The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-06

going on in Corea. Prospectors
 A are finding minerals in every part
 of the peninsula, and concessions for
 gold. copper, graphite and iron are being
 granted by the government under, the
 new mining laws. The long suit of the Collbran Bostwick Development company
 regarding its concessions for the Rap san copper mine, which was settled last year has so changed the mining regula- tions that foreigners can now get clear titles and they are rapidly taking ad-
 vantage of this A number of the new
 mines are now working and the pros poets for a broad mineral development | are bright.
 Corea's Big Gold Deposits.
 Indeed Corea may develop into a sec | ond California. There is no doubt but
 that there is gold in many parts of the
 peninsula The people have been mining
 it in a rude way for many generations.
 They have been washing it out of the
 streams During my visit to the coun- try 20 years ago. the merchants showed
 me goose-quills filled with gold dust and
 during my stay in Seoul in 1894, Thomas w. Power, the electrician from Washing ton who put up the first light plant in Seoul, told me how he had gotten soap
 box filled with over s47,Oo0 worth of gold | dust and nuggets in payment of one in
 stallment due for his work.
 The way it happened was this: MT. | Power contracted with the Emperor, but | all payments were made through the of ficials, who were very corrupt and who | thought they should have a rake-off | from all moneys which went out of the | royal treasury. MT. Powey had gotten l his electric light plant running and the | Coreans were operating It.. They thought | they had all they could get and conclud- | ed to let this young American whistle for | his money until he gave big bribe. This 1 young American, however, realized that l his majesty was in deadly fear of as- l sassination, and that he would go crazy l if he had to spend all night in the dark. | In order to bring matters to a crisis, MT. l Power went back to the plant and by l the disconnection of a screw arranged | it so that it would run perfectly without giving light. About dusk that evening there was a great excitement at the pal ace. The buttons were turned, but the globes would not burn. As it grew dark the Emperor sent his messengers to | MT. Power to ask what was the matter. He replied that he had not had his money and that the spirits who ran the light l plant would not work until he was paid. His majesty thereupon asked why the money had not been sent and told the corrupt officials that if it was not de- l livered at once their heads would go 1 off The result was the soap box of gold dust.
 1 MT. Power told me that the gold was in grains and in nuggets and he described | how Gen. Clarence Greenhouse, the Amer faor odx fo fhn lrtv1 xrrba hod hod l some mining experience in California, | went almost crazy as he bent down and I laved his hands in it. Some of the mug 1 gets were flat, showing that they had not l gone far from the mother lode and one | was as big as the palm of your hand | The gold was sent to the mint at Osaka l It netted in the neighborhood of $50, ,000 l and Power handed back the balance after l he had taken out the $47,000 due him. 1 neglected to say that as soon as he got the gold the spirits of electricity began
 to work and that they are still laboring | for his majesty today.
 Amerca's Big Gold Mines.
 I have an Idea that 1t was General | Greenhouse who carried this live evi- | dence of the actual existence of gold in | great quantities to the United States. At l any rate the fact became noised abroad, | and for the past Is years Americans have been after concessions for mines in this country. Among these was James R. l Morse, who got the original grant from l the Corean government for the district l which is now known that of the Ori | ental Consolidated Mining company. This | company has by far the biggest gold l mines of Corea. It has already taken out 1 $10,OOO.O00 in bullion and it's output last l year was more than $1, 100000 in gold It | Is crushing 100000 tons every year, and it l has over 1000 900 tons in reserve. The com l pany is now working 5000 Coreans, 600 To- l gether with 75 or more Americans, and 1t can continue to operate on its present basis | for years to come. This company has a | plant which cost $1 .250, 900, and 1t produces l more than half of all the gold that is exported from Corea today.
 How Lehigh Hunt and Company Made Millions.
 The men who got the concession for 1 this mine made practically nothing out l of it. believe 1t was first taken up by 1 James R. Morse and that Leigh Hunt l was made a member of the company. The region in which it lies had been worked | in a rude way by the Coreans for cen- turies. Their method of mining was to build a fire on a ledge and heat the rock They would then throw on water | thus crack the quartz, digging 1t out with rude picks. After that they crushed ore by laying it on flat stones beneath l heavy, round granite boulders which l they rocked back and forth by handles | tied to the boulders. They also acquired | a great deal of gold by placer mining. When Morse and Hunt sent their en- gineers to examine the property they re- | ported that it contained gold, but that it | was of a very low grade and that 1t would not run more than $7 or $8 per ton. | They also said that 1t woulud take ten | Corean miners to do as much work as one average American. and that they would | have to pay 25 cents per day at the start, with probable rise of 50 cents in the near future; and that on the whole the 1 worn would not pay. Upon this report, | I am told, Morse refused to spend more | money on the concession and that Leigh 1 Hunt. upon buy or sell proposition, se- | cured a full title and right to the mine | for less than $30,000. At that time Leigh | Hunt had no money to speak of, but he 1 went to America to make the arrange ments He persuaded the Union Iron works of San Francisco to sell him a 20- stamp mill on tick and interested J. Sloat Fassett of New York and the Crockers of San Francisco in the undertaking He got enough money to pay for the con cession and to start work in moderate way. He brought his little mill out here and carried it into the country upon the backs of bulls and porters and by means of bull carts He set 1t up at Chittabalbie on one part of his concession and began to work. Rich ore was almost imme- diately developed and in short time enough gold had been taken out to pay all expenses and put the company on easy street. As result, all of the part ,ars 1T, tha y,sfnags have made millions