Semi-weekly herald., 1916-09-25
KEY OF OPPORTUNITY
TRYING TO UNLOCK VAULTS
Duranpo Evenlng Herald:

IsNtilIllS IGId
The dawn of new day is coming.
The searchIight-eye of shrewd men OF
affairs is slowly but surely being To-
cused on the mines and prospects of
the Great, Glorious, Golden San Juan
district, which undoubtedly VIII prove
to be the marvel of the world, and it
would not be surprising if the richest
gold ore ever produced from lodes in
quantity will be made, which Will
compare only to the material heaven,
that New Jerusalem," whose "gates
are jasper and whose streets are
gold" The La Platas will be mined
and viii produce after its locators
shall be forgotten and the name Of
lnany famous mines shall be yellowed
ana faded in Colorados archives.
Crucible and alembic, blowpipe and
retort, viii not effect the miracle, but
ponderous enginery, mammoth jaws
and Unsuitable maws OF tempered steel,
cunning eontrivances that toy with
atomic gravities and sort out what
balances hesitate in distinguishing,
will delve deep into the bowels Of
the great hills and bring forth their
golden treasure.
In this day and time the metallur-
,sist is picking at locks behind which
We know are treasures of knowledge
Inreckonable, and the triumph Of
this day will be as primary schools
are to higher education not many
years from now, but nevertheless it
has been proved that the problem of
treating the ores found in the San
Juan district has been, at least par
TALLY solved. Today ore, that few
short months ago failed to net prof
it, is now being successfully and prof
itably treated, by oil flotation.
The earmarlls of success and per-
nanency are about to adom the old
new San Juan-old that it has been
prospected and worked in desultory
fashion for many years, new because
in less than year it has forged
ahead, not by phenomenal growth
not by any sensational stampede, but
by a quiet, steady, prosperous, heal
thy advance.
In the reawalsening of the dormant
mining industry in this section, many
of the old and almost forgotten
mines of other days have taken on
new life. Trained men have been sent
INTO the field to investigate the pos
sibilities of the mines operated in
the old days, as well as mere pros
poets and newer mines and, in some
cases, new vistas of wealth have been
disclosed in abandoned workings to
the modern investigator.
And this prelude has to Durango
and the San Juan district as whole,
What relation?
This:
Mining comes first of all, ag1i-
culture and other Industries follow.
The miner has blazed the highways
of commerce, though his bones are of
ten found bleaching on the hills and
deserts of the earth. The miner in
his quest for gold, has blazed the
trails on the Arctic's cloudy mountain
and in the Equator's blazing sun; he
has penetrated Alaska's frozen lands
and India's broiling plains, South Af-
rica's reefs and sands and all the is
ands of the sea. The miner has been
the pioneer from Koolgardie to the
Arctic ocean, and from China to the
island of Madagascar and the Trans
vaal.
The nations of the world have con-
CURED upon common medium thru
which exchanges shall be effected, by
which balances among them shall be
adjusted and liquidated. A value per
grain of gold has been arbitrarily fixed
and established. Coinage has been
made absolutely free. Gold is the on
ly metal, the only substance in the
world, thus by laws universally up
held. Then again, the nation which
1 might, under present order Of things,
control gold supply, might master
human necessities and products, make
plenty or produce famine and Lord it
over all. A gold-produeing distice
would stand in the same relative pc
sition as the nation controlling tie
gold supply.
Science would be stricken to the
denth but for metal. Commerce
would be umerved and human activ-
! tiles would be paralyzed by it's OBJ
iteration. If its volume should re-
main as it is and all increase should
be cut off, in decade copper for
reconstruction, for the performance
of greater service through diminish
cd bulk, would be worth more than
gold now commands for coinage. Iron
/ t,tntt11 ba fr.,o utt,sod nc t,riroIoge I auI