White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1910-07-24
THE PERPETU|TY
Of VEIN MINES
NO MINING DISTRICT HAS EVER
BEEN EXHAUSTED WITH THE
POSSIBLE EXCEPTION OF PLAC-
Err WORKINGS.

From the moment that the pros
pector throws the point of his pick in
to the outeropping of a vein, work
will accumulate on that vein until
the end of time. This work will be
done by a long line of ~prospectors.
The first 10-foot hole sunk on a vein
means the commencement of a new
enterprise. 1t may be years, or even
generations, before the business will
be remunerative but broadly speak
ing, the persistency of the miner will
sever allow work to stop.
In the history of the world no min
ing district has ever been exhausted,
WITH the possible exception of strictly
placer districts. In some old placer
districts the deposits have been SO
thoroughly exhausted that those not
familiar with history doubt If gold
ever existed in the gravels. For ex-
ample, in the very early dawn of
European history, the valley of the
Swiss Alps were one of the main
sources of the European supply of
gold. So thoroughly, however, have
these gravels been worked out that
today only the merest trace of gold
is to be found in them.
But with vein mines history re-
cords no district that has been CON-
pletely worked out. The mines of
Cornwall were worked for their tin
nearly Bow years ago, and those
mines are yet very important source
of the worlds supply of tin. The sill
yer mines of Laurium, in Greece,
have a known history of $500 years.
Indeed, it is to the wealth of these
mines that we owe the literature and
the architectural and artistic glories
handed down to us by the ancient
Greeks. Previous to the discovery of
the mines of Laurium, Athens was a
miserable little village. The mines
of Laurium, however, so greatly en-
riched the Athenians as to give them
the leisure and the money to produce
those wonderful works of art, litera-
ture and architecture that are the de-
light of modern students. Twenty
five hundred years ago over 10000
slaves were working in the mines of
Laurium. The mines are yet being
worked, and only a few years ago the
Colorado Iron Works made a very i'm
portant shipment of machinery to
tutm loI tue SHltitihb VI lhS SiNSi
lead ore.
A few years ago hunters and ex-
plorers r~ediscovered very ancient
mines in what is now known as
Rhodesia, but then known as Mata-
beleland, and inhabited by n of the
most savage and war-like races of
Africa. The mines were SO ancient
that native traditions give 10 indica-
ton as to when the mines may have
been worked. and in the ruins of
Zimbabwe 1t is thought that the my
thical mines of the Queen of Sheba
had been discovered. These mines
are now producing heavily and add
ing nearly $4,000, GOO every year 10
the worlds goi4 supply.
In the kingdom of Mysore in India,
old mines have been found with
tremendous workings. These mines
are exceedingly aneient-so ancient,
indeed, that the oldest Hindu writ
ings make no mention of what must
have been very important mining OPP
erations. Hindus were great chronic
lers, and their archives extend back
further than any other known writ
ings, with the possible exception of
the Egyptians. 1t is probable. here
fore, that these Indian mines were
worked between 5000 and 1000 years
ago. These mines have been actively
exploited of recent years by British
companies, Which are most success
full, and are among the largest divi-
dend paying mining companies in the
world.
OF course, all these mines had a
beginning. They were possibly found
by some sheppard or hunter, and in
all probability were developed slowly
by the a~ncients. until they became
considerable mines. Yet thousands
of years after those seekers for min
eral have passed away. the veins they
discovered are still making history.