The Alaska citizen., 1911-09-04
How Mines Are Made

In article from the pen of Robert Linthicum
published about year ago, very interest
ing facts in connection with the work of the
prospector and the subsequent processes of the
development Of a mine given. and portions
of it here reproduced He says:
If Alexander Pope never mine prospector
he must have his prototype for nothing that
has been written succnctly epitomes the rosy
optimis as.
Hope springs eternal i'll the human breast;
Man never is. but always to be best
Although the prospector rarely receives a large
reward for the discoveries he makes he is the
architect of many large for others. The
cessful mining camps are his monuments. The
thousands of deserted cabins on the mountain
sides the mute records of his blasted hopes
His days of profigate glory vanished when he
learned result of the Investigations of min
ing engineers and biologists, that the surface
gold deposits of the United States were practical
" exhausted. Thenceforth the fortunes from sue
Cessful mining were from the depths of
the earth. and could only be gained through the
work OF scientific men and large investments of
capital
One in a thousand Of present day prospectors
can profit from the discoveries he may make with
out the assistance of capital, and the capitalist
can rarely anything but large round hole
in the latest mining camp doughnut. Nevertheless
the prospector is necessary to the mining in
dus:ry in the happy-golucky-days of the
past, and although his chances Of finding mineral
in paying quantities growing less from year
to year. he is the same enthusiastic capitalist in
embryo
The history Of mining contains many authentic
accounts of the accidental discoveries of rich
mines mail carrier between two mining camps,
While descending mountain loses his footing;
to himself, he grasps projecting rock, tear
ing it loose and exposing vein of mineral;
miner pursued by bear runs across mineral
ledge: the prospectors burro paws in the snow
for food. oyerturns a stone. and behold! there is
virgin gold. Discoveries Of the sort described
the exceptions and not the rule Perhaps some
of them not true.
TO assume that Chance and Luck are the chief
factors in the discovery of mines is a reflection
upon the intelligence and the industrious efforts
of the simon-pure prospector That individual
usually has wedefned theories concerning de-
poss of mineral and their location, and he has
basis Of practical knowledge which often enables
him a theory into fact
He is less familiar with the forms in
which mineral occurs. He can tell pyres of
iron from gold but knows that the two minerals
frequently found in combination; he knows
the common forms of lead. zinc and copper, and
the natural matrices-silica and lime-for the
precious and base metals. But most important of
all he knows the prevailing eruptive rocks of the
locality especially the many forms of porphyry
and he knows, when he finds eruptive rocks the
surface. the mineral is to be found thereabOuts
Hence, when the late spring comes and the
SHOWS melt, and he goes prospecting trip
he searches among the eruptve rocks the
face for pieces of mineralized rock, commonly
he haS he
mountain side, he is the trail of the mineral
so speak, and his next step is to trace it to
its This is not always easy task, for
the float" may have been detached from the
main body many years before and the original
have been covered by "wash"-earth,
gravel and sedimentary debris. 1t often happens
however, that the float" is from mineral ledge
jutting out of the ground from body Of min
eral plainly to be the surface-the crop
ping of the vein deposit
When the prospecor has found a vein or de-
post either by tracing the float rock by OBJ
serving mineral stains a partly eroded cliff,
his next task is to determine we'll may
Ia -ho4ha la. h..4o