The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-02-28

now and then, the usual lapse OF time
between two feelings being about thirty
years. That there is gold in the Adir-
ondack region is not to be questioned
In 1880 capital was so certain that 1t
could be mined proftabl. that assay
offices and a small smelling plant were
established at the village of North :
field, which lies upon the edge of the
southwestern slope of the Adirondacks,
some so miles north of Amsterdam,
New York. The prospectors brought in
ore, quartz and loose earth in which
specimens of real gold were found. The
chemists and aSsayiSts made expert
ments which tended to show that ore in
fairly paying quantities, avera ging,
perhaps, about $40 a ton, was found in
the specimens brought to them for
assay. Excitement prevailed for
while until at the last proof was fur
nished that not yet has the scientific
prospector learned how to gather gold
in paying quantities from the Adiron-
dack region or has found the way to
the point where the mother lode of gold
in that vicinity may be discovered.
This undertaking was made in good
faith. There was no speculation to
speak of in gold claims of the Adiron-
dacks. The desolate and abandoned
assay office is the sole relic of that FL
Dorado. Science may some day show
where gold in paying quantities can be
found in the Adirondack region, but
the riches which are in the soil there at
present are those of baser metals.
This hunting for an Ell Dorado in the
northeastern parts of the United States
is not confined to the Adirondack
mountains. Since some so years ago
reports were received from qualified
metallurgists to the effect that gold in
considerable quantities had been dis
covered in the province of New Bruns-
wick and near the boundary line of the
state of Maine. A company was or
gained which, in honor of the Prince Of
Wales who had few years earlier Wis
tied Canada and one of whose titles was
Baron RenfreW, was called the Renfrew
Gold Mining company. The mine was
actually operated and at last from the
ore a quantity of gold, shaped into the
form of a brick, was manufactured. 1t
was a gold brick in the legitimate
gold. 1t was exposed to view in Boston,
then in Providence, Hartford and New
Haven. Its genuineness was attested
by statements of asSayers. There was
no doubt that it was procured from the
RenfreW gold mines And for time
there was a real argonaatic excite
ment throughout Ne, England. 1t was
discovered that this mine was the idel- |
teal one which Benedict Arnold at
tempted to exploit some years after the 4!
close of our Revolutionary war and did |
tempt British capital into the invest |
ment- Arnold acted in good faith, for |
after investigation he reported that |
while gold undoubtedly was to be |
found, yet it could not be mined in i
paying quantities. So in 1866 the Rem |
frew Gold Mining company was added /
to the list of little Ell Dorados which |
for time had given excitement in |
northern New York and in New Eng |
land. A little later a specimen of /
quartz was brought to an assayer in !
New Haven, Connecticut, by a. man who |
la bored under great excitement. He |
said that he had accidentally knocked |
a chunk of rock that had sparkling |
specks in 1t from boulder which |
stood upon q piece of land which he |
New London. This land was a part Of |
a rocky Hill known by its Indian name |
of Weewaucus. The assayer pronounce |
ed the specimen one of genuine gold |
and went so far as to say that if 1t |
represented general conditions in the /
vicinity then the mine was worth work. |
ing. There was organized Immediately |
the WeeWaucus Gold Mining company |
of eastern Connecticut and great was |
the excitement for time. But a little {
prospecting demonstrated that while /
gold was there, yet the amount was so /
lnf1nitesimal that it would not pay to |
work the mine.
For time Edison professed to have
discovered an FL Dorado on the shore OF
Long Island. The black sands there
he asserted. were rich in atomic gold
deposits Edison was not wrong in that
statement; but when he un6 rtook to
set up a plant in which the atomic |
gold in the black sands could be alb
stracted, he discovered that he had not
counted on wind and tide for there
came great gale one night which con-
verted the seashore into a lake and
buried the black sands therein This
recent attempt to utilize the gold de-
pos1ts of the Adirondack region will
unless science is mistaken. fail Is have
all of the other FL Dorados which at
one time or another have excited com
in the northeastern part Of
the United States HOLLAND