The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-06-18
golden PROSPEC
IN OLD VIRGINIA
Expert Opinion That State Can
Come BY as a Gold
Producer.
MINES THAT MADE FORTUNES
Modern Methods and Machinery
May Make Old Holes in
Ground Valuable Again.

Last week. in an article on the un-
developed wealth of Virginia in gem
eral, spoke of gold mining in the
State. and. merely calling attention TO
some developments in Fluvanna county.
said:
There one will and that very
large amount of money has been in
vested In gold mining. Not less than
a haif dozen gold mines are being
worked in that county and In the
neighboring county of Goochland. Just
how well they are paying do not
know. but I am sure that the folks
VINO are digging the yellow stuff out
OF the ground down there would not
stick to the business very long IL they
were not making profts."
Ihts leads j. A. Mclaughlin, OF Nor
risville, Fauquier county, to write a
most interesting letter on the gold
deposits in Virginia. He asks: Can
the gold fields of Old Virginia come
back 2" Mr.. Mclaughlin then pro
Eceeds by way of answering his own
question to give some entertaining
gold mining facts. as follows:
Just about 100 years ago gold mining
started up in Virginia. especially
THIS section. and the year now with us
promises a great revival of the in
terest in this too long neglected in.
dustry -
Prior to ls4e IL the gold produced
In the United States was mined east
OF the Appalachian mountains, and
there is United States mint record Of
sl,o0o.oo0 of money coined from Vir-
GINA gold from 1929 to 1859. In ad-
dition to this vast quantities of the
precious metal were used in jewelry
and the arts
y The gold mines of Virginia are found
@ithin the area of the crystalline
rocks which extend unbroken from
montgomery county, Maryland. in
genera northeast and southwest trend
through Virginia. North Carolina,
South Carolina. Tennessee and Georgia,
70 near Montgomery. Ala. The western
boundary of this belt runs parallel TO
and on thu east side of the Blue Ridge.
while It's eastern edge may be repre- !
scented by a line almost due south from
Washington. skirting Richmond. to the
belt varies In width from nine to
. twenty miles. the best developed nd
the supposedly richest portion being
embraced In Fauquier, Stafford Gull
peper and other lower counties. These
old mines worked by cheap slave labor,
and. with crude machinery like the
Anastra or Chilean Mill. used to save
-
pure gold. losing the ,ther metallic
substances that oftentimes run into
hundreds of dollars per ton, while
stamp mills would save from As ne
cent. to rs per cent. of the gold The
new Lane Glow speed Chilean mill.
which can crush the ore, If necessar y,
down to one six hundredth of an Inch
diameter, and which is now in opera
ton in the Young America Gold Mine,
at Santana. Goochland county, and
several other mines in Virginia and
North Carolina. promises to revolution
lie the mining of free milling ore.
There Is also an improved rifle that
those who have tested it claim will
save practically all the gold passing
through It, The secret of working
ores carrying free gold through this
belt. as described. is TO get the ore
down to small PARTICLES, then to
amalgamate 1t and save 1t. For the
ore below what Is known as free
milling ore. then either the cyanide
of chloronation process is required.
Which process is best depends largely
on the kind of ore.
What Has Been Done in Fauquier
In the Southern part of Fauquier
county. near Morrisville; are the
Leopold, Franklin, Wycoff, Waterman,
Liberty. Bancroft. Putnam. Union,
Kelly. Elliss, Shackiett. Stribling and
out of the Franklin mine in ante
oellum days. one succeeding the other
In ownership and ten years ago the
tailings were run through a cyanide
plant at. a handsome profit to the oper-
ator. The Civil War closed the mine
down while at its most productive
stage. and. while still held to be rich,
has never been reopened There are
plenty of documentary proofs in exist
ence to show that the Kelly mine was
run at a handsome profit There is
one tunnel on the Liberty over a mile
long that gives an idea of the mining
operations once carried on there
South of these mines are the Monroe,
Gardner. Lee and Eagle, and contin-
Higgins. Pulliam. Grindstone Hail.
tombstone. Mitchell, Goodwin and
others.
Recent Investigations.
At the Eagle gold mine. ten miles
west of Fredericksburg. near the Rap
pahannock River. most important dis
coveries have recently been made. sew
eral men being employed In further
/ exploitation and development. 1t is an
old property, with a record of about
100000 production. Several veins of
quartz cross the property. yet only one
of them, the Central Eagle vein. has
heretofore had any work done on 1T,
and from very small part of this one,
say 500 feet in length by 300 feet in
depth, the above amount of gold has
been produced. The reduction plant
was a free milling one, using simply
the old-fashioned copper plate system
to save the gold. and as result much
of the gold was lost. In these ores.
s In all those found below the water
level. everywhere there.is large per-
centage of sulphides Uron pyrites),
which carry gold, and every up to date
plant nowadays for the recovery OF
gold has appliances By which the gold
and silver values in the sulphides can
be and are recovered. Under modern
methods the sulphides will yield
enough gold to pay all expenses of
mining and milling. leaving the. gold
Arccoyered frnna the .,.fraa raIllinc.,, 20