Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-02
Contractor Not to Profit.

This of course, Is a rather sensational
view to take Of the situation, but in view Of
the work that has already been done in this
line by the government it Is within the
range of possibility. The question naturally
was raised with the commission as to
whether or not II the ground proved valua-
BILE it would mean anything to the con-
tractor who was doing the work. But 1t
was stated in reply to this inquiry that the
rights to any mineral found would stilf be-
vested in the United States whether the
work were done by contract or not. The
United States government owns the ground
and it is simply paying the contractor for
doing the digging and 1t does not lose It's
title to a spadeful of the dirt that is dug
This was the statement of Gen. Hams Of
the canal commission when questioned on
the subject He said that there was. not
much prospect either of trouble with Pan
anna over the rights to any minerals that
might be found. The treaty by which the
canal zone is coded to the United States
provides specifically that the strip passed
to the sovereignty of the United States as
though it had acquired the ground by pur-
chase and the sovereignty of this govern
ment over the land and all 1t contains Is
just as complete as 1t Is over any other part
of the United States.
One of the things that aroused the inter-
est of the government in the gold-bearing
possibilities Of the ground was the fact that
on some Of the old French maps there
were references to placer ground Then
there are old Spanish records of the ground
having been worked for gold toward the
summit of the Culebra cut. This was the
route over which the Spaniards brought
back the immense treasure that they looted
from the west coast. But they were not
overlooking any chances for gold, and they
went over most OF the isthmus with fine
tooth comb The fact that they found some
placer workings indicates there was gold
there, and with impressed Indian labor
they would naturally have been able to
work it at a profit, even If the values ran
T2,,f ha nj UOrkip0c W. mi
on scale comparable to what will be done
in the excavating Of the canal, and where
the old gold washers might hesitate to
touch so per cent pay dirt modern methods
can work it probably at cents If there
is a considerable deposit of it..
Method of Concentrating.
But gold is not the only metal that it has
been found possible to extract by modern
methods. The experiments of the govern
ment in the west have shown that gold,
silver and platinum, iron ore and the rarer
minerals, like monozite, zircon and lima
mite, garnets and other valuables are re-
covered from apparently worthless sands
1t has been estimated that if the dirt of the
canal cutting pays to work at all, a single
fume will be able to take care of from
1900 to 5000 tons a day CARRYING off the
heavier metals for separation afterward.
The work of separation would be compare
lively inexpensive, and whatever was got
ten out would be almost pure profit.
The geologist who has been sent to the
isthmus by the commission has orders to
take in the whole geological possibilities of
the situation. He is on the lookout princi-
pally TO. >oal, sand and rock suitable for
cement, an the contractor or the commits
sion, whichever ultimately does the work,
wants to follow the precedent of the recla-
nation service In building the Roosevelt
dam and make its cement, If possible, ON
the ground.
1t is known that some Of the sand at the
mouth of the canal on the western end is
about the same as the now famous black
sand Of the Pacific coast, and 1t is in
tended to take samples from various places
along the line of the canal and send them
to this country for analysis, SO as to see
whether the work Of concentrating the dirt
Is worth doing on a large scale.
Gold in the Region.
When the question was put to Prof.
Hayes, chief geologist of the geological sur
vey. he said that he had not been over the
isthmus personally, his acquaintance being
limited to the Nicaragua region. He said
that there was unquestionably good deal
Of gold In Nicaragua. and that in the in
terror. considerably of the lines of trans.
portation, there were quite rich placers
that had been worked at profit for the
last fifty years and were now in the hands
OF an English company. There were other
gold deposits, he said, below the line of the
canal zone, some or them quite valuable.
Personally, he said, he did not think If one
were going after gold that the line of the
canal would be the best place in the region
to look for 1t, but he said that with the
modern separation methods that had been
perfected there were other valuable min
erals besides gold that could be recovered
by washing and concentrating. and that
the profit in them was often enough to pay
for the expense of running a plant. leav-
ing the gold and platinum recovered as
clear profit
From the way in which the Panama bids