The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1914-06-25

1t is a common saying that agricul-
ture and mining are the two basic in
dustries When man rose above the
british individualism of his primordial
state and began to develop the social
instinct, he turned to the soil in order
to win food for his family. He paused
in his migration; the soil held him; 1t
gave root to his rudimentary commun-
ity; it gave him the chance to enlarge
his energies. His tracks became high
WAYS; his rivers, avenues OF trade;
and as his traffic EXPANDED, so his inn
agination widened, until, out of the
crudities Of communal development
grew the complexities of civilization.
But the nomadic habit fingered; the
shirt of the hunter survived in man;
a Wanderer and a Wonderer he stood
beneath the starry dome or the forest
arch not knowing whether he were a
guest or a captive in the domain OF
nature. The hills beckoned; the seas
called: the more venturesome left the
tents Of the tribe in search of material
wherewith to fashion their imple-
ments. They sought iron for weapons,
copper for tools, gold for ornament,
and found them in various guise in the
earth under their feet. They became
miners, To those who delved success
fully came power. Throughout the
ages the more energetic and adventur-
Gus broke from the plough and for
sock the cattle in order to explore and
to exploit. They furnished the metals
from which the artifcers fashioned
engines of power and machines of in
telligence. They won the materials
for social structure that, based on
stone and built in iron and copper,
scared in many stored tracery of steel
to towers radiant with light and vi
brant to the sky-towers so far above
the common ground that man almost
forgot his lowly origin and claimed
kinship with the stars.
Basis of Civilization.
Civilization was developed on me-
tallic basis, not as regards money, for
credit is the expression of an ad-
vanced state of society, but as re-
CARDS implements and instruments,
machinery and transport facilities OF
living and of communication, all Of
which required the use Of metals. The
need of them and the consequent mar
ket for them induced enterprising men
to probe the hills and scour the deserts
in search Of the mineral deposits that
are distributed with such perpleXing
irregularity in the outer crust OF the
earth. These deposits were not to be
found near the smiling cornfeld or the
gentle hillslope, but in regions where
geologic unrest had produced inequali-
ties of contour and ruggedness OF as
pect. where the surface was bare OF
soil and the mountains exposed their
heart of rock The miner. therefore,
left the sheltered valley and plunged
into the outer wilderness. And in his
wanderings, he found not only the me-
tallic ore that was the immediate OBJ
ject Of his quest; he also discovered
new tracts of agricultural land, and
new dwelling places for his tribe. Re-
turning home, he told the farmers and
Shepherds that fertile fields and usher
meadows We're awaiting them across
the range They migrated thither
while he again ventured afar across
the world, ever pioneering the ad-
vance.
This bare outline of familiar story
has already been punctuated by you
with memories of the romance that
has marked your own national expan-
sion. The story Of mineral explora-
ton and racial migration Is peculiarly
the heritage Of our people, the Anglo
Celts. It is the motif that runs
through the drama of English and
American history, more particularly
during the last hundred years. Even
in it's barest outline 1t serves to sug-
gest that the miner is the pioneer OF
Industry and the herald of empire.
Early Discoveries.
The first social organizations around
the shores Of the Mediterranean sent
their prospectors to the hinterlands OF
Europe, Asia and Africa. The gold OF
Ophir the copper Of Sinai, the silver
of Laurium were part Of the web ano
wool Of those early civilizations. The
mines of Iberia gave Hannibal the
sinews of war against Rome, and the
gold of Dacia strengthened the re-
sources of Rome under Trajan. But
the greatest adventure was that OF the
Phoenicians who passed through the
pillars of Hercules into the western
ocean in order to reach the far cas-
siterides, the tin islands that in TURF
were to produce those Cornishmen to
whom this earth is one big mine. At
ter Carthage and Rome, in turn, hac
been overthrown, the mining indus.
tries of the known world were disor-