land and sea.
Some of this gold, when concentrated
by wind and water. or dissolved by acid
surface waters and ledeposited in a
more concentrated form. is recoverable
ne WHtcTS OF kfle sea, dlSOf are du-
riferous. and there can be little doubt
that if ever in the remote future there
should be an extraordinary demand for
gold, means could be found for profit
ably reducing the gold I'm the seawater,
The area of the sea bed is much larg-
er than that Of the land It's compo-
sition is similar in every respect with
that Of the land. 1t is composed OF
mountains. plains and plsteaus; Of
igneous. metamorphic and sedimentary
rocks which contain great areas of
gold-bearing and oth.r mineral veins.
Only in a few instances, however,
where the submarine gold fields are
close to the land will il be possible to
work them as the submarine coal fields
are now worked. But those oceanic
gold fields on which the veins outcrop
at the surface are subject TO constant
attrition by the waves. This causes the
shedding of gold, which IS concentrated
by the sea and washed ashore.
Gold deposits thus formed exist In
many countries. and they are remark
able in that they are renewed or en-
riched by almost every storm that
passes ever them. These deposits are
known by various names. but the term
euriferous beach sand sufficiently de-
scribes them. They occur in the Pa
cific beaches, from Alaska TO Terra del
FueS0, and throughout the coast OF
Australia and New Zealand. where they
have long been worked with profitable
results.
The gold output from the gold-bear-
ing beaches at Nome. Alaska. this year
is expected to reach $4,000. 900. The coast
between Cape Nome and Point Rodney
for a distance Of more than twenty
miles is being worked for gold by hun
dreds OF men. 1-<
The beach is In places auriferous for
a width of 1000 feet inland from the
tide level and sometimes to a depth of
fifty feet From the western base OF
Cape Nome there is q series of gravelly
SEQ beaches extending inland several
miles, which contain gold and are in
places being worked today. These ma
rine deposits yielded gold TO the value
Of s2,2oo,ooe in 1903, sz,1s5,0oo in 1904 and
81. $50. 900 in 1905
The earth has also immense deposits
of aurfferous sands and clays. These
are chiefly in the arid regions. In many
they are profitably worked by
dry blowing processes.
But experiments in Australia have
shown that much Of the gold can be ex-
tracted in these cases by a special
adaptation of gold dredging known as
the psddocking process. These deposits
are formed by the erosion of auriferous
rock formations and the concentration
OF the gold by the action of wind and