Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1907-01-12
NO GOLD SCARCITY.
DEPOSITS OF PRECIOUS METAL
ALL OVER THE WORLD.
In Small Quantities !. Is Found in Al
most All Volcanic Rocks and Will
Yet Profitabiy Be Taken
from the Sea.

The worlds gold supply is absolute
ly inexhaustible, no matter what de
mands are made upon it, says writer
in Moody's Magazine. Hitherto the
attention of miners has been entirely
directed to comparatively rich, easily
worked deposits. But it has to be re-
membered that gold in small quaint
ties occurs in enormous masses of
rock throughout the world.
Almost all volcanic rocks and the
formations derived from them, such as
granite, serpentine and rhyolite, con-
tain appreciable quantities of gold,
and vast deposits of sedimentary
rocks derived from such volcanic for
nations contain gold in concentrated
form, and are to-day in some localities
profitably worked.
Profit is and always has been the
incentive to gold production. Should
there ever be need for working the
volcanic and sedimentary rocks that
are auriferous the means of proftably
working them will be found.
Experiments have shown that gold
is regularly falling to the earth, in
association 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 redepos-
tied in a more concentrated form, is
recoverable.
The waters of the sea, also, are
auriferous, and there can be little
doubt that, if ever in the remote fu-
ture there should be an extraordinary
demand for gold, means could be
found for profitably reducing the gold
in the seawater.
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
igneous, metamorphic and sedimen-
tary 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 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
4ble in that they are renewed or en-
1iched 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 Pa
cific beaches, from Alaska to Terra
del Fuego, and throughout the coasts
@f uyh nr-n
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 100000
The coast between Cape Nome and
Point Rodney for distance of more
than 20 miles is being worked for gold
by hundreds of men.
The beach is in places auriferous
for width of 1000 feet inland from
the tide level and sometimes to a
depth of so feet. From the western
base of Cape Nome there is a series of
gravelly sea beaches extending inland
several miles, which contain gold and
are in places being worked today
These marine deposits yielded gold to
the value of 50 100000 in 1903, s2.1s5,-
900 in 1904 and s2.S5O,0O0 in 1905.
The earth has also immense depos-
its of aurlferous sands and clays
These are chiefly in the arid regions.
In many countries they are profitably
worked by dry blowing processes.
But experiments in Australia have
shown that much of the gold can be
extracted in these cases by special
adaptation of gold dredging known as
the paddocking process. These de
posits are formed by the erosion OF
auriferous rock formations and the
concentration of the gold by the action
of wind and rain.