Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-09-06
GOLD IN VAST SUPPLY.
Untold Millions In Africa Awaiting
Extraction From Conglomerate.

Untold Millions In Africa awaiting
Extraction From Conslomerate.
The time has come when gold Is an
article of manufacture, writes F. U.
Adams in Success Magazine. There
are practically exhaustless tracts OF
rock and soil in which gold Is being
produced in enormous quantities with
absolute elimination Of risk. I shall
briefly consider two typical instances
Of gold manufacture" either one OF
which is sufficient to doom gold as
medium Of xchange.
In 1884 the discovery Of the greatest
deposits Of gold in all history was
made known. This was In the WitWa-
tersrand distict of the Transvaal OF
South Africa Compared with 1t the
famous Comstock mines were nothing
Not until recent years has 1t been pos
sible to go ahead with the extraction
of the billions in gold which are scat
tered through the rocks and soil of the
Witwatersrand. 1t required new pro-
cesses, but science and invention sup
piled them. Here Is a gold-bearing
reef, 40 miles in length, 20 miles In
width, and in which borings to a
depth Of $500 feet show gold In undi-
minished quantities! How much gold
Is there in the Witwatersrand? Hun
dreds, probably thousands Of billions OF
dollars Of Ill
The Witwatersrand conglomerate car
ries only the insignificant amount oi
ten pennyweight Of gold to the ton, but
1t runs uniform. therefore it Is only a
question OF machinery and labor to de-
termine the yield. Money supplies the
machinery and China the labor. The
annual production Of the Transvaal
gold factories now exceeds $100,00O,O ,OOC
and the record Is broken every month
| If labor can be had, there is no reason
why the output should not reach hall
billion year. and the rock can be
worked for centuries without making
serious impression on its vast extent
Not many years ago it was discover
ed that all of the soil In the Sacramen-
to and San Joaquin valleys was filled
with gold. We will consider what is
being done in the Sacramento. For
hundreds of miles this river runs
through a broad valley of width va
rying from twenty to more than one
hundred miles. When 1t became known
that gold was scattered through the
soil Of this 10000 square miles OF val
ley, capital called on science and In
vention for assistance The distant
mountains were made to furnish wa
ter power for electricity. Then there
was built a floating gold factory at
cost Of $250OO0. 1t took a position
near a bank Of the river, and with Its
dredging appliances began to eat Its
way into the soil. The mud and dirt
were carried over the huge scow, the
gold extracted, the tailings were dump
ed in the rear. Thus was witnessed
the strange sight Of factory crawling
slowly overland toward the distant
foothills. 1t rested in a canal of Its
own making; it was run with electri-
cal power generated by a mountain
brook: 1t worked twenty-four hours a
day with three shifts Of men: the
amount Of gold extracted was as uni
form as the thrust Of its motors; Its
mine was an ocean Of mud; there was
no more romance about its operation
than there is about a brickiln. and YET
that $25O,0OO gold factory made net
profit Of 5000 the first year.