The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-11-16
SOURCE OF PLACER GOLD.
How Expert Frospectors Trace Out
Lodges Through Placer Deposits.

glance at a grain of placer gold re-
veals many interesting phenomena. One
is astonishedSa the soft. Yelvety APP
pearance. Examine a well-worn piece of
gold with "A powerful glass. The tiny
sweat holes, or indentations. reveal the
true reason. Nature is very stubborn
about giving us pure gold but she is de
termined TO alloy every piece with sill
yer, or other metals-the oXidiZing ele-
ments do the rest, by actually sweating
out the different minerals. to a greater
or less degree, varying according TO the
time of exposure since leaving its ele-
mental bed in the vein.
Herein has the up-tO-date prOSpectOr
learned some valuable lessons. Contrary
TO the popular belief that gold is abso-
lutely unaffected by oxidation, il actual
ly changes, not alone in structure, but in
color, through contact with the ele-
ments. IL has been the writer's extreme
good fortune TO labor two seasons with
a pioneer in the work. He had occasion
to prospect in a particularly good loca-
ton. from a small placer field up to
known source of the deposit
1t has been found by examination
with a strong microscope. that a piece
of gold fresh from the vein is not only
rather lustrous. probably due to the sill
yer alloy present, but that it is. also
rather clean cut and of a crystalline
structure. AS the gold begins to be
washed away from the vein, sort of
dizziness characteristic of all gold begins
to appear. while the color assumes a
slightly reddish cast. BiSect il sharply
with a sharp instrument. being careful
10 break it the rest of the way, and ex-
anime. The familiar hackley fracture
will appear completely around near the
periphery, but the lively appearance
viii still be retained by the protected
metal within.
The farther away one gets from the
source the deeper will become the alter
alton till at last il has become complete
In i'm M. ion, hoe
made Of the rounding off of rough edges
"a well-knOwn fact. In addition to all
these signs, however. there is another
guide for the pan tracer-the presence of
very fine particles of gold in the PAN
nings. This the prospector calls the
drag" an infallible sign that the vein is
only few feet away.
The presence of large nuggets usually
indicates small rich ore shoots. Flakes
of gold are rarely found in other than
fissure Veins-eXCept those of a small
round character. with frayed edges re-
sembling the teeth of a circular saw
This is pretty certain indication of a
large ore shoot in porphyry. Wire gold
is always found only in irregular len
ticular lunches. or pockets. Gold panned
from small interstilial seams in porphyry
is usually much smoother and more regu-
lar in form than that found within hard
quartz. Much of the gold in the porphyry
districts of Nevada is in this form
The pan tracer's lot is not always an
easy one. Not only must he have a pref
" thorough knowledge of formations.
but it means work. lots of good hard
work. even where the field is a favor
able one in which 10 operate Where
there is no water handy his usefulness
is curtailed, and he must fall back upon
the float prospector's methods.
His operations need not be confined 10
the search for gold. but even lead depos-
its throw out their peculiar trace and
mineral may be shown in the pan below
any mineraliZed deposit. This fact is lit
tie recognized, though it seems natural
that II should have been more generally
known