The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-06-23
WORLD FULL OF GOLD.
1t Falls From the Sky and Soshes
Up From the Sea.
Moody's Magazine

The worlds gold supply is absolutely
inexhaustible, 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 it has to be remembered
that gold in small quantities occurs in
enormous masses Of rock throughout
the world.
Almost all volcanic rock and the for
nations derived from them, such as
granite, serpentine and Fhyolite, con-
tain appreciate 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 profitably
worked.
Profit is and always has been the in
centive to gold production. Should
there ever be need for working the vol
canic and sedimentary rocks that are
auriferOus the means Of profitably
working them viii be found.
Experiments have shown that gold is
regularly falling to the earth, in as
ISOLATION with cOsmic dust. and day
and night settles all over the land and
sea. Some of this gold, when concen-
trated by wind or water or dissolved
by acid surface waters and redeposited
!
cradle.
the waters of the sea, also. are auri-
ferrous. 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 in the sea
water.
The area Of the sea bed is much
larger than that of the land. Its COM
position is similar in every respect with
that of the land. 1t is composed of
mountains, plains and plateaus; of ig-
neous, metaphoric and sedimentary
rocks which contain great areas of
gold bearing and other mineral veins.
Only in a few instances, however,
where the submarine gold fields are
close TO the land will it be possible to
work them as submarine coal fields are
now worked. But those oceanic gold
fields on which the veins outcrop at the
surface are subject to constant attri-
ton by the waves. This causes the
shedding of gold, which is concentrate
ed 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-
riclled by almost every storm that
passes over them. These deposits are
known by various names, but the term
auriferoUs beach sand sufficiently de-
scribes them. They occur in the Paci-
fic beaches. from Alaska to Terra del
Fuego, and throughout the coast OF
Australia and New Zealand. where
they have long been worked with pro-
fitable results.
The gold output from the gold-bear-
| ing beaches at Nome, Alaska. this year
Is expected to reach $4,000 600. The
coast between Cape Nome and Point
Rodney for a distance of more than
twenty miles is being worked for gold
| by hundreds of men.
The beach is in places auriferous fol
width of 1000 feet inland from the
tide level, and sometimes to a depth OF
| fiftv feet. From the western base OF
Cape Nome there is q series of gravelly
sea beaches extending inland several
miles, which contain gold and are in
| places beiEg worked today The ma
rine deposits Welded gold to the value
of 81. zoe. 900 in 1903, s2,lS5,O0O in 1904 and
81, $50, 600 in 1905.
The earth has also immense deposits
of auriferous sands and clays. These
are chiefly in the arid regions. In
many countries they are probably
worked by dry blowing processes
But experiments in Australia have
shown that much of the gold can be
extracted In these cases by a specia
adaptation of gold dredging known as
the padGocking process. These deposits
are formed by the erosion of auriferou:
rock formations and the concentration
of the gold by the action of wind and
rain.